Featured FAC Families

The Meyer Family

Hello I’m Alli! Our journey began with young love and today the story is just as sweet because of the joy of raising twin toddlers. The season of hurt in between though, the messy chapter of our lives that led us here, was filled with more grief than we ever knew possible. A bitter battle with infertility led us to not one, but two pregnancies both with a fatal prognosis. Our babies in heaven were both delivered stillborn at 27 weeks, just eight months apart. If not for their sweet lives, our paths would have never collided with J, the twins birth mom, who chose us to be the parents we are today.

How has this process stretched your faith?

Between two pregnancies, I spent 16 weeks of my life chained to my home, waiting for my babies to die. I was an outcast and those weeks of suffering are now sacred to me for they gave me a connection with Christ and His suffering that I could have never had prior. Today, I am convinced that I wouldn’t have survived my struggles had it not been for my relationship with the Lord and I am still blown away by the fact that He was able to wash away YEARS worth of hurt buried deep inside my soul in a hospital delivery room within a span of just 15 minutes (the time between Demri and Dawson being born).

What is one desire you have for your children or the future of your journey?

My children overcame massive obstacles before they even took one breath on this earth. They were wanted and I pray that I can teach them to confidently use their story, especially the parts that this world will tell them to be ashamed of, as a platform for sharing how much God loves them and how fierce His purpose is in using their precious lives for good.

What lead you to FAC?

The day I held my lifeless daughter in my arms, I knew in that moment that it was time to surrender our plans to the Lord. I let adoption into my heart that day. A few weeks later, my mom was diagnosed overnight with stage 4 breast cancer. She died 5 months before the twins were born and while she never got to meet them earth side, if it weren’t for her, I would have never landed in a small group at my church filled with other grieving mamas - which is where I found FAC.

Why were you excited to share parts of your story with others?

I was excited to share our story to 1) let others know that open adoption is not something to be afraid of. By no means is it easy, but not many things in life that are worthwhile are. It has taught our family so much about unconditional love. And 2) I also wanted to share so that others know that every single day of their struggle matters! I am convinced that God gives us all a story because there are others out there who are desperate to hear it. It is important to me to encourage others to lean in, learn from their journey (even when they don’t want to) and to never stop fighting for what the Lord has placed on your heart. My hope is that our journey inspires others to believe that a broken body or an empty nursery doesn’t have to be the end of the story.

The Hayward Family

Hello I’m Amy! This is me and Amelia from the Midwest! We love to travel and serve others at home and especially abroad. We both share a love for donuts— all of them! Being a part of the FAC family has been such a blessing to us!

What lead you to FAC?

When I was praying about what adoption avenue to pursue I sought out international, foster to adopt and domestic. On the international end I kept running into road blocks because of being single and never had peace about foster to adopt. A friend of mine is a social worker for infertility and when I shared with her my calling to adopt even as a single gal she had just received an email about FAC — it somehow (God) came to her desk just that day. From the minute I looked it up I knew this was the fit for me. I literally read every sentence on the website and had a peace — I reached out and scheduled a call!

What was the hardest part of the wait?
The hardest part of the wait for me was the up and down — the hopefulness of a situation and then holding my breath till I received the no. Looking back now I see how those 78 situations shaped me and drew me closer to God on my journey to the ONE He had for me.

What is one detail of your story that you can’t deny God had His hand in?
After my initial call with FAC I remember being overwhelmed by the cost. I didn’t have a dime. I remember praying “Lord, if this is you, if this is the way I’m supposed to go then call me “out of the boat” and I’ll walk on the water to You. The very next day my Bible reading for that day was on Peter walking on the water. I had NO DOUBT I was supposed to sign with FAC.

How has being a mama changed your life?
Being a momma has shown me the tangible love of the Father in a way I have never known before. As I train and teach my child, I hear Gods voice train and teaching me. As I say daily to my daughter “you are wanted, chosen and loved by God and by mommy” I hear the Fathers voice say — YOU are wanted, chosen and loved. My walk with God is now more real than ever by being a mom.

