Feature Post: Daniel and Christy

One of my favorite parts of administrating this blog is getting to feature hopeful adoptive couples. If you would like to have your family featured and you are currently certified to adopt, contact me at ldsadoptionconnection at yahoo dot com. Thanks! -Elise

Meet Daniel and Christy

There were fireworks the day Daniel and I met. Literally. It was the 4^th of July and we were out with a group of friends. That was the first time I recognized Daniel’s potential as a father. We were sitting on a blanket as we were waiting for the fireworks to start. A little boy was nearby blowing bubbles and Daniel was playing along, catching them and making that little boy smile and laugh. I’m not ashamed to admit that it was the moment I started to fall for him.

We’ve been married for nine years and we’ve been hoping for a child for almost that whole time. We’d discussed adoption when we were engaged and we both felt like it was an option for us. It’s such a blessing that we’ve been able to work toward this dream together and we’re excited that someday we might be chosen to become parents. We’re hoping to have an open adoption so our child can know and love their first family.

We are artists in our own ways. Daniel draws and I’m a photographer. I’m in love with running. Daniel could spend days reading. We are both a little geeky since Daniel’s love of Star Wars and Star Trek is contagious. We have a dog named Doozer who absolutely adores little kids and keeps us laughing. We have a great life and we are excited to have the chance to be parents through the miracle of adoption!

We have so much more to tell you about us, so please come visit us at http://amalg.us and feel free to drop us a line or ask us a question on our Q&A Tuesday blog posts!

Feature Post: Scott And Teresa

One of my favorite parts of administrating this blog is getting to feature hopeful adoptive couples. If you would like to have your family featured and you are currently certified to adopt, contact me at ldsadoptionconnection at yahoo dot com. Thanks! -Elise

Meet Scott & Teresa

In just a few weeks Scott & I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and our little Charlie will celebrate his 5th Birthday!  It’s amazing how time flies.  Some days we look back at what we expected our lives to look like and though we often wish we had a house full of little Charlie’s or Camilla’s, we are so grateful for The Good Life – the one that we are creating each and every day.  We celebrate the experiences we’ve had and the people we’ve met along the way! What an adventure we have lived so far!  Our story began with a boy and girl, destined to be together but headed in different directions.  When we first started dating he was getting ready for a BYU summer study abroad program in Israel and she was getting ready to leave on an LDS mission to Russia for a year and a half.   Three years later we found our way back together and were married on a dreamy December day in the Mount Timpanogos temple.  What I remember most about that day isn’t the first snow of the season, or how beautiful my dress was, but how excited we were to be a family of two, to be committed to each other & to being together forever.    We talked about having children of our own, maybe adopting one or two someday.  Scott is the youngest child in his family of 4 brothers and 1 sister.  Teresa is the 2^nd of 4 sisters.  So, we knew we wanted a full nest.   What we didn’t know was that our story would be a little different, maybe a little more special and unforgettable than we had anticipated.

 5 years passed and Scott and I had a lot of fun together.  We had traveled all over from Hawaii to Washington D.C., rode a motorcycle down the California coastline, and collected souvenirs from concerts and baseball games.   We had also spent countless hours in doctor’s offices, at adoption seminars, and in infertility treatments until finally, a sweet miracle of a boy entered our lives.  Our happy family of two grew to three.  We knew that having a baby would change our lives.   We knew that we would spend a little less time focused on ourselves & each other, and a lot less time with our hobbies, not to mention sleep.   We couldn’t have known how much of ourselves we would give to this child, and not just in time and attention, but also in sheer devotion.  My favorite parts of the day are when we are all together, when Scott, Charlie and I greet each other at the end of the day with hugs and kisses, when we tell each other about our day, when I look into my husband’s eyes and know that he would do anything for me and for this child of ours.  And so we hope for the chance to love like that again, to grow to a family of four, to share our lives and love with another sweet child.

