(Source: LDS Living; By: Danielle Beckstrom)
When Tanja and Kevin Crouch learned that they would not be able to have children, their whole life plan turned upside down. At the time, Tanja worked as a recording studio manager and Kevin–who previously worked as a costume designer for Disney and Vogue–worked as a college professor of fashion. The LDS couple lived in Tenessee and always assumed biological children were in their future.
But when the heartbreaking news came that they couldn’t have kids, the Crouches simply moved ahead with faith and hope, creating a new future vision of their family.
That vision still included children, and in 2007 the Crouches were ready to adopt.
“The first time we met Cory, I knew he was our son. I just felt it,” Tanja Crouch told Upworthy.com. “I believe Cory is the son we were supposed to have. I believe that God found a way to finally help us to find one another.”
Despite having a confirmation that this was the right decision, the Crouches knew the road ahead wouldn’t be easy for their new family. At the time of his adoption, Cory was just a week shy of his 16th birthday. Having been taken from his home and placed in foster care at age 5, Cory moved from home to home, and finally to a facility before meeting the Crouches.
Life with the Crouches gave Cory the stability, love, and support he never had in his previous homes. Through Tanja and Kevin’s example, Cory was exposed to the gospel and baptized within the year.
“It was his choice; the missionaries told me he had accepted their challenge and set a date before I ever heard from him that he had made the decision,” Tanja writes on her blog. “We did not want him to feel pressure from us; we needed it to be his decision. I know Cory had a testimony at the time he joined the Church, but he was still growing and learning, as we all are.”
Read more at LDS Living
