We are five, officially.

We are five, officially.

Adoption is a funny process. You spend all this time waiting and then gathering paperwork and then usually waiting some more. And then you bring a child into your home, go about everyday life, and then months later (usually, although where you live determines how many months ...) the adoption is actually finalized.

Our adoption finalization hearing yesterday was less than 10 minutes long and that involved a quick photo shoot with the judge and attorney. That’s a quick end to what has been a much longer process.

If you’ve been around here long, you know our story. Basically, we've wanted to adopt for a third time since the beginning of 2012, but we just couldn’t make it work.

Did you catch that? WE COULDN’T MAKE IT WORK. Well, of course we couldn’t. But we tried anyway, for two years. We met with agencies and updated our home study multiple times. We had hope and then it would be dashed for reasons beyond our control.

And then we stopped pursing adoption. (Read: We stopped trying to make it work.)

We lived our life. We converted the nursery into a guest room.

Then God surprised us and he made this happen, rather quickly too. The basic timeline for Rachel’s adoption looks like this:

May 2015 – We met Rachel’s birth mom, Stacy, through a local friend.

June 15, 2015 – We met with our social worker for our home visit as part of the home study, for which I’d already gathered many papers and documents.

Summer 2015 – I took Stacy to prenatal apportionments and readied our house for a newborn. (Goodbye, guest room! But no worries out-of-town friends, we have sleeping options so still come visit us!)

Sept. 19, 2015 – Rachel was born.

Oct. 23, 2015 – Social worker came back for a post-placement visit.

Dec. 10, 2015 – The adoption was finalized.

To God be the glory for making us a family. This isn’t the story I expected, but it’s better than I could have written.
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And just for fun ... you can look back on Ben's adoption finalization from 2010 and Cate's from 2007. God worked it out so the same attorney and judge were involved each time. 

Want more insights? "Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family" is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin', or subscribe to receive "Insights in Your Inbox."