 

The most important thing that I can tell you about us is that we love each other, and have so much love to spare.  We love to be together, whether cuddled up all 4 of us (our little dog Maya makes 4 – she loves to cuddle, too), on a Saturday morning deciding who will go get the doughnuts or building sandcastles on Waikiki beach Family time is the best time!   Scott is a musician at heart, and I, a dancer.  So we love to sing at the top of our lungs especially while driving in the car, and we aren’t afraid to break out a little dance when we hear a good beat.  We love to laugh, cry, and smile together and we love to celebrate each other’s accomplishments.  In October, I ran my first full marathon, 26.2 miles, and Charlie and Scott were with me the whole way.  I couldn’t have done it without their support.  We enjoy traveling and celebrating other cultures; we’ve been to England, Mexico, and all over the US together.  Scott has been to Mexico (many times for work and play), Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Israel, Jordan, Egypt – I could go on...and I lived in Russia for over a year.   So we have learned to appreciate, respect, and admire other cultures and ways of life.   We love to learn.  Scott has been brushing up on his Spanish since he has been working a lot with Latin American teams.   Little Charlie is excelling at his little private school.  He just got his “blending badge”, which is a huge accomplishment toward reading that we are all so proud of.
                                     

Our favorite part of open adoption is how many hearts get to love one child,  how many hands there will be to hold him or her,  & how much larger our family tree will grow.  To us, open adoption is a miracle. If you, or someone you know is considering adoption, we’d love for you to get to know us a little better.  Visit our adoption profile at itsaboutlove.org profile number 27897573 or follow our journey at www.growingtofour.wordpress.com -Teresa

Feature Post: Greg and Heather

One of my favorite parts of administrating this blog is getting to feature hopeful adoptive couples. If you would like to have your family featured and you are currently certified to adopt, contact me at ldsadoptionconnection at yahoo dot com. Thanks! -Elise

 Meet Greg & Heather:

We are the Spencers: Greg, Heather, Eliana, and Lynlee.  We have blessed by the miracle of adoption twice and are hoping to adopt again.

Greg and I met in 1993, when I was a freshman in college.   After 8 years of marriage, including 6 years of infertility treatments, we reevaluated our plan for building a family.  Adoption was the best choice for us, but it took me another 6 years to complete the adoption paperwork.  After approval, we waited for about 2 ½ years for our first birth mom, T, to find us.  She was looking at profiles on itsaboutlove.org and would click “random families” to have some profiles come up.  She said that a few days in a row, every time she clicked “random families” our profile was there.  Then she went to the search feature and put in every picky thing she wanted in a family, and 2 profiles came, 1 of which was ours.  What a miracle!  We love T so much and are so grateful to be a part of her life.

When Ellie was about a year old, we started the paperwork process for adoption #2.  We were about halfway through the process when we got a call from the adoption supervisor at our agency wanting to know if an expectant parent could contact us.  Um, yes, please!  M has a close relationship with T and had watched our family for a year, and ultimately chose us to parent her baby.  Another miracle!  Our daughters are 15 months apart and it is so much fun.We love to hang out as a family and with our extended family.  Greg is one of 10 children and I am one of 5, and there are lots of cousins and in-laws close by.  We love taking road trips and going on walks and playing at the park.  Maybe our favorite thing is to cuddle up by the fire and play with our daughters.

 Check out our family blog at http://tendermercies1.blogspot.com/ and our adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/27354129/ourMessage.jsf -Heather

Feature Post: Matt & JeriAnn

One of my favorite parts of administrating this blog is getting to feature hopeful adoptive couples. I remember two years ago when we were starting the process and were looking for all the help we could get in spreading the word about our desire to adopt. If you would like to have your family featured and you are currently certified to adopt, contact me at ldsadoptionconnection at yahoo dot com. Thanks! -Elise

Matt & JeriAnn

Howdy!

I just wanted to do a little intro about us and get the word out there that we are trying to adopt. Matt and I met in San Francisco, California, while serving as missionaries. We served together for about a year and during that time we became good friends. Matt completed his mission and returned home before I did. When he got home, he moved to Utah to attend college. He started hanging out with some of our friends from the mission and when I came home, Matt and those friends came to see me. Our friendship quickly developed into a relationship. We lived about two hours apart, but we saw each other every weekend and we talked for hours on the phone. After three weeks of dating, Matt asked me to fly to Georgia to meet his family. We had a great trip and I loved Matt's family immediately. We decided that we wanted to get married and we got engaged after the trip to Georgia. We were married four months later in the Salt Lake temple. We have now been married for six years

