After our two sons were born, my husband
and I thought our family was complete. But when our youngest son was three years old, I began
yearning for a daughter. During a spiritual retreat, I felt a strong leading to
adopt. But two
years later, the adoption process had not even begun—I respected
my husband's doubts, and I’d never go against his wishes, but I
had a deep conviction that God had promised us a daughter.
Karl humored me, and we went to PLAN's
preadopt course. At
the end of the class, however, he was still reluctant. Our pastor came over to help us with discernment. He was inspired to ask Karl, "What if Carrie became
pregnant again?" Karl’s immediate reaction was that if the impossible happened,
he would accept and embrace the new baby.
Two weeks later the impossible did happen: I discovered I was pregnant! After four difficult weeks
of hoping, we learned it was a tubal pregnancy, and I had to
have surgery. Though we still grieve the loss of that baby, God blessed us
through the situation. The idea of a third child had been
planted in Karl’s heart, and he agreed to proceed.
We began working with PLAN to adopt through
the Minority Infant Program. After we sped through the paperwork, the wait was only a
few months, but they were difficult. When I was especially frustrated, I went to The Prayer
Lookout on the coast, a place reserved for personal retreats. The first night I went to sleep impatient and angry. Was my conviction that we were to have a daughter really
a promise of God or was it just my own yearning? While I slept, a miracle took place: I woke up feeling peaceful and renewed, deeply assured
that God had indeed promised us a baby girl, and He would keep
His promise—all I had to do was trust Him and wait. Eleven days later we got the call.
We flew to Florida. From the time we first saw her, it was hard to keep our
eyes off of her. She was so beautiful! And so alert! She kept staring into our eyes, which is unusual for an
infant. It was if
she already knew us. As soon as Karl held her, any residual doubt melted away. He carried her all that week, tucked under his chin. I had prepared to breastfeed, and she happily took to
nursing right away. That week she started smiling a lot.
We are so thrilled with this tiny new
addition to our family. Now I understand that the doubts and delays were all part
of God's timing—we had to wait for this particular little girl
who was meant especially for us. Usually in the Minority Infant program, babies are placed
within a few days of birth, but due to the circumstances of her
birthparents, she was placed with us when she was 13 days old. The morning I awoke at the prayer retreat feeling assured
we'd have a daughter… was the very day she was born.
We named her Giselle. It means promise.