In today's story, we'll meet the H.B. family who decided to adopt domestically through a private adoption agency. :)

When my husband and I made the decision to adopt, we hadn't even considered where we might adopt from. If you're LDS, you go to LDS Family Services, right? So off we went. We had our intake appointment, were treated very kindly, and began working on the paperwork for our homestudy. All seemed fine, except that we felt no peace as we began to proceed. Despite our determination and a definite confirmation that our decision to adopt was correct, the negative and uneasy feelings persisted so we began to explore adoption possibilities other than LDSFS.

We looked into adopting internationally, but decided to pursue a domestic adoption, largely because it seemed the more affordable option at the time. Through a friend we were led to a wonderful homestudy agency and felt very calm and peaceful as we completed the necessary paperwork for them. Through another friend and some local agencies, we began to hear about infants available for adoption. Each time a situation came up we would prayerfully seek the guidance of Heavenly Father to know if this was the child meant for our family. It absolutely broke our hearts each time we had to say "That's not our baby." We knew we could love and adore ANY child, but we also knew in our hearts that Heavenly Father had a spirit specifically meant to come to our home.

After the 12th time we turned down a baby, I pleaded with the Lord to please, please let the next one we heard about be OUR baby. I told Him that after waiting to age 36 for the blessing of motherhood, I didn't think I had the strength to turn down another opportunity. The 13th situation came up just a few days later, and we were very hopeful...but the baby's birthmother decided to place with a family member. I cried all the way home that day, but arrived to find 2 messages on our answering machine about a little preemie girl who needed a family.

FINALLY....there she was! We had found our baby! She is now two-and-a-half, and is absolutely the joy of our lives. There is tremendous peace in knowing that this little girl is the one Heavenly Father meant to be ours!! Looking back we can see how He led us all along the way, and it increases our faith that He will continue to lead and guide us as we parent this precious little spirit.

Through another series of miracles that led us in a totally different direction, we are traveling to India in three weeks to bring home our second daughter. And again, what peace there is in knowing Heavenly Father has directed us around the world to find another member of our forever family!