05/28/2026
From the L family, who welcomed their son home through adoption from India, comes a story of faith, perseverance, unexpected beauty, and the moment a long-held dream finally became reality.
I often find myself fumbling for words when I try to articulate our adoption story. It is a story filled with wonder, faith and mystery. I had the idea of adoption tucked away in my heart for as long as I could remember. The reality of children without families always felt personal to me. My husband and I started our family knowing we would try for biological children and ended up having two beautiful girls. When our second daughter was a little over two years old I had a dream of a little boy and knew it was a reminder of my longing to adopt. The decision felt scary because there is so much unknown in the adoption world and let's be honest……the financial part is very intimidating. But we chose to trust and have faith that it would all work out somehow. With lots of hope and a little nervousness we applied to adopt a little boy from India. We didn't know much about the country, but with having two children at home to think of we knew it was important to pick a country with a one time travel policy. Shortly after the journey of heartbreaks, studies, paperwork and invoices started I began to fall in love with the country as I researched. The culture, the colors, the food, the festivals………just so intriguing and beautiful. We also learned within that research that India has the highest number of orphans in the world. This statistic solidifying my mindfulness for us choosing India. Children belong in families. A year into the process we received an email that I will forever remember, a referral with a picture of our son. The sweet boy I dreamed about staring back at me. It's a feeling that is so hard to describe. Next thing I knew (although I won't take away from the hard work of mountains of paperwork), we were on a plane for 13 hours headed to this place I had only seen google pictures of. When we arrived our hearts were full of anticipation. We arrived two days early to give ourselves time to be acclimated to the time difference. Then after jet lag and meeting our guide (we are so thankful for this guide), we headed on a three hour taxi ride to our son's specialized adoption agency. Once we arrived we were welcomed by the magistrate and the other officials over the SAA. We sat eagerly in a room as we waited for our son to come. Those first few moments of meeting are almost a blur, so many emotions. Meeting the caregivers and people who had taken care of my son the first four years of his life was a welcomed unexpected blessing. They served us lunch and chai. It was a long process but one that impacted me greatly. It was a way to experience life from my son's perspective for just a moment. Those next two weeks in India were full of sight seeing, bonding and lots of memories. I would say our son first bonded with my husband the most. But as the time went on he slowly warmed up to both of us and this new idea of mommy and daddy. Traveling home from India was exhausting and liberating at the very same time. We were so excited to start this new chapter as a family of 5. My oldest daughter quickly became a little mother hen and my youngest welcomed her new best friend. I won't pretend like there weren't hard moments along the way, and still things we are navigating to this day. Bonding, lingering trauma and adjusting to this new way of life has had its moments but never without gratitude for it all. I could not imagine life without our son now. He has brought so much joy and adventure to our lives! I’ve come to learn every adoption story is unique with its own celebrations and challenges. So our journey might not look like yours or anyone else's, and that is more than okay. The thing I like to remember most is that each family's path is a one of a kind adventure. For the family considering India, I pray our story gives you peace and hope.
