The very beginning

Gracie's Journey is the story of how Morgan Grace Long became a part of our family.  For almost 7 years, Johnny and I have wanted a family.  After years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, we finally followed God's path to adoption.

We started adoption classes (Adoption Discovery) in August 2011.  In October, we started our home study process and eventually signed with our Adoption Consultant Group, Christian Adoption Consultants.  Cheri Denmon was assigned to us.  Luckily, we already knew Cheri, as she was our social worker for our home study.

After pages and pages of paperwork, and several background checks, Johnny and I were finally approved for adoption the week before Christmas in 2011.

In January of 2012, we started applying to several agencies.  We started out with a total of four agencies.  Two were in Utah, one was in Kansas and the other was in Arizona.  After weeks of applications, phone conversations, and more paperwork, our agency list was down to two agencies.  In mid-February, Cheri talked to Johnny and I about applying to an agency in Florida.  After various conversations, we decided to go ahead and apply and send in our application fee.  At this time, Cheri also provided us with information about Adoption & Family Support Center, which is also in Florida.  Johnny and I decided to go ahead and send them our profile as well.

On Sunday, March 11th, 2012, our wonderful church family gave Johnny and I our first baby shower.  We received many wonderful and special gifts from our church family.  There were three ladies that told me separately that they would pray that we would get 'the call' that next week.  I smiled and said 'Thank You' and thought, God that would be great. 

On March 13th, 2012, Adoption & Family Support Center (A&FSC) welcomed us to their family and also provided us a profile to review.  Johnny and I reviewed this profile and we both knew that this could be our 'match'.  We asked A&FSC to go ahead and show this birth mother our profile.  I also asked them to tell this birth mother that I, myself, am adopted and Johnny and I feel that we have a lot of experience to offer this child.  A&FSC asked me if I would be okay with writing the birth mother a letter, telling her myself about my adoption experience, and I did.

We knew that the birth mother would be presented our profile, as well as my letter, on Friday, March 16th.  Johnny and I asked everyone we knew to pray.  If this child was ours, God would make it happen.  At approximately 3:00 PM, I received the phone call that I had dreamed about for so long.  This birth mother had chosen us to be the parents of a baby girl that is due around July 6th. 

Johnny and I are so very blessed to have been chosen.  That Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday was a joyous time in our lives.  We have God to thank for it all.  We also had a lot of people praying for this match, this baby and the birth mom. 

Once the excitement settled down, Johnny and I reviewed our adoption budget and realized we were about $3,000.00 short.  After much discussion and planning, we decided to have a bake sale (April 14th), Mary Kay Make-up Catalog order (April 15th - 29th) and a Pancake Breakfast (May 5th).  We prayed that between these thee fundraisers, God would provide all of the money that we needed.

On Wednesday, March 25th, Johnny and I received the ultrasound pictures of our baby girl, Morgan Grace.  At the time of the ultrasound pictures, the birth mother was approximately 20 weeks along.  The baby weighted approximately 13 ounces.  Johnny and I are an EXTREMELY set of proud parents. 
From the very beginning of our journey, we knew that this was God's calling for us.  God's Grace led us to Gracie... now we just have to bring her home.

Please stay tuned for additional updates regarding Baby Gracie. 

Love,

Misty