Sauter Adoption Journey

Many years ago, Melissa and I met over some green chili cheese fries after my twin brother’s hockey game. Our friendship grew from there, and we developed a small “family of our own”, consisting of my twin brother, our mutual friend who introduced us, and each other. We participated in everything together; concerts, dinner and movie nights, airport trips, camping, snow tubing, you name it! Fellowship was our game. We bonded over church services, and learned to confide in one another about the tough challenges of navigating life as we were growing through our late 20’s and early 30’s. We grew closer as the years went by.

A friend we’ve never even met but often confided in, author Gary Thomas, wrote The Sacred Search, and while the intention of the book was to be an encouraging book study between the four of us, it ended up just being Melissa and me. We eagerly poured into the book and embraced the challenging questions it posed. The crux of the book, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all of these things will be given to you also” (Matthew 6:33), spoke into the deep recesses of our hearts as we yearned to seek God’s Kingdom (His people) and His Righteousness (selfless service) towards the world around us. Slow to take credit and acknowledgement but quick to set aside our own needs and desires for the sake of others was something we both felt deep within our bones. As the book continued on, we realized that the person it encouraged us to seek, that certain someone with a heart so on fire for God’s Kingdom and His people, was sitting on the couch across the room! Our “like” for each other was growing, and we realized we were, after three years of friendship, falling in love with one another.

But it wasn’t just that easy. You see, God had spoken deeply into our hearts as individuals about certain topics, like overseas missions, caring for others, and adoption. We had “the talk” and realized, much to our amazement but certainly not to God’s (He orchestrated all of this after all), that our hearts were in tune. Our two heartbeats were growing into one. At the center of all of this? The understanding that adoption was in our future if we were going to jump into this journey called a relationship, with every intention of heading towards marriage. So we did. A year and a half later, and we were happily married in June of 2017. Adoption was on our hearts and that was part of our foundation.

After the magical dust of marriage had settled, we immediately started researching the adoption process. We have poured over countless websites, reviews, and interviewed agencies; meeting adoptive families near and far (thank you social media and phones) and learned we had to wait until we were married for two years to begin the process. In the wait, we continued to pray and serve. Both Melissa and I have been called by God to be parents. He’s instilled in us that being a Mom and Dad are in our future, and we couldn’t be more excited! Adoption has been our number one plan to become parents. God has called us to “Take up the cause of the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17), and that’s what we plan to do.

We have been married two and a half years now and are actively pursuing international adoption. We passionately believe in and hope to keep a sibling set together. We invite you all to consider to come alongside us in our adoption journey. Your support will forever be part of our adoption journey, ensuring that we're able to welcome our children home. We would love more than anything to welcome our sweet child(ren) into our home and grow our family; we can't thank you enough for taking time to hear more about our lives and heart for adoption! Blessings to you all.