I love hearing people’s adoption stories, and this one is definitely a tear-jerker…

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I’m sure most of you have heard our exciting news by now, but we became parents to a precious baby boy, Corban James on Jan 1st!!! : ) What a perfect way to start off the new year!! Everything happened SO fast with this adoption, it was amazing to see God move so clearly and mightily in this situation… I know we have shared bits and pieces of little Corban’s adoption story already, but we want to share the whole thing here for everyone to read.

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I’m sure you remember in Aug 2011 we were “matched” with an expecting birth mother in SC who was due with a baby girl in Oct. The match happened almost immediately after our home study paperwork was complete, and we were overjoyed! Long story short, the adoption fell through on Oct 3rd and we were beyond heartbroken (I’ve already shared the whole story about what happened in other blog posts in the “Our Adoption Journey” section). So since Oct, we have been waiting to be re-matched; the wait seemed like forever because we were hurting so much, and was definitely discouraging at times. Because of the previous adoption that fell through, we lost a big chunk of our adoption funds which made it pretty much impossible to pursue another situation, even though we would hear of potential situations weekly.

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We started looking into foster care a little within the past month, and came across two separate situations involving toddlers. We felt our hearts drawn to them and we prayed and prayed that if that was the direction that God wanted us to go that He would make it VERY clear by either opening or closing those doors in a very obvious way. We were willing and we have a heart for foster children but as young, first time parents we also didn’t want to get in over our heads. So we prayed, and about a week later we received an unexpected phone call, telling us that we would be receiving a large grant towards our adoption! We had applied for this grant months before and had been turned down because we were not matched with a child at that time. They called and said that they reevaluated our situation and decided to make an exception because they felt God putting us on their hearts! WOW!! We were beyond thrilled to be receiving this grant, but because of the low cost of adopting from foster care, we knew we wouldn’t need it if that was the direction we went.

We continued to pray for God to make things clear, and specifically prayed that if it was better for us to adopt a baby and not a toddler, that He would allow an immediate situation with a baby to come up for us, and just a few days later… He DID!

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On Dec 31st (New Years Eve) around 10:00pm we were at home and I was checking my email. We are part of an online adoption group that sends emails out about potential adoption situations as they arise, and we had an email from them that had been sent just minuets before about a baby boy in a hospital in SC who had been born that morning and needed a family. Not a lot of details were given, but we were on the phone with the contact person within minuets and everything that happened from there was a blur… Lots of phone calls and emails until after midnight, lots of praying and pacing the house late into the night, scrambling around and packing, just in case we got the green light to go. Because of it being a holiday and so late at night, we didn’t get our “green light” until the morning. We slept a few hours (maybe, barely) and the next morning we left for the hospital in SC around 9:00am. Longest 3 hour drive of our lives!!

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We got to the hospital around noon, and we waited and waited and waited in the waiting room for at least 45 mins for the adoption lawyer’s assistant who was already there, and was supposed to meet us as soon as we got there. We had no idea at the time why she was delayed, but it turned out that because another lady was going to adopt Corban but had already changed her mind the day before, the hospital had already called social services and a very unpleasant social worker was pressuring the birth mother to let social services take the baby. The birth mother remained very firm in her adoption decision and when the social worker left we were brought back to meet the birth mother and baby.

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I don’t want to keep saying “the birth mother” because it sounds so impersonal, but I don’t really want to put her actual name on something this public either because I want to respect her privacy, so I will call her “Kay.”

We walked into the hospital room with the adoption layer’s assistant and she introduced us to “Kay.” Kay was smiling and she hugged me tight and handed me her baby and said “This is your son!” I think we were all speechless for the first few mins and choking back tears. We spent the next 5 hours visiting with Kay until she was discharged and left the hospital. The time we had with her was wonderful; she told us about herself, her family, the baby’s birth and her situation; she is young (younger than us), lives with her mother and already has other children to care for. She felt very strongly that she wanted her son to grow up with two parents, and especially with a father. It was obvious that she loved her baby and cared about him deeply, but she wanted him to have what her other children didn’t… a daddy. We greatly admire her for her unbelievable strength and selflessness in this situation; I don’t think she stopped smiling the whole time. Kay gave us her contact information so we could keep in touch with her, and she left the hospital that evening. We were later told that on her way home she kept saying over and over “He has a dad…” “He has a dad!” :’)

