Jordan's Story -
Our story is very similar to something like a lone miner who had devoted his entire life to painstakingly search for that one precious gem, which he knew deep within in his heart was out there buried behind darkness, and has yet to be unearthed.
My wife Sharla and I had been married for six years before we decided to begin the adoption process that eventually led us to our wonderful daughter. During those first six years, we suffered greatly through a narrative of infertility--which we are still learning to endure.
In 2011 we began to consider more seriously an idea that had off and on popped into our hearts and minds throughout that time: Maybe God is wanting us to adopt. I don't want to ignore here just how reluctant I was at times to accept this as our story. It didn't make sense. It wasn't our plan. It wasn't my plan. I was more comfortable to continue blindly swinging my pickax, than to give it over to God, but I was tired, and my wife's conviction toward this alternative was infectious. I was soon reminded that God sees clearly while we see dimly. And so, our adoption process formally began in early 2012.
I'll never forget the feeling I got when Sharla called me about the possibility of adopting our daughter. After she explained the case, I knew without hesitation that this match was in fact our daughter. All other matches that we attempted before didn't have this level of peace and affirmation. It was truly providential! We immediately left what we were doing and headed out of state to meet our daughter.
Now, the clouds of our story didn't immediately clear, and rainbows and sunshine didn't miraculously fill our days. We only moved to a new trial: our daughter was born premature and spent her first weeks fighting for her life in a NICU. But as hard as that was--and it most defintely was, as we had many anxious nights full of fearful and lonely tears--we never doubted it being His story for us. And when hasn't a precious gem been unearthed from the dirt and muck, to then be cleaned and refined. It was most definitely a difficult refining process to be sure.
This story is a beautiful story, so much so that we've considered it again, but who knows aside from God. What we do know is that Ruby is our precious gem. God found her, preserved her, and continued to cherish her for and through us.
