The Walters Adopt, Why?

Our names are Jordan and Hilary Walters, and we married in June of 2014 on summer’s solstice. Like any young couple, we looked forward to experiencing many adventures together. The first few years of marriage was spent traveling and making memories that would last a lifetime. We attended church together and served in various avenues from worship to audio to security. In the midst of all of this, we dreamt of one day being blessed with children to call our own. 

It was early on in our marriage that we began “not preventing” child conception. Months began passing and we remained optimistic as we waited and hoped that God’s timing aligned with what we envisioned for ourselves. A year or two into marriage, we began seeking routes that pointed toward the road of “infertility.” We saw a doctor for a brief period of time, and everything appeared to be “normal.” This was a battle that lasted years and still continues. We do not wish this upon anyone as it has been filled with many highs and lows. Brokenhearted-ness, doubt, sadness, failure, but hope. The choice was ours… we could either spend a fortune trying to conceive a biological child, or we could invest our time, efforts, and finances in a different route entirely. Adoption was something that we always envisioned at some point in our lives. We began praying, researching, and seeking counsel regarding this new and exciting option. There were many scriptures we looked to as we began this process. The image below was created in July of 2015, when our focused prayers about adoption began. 



We have been blessed with the opportunity of knowing many who have served in the area of foster care, adoption, safe families, etc. Oh, the marvelous beauty that it is to welcome another child into one’s heart and home. As Jesus miraculously and mercifully adopted us as His sons, how could we even question the thought of welcoming one of His precious little ones into our lives. The opportunity of Safe Families arose first as we had the unique chance to host a set of 2-year old twins twice, as well as another sibling group. This period in our lives was difficult at times and yet incredibly rewarding. We jumped head-first into a sort of “parenting.” Over the past 7 years, we have had countless opportunities to spend time with our nieces and nephews. However, those were just for short periods of time. Our first hosting through Safe Families lasted a solid 6 weeks and was filled with many sleepless nights, play groups, time outside, stress, excitement, and oh so much LOVE. We welcomed these precious children with our whole hearts, and as much love as we could conjure up. Thanks be to God for granting us the strength and ability when we needed it the most. 

There is an overwhelming amount of information on the web concerning adoption. With an estimate of 3,000 public and private adoption agencies in the United States, how on earth would we choose just one to complete this process with? The lists begun… agencies in the area and out of state, international versus domestic… After much research, we learned about a local agency in Michigan through a friend who had recently begun the process through them. We appreciated how it was a smaller, family owned agency. It also appeared to be significantly less expensive than other agencies. We officially applied for adoption in January of 2017. It took approximately 2-3 months to be approved through the state, and then the waiting began… One of the down-sides of utilizing a smaller agency is that they do not advertise nearly as much as a larger agency would. So, we began doing what they recommended. We utilized social media and also created a comprehensive photo book of info about us. Below are some sample pages that would be presented to prospective birthmothers interested in our profile. Here was where our home study approved period of waiting began!