I am from a small town in Central Utah, I come from a large family of nine children (I'm number 8). I have 23 nieces and nephews with ages ranging from 6 weeks old to 16. All of my family is close and we get together often. I like to run, hike, do yoga, swim and almost any other outdoor activity. I have participated in several races including 5k’s, a 10k, a half marathon and two triathlons. I have a passion for reading and my favorite books are the Harry Potter series and I have read them each a dozen times. Currently I am enjoying being a house wife. I bake bread and have time to try all of those recipes that I've always wanted to make. Matt is from Georgia. He is the middle of two brothers. Matt and his brothers were adopted as infants. We've seen the miracles that can happen with adoption. Matt is shy at first, but quickly becomes the life of the party. He always has a funny story or experience to share that makes everyone laugh. Matt loves to go swimming, cliff jumping, and swimming at the beach. He enjoys watching almost any sporting event and does so often. He also loves to take pictures. Every time we go on a trip we take hundreds of pictures. We’ve taken over 15,000 pictures in the six years we’ve been married. Matt graduated in April with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has a job working as an engineer in the oil and gas industry. He also loves to work on cars and motorcycles. He enjoys helping others with their cars and is usually the person people call when they have a car problem.

We love to travel together. Every long weekend we have, we are taking a trip somewhere. Since being married, we have been to 35 states and we would love to visit all 50. We have been on three cruises; two to the Caribbean and one to Alaska, we have another family cruise planned for Christmas. We love to see new things and have new adventures. Matt likes to drive. We will pick a place, get a good book on CD and go. I love our traveling adventures together. It gives us time to be alone, have fun, and see new places. We also like to go camping. We will spend several nights in the mountains camping and having fires. We enjoy being outdoors and seeing nature. We recently moved to Texas and we love it here. It's fun to start exploring another part of the country. We've been here for three weeks now and we have already been to the beach twice. 

Why adoption? I was diagnosed with endometriosis a few years ago. After my diagnosis, we prayed about what we should do, and we know that adoption is the way we were supposed to build our family. We are excited about starting our family and can't wait until we witness the miracle of adoption in our lives. Please come and get to know us better. Here is our blog.
www.mattandjeriannadopt.blogspot.com -JeriAnn

Guest Post: Brittnee

Yesterday I received a very heartfelt email from a hopeful adoptive mama who is in the midst of the journey and wanted to share her thoughts and feelings with those out there who may be going through the same thing. Thanks for opening your heart to all of us,Britnee, and best wishes on your journey to find the little one meant to be in your family! -Elise

Adoption Blesses Lives

I always thought adoption would be easy. For us, I thought the getting here would be the hardest part. It took us five years as a couple to decide that we were both ready to adopt. One day I would be ready, the next I wouldn’t and vice versa. We were never ending up on the same page. Then one Sunday, in the middle of sacrament meeting, I turned to my husband and I said it’s time. I felt such an overwhelming peace that we were going to be blessed through adoption. My husband asked for some time to ponder his feelings and in the end he agreed, it was time! We called our local LDSFS the next day! We were totally lucky, the orientation meeting was scheduled for Thursday, (only a three day wait) and the FSA education courses that are offered twice a year were starting the following month, only three weeks away. We got our paperwork done quickly, had our interviews, and completed our home study in record time. We were approved and online just nine weeks to the day that we originally started our journey. I just knew that because everything had lined up so absolutely perfect, it would be a matter of months before we were placed with a baby. I even set a deadline that I just “knew” in my heart would be the timeline for bringing baby home, December 2010. 

That time came and went. Nothing. We came up on our first year and inevitably a home study renewal. We had just purchased our first home and graduated from college so we were sure these two things would drastically increase our chances. We eagerly started again, but this time we opted to also have our profile shared with the Department of Health and Welfare. Four months in, we got a call about a sibling group of 3. We were sure this was our time. After praying and pondering, we knew these kids were not ours. There was a family who could provide them so much more than we could at that time. We were ready for one, we worried about how we could care for three. It was heartbreaking and we worried that we might be walking away from our only chance but we said no and then we started waiting and searching again. Our second year passed and we were so doubtful about renewing again. We prayed and with some guidance from our priesthood leaders, felt like we should continue. Towards the end of our second year, we had been working on fertility treatments simultaneously and were so exhausted and burned out by it all. We decided that this third year would most likely be our final one. Only three months in, we decided it was time to move on. We would continue to wait for the adoption, but we stopped all fertility treatments at this time. We began to work on healing.

