Adoption Story: Megan + Clayton

in

It’s never lost on me that my job as an Adoption Consultant entails walking hand-in-hand with families pursuing adoption. Having gone through the adoption process over 7 years ago, it’s very special to me that I’m able to connect with my families from the personal standpoint of, “Hey, I get it. I’ve gone down the path that you are embarking on. I understand what you are going through.” There is just something comforting about having an advocate on your side who understands the highs and lows, twists and turns, and uncertainties that accompany the adoption process.

I’ll never forget my first call with Megan and Clayton. We shared similar stories of infertility and the pain that coincides with it. Through the overwhelming path that led them to adoption, I sensed a strong sense of hope in their spirit. Despite their circumstances, they did not give up. I’m so glad they didn’t. Through perseverance and faith, God led them to their beautiful baby girl. Clayton and Megan, I’m so happy for your sweet family! Thank you for trusting me to help you on the journey to your daughter.

Megan shares more of their story below…

There is nothing that our God can’t do!

That has been the theme of our adoption story as God flung open one door after another. He had our daughter in mind before we met her, and nothing could mess up the story He was writing for our family.

When Clayton and I got married, we knew we wanted to grow our family right away. What we didn’t know was the struggle that growing our family would come to be. We endured three years of difficult diagnoses, miscarriages, multiple surgeries, several specialists, hundreds of medications and hormone injections, etc. In the thick of it, it felt as though God didn’t hear our prayers, our cries for a child to fulfill the desire He had placed in our hearts. 

While we continued to pray and seek His will for our lives, we heard God place adoption on our hearts. As we prayed about adoption, we continued the medical route for a few more months. It was then that we reached out to Kelly Todd at Christian Adoption Consultants to gather more information about adoption. To be completely transparent, the fear of the unknown had taken hold of our hearts. What if the expecting mother changed her mind, and we experienced yet another loss? How would we afford to adopt after undergoing treatment for the past three years? What did an open adoption truly look like? A few more weeks went by, and we continued to feel God calling us to adoption. We knew it was time to be obedient and trust that He would take care of every detail. It was in that moment, when we fully opened our hearts to be obedient, that we truly felt God honor the position of our hearts and begin to move mountains. 

We signed on with Christian Adoption Consultants and began working towards completing our home study, paperwork, and adoption agency applications. This process is not for the faint of heart, as it requires patience, organization, and being vulnerable enough to ask questions. Kelly was with us every step of the way. She encouraged us, answered our questions, and prayed for us. Within no time, our home study was complete, and we were able to begin receiving situations about expecting mothers who were considering adoption.  

One ordinary evening we responded to a situation about a baby girl due in June. We were so new to the process, and this was only the second situation we had responded to. We said a prayer and sent a text saying we wanted to present to the expecting mother. God was on the move! That weekend in church, we sang the song ‘More Than Able’ by Elevation Worship, and it became the theme song over the next few weeks. “Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?” and “You are more than able” are lyrics I would repeat over and over. 

A few days later, we were informed that the expecting mother had narrowed down the families she wanted to speak to, and we were one of those families! We couldn’t help but get our hopes up. We prayed endlessly, as did our family and friends. After having a phone conversation with the expecting mother, she informed us the next day she chose us to be parents! Tears of joy and prayers of thanksgiving became a part of our daily routine. However, we were no strangers to the fear and lies of the enemy. The more excited we became and the closer we got to traveling for the birth of our daughter, the more the enemy attacked. We are so thankful for Kelly as we continued to pray with us, reassure us, and check in with us continually. As she was praying for us, we were able to refocus our attention on the blessing before us.

Before we knew it, we were flying out to adopt our baby girl. Meeting her Birth Mom, watching her enter the world, and becoming her parents has been the greatest blessing we have ever experienced! Words truly cannot describe the emotions that surround this answered prayer.

We are currently living out our long-awaited dream of being parents, and we thank God every day for the little girl he chose to be ours! Adoption (and the three years of trying to grow our family) taught us to fully rely on the Lord, to find refuge in Him, and to seek His will above our own. Adopting our baby girl has been the greatest reminder that when we let go of our own plans and let God in, His blessings are far greater than anything we could imagine!

We are forever thankful for the gift of adoption, for our perfect baby girl, and for God’s faithfulness. We are so thankful for Kelly and Christian Adoption Consultants. This whole process truly takes a village, and we highly recommend having Christian Adoption Consultants as a part of your village! 

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! Psalm 126:5

With love and gratitude, 
Clayton, Megan, and Baby Girl


***If you are interested in learning more about adoption and the services we provide at Christian Adoption Consultants, I would love to chat!
Email me to receive a FREE inquiry packet.***

Healing Is In His Hands (Part 1)

in

This post was prompted by a 9 year old video that my brother-in-law tagged me in the other day from my niece and nephews singing praise and worship songs. This video, along with others, were sent to me when we had just discovered I had cancer again and thought I would be going through months and months of chemotherapy. Their sweet little voices brought so much hope to my heart and I know God heard their prayers to heal their, "Aunt KK." What a sweet reminder that our prayers don't need to be fancy and we don't have to use big "churchy" words when approaching our Heavenly Father. We can come to Him like the child we are and lay our desires at His feet.

9 years ago this month I was told that the tumor growing in my upper right shoulder was an aggressive form of cancer and would require an immediate chemotherapy treatment plan. I was handed a stack of papers by my oncologist that detailed a schedule of the type of chemo they would be injecting into my body the upcoming months. I was told what I needed to do and where I needed to be. It was recommended that I drop out of my last semester of college because the type and dosage of chemo I would be receiving would make me very ill. I remember kindly arguing with my oncologist about needing to drop out of school. That was not an option for me. I wanted to finish so badly. At that point I had already taken a few breaks from college due to other health issues, one of which was just a year prior: open-heart surgery. 

