When my husband and I started the adoption process we were so afraid of meeting our future child’s birth parents that we planned to travel halfway around the world to adopt.

We started with Buckner the summer of 2006, but the country we were interested in closed temporarily that year. That temporary shutdown lasted two years. After the first year of waiting, my husband and I felt we should look at other Buckner programs. 

Our only option at the time was switching to the domestic infant program, which only promoted open adoptions. The education they offered helped us learn that having an open adoption is a good thing for our future child. So we switched and trusted God. 

Our wait was a short one. At the end of April 15 as I celebrated another successful year with my coworkers in the tax office where I worked, my cell phone rang. We were chosen by a mother and she wanted to meet us to possibly parent her 9-day-old daughter. God heard my prayers and waited just long enough that day to make me a mom. God’s timing is always perfect. 

We had to go through what we had dreaded from the beginning of our adoption journey: meeting our hopeful daughter’s birth mom. We were so nervous, but when we met, we instantly felt she was part of our family. 

We’re often asked what an open adoption is like. To us, it’s like a marriage. When we adopted our daughter, we gained another set of family just like when I married my husband and gained his family. When we walk in to our daughter’s biological family’s house it’s just like walking in to our own parents’ house. We are accepted as family.

We’re no longer running away and hiding from potential birth parent meetings; we’re running straight at it.

Debbie Brown and her husband adopted their daughter in October 2008. They hope to continue growing their family through fostering to adopt.  

Prayers of the Week:
-God, be with the thousands of women who are struggling to decide whether to parent or adopt. Give them wisdom, peace and confidence.
-God, thank you for giving us exactly what we need, at exactly the right time.