Our Daughter's Birth Mom Is Engaged!

We are very excited to announce a very special engagement! Our daughter's Birth Mom is getting married!! We are so happy for them and love them to pieces! 

CONGRATULATIONS SARA & JAMES, WE LOVE YOU!!

Birth Fathers Matter!

Sister loving her Birth Dad

A few days ago I received a thoughtful text from Sister’s Birth Dad, “Miss you guys”.  It’s amazing how such few words can mean so much, and be so full of love.  We love him and are extremely grateful for all that he adds to our family.  He lives several hours away so we don’t often get to visit face to face, however, we love every ounce of contact we do get.  

His text got me thinking about our last visit with him and it brought back fond memories.  We were in his home town due to a family celebration and arranged to visit with him and his wonderful family at a local park.  They were all so thoughtful and planned a delicious picnic meal on short notice.  We are so grateful to be loved not only by Caleb, but also by his parents, grandparents and siblings.  They have always welcomed all of us with open arms.  We love them all dearly.

We actually got to the park (our last visit) a bit early so we let the kiddo’s play on the playground.  Caleb (Sister’s Birth Dad) arrived before the rest of his family.  I was so excited to see him, as it had been a while since our last visit.  Sister was busy playing, that is until her Birth Dad came closer.  She looked up and they made eye contact.  She didn’t look away for a long while, she just soaked him in.  At only a year old, it was amazing that he had captured her complete attention.  I wish I could have heard her thoughts at that moment, as I know they were thoughts of recognition.  She knew he belonged to her, and that he was special.  You should have seen the glow in his eyes, he recognized her admiration as well.  It is simply delicious to watch your child's birth parents heal, because of an open adoption.

The beautiful biological connection doesn’t get removed, nor should it through an adoption placement.  Open adoption allows these beautiful connections and relationships to continue to develop and grow.  Our children were not only meant to be ours through the miracle of adoption, I believe they were also meant to be theirs (Birth Families) as well, each role sacred in their own right.  If embraced and nurtured, these roles can only compliment one another.  

I cherish that memory of my daughter’s recognition of her Birth Father. 

 She needs him.  We need him.

Thank You, Caleb.  For being, an active role in not only her life, but also ours.  We are so blessed to have you as a member of our family.  We are so grateful for the influence you currently share and for the influence you will continually share in the future.  Thank you, to all of Caleb's Family Members as well, for all of the love and support you give us!   Your actions do not go unnoticed.

WE LOVE YOU.  YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO US.

Great Birth Grandma & Birth Dad

Sister and her special Birth Grandmother

Hazel's Dad & Birth Dad.

Sister's Birth Grandfather, Birth Aunt & Birth Grandmother.

Hazel playing with her Birth Dad and Birth Grandfather.

Kisses from her two favorite men.

Birth Uncle, Birth Grandfather, Birth Grandmother, Birth Dad, Birth Uncle, and Birth Aunt.

Sacred relationships that are nurtured through an Open Adoption (Sister and her Birth Dad.

"What? You too?"

As we go through life it takes us on highs and lows and through twists and turns.  As I traveled through my infertility journey, to protect myself I began to shield myself from certain events, outings and sometimes even girl’s night outs.  It wasn’t really anything anyone was doing… it was more about what I wasn’t doing.  Most of my friends had begun their families, and then continued to add in numbers.  That was just what they should have been doing and I wanted nothing less for them.  They knew that about me.  Even still, certain things just weren’t the same anymore.  Many didn’t know how to support me through this hardship in my life, so some relationships faded away completely as they just didn’t know what to do or what to say.  I do not fault them in this area, as it is extremely taxing to support someone who longs for something that comes to you so easily.  I understood.  It was harder for some than for others.  For most friendships our friendship didn’t lessen, it just became a new normal.  I soon realized through my infertility journey, I needed to in addition find others who would understand my deepest thoughts regarding my infertility journey.

