I should start this blog off by introducing us. Doug and I are waiting to be adoptive parents. There's a lot more to us, obviously, but our decision to adopt is such a life-altering, defining event in our lives, and it's the key to why I started this site, so it's the jumping off point. So without further ado:
How We Got Here (The Stream of Consciousness Version)
When I was sixteen, I told my mom I was going to adopt one day. Fast forward a decade, and I'm on a first date. I slip on a wet tile and break my wrist. I end up in physical therapy, where I run into a guy I knew in high school. I go to a party at his house, and reunite with Kelly, one of my closest friends from high school. Three months later, she talks me into blowing off our plans for the night to attend a party for one of her brother's friends. We get there, and some guy's all over me. I'm not interested. Kelly introduces me to one of her brother's friends: "Erin, this is Doug. He's a nice boy." I tell Doug he's my boyfriend for the evening. He agrees. We talk all night. We find out we're both nerds. He offers to fly me to DC for a weekend. He says he's kind of like a bounty hunter for the Marine Corps, so he flies everywhere. I think he's lying. I laugh and agree to visit. He says he's glad he came. Tonight was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in DC and he originally planned to be there instead.
He calls the next day. We meet up for a drink that night. It's Awkward. We both decide to give it one more chance. A month later, I'm on a first-class flight to DC. We're a couple. He really is a bounty hunter for the Marines.
Seven months later, he botches a marriage proposal. I say yes anyway and we laugh. In April of 2009, we get married, and I move to DC. We're living in the same state for the first time in our relationship. In November, we start trying to have a baby. He decides he wants to be a civilian. In June, we move back to Pittsburgh. My grandma's old house is vacant. We move in and remodel it. It's Torture. Still no baby. I have a feeling it isn't in the cards. I start making doctor appointments. In December, I cry while I ask Doug if he's ok with adopting. He says "yes, of course," no hesitation. "Why are you crying, did you think I'd say no?" We tell our parents on Christmas.
We start researching. We find out how expensive adoption is. We mortgage our house. We find a reputable agency and sign up for an orientation. The doctor tells me we can choose to pursure fertility treatment, but will probably never conceive. Two days later, we attend the adoption orientation. Four months later, on my thirty-first birthday, we receive approval on our home study and become eligible to adopt. We begin waiting....
I think our story is pretty special. Neither of us had met prior to that night, even though we were in the same social circles for years. Neither of us was supposed to be at that party. I hadn't spoken to my friend Kelly in years before we were reunited, and she moved out of state just a couple months after she introduced us. You can call that being at the right place at the right time, but I believe God called me to adopt, and then found me someone special, hundreds of miles away, to share my dream. Sometimes God's hand doesn't gently lead where He wants you to go. Sometimes He pushes, and you fall and break your wrist.
Or maybe that's just me.
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