An adoption scam rocked a couple from Pennsylvania to the core. It devastated Beth and Rocky to learn they'd never see the baby promised to them. But God used their story of heartbreak to lead a special stranger to their doorstep!
God promises to work all things together for good. But in the middle of the storm, it can be difficult to hold on to that truth.
"You bend and you don't break," Beth said following an adoption scam, "but I think eventually you get -- you get weary."
Beth and her husband Rocky were certainly weary after what they call the worst day of their lives.
"I don't know how much more I can take," Beth said.
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The couple from Pennsylvania struggled through a tough battle with infertility. After realizing conception just wasn't in God's plan for them, they explored adoption.
They thought their dreams of becoming parents were about to come true. An adoption agency matched the couple with a birth mom named Shareen Gurnsey. The pair forked over tens of thousands of dollars and eagerly prepared the nursery for the arrival of their little blessing. Phone calls, texts, and ultrasound photos from Shareen only fueled their excitement.
But their dreams came crashing down when they learned Shareen was sending the same photos to four other couples.
Beth and Rocky's attorney was the one to discover the truth. The scheduled adoption was all a scam.
"Probably the worst phone call I made was to tell them what was being done to them," attorney Richard Shields said, choking up at the memory. "It's bad and they cried."
Most of the attention goes towards the child's future home. Agencies put adoptive parents through the ringer in terms of safety checks. However, they don't really offer any safeguards regarding the birth mom.
In this case, Shareen shopped her unborn baby around to multiple agencies. That way, her medical expenses got covered on someone else's dime.
"There are no checks and balances for them to say, 'hey, she's already registered here, but she's doing the same thing elsewhere' because those other agencies don't communicate with one another," Rocky said.
It was a tough lesson to learn and the news came like a kick in the teeth. Beth and Rocky were out tens of thousands of dollars. But the money wasn't the worst of it.
The scam artist stole their dreams of becoming parents.
"I don't think you can ever prepare yourself for 'this person is completely bold-face lying to me,'" Beth said. "They have no intention of giving us this child."
The couple shared their story with the local news station, hoping they could spare someone else the same heartache. But God wasn't done with them, yet!
Becky and Rocky wanted to get the word out about the flaws in the adoption system. But they never expected their story to take them where it did!
A young woman called "Amy" got a call from her grandpa after the story aired.
"My grandpa actually called my mom and was like, 'Hey, did you see this story on abc27?'," she explained.
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Amy was pregnant and trying to figure out what to do. Then, God sent her a sign.
"What bigger sign for me than to see these people that were so desperate and so vulnerable at that moment," Amy said. "And I knew that I could give them everything that they wanted."
Amy reached out to the news station, who put her in touch with Beth and Rocky. Amy expressed her desire to give the couple her son once he was born.
And this time, it was for real! The grateful couple calls Amy their angel.
"She gave me something I could not do for myself," Beth said. "And I don't know how you ever repay somebody for that. And our son is lucky to have come from her and I hope he's like her."
Amy blessed Beth and Rocky with a beautiful baby boy. And it's the greatest gift the couple could have ever received.
"He's an absolute angel," Beth gushed. "His name is Mac James. He's, he's just like the love of our life."
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And the couple stays in touch with Amy. They send her plenty of pictures and let her come visit. It's a joy born out of heartache, which reminds us all why faith is so important.
"Believe in miracles," Beth said. "Don't give up if you want to be a mom. I wanted to be a mom my whole life. I thought it was really over for us. And there are such good people in this world. They really do exist and sometimes it's hard to see them. They are out there."
God promises to work all things for good. So, don't lose faith while going through the darkness!
"I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing." Jeremiah 31:13
h/t: abc27
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