I apologize now...this is gonna be a long one. But this story is SO good I can't leave anything out!
Have you ever met a couple that isn't able to have babies but would be the BEST parents?!? I know I have. My good friend Shelby and her husband are that couple. All kids LOVE them! Unfortunately, they aren't able to have babies the old fashioned way. Because of that, I think they both had resigned themselves to the fact that they would never be parents. I knew this had to break their hearts, especially Shelby's. I remember sitting around my dining room table one night talking about it and asking her if they had ever considered adoption. She was really open to the idea but her husband wasn't on board. I told her not to give up. That God is a God of miracles and that Mike could one day change his mind. We didn't really talk about it again.
A year or two later, a friend of mine posted on Instagram about a little boy she worked with that really needed a forever family. I didn't think anything of it until the next day. I just couldn't stop thinking about Shelby and Mike and the possibility of this little boy needing a family. So I called my friend Erika and got the scoop. The little boy was 10 years old and was in desperate need of some love. After we hung up, I called Shelby. I told her I knew the call was totally out of the blue but that I couldn't help but think of her and Mike. I gave her Erika's phone number and told her to feel free to call or text her. I knew she would need to talk to Mike and that he probably wouldn't jump at the chance. So I started praying. And I asked a few other people to pray too. That if this was right for them, that Mike would know it.
Shelby had decided that she wasn't even going to mention it to Mike. She just knew it would start a fight and didn't want to bother. So that was that. Until the next day when she was driving and she felt the voice of God tell her that she needed to give Mike the chance to be the man He created him to be. She told me she was so shocked she almost drove off the road. So she drove straight home and told him they needed to talk. She was fully expecting him to shoot it down, but to her surprise, his response was that they should prob get some more information!
So they contacted Erika and decided to have dinner with her family so they could meet little "M". Dinner was great, and they fell in love with "M". So they got permission to have him come spend a weekend with them. He was not without his issues, but they had opened their hearts to him and were fully ready to take on all that being his parents would mean!
They got to see him a few more times but eventually it because clear that he was not going to be available for adoption. Now, while this was difficult for them, it made them both realize that adoption was a really viable option for them. Within a few days, they had signed up with an adoption agency and were on their way to becoming parents. Those of you who have adopted know how much paperwork and waiting are involved in the process. So Shelby and Mike prepared themselves for a long wait.
Much to their surprise, the day after their home study was approved, they were matched with a baby. The birth mom had chosen them for her baby boy due in December. She was about 1/2 way through her pregnancy so they were going to have a pretty long wait till things would be final.
In Nov. Shelby got a phone call that they had to do an emergency c-section and that the baby was in the NICU but doing well.
Things did not go well after that and the week of Christmas, the adoption failed. It was devastating.
Shelby told me a few days after Christmas, that while she was upset about the failed adoption, she knew that just meant that God had a different baby for them. She felt peace about the situation. So the waiting began again.
Jan 3rd, 2017...I got a call from Shelby. She asked me if I had my camera with me because she was going to pick up her baby!!!! A baby boy had been born on Dec. 30th and his birth mom choose Shelby and Mike to be his parents. What a whirlwind! She got a call at 3pm and was bringing their son home by 6pm! From total devastation to unimaginable joy in just 1 weeks time! God knew all along that this was their baby! There are SO many things about their adoption story that are incredible and give me chills. You can see the hand of God woven through the whole thing. I am SO thrilled to have been a part of their story and I am also honored to be this little man's Godmother:)
Jeffrey (God's Peace) Matthew (Gift of the Lord)
(Here are some of my favorites from the night he came home)