Forever: Kai’s Adoption Story
Families often describe adoption as a journey marked by hope, waiting, prayer, and unexpected turns. This National Adoption Month, we’re honored to share a story written directly by one of our Connected Families, one that began with a nervous yes and grew into a beautiful forever.
Below is their story, in their own words.
THE DAY FAMILY
June 27th, 2023 held a big, nervous, excited “yes” for our family. A four-year-old boy needing foster care placement would be coming to our home the next day. From the beginning, we felt immediately grateful to be part of his story. We prayed that God would restore his life and wellbeing - however that needed to happen. We prayed for his biological mom to be empowered to make decisions for Kai’s best interest. We had no idea this little boy would quickly become a treasured member of our family or what the road would look like for us to get there.
The ongoing loop of three-month review court hearings was difficult to navigate. Another challenge came as a result of his weekly visits. The anxiety he experienced was like a rollercoaster. The stretch from Sunday to Tuesday was always wrapped in nervous anticipation. He would repeatedly ask, “Will the visit be canceled?” and “What’s the schedule for Wednesday?” Wednesdays (visit days) were always such a difficult day for him. Experiencing a mixture of so many emotions made normal, everyday tasks seem overwhelming for Kai. We seemed to cycle through patience, frustration, grace, mistakes, and apologies. Looking back, we can see that the Lord used those difficult days to prepare us for other challenges yet to come.
As time went on, we started to see a shift in goals for Kai’s case as no progress was being made in repairing what had been broken. While we hoped and prayed for a sense of closure for Kai and the blessing of his forever placement with us, new challenges continued to come as we worked through ICWA requirements for family members and other potential placements. There were many days we doubted that God would allow us to make this boy ours forever. We wondered if He would make a way, maneuvering all the “red tape” and jumping through all the “hoops” to make it happen the way we hoped. We reminded ourselves over and over, “God’s timing is perfect” and chose to continue to lean into what He had called us to. Even in the midst of our uncertainty, the Lord continued to work in the background - very capable of managing details, red tape, timelines, and hoops!
More than two years after his original placement with us, parental rights were terminated, and no other potential adoptive placements remained - other than us! We prayed diligently for God to remove barriers that would keep us from adopting Kai and giving him assurance of his place in our forever family. God answered our prayers on September 17th, 2025. Kai officially became our son - forever. And surprise! Ten days later he became a big brother to our sweet baby girl. In such a transitional, exciting time, we were beyond grateful to celebrate what we always felt to be true: Kai is our son and he is a huge blessing and gift from God. We are so thankful for how God is restoring his life and wellbeing in our family, forever!