Here’s the thing, and I’m ashamed to say it, but I often longed for a miscarriage, a failed placement, or even to be scammed. I just longed for someone to notice us or want us and I longed to feel like there was a chance, that maybe we’d be parents someday. When we finally gave up and started to feel whole again, we had a private adoption opportunity that didn’t work out. We were so close. The baby was due in only fourteen days and we were literally waiting for the final yes. The birth mother selected another family in the end. Surprisingly, we were okay. We were heart broken, but we felt whole. We knew that this was an answer to our prayers. We knew that this was a key telling us to hold on a little longer. Since then, we’ve had a few opportunities sent our way. In fact, our profile is being handed off to a birth mother tomorrow for consideration. Although we aren’t the only couple being considered, we feel so blessed to have come this far.

Our journey isn’t over yet, but as I said in the beginning, I knew we would be blessed by adoption and I can honestly attest that we have. There is something so sweet and exciting about the process, that only those who have gone through it can really appreciate. We have learned so many wonderful things and we have grown and changed along the way. Most of all, our marriage has been strengthened ten-fold. I don’t know where we’ll be in a few days or years, or if and when we’ll be parents, but I do know that adoption blesses and changes lives! -Brittnee

Thanks again Brittnee for contacting me and sharing your thoughts! Check out more about Brittnee on her adoption profile at https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24679131/ourMessage.jsf

Hoping to Adopt Feature

Brett, Candace, & Sawyer

Our story begins 7 years ago. Brett and I met in an unusual way when we lived on total opposite sides of the world. I was at church one Sunday and I asked my friend if I could borrow a pen. She tossed me her purse and I started digging. I found the pen and I also stumbled upon a small photo album. I did my business with her pen and held on to the photo album. As we sat there, I started looking at the pictures and one picture completely jumped out at me. There was a

picture there that looks so familiar to me but I had no idea who this person was. I took the picture out of the plastic, studied it, and immediately told my friend that THIS was the man I was supposed to marry.

(This was the actual picture)

I knew nothing about him but I felt like my soul recognized exactly who he was. It was the strangest feeling in theworld....yet an awesome one! When I shared with my friend my intentions to marry this cute guy, she told me it would be pretty hard considering he was on a MISSION! What... cute and LDS?? That combo didn't exist where I came from.He wasn't just on any mission either... he was on the London, England mission and that was the same mission my father had served 20+years earlier.

That night, my friend called me with this missionary's address. She felt like I needed to send him a post card or something. By the time I had come home from church, I had already accepted my limitations and put the thought of this mystery man and I out of my mind. I wasn't about to disrupt a man on a mission. Plus I thought it would be awkward if just out of the blue I sent a stranger some mail. My friend kept calling me and bugging me to do it so I decided, what the heck, and sent him some mail. Missionaries love mail right?

Long story short, he loved the random mail from the random girl in Texas. I didn't send him any pictures for a while. We became pen pals and wrote back and forth. After about 6 months of mail, I finally sent him a picture and I was no longer just words on a paper. I had a face. We continued writing back and forth for 9 more months and then he came home. We met at the Dallas airport for the first time. 13 months later.... we were married in the Dallas Texas Temple : )

We both knew we wanted kids early on. After about a year, we really started trying to start our family. After one year goes by, then two, then three, we started getting worried. Everyone around us was popping out babies left and right and we had no answers. We both got checked by several doctors. I had every procedure done in the book including a surgery to get a better

look at what was going on inside my body. No doctor, fertility specialist, acupuncturist, etc, could give us a diagnosis. We tried diets, teas, and more praying then ever! Still nothing. After 6 years of heart break and no success, we decided to try more invasive routes. We saved up enough money to do In-Vitro fertilization. We had an appointment set and at the last minute I just felt completely wrong about it so we backed out. We rescheduled for the following month and when that day came.... once again.... I had the feeling that this was wrong again. I didn't get it.

I was so frustrated with myself. I knew that this was a very righteous desire so why was the Lord "denying" me of my want? (At least that is how I felt.) We had wanted this for so long and now that it was time, I just couldn't do it. My family and the few friends that knew were all telling me that I just had cold feet and that we just needed to go ahead and do it. I couldn't make any sense of it, however, I knew this was not the right plan. As I set there confused and a mess, I just asked myself, what was most important to me. Being pregnant or being a Mother. The answer was simple, I just wanted to be a Mother and Brett a Father.

