She didn’t dream of motherhood the way some little girls do, imagining baby names and nursery colors. In fact, as a young woman, she wasn’t even sure marriage and children were in her future.
But God had other plans.
Today, Carlee is a mother to seven girls, a woman whose life has been shaped by faith, foster care and a willingness to step into the unknown. Her story is one of saying “yes”—again and again and again—even when she didn’t have all the answers, even when it was hard.
A Heart for the Vulnerable
Carlee grew up in Carmel, Indiana, in what she describes as a “privileged life”—not in the sense of wealth, but in the security of two loving, involved parents. Yet, even in her sheltered childhood, she felt drawn to people who were struggling.
“I was that kid who wanted to take in every stray,” she says with a laugh. “I remember watching the news as a child and hearing about a baby left in a dumpster. I was 12, and I told my parents, ‘I’m going to find that baby and raise it.’”
That tender heart led her to Purdue University, where she graduated with a degree in early childhood education in May of 2001. She imagined a future in teaching—until she began student-teaching at Head Start, a program serving children from low-income families. It was there, in a classroom filled with children from difficult backgrounds, that her life shifted.
That year, she not only became a Christian but also encountered foster care for the first time. She met a set of twin boys in her class whose foster placement was uncertain. Their caseworker was worried. She and a coworker decided to pray for them all weekend. When they returned on Monday, they learned the boys’ original placement had fallen through, and instead, they had been placed with a loving, faith-filled family.
“It was the first time I truly saw the power of prayer,” she says. “And the first time I realized how desperately good foster families were needed.”
From “Maybe Someone Else” to “Why Not Me?”
At first, Carlee thought her role would be to encourage others to foster. She joined a church, got involved in the youth group and told everyone about the need for foster families. But when she realized that many people were hesitant, fearful of government involvement and skeptical of the system, she decided to take foster care classes herself. “I thought I’d be the guinea pig,” she says. “I’ll go through it and tell everyone, ‘Look, I survived!’” What she didn’t expect was to become a foster mom herself.
“I genuinely didn’t think I was allowed to foster as a single woman,” she says. “But at the end of the training, someone looked at me and said, ‘You already volunteer with youth teenagers once a week. Why not take in a child temporarily who needs a home?’”
In 2004, at 24 years old, Carlee opened her home to her first foster child, a 12-year-old girl. “It was trial by fire,” Carlee admits. “Foster care isn’t easy. But I knew I was called to do it.”
Her foster daughter had multiple siblings who had been split up, moved from home to home, and experienced deep trauma. Carlee had the heartbreaking honor of throwing this 12-year-old girl her very first birthday party. She stayed with Carlee for six months before transitioning to another placement, and though it was hard to say goodbye, Carlee knew that opening her home—even for a short time—mattered.
“That’s the reality of foster care,” she says. “It’s messy. It’s unpredictable. You love kids deeply, and sometimes, you have to let them go.”
Meeting Femi and Finding Forever
By the time Carlee was fostering, her life was already full. Between working with kids, volunteering at church and caring for children in her home, she didn’t have much time to think about dating—let alone marriage. But God had other plans.
One evening at church, she met Femi, a kind and steady presence who had recently moved to Indiana for a short-term work training program. Originally from Nigeria, Femi’s gentle spirit and shared faith quickly drew them together. But just as their relationship began to blossom, Femi’s assignment ended, and he relocated with his job to Canada. “We started dating about 30 seconds before he left,” Carlee jokes.
Despite the distance, they stayed connected—navigating time zones and long calls while dreaming about what God might be calling them to do. At the same time, Carlee met Catherine, a bold and spirited five-year-old in foster care whose placement was unraveling.
When reunification plans with her father fell through, caseworkers asked Carlee if she would consider adoption. It was a defining moment. She called Femi, still in Canada, and said, “I think God wants me to adopt this little girl.” His response? “Yeah, I figured.” He had total peace about this next step for Carlee and Catherine.
So, in March 2005, Carlee became Catherine’s legal mother. Two years later, after Carlee and Femi married, Femi adopted her too—making official what had already been true in their hearts.
Rather than a honeymoon, they took a “family moon” with Catherine, marking not just the start of their marriage but the beginning of their life as a family. For a little girl who had spent years wondering where she belonged, that trip was more than a celebration—it was home.
A Family Grows in Unexpected Ways
Motherhood changed Carlee, but her heart for vulnerable children remained. As she and Femi continued fostering, their family grew—both biologically and through adoption. Their second daughter, Keziah, was born in 2008, and shortly after, they felt called to adopt again.
“We assumed adoption in the U.S. wasn’t for us. We desired to adopt to meet a need,” Carlee says, “and I always assumed there were thousands of families waiting for every baby. But that wasn’t the case—especially for Black children and kids with special needs.”
In 2010, they adopted Elizabeth through a maternity home in Missouri, where her birth mother was looking for a family with at least one African American parent. Throughout the adoption process and especially during the hospital stay, Carlee was especially drawn to the home’s unique model. They included housing, parenting resources and adoption support, ensuring women had support for whatever avenue they chose for their baby.
