Walking into the clinic, Stephanie felt uneasy, finding it difficult to catch her breath. She had come for an abortion and took a seat, waiting for her appointment. The clock on the wall ticked off the seconds, and with every minute, her heart beat faster. Five minutes passed. She stood up, but instead of walking back with the nurse, she turned and walked out the front door—just as her dad was walking in to stop her.
“God spoke to us at the same time,” Stephanie says. “I knew this had to be bigger than me and what I wanted. I now know it was all in God’s plan.”
Life had become too hard. Stephanie already had three children, two of whom she was raising herself as a single mom. The little family lived in a two-bedroom apartment with eight other people. She had slid into a life of drug use. With this pregnancy, abortion seemed to be the only solution.
“But I couldn’t,” she says. “I stopped the drugs and decided to take care of the baby.”
And yet, Stephanie worried. She struggled to parent the two children she was raising. How could she provide for three? She was eight months along before making a decision about adoption. Her mom searched online and discovered Christian Adoption Services (CAS). She spent two hours on the phone that first call.
“The call changed my life, my child’s life, and a loving family’s life.”
A week later, Stephanie met with CAS staff to look through books of prospective, fully vetted adoptive families. She thumbed through each profile until she came to Nataleigh and Zack Carscaddon’s book.
“When I saw them, I felt this peace,” Stephanie remembers. “I knew this was the family and that I was making the right decision for my child.”
Zack and Nataleigh had chosen adoption as their path to parenthood. Seven and a half years into their marriage, they determined that adoption was how they would grow their family and contacted CAS.
“There was an instant, strong connection the first time we met Stephanie,” Nataleigh says. “Zack and I were convinced this was to be.”
Judson was born on October 15, 2020. Thirty minutes after his birth, the Carscaddons met their new son.
“Stephanie chose life for our son,” Nataleigh says. “We will always be thankful for her. It is such a selfless love to birth a child and then release the child to an adoptive family. It takes great faith and courage. Few people have any idea what that is like.”
Stephanie praises God for her new path. Gone are the days when she feared she wouldn’t wake up from a drug overdose. She is now four years clean and sober. She has been promoted to supervisor at her job, and she and her husband Dylan are looking for a more permanent home for their family.
“Motherhood is about being selfless—and just being humble,” Stephanie says. “And definitely you gotta be strong. You gotta learn how to be strong for your children and do what’s best for them.”
Stephanie decided on an open adoption. She and the Carscaddons share information openly and stay in touch through regular texts, phone calls, and face-to-face visits.
“We honor Stephanie,” Nataleigh says. “We believe the Lord handpicked Judson to be a part of our family. We are extremely grateful to her.”
Stephanie has no regrets. She credits CAS for the positive birth mom experience.
“You lay your life out and there is no judgment—only love for you and your child. God is at the center of what they do. I love them so much.”
Are you pregnant and need help? Call 800-453-1011 or text 704-619-3531. A CAS representative will answer your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Written by Jim Edminson, Editor of Charity & Children