Donelson Family

Have you ever reached the point in time when you know that years of your life were leading to one big event? The ups, the downs? The good and the bad? Somewhere along the way, you actually saw the purpose of it all? We have. And, this is that kind of story.

For three years, we were frustrated, angered, and finally humbled by our inability to conceive. For much of that time, we prayed for pregnancy. Finally, we reached the point in our struggle where we prayed for peace with whatever God had in store for our family, not realizing at the time that He had always been waiting for that prayer. Not long after that transition in our prayer life, we decided to pick a date to sit down together and discuss next steps with our infertility treatments.

On April 8, 2005, we went out to dinner to talk. At the time, adoption was not something we had thought about. We were too caught up in all of the "medical advances" in conception. As soon as we sat down in the restaurant, it hit me. It was a voice. It was God, I’m sure of that now. I said to Marc, "We should adopt." A minute passed. He said, "Ok." The relief was overwhelming, and instantaneous.

We researched adoption agencies online. Then, we went to one of CWA’s free adoption seminars. We had found our agency! We chose Russia for several reasons, but most of all, I think we were drawn to Russia. We were given two regions to choose from, one of them being the "blind region," Rostov. I was hesitant at first about not being able to get any information up front about the child, but I remembered that this was God’s plan. He had a child that would be perfect for us, and we came to believe that this child was in Rostov. We completed our paperwork within a few months, and we mailed everything off (after taking a picture of it to prove to people that this was quite a process!). That was on a Friday.

On Monday, we received a call from CWA. We figured we had missed something. Sue Kramer, our Case Manager, told us that she could not believe it, but we had a referral already! If this wasn’t "meant to be," I do not know what is! This was the fastest anyone had ever received a referral. We were stunned. It was finally happening!

In August of 2005, we made our first trip to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. We met our little boy, who at the time was 9 months old. We fell in love immediately! For all of our years of heartache, disappointments, medical expenses, and pain, we now held in our arms the most amazing child in the world. He had the biggest blue eyes with these long eyelashes. He was beautiful!

Two months later, in October 2005, we made our second trip to get our son. On November 3, 2005, we celebrated our first "Gotcha Day." We had survived the travel, the Court Date, and the time away from home. We were able to bring Emmett home three days before his first birthday! We cannot begin to tell you the joy he has brought to our lives.

Through Emmett, God has taught us so many things. Yes, He taught us patience. Yes, He showed us mercy and grace. Yes, He opened our eyes to the amazing faith that is within all of us. But, most of all, He taught us that He creates families in different ways. Some parents have biological children and some parents are blessed with the opportunity to adopt children. For us, Emmett’s adoption has been the best event of our
lives!

Cortney, Marc, and Emmett Donelson