This was the second opinion we received about the "mysterious tumor" that had been carved out of my shoulder. After months of testing, the first pathologist said that he "had never seen anything quite like this before" and that it "looked extremely suspicious." Because of my long history of cancer, he recommended a second opinion. Back in the hotel room I was devastated by the diagnoses. It felt like a nightmare. My mom and I had driven up to Minnesota before my dad and we were waiting on him to get to the hotel to share the news with me. While we were waiting my mom read scripture and prayed for healing over my body. She also read texts and emails to me from friends, family and strangers who were covering me in prayer as well.  I remember when he walked through the door I completely lost it. I was hugging him and I just kept on saying over and over again, "Why do I have to go through this again? Why? " After processing the information together and spending a great deal of time asking God for wisdom we decided to get one more opinion. I felt very hesitant in my spirit to proceed immediately with this specific chemo treatment plan.

But the only way for me to "get out" going through the treatment plan was if the pathologist at the other hospital saw something different than the previous one. He would literally have to look into the Microscope and be in disagreement with what the other pathologist saw. And so that is exactly what we prayed for. My brother-in-law held a prayer gathering and invited people from our church to come and lay hands on me. It was during the week so I didn't expect many people to be able to come. I still tear up thinking about how many of my brothers and sisters showed up. We prayed. We did as James 5:14 instructs,  "Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord." We asked God to heal my body. We begged Him to heal me right there. We pleaded that the pathologist would see something entirely different when he looked in the microscope. When I left the prayer gathering I felt peace. Anxiety had subsided. I remember it quite keenly and I wrote it in my journal, "Even in my moments of weakness I feel the power of the Holy Spirit surrounding me, reminding me of His truth. And I know this is the power of prayer. Thank you Jesus for faithful servants who are interceding on my behalf.  Their prayers are the greatest gifts I could receive. I'm humbled by their kindness and commitment to pray for me." 

A few pathologists who specialized in the type of tumor this was suspected to be were hovering over the tumor for months. We were met with further delays and disappointments. "We need more time." "This tumor is proving difficult to diagnose." "We have never seen anything like it before." This was not the news we were hoping to hear, but ultimately it gave us more time to pray and seek the Lord. And then we got our answer. The final diagnosis of the tumor was completely in contrast to the initial diagnosis, but in the end all of the pathologists were in agreement: it was a low grade sarcoma (slow growing cancer) and therefore would require no further treatment! Surgery was sufficient! God blew us away with another big miracle and the only explanation is His healing hand. He heard our prayers and He answered. 

By the time we had finally received the news that no more treatment would be required (other than the surgery that had already taken place) 3.5 months had passed. Those 3.5 months felt like an eternity, but looking back I wouldn't trade them for anything. I remember leaving Rochester, Minnesota with the devastating news that months and months of chemo were in my future. We passed a wig store for patients undergoing chemo and I completely lost it. I wasn't afraid of my hair falling out. I was afraid that my hair falling out meant one step closer to death. I had been spending a lot of late nights googling the type of cancer I supposedly had and read that the survival rate wasn't very promising. And so death was on my mind a lot. I started thinking of all the things I wasn't going to be able to live to experience: graduating college, finding a career I love, getting married, having kids, seeing my niece and nephews grow up. It felt very heavy. I started pouring all of my thoughts out before the Lord-the angry ones, the sad ones, the "this isn't fair" ones, the "I'm scared ones." I came to Him with all my messy thoughts and He met me there. And He listened. This created in me a cycle of dependency on Him, my Sustainer, my Helper, my Healer, my Savior, and this dependency really never left. Over the duration of waiting on answers from the doctors, the Holy Spirit breathed freedom into my soul. I no longer felt impending doom. I no longer felt like I would be missing out. I no longer felt the fear of death because I had the sweet assurance that one day with Jesus is better than 1,000 elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). God could have "just healed my body," but He chose to drastically heal my soul too and I am forever grateful. 

Peace in Christ Alone

March 15, 2010. The night before I had open heart surgery. Many would assume that I'd be anxious about the morning, anxious about the little tumor camping out on my mitral valve, the little tumor that 3 weeks prior had caused a mini-stroke. But I wasn’t. I surprised to recognize those feelings weren’t there, but instead replaced with an all-consuming peace. 

I'd been overwhelmed in the days prior, but this night was different. I sensed the Holy Spirit's power in that room helping me place my trust in the One who had carried me through time and time again. There was a stillness and a quiet confidence in my heart. I knew that whatever was on the other side of this surgery, whether life, death or any further medical complications, God was with me. I was not alone. God was keeping me. This wasn't a cliche statement I told myself, but something I believed in the deepest parts of my soul. No disease, no sickness, and not even death could snatch me from His mighty hands. 

8 hours before surgery I wrote, "I fell on my knees in the room of my cold hospital floor, weeping with great joy for just how much God is taking care of me. It still seems unreal that I will be having open heart surgery tomorrow. Although I do not know completely why things in my life have unfolded as they have, I do know the King of the Universe. I know the One who holds the world in the palm of his hand, and He knows me, and for that very reason and that reason alone, my heart is at rest & I have peace." If we are grappling to find peace from our current circumstances we will always be left wanting.

Jesus Christ told His disciples in John 16:33, 'I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.' I have not mastered finding peace in Christ alone all day 24/7, but the Holy Spirit is kind to help me remember. I'm learning throughout this season of uncertainty the sweetness that comes through remembering who the keeper of my soul is. Because when I remember who the keeper of my soul is, the unknowns in this life don't seem quite as scary because I know my soul is safe & secure in my Heavenly Father's arms.