Today’s adoption session was such a beautiful one and I’m going to keep it short because the story that Kim shares about is is far more beautiful than any words I could share! Here is the Rogers’s adoption story:

Two years ago I attended a fundraising banquet for a local pregnancy resource center in my city. The keynote speaker for the evening was Pastor Al Howard – he runs a home for homeless or at risk pregnant women in Long Beach, CA called Nesting Place. A friend of mine was also there, and almost 20 years ago one of the women staying at Nesting Place had asked her if she and her husband would adopt her child. It was an unusual circumstance, but they did. When Pastor Al saw my friend that night, he jokingly said “I have another one for you!” – meaning he had another baby she could adopt. Apparently, this was a joke he would often say. Little did he know the life-changing impact it would have that night. At that moment, my voice yelled in my head “I’ll take it! I’ll take it! I want that baby!”

I should clarify that I had hardly EVER talked of my desire to have another child. I would only occasionally share with a friend that I envied pregnant moms. But the truth was I was jealous every time I saw a pregnant woman. I wished I could be pregnant again, to be a mom again. Since my daughter was little I had longed for another child. I didn’t feel done. But I had Postpartum Depression with both of my children, and my husband and I both knew that our family couldn’t go another round on the “mommy is depressed, anxious and angry” ride. So I was left longing. Wishing. Pushing down the desires that I knew would never be fulfilled. On that night when my heart was screaming out “I’ll take it!” I knew I should probably talk to my husband. That evening I put it all out there. My years of longing, the empty spot in my heart, and what had taken place that night. My husband had considered us done – no more kids. But I simply asked him to pray. To ask God, “Is this you?” and to get back to me. Several days later while we were out at dinner he sent me a text from across the table: A baby bottle emoji, a poop emoji, and “all in”.

I figured we would just do what everyone does and go through an agency. Except I felt like God was telling us not to go through an agency. And my husband came to me and told me the same thing. I am a “do the steps and get the result” person. We had the money, we could fill out paperwork – done. But God had another plan. He was speaking to my heart, telling me He was going to bring us a child (a girl, named Destiny), and we would know that it was all Him. I had connected with Pastor Al and asked him to pray for us. We started letting friends and family know that we were planning to adopt. The first question was always “what agency?” Um, God? In October of that year we began the home study process by faith, trusting God that we would need it. That was completed in January 2016. On January 6th, I felt a shift in the atmosphere of our home – I just knew a baby was coming. My daughter and I picked out some fabric and and I started to make a baby blanket. On Januray 12th, we sold my SUV and bought a minivan – because we were so certain a baby was coming.

On Feb 16th, I had to have an ultrasound done on my heart. In the middle of it I started to cry. The ultrasound machine is just like the one they use for looking at a baby in utero. As she clicked around measuring things I was overwhelmed with the feeling that this was the first ultrasound of my child that had been born in my heart (I had told Darren a week before that I felt like our child had already been born in my heart and I loved her already) I asked the technician to print out a picture, which she did. On Feb 23rd, Darren and Noah built a crib and completed the final phase of the nursery. This was all without an agency, or a baby. It was like we were building Noah’s ark and were waiting on the rain. A week after we completed the nursery, I was sitting at a coffee shop working and I got a call from Pastor Al (this was 9 months almost to the day from the fundraising event). “You are never going to believe this”, he said. “A young girl just walked into our offices and said she wants to stay here, but only if she can place her baby for adoption with a Christian family. She is in my wife’s office now – she wants to talk to you…” I froze. Afraid to hope, but also feeling like every step had led to this.

I drove home, and Darren and I called this young girl. She was 19 years old, 9 weeks pregnant, and desperately wanted her child to have a secure Christian family with a loving dad. That very weekend, she and a friend drove up from Long Beach and stayed in the nursery that we had completed by faith. And at the end she asked us to adopt her child. Our family fell in love with that young girl, and spent the following months getting to know her and allowing her to get to know us. It was a difficult decision for her, and I think she was so brave to do what was best for her child. At her 15 week ultrasound, and at all subsequent ultrasounds, she was told she was having a boy. Although we had truly thought God had told us we would be having a girl named Destiny, we loved this little guy and named him Asher. On September 30, 2016, to everyone’s surprise, Destiny Ann Asher was born. We could not be more proud of her birth mom. The sacrificial love of a mother is unparalleled. We have an open adoption and stay in touch via text and many shared picture files. In a way, we were able to add two girls into our family circle, and we hope that Destiny’s “extended family” will be a part of our lives for a long time.

Kim, Darren, Noah, Faith, and Destiny, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be there and capture the memories of your beautiful adoption day!
All of my adoption sessions are through Red Thread Sessions, an organization that provides discounted photography for newly adoptive families. If you are a newly adoptive family looking for photography visit Red Thread Sessions website to find a photographer in your area. And if you’re a photographer please consider volunteering with us!