Adoption was something that I knew was out there but I didn't really know anything about it and it kind of intimidated me. I had heard "stories" but they weren't the most positive ones. After we canceled our IVF for the 2nd time, adoption would not leave my mind. I started

googling agencies to get more info and LDSFS popped up. I requested to be contacted for further info and the next day I got a phone call. Within minutes of talking to LDSFS a girl from work called. I told her about how our plans had changed and we were now going to try the road less traveled..... adoption. She was excited for us and went and told another co-worker of ours our news. When she told this co-worker, this co-worker shared with her that her daughter was pregnant and working with another adoption agency... still in the search for a family for her baby. It was fate.

A week goes by and and then I got a call from my co-worker about her daughter. We talk for a long time. This was all so new to both of us. Her daughter and I became friends on facebook

and we emailed back and forth almost every day. A month later we met with her daughter and her boyfriend in person. Awesome Day!!! There was instant chemistry and love from both sides. By the end of our double date that night, they asked us if WE would be their child's parents.

(Candace, Lauren, Jason, & Brett)

About 4 months later, Sawyer Jonus Frandsen was born : )

Adoption is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We have a very open adoption with our sons birth parents and I wouldn't want it any other way with them. They are family to us.

It's been almost 2 years since our son was placed with us and every day has been the best day of our lives. After lots of thought and prayer, we feel very strongly that it is time to help our family grow again. Sawyer filled a huge hole in our hearts but now that our hearts have grown so much, there is more room needed to be filled. We fill that way is through adoption. Our profile is finished and Sawyer is very excited to be a big brother.

We love life. We love everything life has to offer. We are dedicated animal lovers and enjoy trying amazing foods! We love to travel and travel often. We've learned that sometimes getting lost can help you find yourself. We know life is short so we live our dream and share our passion. We document lots of our adventures on our youtube channel and our blog. We hope you check them out. We still have a great relationship with both sides of Sawyer's birth families and we communicate often. We are so grateful for them every day for taking the road less traveled with us. It has made all the difference : )

Here is our profile on itsaboutlove.org and our email address is ouradoptionoption1@gmail.com if you would like to contact us directly. Feel free to ask us anything you like!

Lots of Love, The Frandsens

brettandcandace.blogspot.com

www.youtube.com/ouradoptionoption

Hope to adopt features!

Matt and Crystal

We met in High School...at band camp. The singing angels must of had the day off because they did not show up, so we decided to be friends instead. A couple of years later we went on our first date, now the where and when this first date occurred depends on who you talk to, both versions are on our blog if you want to take sides.

When we got married, twelve years ago, we knew that our family would be built through adoption. The when to get started down that road was the question that was always answered " not yet". While we waited we went to school at Southern Utah University. Matt studied Biology and Crystal studied Music Performance. A Few months before Matt graduated he was offered an internship with the government just outside of Washington D.C.

After graduation we packed up the essentials in our car, made a comfortable place for our fiddler crab, Loly, to hang out and embarked on what was to be a four month adventure. Matt went into the internship wanting his boss to wonder how they would get things done when he was gone. Two months into the internship his boss started asking what it would take to keep him on full time when the internship was over, so we made a permanent move to Virginia.

About two years later the answer to our constant prayer of when to get started on our family changed to " it's time". Within a week we got a phone call from Matt's Mom about her niece who was pregnant with a little girl. This little girl needed a Mom and Dad, and her niece was wondering if we would like to be them. Five weeks later we were driving to the hospital to pick up our daughter Samantha.

Having both grown up close to our cousins we wanted the same for our kids. Both of our families were living in Utah and our parents wanted to be able to visit without taking potty breaks, so when Sam was a few months old we moved back home.

Six and a half years later we enjoy a very open adoption with Sammy's birth family. They live a couple of states away so we don't get to see them as often as we would like, so in between the visits we keep in touch with pictures, letters and lots of phone calls.

We feel that birth families are another branch in our family tree and look forward to adding those branches. If you would like to learn more about us you can visit us at http://www.itsaboutlove.org/ , search Matt and Crystal, follow our adventures at http://www.mattandcrystalsadoptionjournal.blogspot.com/ , or contact us at mattandcrystal@rocketmail.com.

Hoping to Adopt Features!

Hey everyone...I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  For today's Hoping to Adopt Feature we are going to feature our list!  There are so many of you that are so amazing and if you haven't looked at other's blogs you are missing out for sure!  And even bigger if you aren't on this list you need to be!  Just post your blog and names in the comments of this post and I will add you for sure! 

Hoping to Adopt Feature!

