Approved and Waiting
On New Year’s Eve 2019, we had begun preparing our adoption profile book after a long six-month home study process for domestic adoption. I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to blame it on the rich holiday food, but on a hunch, I took a pregnancy test. 2020 began with a big surprise, we were pregnant with our son Elias! (Though we weren’t quite prepared for the other surprises the year held in store.)
Even while we were pregnant and after I gave birth, Joseph and I still felt a call to adoption. As soon as Elias was old enough, we renewed our home study and began preparing our profile once again. Now, we are excited to announce that we officially “approved and waiting” for a birth mother to choose us to parent her child.
If you’re new to our adoption journey, here are a few of the pertinent details: we are adopting domestically (within the United States) through Lifeline Children’s Services based here in Birmingham, Alabama. Once a birth mother chooses to make an adoption plan with Lifeline, we have the option of showing her our profile book. The birth mother will then choose a family for her baby from these profile books. We are told it takes an average of 1-2 years to be matched with a birth mother. The adoption will cost around $35,000, and we have already begun to save, fundraise, and apply for grants.
Joseph and I have felt God’s call on our life to adopt since early in our marriage, and here is an excerpt of our story from my original adoption announcement blog post in July 2019.
Every faith family Joseph and I have been a part of has displayed the beauty of adoption for us. The church where I grew up was actively engaged with orphanages in Ukraine; there was even a girl in my class who had been adopted from there. The church I attended while in college had many families who had adopted from Asia and Africa, including many of our pastors. In the first church we attended as a married couple, we helped a family fundraise to bring home two special needs daughters from China. Over and over again, we saw God bringing hope to a broken situation by means of adoption, but specifically international adoption. We were not as aware of domestic adoption until a family crisis rocked our world in 2015.
We received the call early one February morning, a little over a year after being married. Joseph’s teenage sister who was three-months pregnant had been told by her boyfriend that if she wanted their relationship to work, she had to get an abortion. She chose her baby’s life and left that same day. She was stranded with no car and nowhere to go, so we immediately jumped in our car and headed to pick her up. We weren’t sure what we were going to do when we got there, but we knew God would give the three of us wisdom.
After much prayer and discussion, we invited Joseph’s sister to live with us. Those four months were some of the hardest of our lives, but they also taught us so much about God and His love for the most vulnerable.
Over the next two months, I took his sister to her medical appointments and to job interviews. There was a wonderful Christian pregnancy resource center in our area that helped us walk through the process of her becoming a parent. They provided free parenting classes, information about adoption, baby clothes and supplies, and guidance on paperwork such as WIC and Medicaid. It was then that my eyes were opened to the hardship these mothers face when they have an unexpected pregnancy, but my eyes were also opened to their courage.
I had always been pro-life, but walking through this process with his sister made me realize that we must value all lives in this process. As one Lifeline article puts it, “We must strive to be consistent in living like Christ and be more than pro-birth only. We must be truly pro-LIFE.” I realized that the church must be there not only for the child, but also for the mother. We must not only fight for the pregnancy and the birth, but for adoption plans or familial support.
Our hearts were burdened as we walked through the process with his sister, loving her the best we could and thankful for the ways our church family loved her. And our hearts broke when she lost her baby at twenty weeks. We sat by her hospital bed, wept with her, cared for her, and we were still amazed at the incredible courage and faith she displayed as she held her daughter for those few minutes.
Those moments with Alice Noelle impacted our journey forever.
After seeing what these mothers go through, we know that it takes more than a persuasive argument for them to choose to parent or to make an adoption plan. They need to know that we are pro-baby and pro-mother. They need to know that just like their baby is valuable because it is made in God’s image, she is valuable because she, too, is an image bearer. It was then we knew we wanted to serve this vulnerable population—one that is often told that their value will decrease if they choose to keep their baby. A population who feels like there is no hope—one that feels shame from their family, culture, and sometimes even from the church.
That is why we are choosing to adopt domestically through Lifeline. Their birth mother ministry is incredible. The entire process is mother-centered; they want her to feel loved, valued, and prepared whether they choose to parent or make an adoption plan. They provide transportation to medical appointments, counseling, and so much more; but most importantly, they provide the love of Christ.
Our ultimate motivation for adopting is that we have received the love of God through adoption. Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” We are adopting because God has adopted us. We were a people hopeless, afraid, and vulnerable, but God became our Father. We can cry out to the God of the universe knowing He will answer because we are His sons and daughters.
We are adopting domestically so that a mother can choose life not only for her child, but also eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
We’ll be sharing more details and updates throughout our adoption journey, but right now, we ask that you pray for our family as we patiently wait for the Lord to bring us together with the birth mother and baby he has planned for us. Pray for our birth mother, that she would have the courage to choose life for her child and eternal life in Christ. Pray for the staff at Lifeline, especially the pregnancy counselors as they care wholistically for these vulnerable women.
You can also pray that we would trust God to provide financially as we save and fundraise the final $20,000 we will need when we are matched. If you would like to support us financially, you can give online through our Lifesong for Orphans account. We were awarded a $3,000 matching grant from AIM5 Adoption Fund which means when you give to us through Lifesong, your donation will be matched. There are two ways you can give to us through Lifesong:
- Give online at https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/journey-domestic-adoption/. STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction), so your donations will be decreased by this amount.
- Give by check. You can either mail the check directly to Lifesong or you can give it to us, and we will mail it with other checks. In the memo line please write “Broderick 08780” to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.
If you have other ideas of how you can help us fundraise or if you have a business that partners with adopting families, let us know. We are thankful for the village that is surrounding our family and helping us bring our newest edition home!