Hannah’s Adoption Story

Children are truly a gift from God!  Quite rapidly, our three biological children (with two in heaven) came one after the other. However, Hannah’s story is unique in the sense that it was during the course of many years of longing, questioning, and waiting before she ever came to be our daughter. 

If I were to back up a bit to my childhood, my mom and second dad cared for many foster children. When I was 10 years old, we happily adopted my younger sister. With that and having other siblings, I grew up around children in many ways. This eventually inspired my vocation as a social worker in foster care/adoptions for three years and fueled my overall desire to adopt.

After having our three little ones and Glen finishing up an eight-month tour to Afghanistan, we had a hard time adjusting to the idea of doing foster care/adoption. So we decided to commit it to prayer. When we settled in San Antonio, TX in 2016, we finally decided to look into it. Once through training and mounds of paperwork, we ended up fostering one baby girl for 5-6 weeks.

Hannah & I

Glen & Hannah

Around February 2018, Glen learned that we were moving earlier than expected to Fort Jackson, SC. At that point, I thought it would be nearly impossible to adopt. We prayerfully decided to continue fostering. On March 7th, I noticed a voice message from the agency about a baby girl born on February 12th. My heart stopped. I knew something was different about this phone call. I immediately raced to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where I met Hannah for the first time. When I gazed at her tiny toes, hands, dark hair, and big eyelashes, I loved her already. Once the NICU weaned her from the three narcotic drugs in her system, I was able to take her home on March 17th.

Over the course of several months, we learned that Hannah was number seven from her birth mother. She was a prostitute, addicted to drugs, and living from place to place. Our heart ached and prayed for her, but we knew that she would not be able to care for Hannah. The birth father was also unknown. As I think about Hannah’s story, it is a beautiful picture of redemption. For God took her out of the dark place she was born into and rescued her into our arms for us to love, care, and train in godliness.

Hannah, 3 yrs. old

Through a series of turbulent events from moving transitions, Hannah Hope Thompson miraculously became our daughter on January 22, 2019. Her first name in Hebrew means “favor” or “grace”. Her middle name encompasses the expectation of eternal life and perseverance. We also chose her middle name after the precious daughter of our dear friends, John & Daisy Cox, who lost their baby girl, Hope, at 20 weeks old (see article here). 

What a tremendous blessing Hannah’s life has been to our family and so many!