“We were facing a huge financial mountain,” said Natalie Scott. “If we were going to adopt, God was going to be the only one to make it happen.”
“A year into our marriage, we began trying to have a family but quickly realized something was wrong. After meeting with my OBGYN, we were then directed to a fertility doctor, where we faced an extremely rough road of treatment for about a year. After three initial treatments with no success, our doctor suggested we try in vitro fertilization next.
“We immediately began processing what it would look like to do IVF in a God-honoring way. I asked myself, ‘What if we still don’t have a baby after this? Will I still be able to trust the Lord at that point?’ Because I couldn’t answer that question confidently, we decided to press pause on IVF.
“This time off created a season of waiting, prayer, and processing. A sweet friend, who has several adopted children, posted a picture of a child in an orphanage in China. She asked in her post, 'Do I know anyone who would be willing to cross the ocean for this child?' This question was the start of my new perspective toward adoption.
“In this season I was reading a book about longing for motherhood, and there is a line that says, ‘We want our children to look like us, but really, our children are supposed to look like the Lord.’ The Lord used that simple sentence to show me my selfishness. Because I was so wrapped up in having a child who had my brown eyes, I missed the point that there were children out there who didn’t have families. I realized we had two extra bedrooms that weren’t being used, and there are kids who need families. This was a need we could fill.
“I texted my community group and said, ‘I feel like the Lord is turning my heart towards adoption.’ They helped us begin to process and pray through this calling. We started the adoption process in October 2018 with Watermark’s adoption class. Although we wanted to move forward with this process, there was one glaring problem: money. We were facing a financial mountain. If we were going to adopt, God was going to be the only one to make it happen.
“With constant fundraising and help from friends and family, the Lord brought us the money we needed for our adoption within the following months. Within a month, the Lord provided the resources so we could pay an especially important fee on time. We truly began to see that the Lord is our provider (Psalm 50:10). We were matched at the end of May 2019 with a beautiful, chubby baby boy, our son Beau.
“Toward the middle of that summer, I felt tapped out. We still had a lot of money to raise. I didn’t know how we would get the rest of the funds we needed. People at Watermark were faithful to pray for us throughout the process. Ultimately, the Lord connected us with another Watermark family who felt led to meet us and talk about our situation. They had been praying about how they could help another family, specifically with adoption. To our surprise, our new friends decided to cover the rest of our expenses. It is so sweet how the Lord blessed us in such an unexpected way.
“In December of 2019, we were finally able to travel to meet our son and attend family court in Korea. Once we were court-approved, we went back to Korea a month later and gained custody on January 15, 2020. Three days later we were back on Texas soil as a new family of three! Since then, we’ve been home ‘cocooning,’ spending special, quality time in our home to bond with our son. The timing of his homecoming is an amazing blessing that is not lost on us. We were able to bring Beau home right before the coronavirus shutdowns and regulations started. It is so sweet to have this extra time in quarantine to spend with Beau.
“Our total time for the adoption process was pretty close to 13 months. When we originally started, they were estimating a two-year process. We didn’t know it would be so quick, and in the midst of the process the waiting seemed so long. The Lord was there when I felt like we were waiting for no reason or that no good could come out of this. Whenever I was discouraged with infertility or the adoption process, I was frequently and quickly reminded that God is always moving and working in our favor. He truly has a purpose for our waiting.
“Ephesians 3:20-21 says, ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’ He truly did immeasurably more than we ever could have imagined throughout our adoption! The further along we were in the process, we realized He was not only being faithful to us as hopeful parents, He was being faithful to our little boy, Beau, to provide him a family. God has been providing for our son all along. Now that Beau is home, we simply cannot imagine life without him. He seamlessly fit into our family, and it feels like he’s always been a part of us! He is such a source of joy, and we are beyond grateful the Lord took us on this journey to becoming a family.
“Infertility is not a club that I would ever choose to be a part of. I would never wish that upon anyone, but now, after our experience, I can clearly see the Lord was using that time to teach us to cling to Him. Sometimes it takes a mountain to make our hearts dependent on the Lord.”
We invite you to find out more about Shiloh, Watermark’s ministry to women and couples experiencing infertility and/or miscarriage, as well as Watermark’s Foster Care and Adoption Ministry.