For years, Tricia and her husband Scott longed to welcome a child and grow their family. Despite painful years of waiting and pursuing adoption, they remained without the child for whom they longed. Michigan Right to Life shared the incredible story of how Tricia and Scott eventually found their daughter.
As the years passed, Tricia and Scott shared with their friends and family that they were open to adopting. Through sharing their story, they found many people who were supportive and wanted to help them in welcoming any child God had in store for them. One person who approached Tricia and Scott was a woman he met through work. Tricia said, “This was someone who was very supportive when she learned we were hoping to adopt. She said she would even share our information if she ever encountered someone looking for options.”
Little did they know, their openness changed that woman’s life and the life of her preborn child. While Tricia and Scott continued to wait unsuccessfully for an adoption match, the woman who had offered to connect them with someone looking for options unexpectedly found herself in a crisis pregnancy. Because she did not want her family to know about the pregnancy, she considered ending her daughter’s life in abortion.
Tricia explains, “She was going to terminate—she was actually on her way to the appointment, but she said she remembered Scott and I, and how much we wanted a baby but couldn’t have one. She realized the weight of her decision and decided to reach out to us.”
Through a Facebook message, the woman shared her situation and asked if Tricia and Scott would consider adopting from someone they knew. The decision was immediate. Tricia says, “When she reached out because she was pregnant, we said, of course we would!”
On October 7, 2017, Tricia and Scott realized their dreams of becoming parents and were in the delivery room for the birth of their daughter, Kyndal. More than two years later, they are still smitten. Tricia says of her daughter, “She is the sweetest, most beautiful blessing.” She added, “It was all definitely orchestrated by God. I just think, if we had even had children when we were first trying, Kyndal might never have been born.”
The couple later learned that an error on their adoption paperwork prevented them from finding a match in the years that they were waiting. During that time, Tricia says, “We thought, maybe God had other plans for us.” Indeed, Tricia and Scott’s openness to adopting a child in a difficult situation likely saved Kyndal’s life. Though the years of failing to find a match were excruciating at the time, Tricia says, “But again, if we had been paired with a child any sooner, our Kyndal may never have been born.”
The family has an open adoption, and Kyndal’s birthmother has visited a few times and regularly receives pictures and updates. Tricia learned through conversation with Kyndal’s birthmother that the experience has been different from what she expected. Placing her daughter in an adoptive family, she anticipated feelings of guilt but instead has found joy knowing that Kyndal is well cared for and in a loving home.
“It gives me peace knowing her birth mom is also at peace” Tricia said. Kyndal’s birthmother gave Tricia and Scott permission to share her story and their family’s story in the hopes that they can offer encouragement to others—both couples struggling with infertility and mothers in crisis pregnancies. Pro-Lifers are often wrongly accused of being “pro-birth,” caring only for children in the womb and disregarding them once they are in the world. The stories of countless Pro-Life advocates, like Tricia and Scott, show how false this is. To be Pro-Life is to protect and defend innocent human Life at every stage. We fight for the Right to Life of the preborn precisely because we recognize the full beauty and meaning of each and every human Life. The many Pro-Lifers who have welcomed children through adoption are proof.
