The Forming of a Family

This is another assignment for my feature writing class. This time we were assigned a micro-history, which is basically a look into a small event in an ordinary person's life. We were assigned "Mrs. Kelly's Monster," by Jon Franklin, to get a better idea of what the assignment is. This story has not been graded so it has not been corrected yet.

To write the story I interviewed one of our professors of education about the adoption of his bi-racial children.

Feb. 7, 2007 - Dr. Darin Martin and his wife Jill prayed, “‘Lord, if it's your will, let it happen. We're just going to let it go. And if it's not your will, it won't happen.’” They had a new concern with the adoption that they were attempting. The baby was bi-racial.

The Martins had found out that they were subfurtle, along with about 27 million other couples in the United States. So, during late winter of 1997, they decided that adoption would be the best solution for them.

The Martins contacted Christian Services in Edmond to begin the adoption process. They went through an orientation where they talked to a birth mother, went through home studies, interviews, background checks, and filled out paper work until they were finally ready.

Two months later, a college friend in Atlanta, Lance Boyd, called and left an exciting message on their answering machine. Boyd was a minister at a church and he had overheard a message from an adoption agency saying that they had a bi-racial baby who was due in a couple of months and the mother wanted to put it up for adoption.

The baby was of African-American and Caucasian descent.

“We were just very prayerful about it. 'Do we want to bring a bi-racial baby into our home? Is that going to be OK?’” said Martin.

Over the next few months the Martins worked their way to the top of the list. And one week before the due date they headed to Georgia in a blue Nissan Centra.

On Nov. 18, 1997, the Martins received a call from the doctor at around 5 p.m. saying that the baby had been born, but they would have to wait a day to see the baby for some legal proceedings to take place.

The Martins drove to the hospital on the 20th to pick up their new little girl, Amelia Ann Martin.

“She was the only baby in the nursery, at the time, that we saw. She was getting a bath and just screaming like crazy, hating that. It was just such a special moment because you know you're leaving the hospital with a baby that day,” said Martin. “The nurse even gave us a few tips on how to give her a bath while she still had part of her umbilical cord attached.”

Then, in another unexpected turn of events, Jill became pregnant and had a baby one year and two months later.

“That was the biggest surprise of all this stuff,” said Martin. “I was just awestruck. I could not believe it because we already had a baby now. Here we are going to have two babies.”

The Martins named the new arrival Hallie Margret.

About five years later in August 2003, the Martins found themselves in Montgomery, Ala. waiting in the social worker’s office to meet Quinton Scott, this time with two excited girls looking on anxiously.

A few days earlier, Dr. Martin had received a fax while at work. The fax explained that a baby had been born in Tuscaloosa, Ala on July 30, 2003. It was healthy. Jill, Amelia, and Hallie were in Chicago at the time visiting some friends.

“I called Jill in Chicago and I think my words were, 'Jill, I've found the perfect baby for us,’” said Martin.

But there was one problem; the Martins didn’t know from where the money was going to come.
The Martins prayed, “‘Lord, if it is your will for us to adopt, we just ask that you find a way for it to happen.’”

God provided for them through a great aunt who had bought a bond for them which had matured to around $10,000, just the right amount for an adoption.

So, Martin and his mother made the drive to Birmingham, Ala where they picked up the girls from the airport and traveled on to Montgomery. The family only had to stay there a night or two before they got to meet the new boy.

On Aug. 18 the social worker carried Quin out to them. He was born six weeks premature and even though he was already a little over a week old he was only about five or six pounds.

Two months earlier, the Martins had again begun the process of adoption, this time requesting a bi-racial baby.

Now Quin is 3-years-old and is looked out for by his 8 and 9-year-old sisters and of course his parents.

Martin said, “We pray for wisdom and guidance in raising them.”