~by Amanda

I have had many times in my life when I have been made aware that God knows me and what I need and want in life. My husband and I had been married for almost two years when we realized that we were ready to open our hearts and give love to a child. The next month we found out that I was expecting. We were thrilled. Our baby boy was born the following March.

We were sure that we wanted two kids, and we wanted them close in age. So when our baby was a mere three months old, we started trying for another baby. Before long, we realized that something wasn’t right. My body wasn’t back to normal. After rounds of tests, and infertility treatments we decided to look into adoption. We didn’t jump in blindly…we fasted, and prayed, and thought, and pondered, and realized that this was the way that God wanted us to build our family. We knew that He knew that we wanted another child, and we felt a confirmation from the Holy Ghost that this was the way to add to our family.

We researched agencies. We looked into private adoptions. We were drawn to the private agency that a neighbor of ours worked with. We attended the agency’s classes and started the long process of adoption which included writing a birth-parent letter, putting together a family profile, getting background checks and having home studies done. We finally had all of our paperwork submitted on Feb. 27, 2003.

Six weeks later we got the phone call that changed our lives – a baby girl was in Tennessee awaiting an adoptive family. A few days later we were in Memphis meeting her — our new daughter. We knew that this was what God wanted, and that she had been guided into our lives. Six months later, the adoption was finalized and we were able to have her sealed to us in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, Utah. When she was sealed to us, it was as if she knew what was happening. She looked at the worker in the temple that was performing the sealing with an expression of impatience. She smiled at my husband as if she knew that this is what would bind us together for eternity.

We were happy with two kids. We were sure that we wouldn’t have any more babies. Not quite two years later though, we discovered that I was once again expecting. Another little boy would join our family.

People often ask us why we adopted our middle child. My answer is always that she was meant to be with us. She was meant to be our daughter and Heavenly Father made this possible for us and for her. He was aware of what we needed. Of this I am sure.

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