Mother's Day

Mother’s Day triggers a host of emotions for many women, particularly those who deal with infertility. For Hannah, the day would come and go, year after year, leaving her with the very real ache of wanting to be a mother. After much prayer, Hannah and Jordan decided to explore adoption to realize their dream of welcoming a baby into their family. In February 2019, they called Zoe’s House Adoption Agency to inquire about the adoption process and set the wheels in motion.

At the end of that same month, thousands of miles away in rural Alaska, another woman dreamed of a baby. Frances + Dean jewelry designer Kristie Fray was awakened in the wee hours of the morning, jolted by the dream of being pregnant, feeling a baby move within her, and knew that while this couldn’t be literal, that the Lord was speaking to her of “new life” and to be watchful. She wrote the dream in her journal, and counted the weeks on her calendar for when she would begin to feel “movement” in a natural pregnancy – April, and then a baby due in September. She felt to design a simple teardrop earring to commemorate this dream, which she did the next day….and then she waited, and prayed.

A few weeks later, Kristie heard Zoe’s House Executive Director Kelsey Bohlender speak at a women’s conference in Alaska. Kelsey shared her own testimony, how the Lord had challenged them to become an extension of their own prayers through adoption. She also shared story after story of women who loved their babies, but felt the only option was abortion. These are some of the women Zoe’s House has served over the years – many who have made the beautiful choice of making an adoption plan for their children. As Kristie heard the adoption stories, her heart longed to be a part of the solution. She remembered the little teardrop earring design and thought, “This is what is in my hands, and it can be an offering”.

Kristie went to work immediately on the Laramie Project. She named the teardrop earrings Laramie, meaning “tears of love” and coordinated with Zoe’s House to receive the profits from the sale of these Mother’s Day earrings, set to launch on April 15.   The night before the launch, the first alarm on her phone went off, and she saw the note, “You should feel the baby start to move.”

What Kristie didn’t know was that only a few days earlier, the Willis family finished the last of their adoptive family paperwork and were officially put on the active list with Zoe’s House. Meanwhile, the Zoe’s House staff had been working with Amy, a young woman who lived in rural Kansas, several hours from Kansas City.  The Zoe’s House staff made the trip several times to support and care for Amy during her pregnancy. As the single mom of two children, Amy knew in her heart that the best path forward for this baby she was carrying was to make an adoption plan with a two-parent family.

Amy felt an instant connection to Hannah and Jordan, and in July 2019 she chose them to be the adoptive family of her soon-to-be-born baby girl. Meanwhile, Kristie was keeping an eye on the next alarm she’d set on her phone.  By her calculations, the baby she’d dreamed about would be born mid-September.

As her due date approached, Amy decided she wanted the Willis's present for her delivery. On September 6, Hannah held Amy’s hand in the operating room as her baby girl was born via c-section. With tears of joy the Willis’s who didn’t know about the Frances + Dean earrings, promptly named their little girl Laramie.

The author of dreams, God writes amazing stories. Who could’ve written such a precise story with intersecting dreams of a baby named Laramie, and a project to honor the very agency who took care of the birth mom and adoptive family on the journey? God loves babies, birth moms, adoptive families and those who come alongside to help others so much that He gives us little nudges along the way.  Kristie’s dream and earring design was divinely inspired, and Laramie will always know that God knows her name.

Written by Zoe's House Executive Director | Kelsey Bohlender