When I tell people about my son's adoption story, they are always shocked about how sudden everything happened. And as I reflect back on the past eight months, I grasp just how wild it must really look to everyone else.
We attended the AIM Adoptions orientation on March 24. We walked in for our couples interview on April 19. We went to the group home study on April 21. I had my interview on May 16. Ophelia had her interview on May 27. We hosted our home study on June 17. Our son was born on July 5. We got the phone call on July 6. We met our son on July 7.
From start to finish, the process took 15 weeks. 105 days. Most expectant couples are pregnant for 9 months. We were "paper pregnant" for 19 days between being approved at our home study and picking up the phone call that left our jaws on the floor.
Those 19 days were an interesting time. The wife and I had naively planned a bunch of mini weekend vacations scheduled after our home study thinking that we could take advantage of our last few months of DINK (Double Income No Kids) before becoming DIOK or SIOK. Of course, things didn't quite go as expected, and the only trip we were able to take was a July 4 weekend in Dallas.
I remember discussing the adoption process with some of my closest family and friends, and there were always two main questions that popped up from their end.
1. How do you feel about becoming a dad... at any moment?
This one was easy -- I felt terrific. Wonderful. Amazing. I don't know if it's just my personality to not worry or stress about much, but I'd like to think that in this case it was a combination of both my personality and my faith. Honestly, there was just this overwhelming sense of peace about the whole situation. In a poetic sense, having everything out of my control was the best reminder to me that I was never in control in the first place. God was and is and will always be my compass, and I knew there was no reason to fret about the adoption because it wasn't a matter of "if" he would provide us with a child, it was a "when." I have no doubt that He had Levi in mind for us well before the thought of adoption ever entered our consciousness.
2. Why are y'all adopting?
This question was much more loaded.
The Cliffs Notes version? We felt like God was leading us to adopt this year.
The slightly longer version? For me, the idea of adoption first started gnawing away at me in Kenya in 2006. I was there on a church missions trip with my siblings and some other friends, and we met hundreds and hundreds of kids. We visited several orphanages, and our time spent playing with those children is something that I will never forget. It was so gut-wrenching to think about all the kids in the world who, for one reason or another, have to grow up without parents. Someday, I thought to myself, someday I might be able to adopt.
I remember Ophelia and I talked about adoption at least a couple of times while we were dating. The funny thing is, we talked about adopting more than we ever talked about getting married... which was just once. (I was incredulous that men don't get engagement rings, and I was secretly trying to figure out her ring size. Which I got wrong anyway, but that's another story.) We both had a heart for adoption, and that's when I realized we would adopt at some point in the future... you know, assuming we got married and all.
Fast forward to 2015, four years of dating, one year of engagement, and four years of marriage, we began earnestly praying about the timing of a potential adoption. Then Fort Bend Community Church launched an adoption sermon series, where we got to not only hear testimonies from people in our church community who adopted but more importantly hear the pastors drive home the parallel of our adoption into God's family. Things took off from there, and we listened to the adoption sermon series from Austin Stone as well, and eventually, it hit us. This was it. Let's do this thing.
Now today is National Adoption Day 2016, and I'm finishing up this post with a beautiful 4.5-month-old baby boy on my lap, with both of us cackling at the sweater vest hoodie that covers his eyes. Looking back over the 10-year journey that God has brought me on to this point, I can't help but wonder in awe at what the next leg of the adventure will look like.
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