Tender Mercies

One year ago I was scammed. My husband and I had been trying to adopt again for more than a year and seemed to lose baby after baby. We met another birthmom online and began talking to her. She had the baby and we fell in love with her through pictures while she was in the NICU. The birthmom decided to raise her daughter. Our hearts were broken and we prayed that these two special girls would have everything that they needed in life.

A few months ago, I was reading a friend's blog about her situation that sounded VERY similar to our experience. We found out through her detective skills that this was indeed a scam and the baby that we had fallen in love with had never existed. It's sick that someone would/could do something like that to a couple so desperate, so prepared, so emotional, so deserving. I was angry. Livid actually. And then I remembered my happy ending.

Just one month after learning that we would not be raising that baby, a friend contacted us about someone she knew who was having a baby girl...in five short weeks! We took a leap of faith and made a 14 hour journey to meet her. She chose us as her daughter's parents. I will never forget pulling up to her house after our long, emotional drive and seeing the cutest pregnant belly I've ever seen! It was so great to feel the baby kick and know that she was REAL. At the time I didn't know how important the "Real" part was...I had thought the other baby was real too. Looking back, I am so grateful for the Tender Mercies of the Lord. I'm grateful that I found out that we had been scammed...after it had already happened. I can't change anything about it, but it could have certainly changed my path. What if we lacked the faith in our daughter's birthmom and never went to meet her?

Our daughter is almost a year old. She is our sunshine and the love of my life. (Well, one of them, our 3 year old and my husband are high on my list too! :) Our Father in Heaven is aware of us. He knows us. He loves us. He wants us to be happy. I am so grateful that he led us to her, our REAL baby!