Next month marks the 4th year since our wonderful August family, Nate and Kelley Fazenbaker decided to grow their family and over 2 and a half years since they began their adoption journey. People, adoption is not for the faint of heart! We love their willingness to show the emotion, both good and bad of the adoption journey because we have all been there on some level and their willingness to share will certainly help someone. Without further ado – The Fazenbakers.
Hey, y’all! We are Kelley and Nathaniel Fazenbaker. We are so excited and thankful to be able to share our story. Thank you for following along!
After being married for a couple of years, Nate and I decided in September 2015 we were ready to grow our family. We both knew it could potentially take up to a year for things to happen, so we tried our best to just see where the year would take us and enjoy what could probably be the last several months with just the two of us. We both always dreamed of being parents, and after having several conversations about it, we realized we both feared that we may not be able to. Throughout 2016, we grew closer through our excitement, frustrations, and disappointment. God was preparing us for something even bigger than we could imagine…
In January 2017, while waiting on test results, we began discussing adoption. Even though it had been placed on my heart and had been something I was looking into more and more, Nate was the first one to say, “Maybe this is what we’re meant to do. If we are unable to have biological children, we can become parents through adoption.” Goodness gracious, I could have squeezed him to pieces in that moment! We decided to move forward with our adoption journey before receiving our final test results, knowing we may potentially revisit fertility treatments in the future.
We signed on with Christian Adoption Consultants and began working with our amazing consultant, Leah, on February 1, 2017. Later that month, we received the devastating news that biological children would not be a possibility for us. However, we had such an overwhelming peace about growing our family through adoption, so we dove into completing our home study and became active in May 2017.
Although our wait has been pretty long so far, I truly believe God has done amazing things through it. We made the choice to grow our relationship with each other and with Christ. We joined a wonderful church family a couple of months after going active, and they have been a huge support for us! However, I began struggling with severe anxiety and depression in the fall of 2017. It was a very hard season for me as the weight of everything began hitting me. It seemed like everyone around me was becoming pregnant and growing their families left and right, even accidentally. Those moments were so hard for me and while I had faith that God was in control of our story, I became very frustrated. It took a few deep conversations with friends and some courage to find the help I needed to push through it. That’s not to say I am completely healed from it or overcame those feelings, because there are many days I still struggle. But I believe God has worked on us so much these past two years, and because of it, we will be better parents than we ever would have been before.
We are incredibly thankful for this journey and this community. Our family and friends have been so loving and supportive, and I have met some of my closest friends through the online adoption community. I can lean on them, vent to them, and trust them with all of my thoughts and feelings. We pray for each other constantly. We are so anxious and excited to meet and love the expectant parents and children God has chosen for our family.
Our bows:
Azure Skies- simply because Kelley loves anything floral and if we have a little girl, I’m SURE that’s what the majority of her wardrobe would end up being 🙂
Grey/White flowers- Again with the floral, but we loved how simple and pretty this one was!
Seafoam stars- One of Kelley’s favorite colors and we have our nursery decorated in stars with shades of mint, seafoam, grey, and white. We’re waiting on our little star to join our family!
Again, thank you for following along, and we appreciate your prayers and support!
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Kathleen again – What a story! If you’re ready to let us help you support this awesome family you can purchase via the links above or shop our store for anything. Remember, all purchases in August (not just the family bows) go to support the Fazenbakers.
If you want us to be a part of your adoption journey – just reach out to us at info@wanderlustandmayhem.com