The number of infertile women is continually rising, but we are still the minority.  I realized that I needed to find a special friend who related to me, which wasn’t easy for me even though I consider myself to be social. I needed a friend, but I wasn’t actually searching for one.  I had gone through periods of time where I became more reclusive than other times.  I began to open up to others less often than I ever had before and started to find myself feeling very alone and sad a good portion of the time.

My sweet husband is such an amazing man.  He is so loving and supportive, truly, I could not ask for more…

He would tell me I was beautiful and more than enough, when I came to the realization that I would not be able to give him a child.  

He held me tight when I was broken.  When I read the negative results on the pregnancy test, time and time again, thinking… I was so sure that this was the time we would succeed.

He was supportive every time I wanted to buy yet another pregnancy test, even though he knew the odds were not in our favor.

He even held my hand when I didn’t have the strength to pray and night and asked my Heavenly Father to comfort me.  

He is one of a kind!

Even still, a man feels like a man and a woman feels like a woman.  He did a wonderful job supporting me, though I longed for someone to understand the emotions and heart break I was feeling.  Then our journey shifted, we felt prompted to search out adoption.  It was beautiful; it warmed me every time we talked of it… for the first time it felt like we were on the right path.  We never did receive answers to our infertility problems; we are one of those undiagnosed couples.  

Adoption… Open Adoption.  Once we began to travel the path of adoption, everything felt right. Adoption didn’t feel like we were settling on the next best thing since we couldn’t conceive. We were excited about it. When we discovered adoption we realized it was always the path we were meant to travel.  Our kids would come to us through/ with another.

Our two little miracles came home to us, and we didn’t just add two miracles, we added their biological families as well!!  Our family grew very quickly at that point.  Our children’s birthparents were so brave and strong… but there was still a lot of healing to be done.  Both of our children’s birthparents adored the idea of parenting their little one… but their circumstances and timing didn’t offer the stability they wanted for their little ones.  I experienced a lot of guilt.  Not many people understood this.  “How can you feel guilt, they gave you this beautiful baby!”  Open Adoption is new to many people; they don’t quite grasp the love relationship that we have with our children’s birth families.  Their pain is because of our joy.  Adoption is not a fairy tale where you receive a baby, cut ties, and go your own way to then live happily ever after.   There is a balance to be created in these sacred relationships.

Again, going through this stage was also delicate and I began to long for that person to relate to.  You go through some really strong feelings as you travel the path of adoption, highs and lows.  At times I just needed to be validated or understood.  I did meet some other women who also traveled in their own adoption journey, but they had closed adoptions.  There was a bond, and I appreciated the connections we have still to this day.

My sister in law said, “There is a blog I think you might like.  A girl in my sister’s ward in Texas (we are in Idaho).”  I was a bit skeptical if I’m completely honest, how was I going to be able to connect with the woman who is so far away.  Curiosity got the best of me.  Through reading her blog and conversing with her once in a while, I soon noticed how much our lives parallel each others.  We had just both adopted our second child, and we both loved open adoption.  We started talking on the phone all the time; you would think we were best friends our whole lives.  It was common in our conversation to hear, “What? You too?!”   I am not sure who was more excited for me to find Candace… me or Russell.  Ha.  I felt normal again!  SHE was the answer to many prayers.  

We met last year for the first time in person, and it was once again like we had known each other our whole lives.  We still talk, Facebook, Skype several times a week and are planning a trip again in March.  I am so grateful for Candace.  If you talk to me about her in person you will notice the tears in my eyes.  She is not just my friend, she is truly my sister in adoption.  I am a better person because she is in my life.  I do not have to define, explain or justify anything that I express about our adoption journey.  She already knows.  I still have great connections and great friends who are not in the adoption world, and they are just as special to me... but I can't even express in words how much I needed my adoption friend.  For infertile women/adoptive mothers out their… I strong encourage you find your infertile/adoption buddy.  If you don’t have one, and you want one… let’s find you one.  A little piece of , “What?  You too?!” is so healing!  Thank you Candace for being such a true blessing in my life!  I love you, Bestie!