Our Adoption Story

This week we celebrated our 5th adoption day. This is my favorite story from that very difficult time.

It was the weekend after 4th of July when Haley was 21 months old that she moved in with us. It would take a full 15 months for us to remove parental rights and officially adopt our baby girl. During that 15 months of stress, fear, exhaustion, anticipation, and longing I tucked her in every night and we prayed “dear God, please help me stay with mommy daddy forever-ever”. We prayed it, because the fear that it might not be reality was ever present. On the night of our adoption I tucked Haley in, and she said her prayers. Like she had for 15 months, she prayed “dear God, please help me stay with mommy daddy forever-ever”, with tears in my eyes I told her that she didn’t have to pray that anymore. Because things become habit, she started that same prayer of “please help me stay with mommy daddy forever-ever” for weeks and weeks, each time I reminded her that she didn’t have to pray that any more. Eventually she would begin to stop herself “I so silly, Haley don’t need to pray that anymore” she’d say. It became a joke, a game.

We haven’t said those words for years, but I will remember that prayer until my dying day and be grateful for answered prayers.