 Shane and Brittnee

Shane and I met in a fast food restaurant he was working at and settled the arrangements for our first date before we even bothered to ask each other’s names.  We had an instant connection and were married on July 1, 2005 in the Columbia River Temple just four short months after meeting. 

After marrying, we had the plan to finish college and wait at least two years before starting a family.  After taking a course at BYU-Idaho though, we both agreed there was no reason to wait and we wanted to start our family right away.  Months into our marriage our journey to bringing children into our family began.  Naturally, as most of us do, we assumed it would be months before we became pregnant and we figured in a few short years we would have one or two little ones running around.  

After about a year of trying we realized something was off.  It was impossible to prepare for the possibility of not having children and as each month began and ended in frustration we became a little desperate and started convincing ourselves that this time it would happen.  We continued with this line of thinking for the next year.  Finally after two years, we knew something was definitely wrong.  We fought our grief and our grief hardened our hearts, blocking us from making any decisions.  We were not ready to accept defeat and so we pushed on, bitterly, for one more year, doing more damage to our spirits then we realized at the time. 

Finally we understood that we needed to see a doctor.   Little knowledge came from our visits and we felt hopeless.  We didn’t understand how we could pay a doctor so much money and not have an answer as to why we couldn’t bear children.  We went back and forth between decisions and were literally missing each other by weeks in our decision making.  Shane would be on board to try something and I wouldn’t and then I would be on board to try something and Shane wouldn’t.  We wrestled between adoption, further testing, giving up, and traveling aboard to run away from our pain.  We even tried to start adoption processing twice before backing out because something was off.  We learned that the timing for us just wasn’t right.

On March 16^th 2010, our stars finally aligned and we both were reading from the same page.  We were ready and adoption was absolutely right for our family.  Like a clap of thunder, we were sitting in Sacrament meeting and peace washed over me as I knew our family was waiting for us, but that it would be through a different means than we expected.  I turned to Shane, with tears in my eyes, and told him it was time to adopt.  It took him a few days to have the strength in conviction as I had, but we contacted LDS Family Services right away and they were having their first orientation meeting in a few short weeks so we hit the ground running. Within nine weeks we were approved and online waiting on May 18, 2010.  Everything came together and just clicked. 

We look forward to starting our family through such an amazing way.  We look forward to bonding with and loving our birth family.  We understand our road has been a long one, but we pray for our birth mom and our baby each and every night as we wait for the next set of stars to align.  In our six year struggle, we’ve learned some things are worth waiting for.

If you’d like to know more about us you can visit us at itsaboulove.org, profile ID 24679131, or follow the link 

You can also follow us on our blog at www.shaneandbrittneefamily.blogspot.com

Hoping to Adopt Feature!

Dustin and Andrea

Our story starts nearly 8 years ago. Dustin and I were married September 18, 2003. We had planned on waiting a few years to have to children so we could get done with our education. However, after being married only a year and a half, we felt very strongly it was time to start a family. Like most couples, we thought and hoped we'd get pregnant very quickly.

Little did we know what the next few years would bring. As each month passed we thought it wasn't "our time" and the Lord would make it happen when the time was right. It was heartbreaking with each failed attempt, but we continued on with faith that things would work out. When the times got really tough, we started to travel together to take our mind off things and enjoy our time together. It was therapy for the both of us to be able to get away. I felt every emotion you could imagine. I had feelings of inadequacy, denial, fear, guilt, and utter sadness. Thank heaven for a husband who is kind, loving, patient and really good at wiping tears.

After 2 years of trying we decided to see a fertility specialist. The doctor told us our chances of conceiving on our own were less than 3%. It was going to take divine intervention for a miracle to occur. We were given two options, artificial insemination or invitro. We thought and prayed about it and decided we would start with our first round of medication and artificial insemination. We both felt really good about it and for the first time in 2 years felt confident again that we would get pregnant. Sadly, it didn't work. We were devastated. Out of frustration we began to look into adoption, but didn’t feel like it was the right time. We tried artificial insemination again a month later, took a pregnancy test, and found out we were pregnant. Dustin made me take 4 more because he couldn't believe it. Each one came back positive. We were so excited. There was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. All of the heartache and confusion vanished. We called the doctor and set up an appointment. We couldn't wait to see our little baby.

