September 2009 Real Life
Three and a half years ago, Lance and Rebekah Price decided to fulfill their dream of adopting a child. Though already parents to biological son, Landon, then 2 ½, the couple hoped to adopt internationally. Rebekah, in particular, had a heart for babies in Russia, but while the couple pursued adoption in Russia, along with many other countries, they were met only with disappointment. Rebekah explains, “We had looked into several agencies, several countries, various domestic routes, and it seemed every door was closing.”
As a result, the Prices resigned themselves to volunteering as foster parents in the hopes that, perhaps in the future, they might be able to adopt one of their foster children. But during the very week the couple was to begin fostering classes, a chance meeting and conversation between Lance and a former fraternity brother led the Prices to contact Crisis Pregnancy Outreach in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Crisis Pregnancy Outreach (CPO), a licensed Oklahoma adoption agency since 1983, shares that its primary mission “is to provide love and assistance, free of charge, to young women who are experiencing a crisis pregnancy, and to their children as well.” CPO offers these young women both physical and emotional support during their pregnancies, vowing to “provide families for [their] babies, not babies for families.”
Two days after speaking with CPO volunteers, Lance and Rebekah traveled to Tulsa to attend a CPO-sponsored class entitled, “Waiting Parents.” That night, while driving home to Fayetteville, the couple felt a tremendous peace. Rebekah describes,“We were in awe, convinced we were in the right place.” In fact, the Prices’ only reservation with CPO concerned the agency’s practice of promoting only open adoptions.
An open adoption occurs when the birth parents and adopting parents meet, share full identifying information, and have direct access to ongoing contact over the years. In short, in an open adoption, the birthparents and adopting parents select one another. “We had a very low comfort level about that,” Rebekah recalls, “but figured we’d work through it when the time came.”
While Lance and Rebekah Price were grappling with the issue of open adoption, 100 miles away in an Oklahoma town, 18-year-old high school senior, Raegan, had made a discovery that would change her life forever. She was pregnant. Raegan remembers her moment of realization. “I am pregnant! How can I be? I’m only 18. It’s my senior year! How can this be happening?”
Over the next few weeks, Raegan struggled with the dilemma of whether or not to abort the pregnancy. “My brother encouraged me to do the right thing…. I fought with this for a while and realized that… even though at the time it seemed that getting an abortion was the best decision, it wasn’t. I loved that baby, and I was going to keep him and get through it.”
In March 2009, Crisis Pregnancy Outreach brought Raegan together with the Prices, and immediately, a bond was formed. Of Raegan, Rebekah shares,“She is a phenomenal girl, wise beyond her years who loves her baby enough to give him more than she is able in this season of her life. We were worried about an open adoption with a birth mom, and God changed our hearts….”
On July 11, 2009, at 5:24 a.m., Raegan gave birth to 8 lb. 2 oz. Layton Lee Price with Rebekah at her side. Moments after his birth, Raegan placed the baby boy in Rebekah’s arms. “The emotions were intense.” Rebekah says. “I hugged him up close to me and cried like a baby. It was unbelievable. I knew we loved him already.”
The Prices continue to see Raegan and her family. They explain,“…we have not only grown our family with a baby, we have acquired a whole new family along with him. When you go through this experience with someone, it draws you together in a remarkable way, especially when both families are believers and have the bond and belief that God is faithful in all things….”
Rebekah and Lance feel that to remain close with Raegan and her family is “the best way for Layton to understand all the love that he has from so many people—to know that Raegan placed him with us not because she didn’t care about him, but because she loved him so much.”
To couples considering adoption, Rebekah confesses the process is not an easy one but promises “blessings beyond measure when it’s completed.” She explains,“It is not something to rush into, but should be entered into with much prayer and consideration. Look at all the options and consider what your family can handle. Without a doubt, it is not about your choice anyway. If it is something that God has for your family, He will walk you straight down the path He has for you.”
The Prices, along with their five-year-old son, Landon, are settling into life with Baby Layton. While they admit that the readjustment is challenging, they are overwhelmed by God’s abundant grace in their lives and the joy of watching Landon with his new baby brother. Rebekah describes how just two years earlier, Landon began asking Jesus to send him a little brother or sister, praying specifically that it would be a baby “whose mommy and daddy can’t take care of them and they can come live with us.” The Prices are overjoyed to watch Landon’s prayers answered.
Words from the Crisis Pregnancy Outreach website read,“Adoption is not a breaking of trust but a keeping of faith, not an abdication of responsibility but an act of redemption, not the abandonment of a baby but an abandonment of self for a baby’s sake.” Raegan’s decision to give Layton life personifies such ‘keeping of faith’. She shares, “…Placing him in a home with wonderful, dear people… was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I thank our Precious Father everyday for the Prices… and especially for the peace He has given me to make this process a little easier. Without Him, I would not have made it through.”
Rebekah Price admits that before her adoption journey, she always assumed adoption fell under the general category of “caring for widows and orphans.” Today, she views it as so much more. “In Romans, He tells us we have been given the ‘spirit of adoption’ whereby we cry out,‘Father.’ I have always known that God is our Father and loves me the same way I love my kids, but looking in the sweet eyes of my adopted baby just brings me to tears. I see so much more clearly what is meant by ‘the spirit of adoption….’ It is the heart of God.”