A Baby Boy in Alabama

On January 31, 2013 I received a call from my adoption consultant, C. I had received many calls like this one since becoming a client of Faithful Adoption Consultants in November of 2012. She was calling to tell me about a potential adoption situation and I would go through the same process I went through each time I got a call like that. She would tell me the details, I would labor over it in prayer, give my answer as to whether or not I would present my profile. If I presented then I would wait the agonizing days to hear if the birth mother chose me or another family.

This time seemed different though. From the moment my consultant told me about this baby I knew something was different. My phone rang and C greeted me kindly as she always does with a super sweet and chipper voice saying she had a few situations that she wanted to tell me about. She told me about 2 other situations that I might get the opportunity to present on, running down the details like the due date, the gender, the location, and the basics of the situation. Then she said, “And there’s this little boy being born in AL that you may get the chance to present on.”  As soon as she mentioned him my heart fluttered.

Every time I heard of a baby that needed a family my heart strings were tugged. Since November, when I first showed my profile, I fell in love with each baby I heard about. It’s hard not to start dreaming about them as soon as you hear a few details.

As C told me about the other situations my heart was full but when I heard of this baby boy in Alabama it just felt different. I told myself that it probably wasn’t anything and that I just needed to hand it over the Lord so I didn’t get attached to an idea or a baby that wasn’t meant to be mine.

C explained that there was another family that would most likely present on this little boy in Alabama and because of certain reasons they would have first priority to present. She told me to pray about it because if this family decided not to present she would call me the next day and would have to know our decision immediately as to whether I wanted to present or not.

The next day I went about my day the way I normally do. I thought about and prayed for the little boy in Alabama throughout my day but tried not to think about it too much. After work that day I went to our local homeless shelter with a few students that are involved in campus ministries to fix dinner for the residents and spend some time getting to know the people there.  After several great conversations and a really fun night at the shelter I went back to my car ready to drive home.  I picked up my phone to check it and I had a voice-mail from C.

She was telling me about another situation that I would have an opportunity to present on and I was to pray about it and tell her the next day.  I began praying but my heart was drawn back to the baby boy in Alabama. I hadn’t heard yet about the status of that situation but I couldn’t get him off my mind. 

 Within a few minutes of arriving home C called. She informed me that the other couple decided not to present their profile on the baby boy in Alabama and then she explained that my profile would be the only one being shown to this birth mother. So unless the birth mother saw something that she didn’t like or wasn’t her preference this little baby boy would be mine.

I stood in shock for a few minutes. On all the other situations I presented on I was one of at least 3 other families presenting so there was always an element of anxiety waiting to hear what the birth mother decided. But on this baby boy in Alabama, this baby boy that I couldn’t get off my mind, that I kept dreaming about, praying about, handing back over to the Lord, I was it. I was the only profile the birth mom would see.

After a few hours C called and asked for my decision. I said YES, I would like to present. She explained the process from here and said that she would call me tomorrow with the birth mother's decision. She said she didn’t expect it to be anything but a yes but she explained that there was still a chance that she may not choose me.

So, I waited. Something I had grown quite accustomed to.