The Lewis FAmily

We are the Lewis Family; Jason, Jenifer, and Maya and we live in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan (the 2nd coldest capital city in the world!). We started dating our senior year of high school and have been married for 19 years. After pregnancy loss and infertility, we were blessed to be at the hospital in April 2018 when Maya Jubilee was born in Jason's home state of Kansas. I’m a university professor, Jason is an administrator at the same university, and Maya, who is 19 months old, loves to color and give hugs.

What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned?

So much of our journey reflects God's handiwork and timing. Maya joined our family after 17 years of marriage, pregnancy losses, and infertility. Honestly, we never thought of ourselves as "infertile" until we had to answer that question for our home study and we realized that we fit the definition. We had simply trusted God to bring a child into our family in His time and in His way, and we never felt pain in our waiting. We realize this is not the case for everyone, but we can truly say that we had so much peace in our journey. God’s timing was so clear in our adoption process. From when we went active, when we were matched, when Maya was born, to getting her birth certificate the day we planned to leave the state, and so many more events were perfectly timed by God.

How did FAC guide you through this journey?

Without FAC we would have been lost! They held our hands throughout the process and guided us through each and every step along the way. Because we live abroad, we had some extra steps and some additional questions (like whether we needed to do ICPC), and FAC either had the answer or tapped into their network of professionals to find the answer for us. FAC really counseled us through some tough decisions related to our openness in adopting. Because we live overseas in a location with some healthcare limits (and doctors who speak a different language than us) we had to consider carefully whether we were open to certain potential medical issues. While our hearts wanted to say "yes" to any child, we had to think clearly about what would be in the best interest of a child and that led us to limit our openness. FAC was incredible in supporting us through this and telling us it was "okay" to say "no." We also had to say "no" to situations with very little lead time for travel. That was heartbreaking because we were ready for a baby immediately, but with 25-30 hours of travel time to get to the U.S. plus the cost of making last minute flight reservations, we simply had to have more time.

What were some extra challenges you faced adopting while living abroad?

More paperwork! We had to do our FBI fingerprints at the U.S. embassy here. The woman who did them hadn’t done prints in several years so she did about 5 sets each just to make sure we got some good ones...it took about 2 hours! Also, we had to fly our social worker to our city from Germany for our home study! Living overseas, we had to be prepared for phone calls in the middle of the night once we went active. We recall checking our email first thing every morning in case an urgent situation came while we were sleeping. In fact, when Courtney called us to tell us we were matched it was ‪around 10:30am‬ so she was the one putting in a late night working. It "happened" that I was traveling to the U.S. the next day on a business trip so we worked all day and night getting all of the paperwork ready so she could take it with her. I also met Maya's birth mom during that trip. It was truly God's timing to arrange our match a day before a planned trip to the U.S. In addition, we had to be patient about when we could come home to Kazakhstan. We had to wait for a birth certificate, apply for a passport, and get all of the legal documents together before we could travel internationally with Maya. We were so blessed that these all came together in a short time and we were able to come home when Maya was about 3 months old. Even with all of these extra challenges, we didn’t feel overwhelmed because FAC was such a great support system. We expected our process would take a long time because of where we live, but we were matched in less than 2 months after going active, and Maya was born less than 2 months later!

How has your overseas community embraced your adoption journey?

We have an amazing community where we live. Our community is incredibly international with families that come from various nationalities and ethnicities. They have absolutely embraced Maya and we are so blessed by the people we live and work with. From finding basics such as diapers and formula, to navigating the medical system, to playdates in -20 temperatures (yes, it gets that cold here), we have found everything we needed from our community here in Kazakhstan. Adoption is not common here, and we've been able to answer so many questions about adoption. We hope in some way that our family shows God’s story of redemption through each of us living in His love and light.