Adoption Journeys

by Paula and Stephen Ramey    

As the adoptive parents of two children with very different ethnicities and backgrounds, our adoption experiences are varied to say the least. 

As a couple, we had struggled previously with infertility for about five years, and desperately wanted a child. We heard through a mutual friend of the private adoption agency within our home state called Christian Family Services,  and decided to give them a call. We received the welcome packet through the mail, filled out the necessary paperwork, and four months later we were holding our precious infant daughter. 

During the adoption process, we were told that there was a young birthmother whom was pregnant with a biracial baby — half Hispanic and half Caucasian. We were asked if we would be interested in adopting a biracial child, and instantly knew we would accept any child God offered to us. 

We compiled a portfolio of photographs and captions of our married life together for the birthmother to look through as she made the important decision of choosing the adoptive parents of her child.  We took our portfolio to the adoption office on July 15, 2003 and the very next day, we received the long-awaited phone call that we were chosen to be the adoptive parents of this birthmother’s unborn child.  We were thrilled and so very thankful for this answered prayer!

When we heard the news, we just held each other and cried praising our Father.     

The entire process was amazingly easy, financially reasonable, and very short in duration. In the end, we were the proud parents of a healthy and beautiful baby girl. 

Paula was fortunate enough to watch our daughter’s birth in the delivery room, and she was also the first to hold her new bundle of joy.  A moment she will never forget!    

The adoption process of our son could not have been more different from our daughter’s adoption.  We were actually satisfied and felt as if our family was complete when the opportunity arose for this second adoption. 

Our daughter was almost four years old, and we had previously applied again to Christian Family Services in hopes of adopting another child — a boy. However, after waiting one year with no results, we decided our family was complete, and removed our names from the waiting list with the agency. 

Within just a few weeks, a dear friend of mine approached me at church about a little Russian boy who would be making a trip to the United States, and would need a forever family to adopt him. This boy was an orphan in Penza, Russia who had been abandoned by his birthmother when he was 15 months old. 

He was diagnosed as a dwarf with severe respiratory complications; in fact, he had been hospitalized in Russia numerous times for respiratory distress, and nearly died several times.  This child was coming to the United States thanks to Project Hope — an organization of doctors and specialists who agree to treat Russian orphans with disabilities for free, and in the meantime, attempt to find them homes in the United States.  This boy was three years old, and deperately needed medical treatment, compassion, mercy, and most of all, love. 

After discussion and prayer, we knew this was God’s plan for our family and for this child.  Our son arrived in the United States on November 15, 2007 and he has been an integral part of our family since. Happily, he has now been diagnosed as having rickets, not dwarfism.  Rickets is a condition in which the growth is slowed and bones are disfigured as a result of malnutrition.  The condition is easily treated with proper nutrition and Vitamin D. Our son is now a healthy little boy who is growing and thriving. 

His adoption, however, was anything but thriving. 

The process took about a year of paperwork, doctor visits, notary stamps, delays, confusion, and frustration to complete.  We made the long-awaited trip to Russia in November of 2008 to finalize the adoption, and we were so happy and thankful to be back home at the end of the three-week trip in a distant land of uncertainty.  With the help of our friends and family, we were able to proceed through this adoption process emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially.    

Now, we realize our family is just the way God intended.  The adoption journey was long and at times difficult, but well worth every bump in the road.  We are so blessed to be the parents of two healthy, fun, and loving children.  We learned that no matter what adoption route one is called to travel — whether the route carries you just down the interstate within your own state, or across an entire ocean — the end result is the same. 

A Forever Family is created in God’s image and with His blessing and love.

(To read another adoption story, “The Christmas Gift,” click HERE.)

(To learn about the Adopt N.O.W. project, click HERE.)