About Us

Our adoption story starts way back in our dating days, on our first date to be exact! Brian and I had been good friends for a few years, and we both wanted to make sure we were on the same page before we made the decision to pursue a dating relationship. Much to our delight, we both had a heart for international adoption.

We ended up getting married, and around our first anniversary, we started sponsoring a little boy in China – named Gideon – through an organization called Love Without Boundaries. We absolutely fell in love with him! For months, we received updates about his health and foster family, until one day, Gideon died unexpectedly. Brian and I grieved hard for this little boy we had never met, had never planned to meet, and we realized in that moment that God was calling us to pursue adoption as the first path for growing our family.

For the first few years of our marriage, we felt God leading us to adopt from Taiwan. Every detail of our story, every door that had seemingly opened, pointed to Taiwan. But on the day we contacted our agency in January 2017, eager and excited to begin our adoption, we found out the Taiwan program had just closed. We were heartbroken, but we made the decision to stay with All Blessings International, the agency we already knew and loved, and God redeemed every moment of our story. We started pursuing All Blessings’ South Korea program, and little did we know, our son’s referral file likely landed on a desk at our American agency that very same week. We saw his big smile in April 2017, and we said yes to the little boy we named Gideon!

The next 12 months of our adoption process were hard. Three months after we said yes to Gideon, we got the news that he was showing significant developmental delays. Our agency asked if we wanted to move forward, and we said yes. A month later, we got a new report, this one even harder than the first. It said our son was no longer making eye contact, responding to his name, or initiating interactions with others. Once again, our agency asked if we wanted to move forward, and once again we said yes. Then, two months later, we got ever harder news – our son had been diagnosed with autism. Again, our agency asked if we wanted to move forward, and with an inexplicable peace and far more courage than we felt, we said yes. Gideon was and always would be our son.

On April 2, 2018, we officially became a family of three! And even still, Gideon’s smile continues to light up the room! He has a contagious joy, and he greets each day with more determination and zeal for life than anyone we’ve ever known. Our specialists here in the United States are now doubting the autism diagnosis, and though we are still working through the developmental delays, Giddy continues to progress and learn in ways we never imagined. We are so incredibly proud of our son, and we are so grateful that our plans were not God’s plans. Although a piece of our hearts is still in Taiwan, we know that God intertwined our story with Gideon’s at just the right moment and in the most beautiful way. And now, we’re honored to have you share in our story too!

If you are thinking about adoption, on the path to adoption, have already adopted, or just want to talk to us, please reach out to us anytime! You can email us at hello@forgideon.com or find us on social media using the links at the bottom of every page of our site. We love you guys!