If the Lord was calling us to special needs adoption, then we needed to educate ourselves as much as possible, so we totally immersed ourselves in articles and books about parenting a child with Down syndrome. Our thirst for information was almost unquenchable. The more we took in, the more we desired, and it didn't take long before we were well and truly hooked.
To fill the days as we anxiously awaited the birthmother's decision, we joined a Down syndrome adoption email group, hoping to connect with other families who could share their experiences, good and bad. Even though we weren't new to adoption, we were novices in the area of Down syndrome adoption. The books and articles we read were very informative, but they were missing something vitally important--the human connection. The group welcomed us with open arms, and we felt an almost instant kinship with them. Family after family confirmed that we were finally on the right track, and that we would never regret our decision. As they encouraged us, our excitement grew by leaps and bounds.
Three weeks after we agreed to be considered for the unborn baby girl, a member of our new group posted information about a 12-month old baby boy in Colorado who desperately needed a home. Even though we had our hearts set on a baby girl, this little boy sounded very promising, but we were reluctant to submit interest for him until we knew for sure about the first one. A quick call to the agency revealed that the birthmother was leaning heavily towards another family, so they gave their blessing for us to pursue this new situation. As we made initial contact with the Colorado agency, little did we know the Lord was poised to change our lives forever right around the next bend of our journey.
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