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Crisp Party of Five: Our Adoption Story!

Sharing our adoption story!!

This post has been a few months in the making, but I am beyond excited to share that we are adding a sweet baby girl to our little Crisp crew!

God has been working in our family the last year in incredible ways!! This journey has been unexpected, exciting, heart wrenching, joyful….all mixed into one!  I want to share with you today the journey that got us here, and ask for your prayers as we anxiously await the arrival of Evee Ruth….in just a few short weeks….eeek!

My husband and I are both the oldest of three children, and three just felt right to us!  We had already been blessed with two sweet boys, so we dreamed of having just one more baby to complete our family.  We decided in 2017 to give it a year to try to conceive, and agreed that if it didn’t happen in that time frame, we would consider our family complete….p.s. I think God laughs when we try to put these types of time constraints on our lives….HIS plans are SO much bigger!  But if you know me, I like to have a plan, and this one seemed right.

I was SO excited in May to find out I was pregnant!!

I waited until Father’s Day breakfast to tell Mac, although he said my eating habits the weeks prior had already given me away (Mama was hungry!!)  We were so excited!!  It seemed like our perfect plans were laid out before us, and baby #3 would arrive in January!   My doctor visit the Friday before had raised some concerns that she said were, “probably nothing,” but she had asked me to come back the next Friday to follow up.

That next Friday an ultrasound and some bloodwork revealed that for some unknown reason baby Crisp had just stopped growing at week five.  I should have been week eleven at the time.  I was devastated.  She gave me medicine to cause a miscarriage and prepared me for what was to come….except nothing happened.  The medicine didn’t work.  I woke up that next morning after taking the medicine so upset, angry, confused…..can my body not even get THIS right?!?  But if you don’t think God has a sense of humor, I walked into the kitchen to find this…..

Don’t judge the state of my fridge, the multiple cans of whip cream or the beer…it had been a tough week….but I had to just stop and laugh through my tears at these sweet little buns!  And like any good mother, instead of quickly grabbing him so he didn’t fall, I grabbed my phone and snapped a pic instead….I clearly need more children!  Haha!  It snapped me back to the fact that God had given me two beautiful boys, more than I deserved already, and maybe that was meant to be enough for us.

I’ll spare you the details, but it was months before my body had recovered and I was cleared to try again.  Most of my body did not get the memo that this wasn’t happening.  I went through a wide variety of emotions (all those hormone changes didn’t help!), I prayed continuously, and by December, I had pretty much surrendered to the fact that time was up, and I needed to close this chapter.

It was our Christmas party in my mom’s group that changed everything.  My friend Lisa got a text and burst into tears.  She explained that her adopted daughter’s birth mother was pregnant again.  The agency had contacted her and her husband to potentially adopt this baby too, but she was torn as to whether they could handle it….this would be baby number four for them.  As our small table of women tried to help her sort through what to do, my heart started pounding out of my chest, tears streamed down my face and what I can only describe as the Holy Spirit’s voice said,

“THIS IS YOUR BABY!!!”

I will never forget Lisa looking over at me and saying, “I did think about you….is adoption something you’ve thought about?”  The answer was no.  It really wasn’t.  It wasn’t on our radar or something we had ever really considered.  She began to tell me a little about the process as my head was swimming.  She offered to send me whatever information I needed, just so I could be informed when I went to talk to Mac about it, but she didn’t want me to feel pressured in any way.

Lisa said if nothing else, this interaction gave her peace that this was not her baby.  I prayerfully prepared to talk to Mac about this.  I knew his response would make it clear to me if this was God’s plan or just me being emotional.  Mac is the logical, rational one….he is calm, collected, analytical…and typically I am the more impulsive, enthusiastic one, leaping into a plan while he points out the ways things could go wrong….it is a good balance!  Mac will research something for months and months before reaching a decision.  I knew I could not drag him into this in ANY way.  He had to be all in or it wasn’t happening.

We had already planned to take the boys to see Christmas lights that night.  I prayed for the right words as I told Mac what had happened that morning, and gave him all the information I had from Lisa.  He was quiet for just a minute and then just said, “I think this is our baby.”

If you know my husband, you know this is the work of God.  Through this process there have been moments over and over that I have brought situations to him, holding my breath, and sincerely saying, “If you are not okay with this, we can just say no.” But he has been ALL IN every step of the way.

Adoptions can typically take 12-18 months, but we have crammed all of that into the last 4 months, as this baby is due the middle of May.  The amount of paperwork and steps to complete an adoption have been overwhelming at times, but God gave us Lisa’s family, to hold our hands and walk us through it, as well as the support of family and friends.  We have been SO nervous to share, as this is not complete until Evee is home with us, but God laid this plan before us, and we are stepping out in faith.

