The Day We Said Yes to Adoption

Some days start out ordinary and end up changing your life forever.

For us, it was a Thursday. There was no dramatic music playing, no spotlight shining down, just two cups of coffee, a quiet kitchen, and a zoom call that would alter the course of our lives.

We’d been talking about adoption for over a year and completed many steps to be “able” to even be considered. Some days it felt like a distant dream; other days, it felt like a door we were too nervous to open. The “what-ifs” were loud: What if we weren’t ready? What if we couldn’t meet the needs of a child with a difficult past? What if we failed?

But then came the question that silenced all the doubt: What if we said yes, and it was the best decision we ever made? What if…

That Thursday, our agency (ACF Adoptions) & our Adoption Coordinator, Connie Going- told us about a boy named Jacob. He was full of energy, had a love for Roblox, and carried more life experience than any child his age should have to. He had been through a lot. The kind of “a lot” that makes your heart ache and your protective instincts roar to life.

As they described him, we could feel him coming to life in our minds. He wasn’t just “a profile” or “a case.” He was a person. A boy. Someone’s son, someone who needed committed parents willing to love him through every chapter, not just the easy ones.

We looked at each other across the kitchen table, and without saying a word, we knew. This was our yes.

That yes didn’t mean we weren’t scared, we were. But it also meant we were ready to trade comfort for commitment. Ready to learn, to grow, to be patient, to fail and try again. It meant opening our home and our hearts, knowing that love alone wouldn’t fix everything, but it could be the foundation for healing.

When we hung up the zoom, we sat there in silence for a moment, holding hands, tears in our eyes. The kitchen looked the same, but everything had changed.

Because that was the day we became parents in our hearts- months before it would happen on paper.