INFERTILITY AND ADOPTION - PART 1: OUR STORY

This is a topic I have wanted to write about for a long time, but didn't feel comfortable until now. People who know us or people who have asked, know that Aaron and I chose adoption before trying to have biological kids. I believe that when you choose adoption, whether you've struggled with infertility or not, it becomes your plan A. You can't possibly go through with the process if you're not ready to make it your first choice. I didn't feel comfortable sharing this part of our story on the blog because in a way I thought... it shouldn't matter how we came to the decision, but it does matter! Because it's OUR STORY.

How it all began...

I knew adoption was something that Aaron felt really strongly about when we were dating. I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it then because, honestly, I didn't think he was that serious about it. I thought we would get married and then society's handbook of life would take over and I wouldn't have to "worry" about adopting.

After we got married and got closer to starting a family it became clear that this desire was not going to fade. I started to get used the idea and even decided that if we were going to adopt, we should adopt first. I just liked the idea of choosing adoption first. Looking back now, I feel like that was the first step in God aligning our hearts. Even though I was scared about the idea I started daydreaming about our little family, but in the back of my mind I kept hoping that I would accidently get pregnant so that we wouldn't have to go through with it. A couple months later I was late and thought I was pregnant. I thought I would be relieved... excited... but I wasn't! I was disappointed. I felt like our plans to start a family through adoption were ruined. I really surprised myself with the way I felt and it became obvious to me that adoption REALLY was what I wanted! Turns out I wasn't pregnant and we started paperwork pretty soon after that. I believe Aaron and I have been called to adoption. We've come to understand the gospel as our very own adoption story. It was written on our hearts before time began and is such a natural way for us to start our family.