Shortly after Russ and I got married, we found out we were
pregnant. We were so excited! Nine months later, our baby boy, Caden, was born.
We were thrilled! Little did we know just how much of a miracle he was at that
time. When Caden was a little over a year old, we got pregnant again. Once
again, we were so excited. Our excitement came crashing down as I started
bleeding and cramping, because we realized it was a miscarriage. It was really
devastating and sad, but we knew it was normal to have miscarriages and hoped
that the next pregnancy would turn out better. I ended up having a few more
miscarriages after that one, and we consulted with an infertility specialist.
After lots of testing, the specialist gave us the option of doing in-vitro or
to continue trying on our own. Neither option sounded right, so we took our
time to talk about it and pray about it. For months, we had no definite direction
so we waited.
One night, as I was reading a blessing that was given to me
when I was younger, I felt strongly that we needed to adopt. We had considered
adoption before, but until then we hadn’t felt strongly impressed to adopt.
However, that night, there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that we were supposed to
adopt our next child. Russ and I talked about it, prayed about it, fasted about
it and then talked about it when we went to the LDS temple. We both felt it was
the right thing to do. We called and got in touch with LDS Family Services. We
signed up for the orientation meeting and got started on all the paperwork. We
were new to the adoption world and loved learning all the different
perspectives and, ultimately, the great love that is involved by all parties.
We were overwhelmed with love for the birth mom that spoke on the panel at our
training and we knew that we wanted an open adoption. A few months later, we
were approved and we held a “kick off” event to spread the word to all of our
friends and family that we were hoping to adopt. We sent out emails and were
constantly praying that we would come in contact with the birth mom that was
looking for our family.
A little over a year later, we heard that there was a couple
that was interested in placing their child for adoption with our family and we
were so excited! We were able to meet them at a Colorado Rockies baseball game
that Families Supporting Adoption hosted for a birth parent appreciation day.
We weren’t sitting close to them, but we wanted to get to know them better. Thankfully
there was a rain delay at the game, so we were able to talk to them more as we
all huddled under the stadium roofs for over an hour. They were easy to talk to
and we laughed together while Caden was jumping in the puddles. We heard about
a month later that they had selected us to raise their baby boy. Words can’t
express the joy, gratitude and love we felt for them. We met up with them a
number of times before he was born and we loved talking to them. Between going
out to dinners and playing XBOX Kinect with them, we developed a good
friendship and it was so easy to be around them.
When Chase’s birth mom was admitted to the hospital, we were
there with them and were able to stay overnight while she was in labor. We
probably should’ve tried to go to bed while we could, but we enjoyed talking
with them so much that we all stayed up until 2:30AM. After a few hours of sleep on the waiting
room floor, we were awakened at 6:30 AM because Chase’s birth mom was about to
deliver. As we waited outside the labor
and delivery room, we embraced each other in the hall with tears of love when
we heard little Chase cry for the first time. We were able to have many visitors
including some of the birth parent’s family members as well as some of our own
family members.
Six months later, we finalized our adoption in court and
were touched by the questions that the attorney asked about this being a
“permanent adoption”. We were so happy that Chase would always be in our
family! We had the privilege of being sealed to Chase in the LDS Denver temple
on April 21, and Caden was able to come in to witness this special and sacred
ceremony. Tears poured down our cheeks as we knew that he would be a part of
our family forever. It was an incredibly sacred and joyful day!
We have an open adoption and we get together with Chase’s birth parents for visits whenever we can. We talk on the phone and are friends on Facebook. It is truly a blessing to have them still involved in his life. We love any chance we have to see them and always leave with a heart full of love, joy and gratitude for them. We will always be forever grateful for their courage to place him for adoption with our family. We love Chase’s birth parents!
