Did you know that there are over roughly 1,000,000 frozen embryos (babies) in the United States?
We didn’t either until a few years ago. A little background about our family.…we are Aaron and Jen and we’ve been married almost 25 years. Before hearing about embryo adoption, we had 6 biological children, two boys and four girls.
We believe the truth of the Bible that each child is a blessing, and we feel truly blessed by our now 8 children. A few years ago, we saw a Facebook post about embryo adoption, and it caught our attention.
Shocking News
We were shocked to hear that there were so many frozen babies, many of which were being killed. We heard about agencies like the NEDC (National Embryo Donation Center) that have thousands of babies, sitting frozen, waiting to be adopted by loving families.
These are precious little lives, made in the image of God, who have no hope of being born without couples who are willing to adopt them. Our hearts were broken for these tiny ones. We had always talked about adopting but after hearing about this huge need that’s mostly unknown, we started researching to find out all we could about the adoption process involved with embryo adoption.
On the NEDC website, it states that their vision is “To share the love of Christ through the life-affirming process of embryo adoption while striving to place every donated embryo into a loving home. We will be a beacon in the darkness showing the love and respect due to these cryopreserved human embryos since they represent the very least of us. We look forward to the day when the responsible practice of reproductive medicine will render our services unnecessary.”
NEDC has the Same Values
We were thrilled to find a place that valued the life of the preborn as we do. After some more research, we decided to talk to the kids to get their thoughts. All 6 were immediately on board and encouraged us to proceed. They were so passionate about it that each day, we were asked multiple times how long it would be until we could adopt.
We began the process and were pleasantly surprised by each step. We completed our home study and were thrilled to be able to again find an agency that shared our conviction that frozen embryos are indeed tiny humans made in the image of God.
The NEDC requires two visits to Knoxville, so we made the first trip. There was a ton of information presented and some medical tests run, but we left feeling confident regarding embryo adoption and also greatly encouraged by each person we spoke with.
After much prayer and finally narrowing down and selecting our embryos, we continued moving forward. We made our second trip to Knoxville for the transfer and found out a few weeks later that it was successful.
Evie Grace and Ezekiel Owen are Born
That summer, our sweet little girl named Evie Grace was born. She’s 2 now and always on the go and is such a sweet and funny little girl that is adored by all.
With the encouragement of the kids, we decided to adopt again not long after. We repeated the process, and our second adopted embryo was born. Ezekiel Owen is 10 months old and is a sweet little red headed boy, laid back and snuggly, and also adored by all.
As we watch each of these sweet little ones grow, it is obvious that each frozen embryo is indeed a life, made in the image of God, with their own little characteristics and personalities. We can’t imagine our family without them and wish we could adopt many more as there are so many more tiny ones waiting to be adopted.
We feel all believers need to be made aware of the need for embryo adoption. Not only is it a huge need, but it is also such an amazing opportunity to be able to carry and deliver your adopted baby.
We would absolutely encourage all who read this and are curious about embryo adoption to seek to learn more about how your family might be able to care for the least of these in this way!
Guest Writers
Aaron and Jen Hammaker
Hammakers@hotmail.com