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We went back to the hospital nursery to see our new son. We were told at first that the plan for us to stay the night in the hospital with him since he would be discharged the following  morning, but things didn’t go as planned… Because of all kinds complicated hospital policies, we weren’t able to hold Corban again until he was discharged the next morning. We watched him through the nursery window for a few hours while things were trying to be worked out for us to have him that night, but when it became clear that the hospital couldn’t really do anything we went to a hotel across the street for the night. Night number 2 of barely any sleep for me, lol. I slept for a few hours and was wide awake for the day by 4:30am. I have since had at least 3 other people tell me that they woke up at the same time that morning praying for Corban… I’d love to know what was happening at 4:30am on Jan 2nd. We got to the hospital around 8:00am and Corban was discharged a few hours later after his final medical exam.

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We went from the hospital to the adoption lawyer’s office to fill out some paper work and then we headed to Greenville. Because of SC law, we had to stay in the state until the end of the week until the interstate paperwork for the adoption was complete. We were VERY blessed to have a family friend offer their beautiful vacation home in Greenville to us, which was only 2 hours away. That night Corban met his Grandma Teri, his Aunt Meghan and his future Aunt Cheryl, who came to visit. The day after next his “Nina” Karin and his Aunt Jessica flew in from TX and stayed with Corban and I for the remainder of the week since Ben had to return to NC for work. They were such a blessing, I have no idea how I would have managed everything in SC that we had to take care of without them! On Friday we got clearance to leave the state and came HOME!

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Life with precious little Corban is amazing, and we’re all adjusting well. He is eating great, gaining weight and sleeping very well so far. We are SO beyond blessed and SO in awe of God!!!

And now we introduce Corban James Hillman. Born Dec 31, 2011 at 4:06 am, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz. The name Corban means “A gift devoted to God” and James is for the Bible verse James 1:27, which is what God first started using to lay adoption on our hearts 3 years ago.

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We cannot even begin to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, encouragement, donations and support throughout this entire process! We have been blessed with amazing families and wonderful friends and 1,000 “Thank You!’s” still wouldn’t seem like enough… We appreciate you all so much!

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I guess this blog post concludes “Our Adoption Journey” – At least for now.

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“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR YOU.” Jeremiah 32:17

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Lord, please break our hearts and show each and every one of us how to help…

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http://give1save1.com/adoption-in-africa/

I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself…

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And this one…

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An excellent article (especially the last section) on adoption from http://christian.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/are-you-called

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“Throughout our journey to adopt our sons from the foster care system we have encountered many people who, in conversation, volunteer their lists of reasons why they cannot adopt. I am often surprised at how many of these people are Christian. They will tell us how wonderful they think we are because we “saved” our kids. They tell us that we are special, that it takes a special person to adopt. They tell us that they don’t have enough money, enough space, enough time to adopt. They even tell us that they don’t feel “called” to help, to adopt these kids. I cringe at the mere suggestion that one could be excluded from the call to help the orphans.

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James 1:27 (NIV) says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I think this verse is often overlooked by the Christian community. To me, there are very few ways to interpret this statement. There are over 100 million children in the world who are orphans. In the US there are more than 150,000 children at any given moment who have been waiting some time to have a forever family. Our oldest son waited ten years. I look at him and at the pain he endured and ask myself where we as Christians are in all of this. What is our role? Does this passage in James tell us to look away? Does Jesus ever ask us to focus on our own comfort? Are we not all striving for “faultless religion”, the kind of religion our Father loves?

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So often our desire for children is centered around our own wants, our own needs, our own ideas of what family should be. We focus on what it is we want and discard what it is that God wants. I really, really want the baby growing inside of me to be a girl. It is a bit ridiculous how badly I want this baby to be a girl. But no matter how hard I wish for a girl and no matter how much pink I buy, this baby will be whomever God wants it to be. I cannot request a healthy child with beautiful blue eyes. I cannot request a child who is easy to get along with, one who brings joy and peace wherever she goes. I can’t request that she be slender and tall. The only option I have is to trust that the Lord is leading our family and that He will bring us the child He means for us to have. In the same way, I cannot ask that He rearrange His word to suit my desires. Caring for the orphan is hard, hard work. Adoption will never be easy for any of us. It is an amazing blessing but at the root, there is heartache for someone, often most of all for our child. I cannot run from the call to care for the orphan because it is hard. I cannot run from it because it isn’t convenient. I cannot accept the excuses that my mind creates and allow them to turn me from pushing forward toward the call my Father has laid out for me. I must read this verse and make it my mantra. I must know in my heart that a call from God is never put forth lightly. He doesn’t mince His words. We are all called to care for the kids who hearts ache with the loneliness of waiting to be loved.

