Hope

Waiting during the adoption process is excruciating, isn't it? Even actively seeking with faith and hope is often excruciatingly painful. Our family has felt this lately. For some reason, our two adoption miracles have latched onto the thought that they need more siblings. They ask frequently and talk constantly about whether or not we will be adopting more siblings for them. If only it were as simple as it seems in their minds, right? Then, they look at me with their chubby cheeks and cherubic eyes and I feel torn. Shouldn't I simply be grateful to have these two miracles instead of longing for one more? Especially when so many are still waiting and longing for their first child? Three is my "magic number;" my husband has always longed for four children.

As we've experienced these family-growing pains, we've knelt in prayer and poured our hearts out to our Savior. We felt our prayers were heard and answered, not because we've already been able to adopt twice, but because our hearts felt peace. We were reminded of that peace and loved this promise given by President Boyd K. Packer during General Conference today. We pray it brings peace and hope in your adoption journey also!

Hi!

I'm Sheyann and I'm very excited to share the 

adoption life-lessons of my family with everyone.
I blog at www.andysclan.com and www.allofmymonkeys.com

I met my husband, JJ, in 2002 and we were married in 2003. Exactly 4 month after we were married, we began trying to conceive a child. We were living in Rexburg, Idaho, attending BYU-Idaho at that time. Everyone around us was getting married and having children, we were of similar mind and couldn't wait to be parents! 11 years later, we are grateful to have our 2 children, who came to our family through adoption. We have one closed adoptive relationship and one VERY open adoptive relationship with our children's family. 

I can't begin to count the number of times we wondered if we'd be given the sacred calling of being parents of Heavenly Father's children. Then, we wondered if there would be only one, or two. More often than I can count, our adoption dreams seemed difficult, frustrating, hopeless, and endless. However, as I listen to General Conference today, I decided my first posted needed to share hope and strength.

Choosing adoption to build ones family requires endless courage, strength, and will undoubtedly come with seemingly endless challenges. Each of our adoption dreams and experiences will be different. Our family has experienced failed adoptive matches, three pregnancy losses, inquired about hundreds of waiting children, have been presented to final adoption selection committees (foster adoption process and waiting child process) about a dozen times, been foster parents, dealt with emotional and financial adoption scammers, have successfully adopted twice. Adopting is quickly becoming more difficult financially and due to increasingly difficult laws, but what I know more than anything else is this: When it is right and supposed to happen, things will work out. I look forward to sharing more of our experiences with everyone!

  So, to help me get to know everyone, please share where you are in your adoption journey!