xxx/xx xxx xxxTyler residents Alan and Melanie Pigg are pictured here with their two children, Madeline, 6, and Austin, 3. The couple adopted their children as infants through Christian Homes and Family Services. Courtesy

EMILY GUEVARA, eguevara@tylerpaper.com

When Alan and Melanie Pigg got married, they were in no hurry to start a family.

They were both working and enjoyed traveling. As roller coaster enthusiasts, they visited more than 100 amusement parks, where they road more than 400 roller coasters.

“We really enjoyed being just married,” Alan, 47, said of the time.

In their mid-to-late 30s, though, the couple decided they wanted to have children. But, it wasn’t happening. After pursuing some basic medical testing, the couple decided to pursue adoption.

Mrs. Pigg’s two older brothers were adopted and the couple had a nephew who was adopted, so that had always been a possibility for them.

“If God is not going to bless us with children biologically,” Pigg said, “then adoption was an option.”

After researching online and attending an adoption-related event, the Piggs decided to use Christian Homes and Family Services as their adoption agency.

“Their primary mission and ministry is to those birth moms,” Mrs. Pigg, 45, said of the nonprofit organization. She and her husband really liked that.

The nonprofit is licensed to provide maternity care and foster care in Texas and adoption services in Texas and Oklahoma.

It provides residential and community-based care to women with unplanned pregnancies.

This care can include housing, food, clothing, medical care, legal services, moral support, counseling and, if needed, foster care for a newborn, all of this at no cost to the mother.

The agency works with the mother to support her. Their support exists no matter her choice, whether she ultimately decides to raise her own child or place them for adoption.

Since 1962, the organization has placed more than 1,950 babies and children into adoptive homes, provided maternity care for more than 2,700 women and cared for more than 1,735 foster children.

It has offices in Tyler, Abilene, Fort Worth and Oklahoma, but can serve people outside of those cities.

Through the work of the agency, the Piggs adopted their two children, Madeline Rose, 6, and Austin Wayne, 3, as infants.

One of the special aspects of those adoptions is that the biological parents of those children specifically chose the Piggs from a selection of possible adoptive parents.

Through the application process and subsequent conversations, Christian Homes and Family Services creates a profile of the prospective adoptive parents.

Through their work with the pregnant mothers, they get an idea of which adoptive parents might be a good match with the biological mother and present profile books of those prospective parents to her.

In the case of Madeline, her biological mother had actually already perused the nonprofit’s website and selected the Piggs based on their online profile. When they were among the profile books the caseworker brought for her to review, she didn’t even consider the other prospective parents, she said she wanted the Piggs, Mrs. Pigg said.

In Austin’s case, once his biological parents chose the Piggs, his birth father wanted to physically hand him over to his adoptive parents.

In the case of both children’s biological parents, they were in life situations where they knew they wouldn’t be able to provide for these children as they wanted to, so they placed them for adoption.

The knowledge that their children’s biological parents selected them to raise the children is powerful and presents the Piggs with an awesome responsibility, Pigg said. “We consider it a high calling,” he said.

Both adoptions are open and from the beginning the Piggs shared with their children their adoption story in an age-appropriate way.

“It’s been perfect,” Mrs. Pigg said of parenthood. “God had them made perfectly for us, we feel.”

Madeline is in first grade at a local Christian school and Austin attends Mother’s Day Out a few times a week.

Pigg works full-time as an attorney and Mrs. Pigg works primarily as a stay-at-home wife and mother.

The couple remain involved with Christian Homes and Family Services, speaking at various events the nonprofit puts on, especially those geared for prospective adoptive parents.

In addition, Mrs. Pigg said the organization remains a support, almost like an extended family, to them. If the children ask a question about adoption that she’s not sure how to handle, she has called the nonprofit to ask for their input.

With 27 employees, two of whom have worked for the nonprofit for more than 30 years, there is a lot of knowledge and experience to share.

“We just love Christian Homes (and Family Services) and love what they do and could not recommend them anymore highly to anybody,” Mrs. Pigg said.

TWITTER: @TMTEmily

IF YOU GO

WHO: Christian Homes & Family Services

WHAT: Ninth Annual Call Her Blessed Luncheon

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Green Acres Baptist Church CrossWalk Conference Center

INFO: Lisa Robertson and her mother-in-law Miss Kay Robertson, from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty,” are the scheduled speakers.

TICKETS: Call 903-509-0558 or visit www.ChristianHomes.com.