10/12/2026
“As we prayed about growing our family, we wanted to stay open-handed -foster care, adoption, biological pregnancy- and let God close the doors he wanted closed. Every test said we were healthy. But every time we prayed, we kept hearing the same word: adopt. One night in March 2023, I woke up, unable to get back to sleep. In prayer, I sensed God saying our future children were tied to that date: March 24th. I didn't know why. I just held onto it. Later that year, we discovered & started pursuing embryo adoption through the NEDC. As we reviewed embryo profiles & their submission dates, Hilary remembered one that stood out. ‘How about March 24th, 2023?’ she asked. It matched. Remarkably, we were able to select embryos tied to the very dates God had already spoken over our family. Our first transfer, a boy, didn't survive the pregnancy. But before it ended, I'd woken in the night with a name pressed on my heart: Dorran, which we later learned means ‘God's gift,’ in the context of sacrifice. We grieved, but we also came to see a deeper purpose: some lives aren't given for a birth story, but to be carried home to God. Our next transfer, in March 2025, took. The pregnancy was high-risk. Through months of uncertainty, we kept returning to the same conviction: we weren't chasing a guaranteed outcome, but walking in whatever purpose God had for us. Around week 30, I heard another name in the night: Dorothy- my grandmother's name, and, we realized, the female form of Dorran. This time, the same name meant ‘God's gift,’ in the context of blessing. On November 5th, 2025, Dorothy was born. 4 lbs, 10 oz, five weeks early. After a tense few days in the hospital, she came home healthy. We later exchanged letters with Dorothy's biological parents, who had kept her embryo preserved for 11 years, praying the whole time that someone would give her life. We are living out a bigger plan with eternal value. Through every unexpected turn, one thing has been unmistakably clear: God's hand was orchestrating it all along.”
-Justin (with wife Hilary), father of NEDC baby Dorothy
More inspiration: https://www.embryodonation.org/personal-embryo-adoption-stories
