DJ and Jennifer
PLACEMENT!
Dear Birthmother,
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11 Personally, I love this particular scripture because I know that no matter what happens, God will always have my best interest in mind, even if I don’t see it at the time. Of course, that’s not only for me but also for all His children. As I write this, I’m wondering what you’re thinking because I couldn’t possibly dare to assume how the emotions are stirring in you right now. I do know one thing though, if you let Him, God wants to give you hope and a future and I know that He can and would do great things in your life. More importantly, He uses experiences in all our lives to be able to relate to others down the road who will be where we are right now. I also know that He has great plans for the little one inside you, and the fact that you chose to give your baby life is a blessing in itself. So, thank you.
Since middle school, I’ve always known that I wanted to adopt. The underlying reason escaped me for the longest time until recently, just before my husband DJ and I found out that we couldn’t have children naturally. When I first approached DJ about adoption, his initial reaction was ‘no’ because of all the uncertainty that comes with adoption, and he was initially unsure about his capability of loving another person’s child. I knew God’s heart for children and that all who come to Christ are adopted into the family of God. I also knew that when God is welcomed into a life, over time your heart becomes His heart. If He can love us unconditionally as His adopted children, why would that be different for DJ? So I prayed over DJ’s heart for adoption for about six months until he came to me without any of my prompting and said that he wanted to adopt and was 100% on board with everything. I knew then that God’s will for our lives was to adopt a child. Your part in His plan is choosing life and making the best possible decision with what little information you have at the time for your little one to give them the best opportunity possible in life. Ours, if you should choose us, would be to raise them up with godly morals and values with a family who would support the child 100% with no doubt in their heart or mind that they are valued and loved completely.
Here’s a snapshot of our home and what we enjoy doing. We live in a cozy two-story, three bedroom home. Around the corner is a nicely wooded Veterans Park Where they have a shaded play area for smaller children and a separate playground for the big kids. Down the street is our church home where we attend once a week for worship and as a volunteer in the Children’s Ministry, I can say their program is wonderful for children. They’re constantly looking for ways to make things better for connecting kids to Jesus and to one another. We enjoy running together, biking whenever possible, swimming, traveling, and I love to cook. When we do have a child, I imagine going to the zoo, going to water parks for the day, planning trips to experience new things, going to museums, finding an ocean somewhere and building sandcastles, barbecuing outside while playing Bob Marley on the radio (to get the effect of being on vacation!). DJ and I have wonderful memories that we want to recreate as well as make many more new and fond memories for a child, should you choose us as the adoptive parents.
We also want to respect your privacy and the life ahead of you, and your decision on how open the adoption will be is, of course, up to you and we want to honor your wishes. We would love to meet if you desire, or if you’re more comfortable, we can exchange information over the telephone or through email. However, if you do choose an open adoption, we believe it’s very important for the child to know where they came from, how you truly feel about them, and to have access to any background information from you and your family should they need it for when they get older. We feel that this will aid in a proper and healthy development of self and will provide a more nurturing environment for them to grow, knowing that they are loved and cared for by both you and the decision you had to make for their well-being.
We wish you the best, whatever you decide. We know that this isn’t the easiest chapter in your life, but it is one chapter, and DJ and I would be honored to even be a little paragraph in the story of your life.
Sincerely, Jennifer and DJ