“I just kept thinking, this is right,” she says. “They had one person for the mom and one for the adoptive family. That’s genius—someone walking with her the whole time.” That experience planted the seeds for Carlee’s future adoption work in Lafayette, Indiana.
Not long after Elizabeth’s adoption, Carlee and Femi began praying about India, wondering if the Lord had a child there for them. Years later, a friend sent an email about a six-year-old girl named Debjani who was in need of a family. The process took nearly four years. By the time they brought her home, Debjani was 10, and Carlee was pregnant with their second biological daughter, Eden.
“She was grieving so hard,” Carlee says. “She had lost everything familiar. At one point, she thought the hotel was our home.” Slowly, Debjani began to adjust. In the years that followed, the Dawodus welcomed two more daughters—Jubilee and Aliyah—rounding out their lively family of nine.
“So that’s our wild bunch,” Carlee laughs. “It’s a whole lot of hair. It’s a whole lot of feelings.”
Gifts of Grace is Born
Adoption had transformed Carlee’s life, but as both an adoptive mom and advocate, she saw a troubling gap: pregnancy resource centers and adoption agencies weren’t working together, and expectant mothers contemplating adoption were often handed a list of agencies to vet with little real support or direction. Most agencies treated adoptive families as the primary client—not the birth mother. Carlee knew that had to change.
In 2013, she founded a licensed adoption agency built around a radically different model—one that centered the expectant mother. “Our mission was to walk alongside women as they made one of the hardest decisions of their lives,” she says. “We weren’t here to push adoption. We were here to listen, to support and to make sure they had everything they needed to make the best choice for themselves and their baby.”
Unlike many agencies, Gifts of Grace focused on:
- Late-Stage Matching: Allowing moms time to process their pregnancy before choosing adoption, reducing the heartbreak of disrupted placements.
- Holistic Support: Providing counseling, housing, prenatal care and legal help—regardless of whether the woman chooses adoption.
- Ethical Placements: Ensuring adoptive families were active Christians and trained in trauma, open adoption and the realities of adoptive parenting.
- Ongoing Birth Mom Care: Offering lifelong counseling, support groups and Birth Mother’s Day celebrations, far beyond the standard six weeks.
Carlee and her team walked with hundreds of women—attending ultrasounds, doctor’s visits and even being present in the delivery room. Some moms chose to parent, and Gifts of Grace celebrated that. Others chose adoption, and Gifts of Grace stood beside them every step of the way.
“It wasn’t about numbers,” Carlee says. “It was about making sure these women were loved, seen and supported.”
In its 12 years, Gifts of Grace provided adoption support to countless adoptive families, supported hundreds of women as they considered their parenting and adoption options and placed 44 Indiana babies into Christian adoptive families. They built a culture of dignity for birth moms—women too often overlooked in the adoption process.
Now, as the agency closes its doors, Carlee sees it not as an ending, but the end of a season. “The landscape of adoption is changing,” she says. “But what we built—awareness, support networks, families—those things don’t go away.”
The seeds planted will continue to bear fruit.
Life as a Family of Nine
Life is chaotic with even just one child, but seven children bring a whole new level of challenge. Carlee and Femi take it in stride and see the fruits of their labor daily.
- Catherine, now 25 years old, is married to Ray, and the two just celebrated their one-year anniversary. Femi finally has another guy in the family, and Carlee and he are so thankful for how beautifully Ray loves and compliments Catherine! Catherine continues to be an amazing pianist and is walking in her dad’s footsteps as she recently began studying engineering at Purdue Northwest.
- Debjani, now 21, enjoys singing, piano, guitar and horseback riding. Upon graduating from high school, she worked at Chick-fil-A. She now lives in Tennessee and is hoping to attend college. Debjani has had much to overcome in life, and although it has been a challenging journey, Carlee and Femi are encouraged by the steps she is taking toward healing and independence.
- Keziah just celebrated her seventeenth birthday and is savoring all of the “lasts” of homeschooling, including soccer, drama and her youth group activities. She and Elizabeth are excited to be taking their first international missions trip this summer, as they both have a heart to serve others and share the gospel.
- In addition to youth group activities, Elizabeth, who is 14, also loves singing, piano, soccer and track.
- Eden, Jubilee and Aliyah, who are 11, 9 and 7 years old, enjoy violin lessons, soccer, gymnastics and playing outside with their neighbor friends all day, every day.
A Mother’s Day Reflection
As Mother’s Day approaches, Carlee’s story reminds us that motherhood isn’t always planned—but it is always a calling. Whether biological, adoptive, foster or spiritual, mothering is about opening your heart and saying “yes” to love.
“I never thought this would be my life,” Carlee says. “But I can’t imagine it any other way.”
This Mother’s Day, may we all be inspired to say yes—to love, faith and the unexpected ways God writes our stories.