Another beautiful part of this plan is that these sisters, just 15 months apart, will get to grow up just miles from each other.  Our plan is that they will always know they were adopted, always know they are sisters, and always be surrounded in love.  There is so much that comes with adoption that we will need to navigate throughout the years as these girls have questions, but I am thankful God gave us another family to walk alongside.  The parallels of our families also align in so many ways….it gives me chills.

As heartbreaking as that miscarriage was, I know it prepared and opened our hearts for this.  God took something so ugly and hard, and wove a beautiful story that is just beginning.  The circumstances around the birth mother are not mine to share here, but I will ask for prayers.  As a planner (aka control freak) I have had to rely on God more than ever to trust that our baby girl is in HIS hands.  I know HE heals the broken, and the opportunity to love this baby is all that we want.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!  I will continue to share our journey here, and ask for prayers as we are a bundle of nerves/joy/excitement all rolled into one!

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Just beautiful Bethany!!! Thank you for sharing your story and congratulations on the arrival of your precious baby girl!!! I can’t wait to see her!!! God’s timing is not our timing, I am thankful you listened for Him even during times of sorrow, grief and frustration! What a blessing this is and you all will be for each other!

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  2. I am so so happy and excited for you and your family.
    What a beautiful way to tell your story too. I love your pictures:)
    I’m sorry that we can get wrapped up in our own stresses that we forget others may be going through trying and difficult times.
    God bless you!..and praying for your precious baby girl.
    Congratulations and blessings.

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  3. Bethany I was crying reading your story! God is amazing and I love that you knew instantly and felt the Holy Spirit! I will be praying for you all!?

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    • I don’t know that I have ever heard His voice so clearly! It has been scary at times, but I know this is where He is leading and we are so excited! Thank you for your prayers Kelly!

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  4. Can’t stop smiling! I love this post so much. You are SO strong and I can’t wait to see where God takes your family through this! My mom was adopted, so this is so close to my heart. LOVE THIS SO MUCH. So excited for you!!!

    Love you!

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  7. What a beautiful story Bethany! I am so proud to know you and feel like I am some way a part of this journey as you share it!

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    • It’s so true! I never would have dreamed this would be our path on my own! Excited to see how He will continue to work in our family! Your little Dom gave me the fever!! 🙂

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  13. What an amazing story! I can’t wait to see pictures of this seeet baby girl! She’s gonna have the best momma ever!

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  16. Oh, Bethany, I am so excited with tears in my eyes!! Who better to have a little girl than your family which is such a happy, wonderful place to call home for this precious to join those precious little boys!! What a fortunate little baby girl to get this mommy and daddy!! What a perfect plan for everybody!! I know I do not know you personally,even though I feel I do, but I have just loved and admired you and your family since we became Belle Gold friends!!!! Best wishes to you and your family. I cannot wait to see that baby girl!! Happy adoption to you and Mac and the boys!!!

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  17. Bethany, I’m so excited and rejoice with you and your family sweet friend. Such a beautiful story and testimony. God bless you for taking a huge leap of faith.

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  18. Wow Bethany! God is SO good! Your new baby girl is so blessed to be joining your beautiful family! Love your faith and trust in the Lord! His plans are best! Love and prayers!

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  19. What a journey… I am over the moon excited for your family!!! From one mom of 5 and control freak to another, listening to God is always a path toward discovering beauty!!! Prayers and congrats!

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  20. I love you so much and I know God has chosen the perfect family for Evee! We are here to continue supporting you in every way. I cannot wait to meet her!

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  21. What a beautiful story Bethany! Thanks for sharing the works of God in your situation. He really is a good, good father! This week is the 4 year anniversary of my early infant loss and I’m still amazed that a year later, almost to the day that I found out my pregnancy was not viable, I gave birth to my son.
    I’m praying that everything goes smoothly through the process and you’ll have baby girl home soon.

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  22. Bethany,
    I am so glad you shared this story. I have walked in your footsteps and understand the journey to get there. I will pray as you enter the next chapter of your excitng life. And I cant wait to meet your baby girls. Blessing to the you all!

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  24. Adoption is a wonderful thing but not always easy. I have two wonderful girls that we adopted when they were 5 months and 8 months old. My oldest is now 18 and my youngest is turning 14 in a few weeks. Much happiness to you and your family.

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  26. What a beautiful story Bethany! When I congratulated you on IG I had not read this! I pray that everything goes smoothly for you and your family! Remember, I know what the adoption journey is like, so if you need someone to talk to, I’m here!

    Reply

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