December 7th, 2008, was a Sunday morning.

Dave and I were in Sunday School when our friends shared that their adopted son’s birth mom was pregnant again.

Immediately something washed over me from head to toe and I thought to myself, I want that baby.

Before this moment, adoption had never really entered the picture as an option for us.

So when that thought kept running through my head, another part of me had a reply.

What do you mean you want that baby? You have always dreamed of pregnancy and childbirth. You don’t want that baby.

The overwhelming desire to take that baby as my own continued to consume my every thought throughout the entire church service. I didn’t hear a word the pastor said that morning!

All I could think about was wondering if God had adoption planned for us somewhere in the future.

After we returned home from church I shared with Dave what had happened.

While we didn’t know if God was opening our hearts to adoption, we both felt strongly that we should at least contact our friends to learn more about the adoption process.

Looking back, we can now see that this moment was the exact time God cracked open the door of adoption for us in preparation for what was to come.

In January, we met with our friends at their home to discuss adoption. We left their home completely at peace about adoption.

This time was a high for us as far as our infertility journey goes. God had clearly opened the door for us to proceed with IVF and we were at peace with adoption.

I felt like maybe, just maybe, we were finally over the hump of this journey.

To say that the outcome of our IVF cycle was a complete shock is an understatement.

Now I know that IVF cycle was the platform God used to perform a miracle in my heart.

- Elaine