Sarah's Story


Sarah's Story
by Mrs. Scheuler

Our journey began February 2006. Doug and I both knew adoption was right for us on the same day. He came in from work and said he wanted to talk about something and I said, “Me too”. It was about adoption. We both felt the call to adopt before we married, but I also wanted to experience pregnancy. God answered the prayer for a pregnancy three years ago and we knew now was the time to be faithful in what he was calling us to do. We began praying for the birthfamily and that God would give us a ministry to the family. We did not know, but our birthmother would become pregnant that month. We got the initial paperwork and sent it in. At the beginning of March, we got the letter that we were accepted and could start on the next set of paperwork, but that the next orientation meeting would not be until August. I was upset at having to wait until then. I was angry for a little while, but I began to pray. I did not know, but our birthfamily found out they were expecting.

In May, I felt the urge to pray that a birthmom would say no. I reasoned with God that I did not want to pray this because if the mom said no then I would not get a baby. God told me to obey. I obeyed and prayed for the birthmom to say no. I trusted him. I did not know that at the same time our birthfamily had just found out that their Down syndrome test was positive and they were trying to decide about having an amniocentesis. They said NO.

Doug and I began to feel the urge to pray for twin girls. Elijah, our son, one night during prayers said he wanted to pray for two baby sisters. We knew that God was telling us to pray for two girls. Elijah was faithful in praying for two babies, although some nights he wanted a boy and girl baby and at times wanted four babies. Our birthfamily was expecting twins. The doctor felt one might have downs, but thought the babies were paternal, not identical and would not both have downs. The birthmother was having a hard pregnancy.

The twins were born in September at 32 weeks and were very sick. They were identical and both had Down syndrome. The parents were in shock. They did not know what to do. One baby died at two weeks. They were further shocked and did not know if they could parent. Sarah stayed in the hospital for five weeks. She went home with the birthparents. In December they decided they could not parent. Sarah was placed in interim care. I began to get anxious with the wait. I had felt that our birthmother was pregnant back in March when I was praying for a “no” answer. God used this time for me to look at the whole picture and not just to pray that I would get a baby, but to pray for the family and their decision. The birthfamily met with one couple and did not feel it was a good fit. Another couple agreed to the placement and then backed out. The parents truly love her and wanted the best for her.

Around March we began to feel that we would be getting a baby girl soon. Elijah even began wanting to pray for one baby girl instead of two. We never shared any information with him about what we were praying.

In April, my father passed away. He always lived in Chattanooga before his stroke two years ago, and then moved to Nashville so we could care for him. He wanted to be buried in Chattanooga. Sarah's sister is buried in the same cemetery and even in the same area.

Elijah began saying we would get our baby next week. Then he said it would be next Thursday. The next week we had a vacation planned. The day before we left, I felt I needed to call Bethany and let them know how to reach us. They were faithful and made the note, although later Carolyn shared that she made the note but did not feel she would need the information. We got a call the next week on Wednesday, May 2nd wanting to know if we would consider Sarah. Amanda stated that we had indicated in our paperwork that we would consider a special needs baby, so she wanted to call us about this beautiful baby. We looked at our paperwork when we got home and we had marked would consider on special needs, but on the next page we had marked no to Down syndrome. Praise the Lord they stopped at the special needs question! We told them we would pray about it. We began praying. I stated to Doug that I felt comfortable with it, but I did not want to tell my mother. My sister is handicapped and I knew my mother would say it was a hard thing and we should not accept the placement and put Elijah through it. The phone rang. Guess who!! It was my mother. I told Doug I was not telling her. At the end of the conversation I said we got a call from the adoption agency. They want us to consider a down syndrome baby (I looked around to see who was saying this, I knew it could not be me. Doug was laughing). All she said was, “Well, she will be a blessing.” We both looked at each other when I hung up and said this is our baby. We called back right then and said yes. We were told the birthparents would be in on Friday. It was a long weekend.

On Monday we agreed to meet with the family the following Friday. It was an even longer week. Friday was wonderful. We started out nervous, but soon relaxed. At the end of the interview the family and the social worker went to another room and talked. The social worker came back in and said the family wanted us to meet Sarah before we made a decision. Sarah was there at the office and the social worker would bring her in. We had been told we would not meet her that day! Those were the longest seconds of my life. We were already in love. She was beautiful and smiled and laughed. She fell asleep in my arms. We had time alone with her, time with the birthparents, and time with the interim care family. They birthfamily decided we were right for Sarah.

It was decided that we could pick her up the following Thursday (Elijah had said we would bring her home on Thursday), but would have to stay in Georgia until the paperwork was complete which would take one to two weeks. We prayed we would get to bring her home Thursday and not have to wait until the next week. When we picked her up on Thursday May 17th, the paperwork was back. We could take her home. PRAISE THE LORD!!

Sarah is a blessing. We can see God’s handiwork in the entire process. We are blessed more than we could have ever imagined.