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Don’t ask yourself IF you are called to these kids, ask HOW you can fulfill the calling God our Father has set forth. Then pursue your calling to help the orphans in their distress. It is true that not all of us can adopt for a variety of very valid reasons. So help the orphan in another way. Find your state’s photolisting of children who are waiting for a family. Print out a picture of a child or children who wait. Hang them on your fridge and pray for them daily. Pray for the family who will be matched with that child. Find a reputable Christian organization that offers child sponsorship and add a child to your family in that way. Find an adoptive family that could use some childcare and step up to the plate. So often, so many of us are tired and weary and don’t want to ask someone to take on the task of watching our difficult children. Go to your local Children’s Home and volunteer your time to read to children who have been brought in from abusive situations. Go to the store and buy a pile of diapers and deliver them to the mom who just brought her beautiful bundle of joy home from China. Send a note to a child in your church who was just adopted welcoming him or her into your church family. There are a million and one ways to care for the orphan. There are just as many ways to care for adoptive parents. Decide HOW you can be a part of God’s call to the orphan, and then pursue that task with your heart invested. We are ALL called.”

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Some of my online friends are in the process of adopting two precious children from Ukraine. They are still in need of several thousand dollars before they can bring these little girls home, and they just found out that the situation has just become very urgent for one of the girls. Any day now, Aliza will be moved from her current orphanage and transferred to a much worse place where her quality of life will be absolutely terrible for the coming months until her family can finally bring her home.

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You can read this family’s story and further details about Aliza’s situation here on their blog: http://nolongeranorphan.blogspot.com/2011/11/urgently-we-plead.html

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This family is in desperate need of funds; the sooner they raise the remainder of their funds the sooner they can go to Ukraine and bring these girls home! There is a “donate” button on their blog and every dollar is a dollar closer. Let’s shower this family with love & financial blessings and help stand in the gap for little Aliza! <3 Please share this too, the more people that see it, the better!

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Dear family, friends and blog readers,

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We wanted to post an update on our Adoption Fundraiser and thank you for your support! Through your generous support and helping us spread the word about our fundraiser, we are now OVER half way done with our special fundraising puzzle and have raised $2,900 since June!  : ) -

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Below is a picture of our puzzle progress… It is looking so awesome, with a donor’s name written on the back of each puzzle piece. This is going to be such a special keepsake when it’s finished and we can hang it up in the baby’s room!

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As far as our adoption progress goes, we are still waiting to be re-matched with a new situation. We have been presented with several this month, but all have been  financially out of reach for us. Because of our previous adoption situation falling through last month, we lost a big chunk of our adoption money and are in more need of help than ever because of that loss.

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November is National Adoption/Orphan Awareness month. In honor of this, would you please continue to spread the word about our fundraiser as much as you can before the end of November? Adoption Awareness month is a great time to turn people’s attention towards the need for adoption. Not everyone can adopt but everyone can afford give a dollar or two to support someone who is adopting, and every dollar ads up and makes a big difference in the end!

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So if you would like to help, please share this blog post on Facebook (easy FB share button is at the bottom of the page), share our link in your blog, tell your friends, family, church, coworker’s, youth group or anyone else who may be interesting in getting involved or donating a few dollars towards our adoption in honor of Adoption Awareness Month! If everyone who read this shared this post on Facebook, and everyone on their friend’s list each donated ONE DOLLAR, we would be in GREAT shape, and have raised back the amount we lost and so much more.  : ) Please help us spread the word as much as we can before November is over! We appreciate you all more than words could ever say. <3

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This is such an awesome adoption story and this is Christ’s love in action. -

http://dl2.cbn.com/cbnplayer/cbnPlayer.swf?s=/mp4/iLH22v2a_WS

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This is an awesome website where every Monday your $1 automatic paypal donation goes to support a different family’s African Adoption! That’s 4 dollars a month; I think we can ALL afford this, so please check it out and sign up! Adopting is expensive, especially internationally… What if every member of your family donated a dollar a week? Or everyone in your work place or church?! Let’s make a difference in some lives and help more families adopt! ♥

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