My Adoption Miracle

It’s Adoption Awareness Month and we wanted to hear from our very own Dr. Heather Rupe and her miracle adoption.  Adoption is part of God’s heart, and as mom’s we have the honor to encourage, support, and even consider this beautiful example of redemption.

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Hebrews 10:36 “You need to persevere, so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”

On November 3, 2009 as I was reading my bible this scripture jumped off the page and screamed at me.

This was my verse. God meant for me to read it on that day, to once again confirm that we were indeed following his plan for our life. Over the last 3 years we had gone through 3 gut wrenching failed adoptions. It was not the plan we would have chosen, but the peace of knowing I was in His will once again soothed the pain of disappointment of the past.

Over the last several weeks I had felt myself drifting toward hopelessness, but then I felt my faith begin to soar on that day.

Later that morning as I was walking my dog, I began to pray. I can still remember the exact spot on my neighborhood trail where I felt very strongly God saying to me that it was time to set up the nursery. It was not an audible voice, but an internal thought that was definitely not my own. There was no doubt in my heart that this is what God was telling me to do. I hoped it meant that a baby was coming soon, but I wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was just another step of faith. I came home from my walk and nervously told my husband what God had told me. His response was simple “OK.”

So the next day we pulled our crib out of storage and put it together. We dug out all the carefully saved bins, and sorted through the baby stuff. It was not easy. What if I was being silly? What if we were disappointed again? But the more I worked on the nursery the more I felt my faith rise. I called my mom and some friends to tell them what we were doing. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jessica that weekend to tell her.

That Sunday, one of the pastors from our church dedicated their adopted sons. When babies were dedicated at church, it was often hard for me to watch, as my own journey to complete my family grew more and more painful. I will admit to taking a bathroom break occasionally so I didn’t have to sit through them. This dedication was so special though because it was awesome to see how God worked in their lives through adoption. As I watched I felt peace instead of pain.

November 10, 2009 was a Tuesday. I was on ER call. That means that if a patient comes in that doesn’t have a doctor at our hospital they would be assigned to my care. I get assigned to this call about once a month. Shortly before lunch I got a call from one of the ER doctors. There’s a patient here in labor, she not from around here, and by the way she didn’t know she was pregnant.

After getting the patient admitted, I stepped out to do some paperwork. Later, as I came back to the room to check on her, nurses looked at me and one said in a very slow, deliberate voice, “Dr. Rupe, the patient wants to give her baby for adoption.” The entire room turned to see my response. The unit had watched us go through our loss, they knew what we had been through and how much we wanted a child.

At that moment I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest. I managed to ask, “Would you consider my family, we have been waiting a long time to adopt a baby?”

“Yes” she simply said.

I then turned over her medical care to one of my partners and stepped into my office to hyperventilate. I called my husband and told him about the possibility. Then I picked up the phone to call Jessica to ask her to pray {remember I hadn’t told her about setting up the nursery}, and I noticed that I had a voicemail from her. Her message simply said, “Heather, I had a dream last night that you had a baby. You have been on my heart and I‘ve been praying for you all morning.” Wow. I was shaking as I put down the phone, tears began to flow. Could this really be the answer to my prayers?

After the baby was born that night, our profile was given to the birth mom by the social workers. The next morning, we met with the birth mom and she told us that she wanted us to have her son. I wept. We talked for awhile and I asked her why she came to our hospital since she lived several hours away. “I don’t know,” she said, “I really had no reason to come here. I just got in my car and started driving… I drove several hours up 65 until I saw this hospital.”

Later that day we got to meet Carson. We brought Ryan to the hospital and we all held him. He was so perfect and perfect for our family. There were so many happy tears that night.

The next day we brought him home. As we left the hospital the nurses put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the portico like a “real mom.” It was so special. I could feel all the love and support. He has been our son since that day and always will be.

A few weeks after Carson was born we were at a Christmas party and I overheard someone ask Russ, “What was the biggest surprise after you got him home?”

His answer warms my heart even now, “How quickly we fell in love with him. I thought it would take some time, but it was immediate.”

So that’s my adoption miracle: After 3 years of waiting, a women drives for hours in pain, not even realizing that she is pregnant, to a hospital where I happen to be on call, a week after God told me to set up our nursery and a day after Jessica has a dream that I have a baby.

That’s my miracle adoption story.  If you would like to read the whole story, check it out here.

How do you like to support adoption?  Are you considering adoption or have you adopted? We would love to hear about it.