Two weeks later our world came crashing down. I woke up one morning and knew that something was wrong. I called the doctor's office, they ran some tests and we found out that I had miscarried. On top of that, the doctors found a grapefruit sized cyst on my right ovary, which was caused by the fertility medication. It was horrible. The weight was thrown back on our shoulders and there was more confusion than ever. I have never been so devastated and sad in all my life. I felt that my dream of being a mom was slowly slipping away. Who can mourn the loss of someone who has never been born? The fact that there is nothing tangible to represent the loss actually intensifies the pain and makes the loss more difficult to understand.

The next couple of months were a fog. We spent a lot of time praying and going to the temple trying to figure out what the Lord wanted us to do. We didn’t feel good about going through with any more fertility treatments for the time being. We then seriously began to pray about adoption. A couple of weeks before Christmas things started to fall into place for us. The spirit confirmed over and over we were making the right decision. In December 2007 we met with LDS Family Services and began the necessary paperwork for adoption.

We were approved for our first adoption March 17, 2008 and were chosen just 4 weeks later! Did we just get lucky? I wouldn't call it luck at all. God is in the details of our lives. He has a plan for each and every person on this earth. He knew we needed to move quickly because there was a birth mom who needed to find the parents of the child she was carrying. She needed our support and the Lord knew how much we needed hope back in our lives.

Our daughter Avery was born October 28, 2008. She is a ray of light and energy in our home. We share a very open adoption with her birth mom Andee. She has become a dear friend of ours and a huge blessing in our lives.

We have been approved for our second adoption since May 2010. We are hopeful and humbled to be going through this process again. We love being a part of the adoption community and are grateful for the opportunity adoption has given us to be parents. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has chosen us to be recipients of such a miraculous process.


Please help us spread the word!!

Our Profile: https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/23990609/ourMessage.jsf

Our Adoption Blog: http://dustinandreaadopt.blogspot.com/

Our Family Blog: http://dustinandrea.blogspot.com/

Hoping to Adopt Features!

Hey everyone...Sorry to say I didn't have a couple to feature today so there is no feature.. :-( ...I would like to feature a couple every week so please email me if you would like to be featured because I know there are many of you out there and so want to help you find your baby!...also, for all of you looking to adopt please email me your blog link if you would like me to add it to my hoping to adopt links...If you know of others that would like more exposure please let them know and I will be sure to add them!

Send all emails to: ldsadoptionconnection@yahoo.com

p.s. if you are reading this post way after this post was posted feel free to still totally email me...I am always wanting to help...and I know I am not the only one who would LOVE to hear your story and help you...

Hoping to Adopt Feature Dan and Emily

Dan and I have been happily married coming up on 8 years now, this month! We met in Moab, Utah on a river rafting trip. By the time it had been a week of knowing one another, my mom had a framed picture of us displayed in her living room.

This is a week after meeting each other...

Days after we met, Dan and I had a heart to heart. 

 I told Dan that I had always felt that I would adopt ever since I was a little girl. Although I did not entirely know what adoption meant , it has been a word that has circled my mind since I can remember. 

Forward, almost a year later from our heart to heart conversation.... 

 Emily proposed to Dan! 

Then Dan proposed to Emily

Both of our proposal stories here, link.

 I had surgery for endometriosis. Dan went with me to get my surgery results from my doctor.  The doctor told us that if we wanted children we needed to try as soon as we were married and the sooner the better.

Dan and I left his office, feeling.... overwhelmed, it did not feel like the right time to start our faimly. 

We put everything aside and we planned our wedding... 

 We were sealed in the Jordan River Temple

In April 2006, we began our path to grow our family. We didn't get pregnant. Optimism past and sheer despair set in. After what was meant to be a fun weekend away and a visit with one of my best friends, I felt like I was turning inside out. I got down on my knees and prayed.... I felt to start the adoption process. After six short months Dawson came home a week to the year we started trying to grow our family in April. 

We are hoping to add to our family again through open adoption. 

You can read our blog here: itsusdanandemily.blogspot.com to learn more about our story.

Hoping to Adopt Feature!

Kelly & Stephanee

"HI! We are Kelly and Stephanee. We met in 2007 in sunny St George, Utah. We dated for 5 months, got engaged, and married 3 months after engagement in the Manti Utah Temple. We bought our first home in 2009. We welcomed a tri-colored beagle into our home a few months after buying our home. His name is Oakley (but also goes by the name "Hey You, No No, Get out of that, Get over here, Get IN here, Bad Dog, Go Away, Stop Chewing That, etc). He is the most mellow dog I have ever met, and LOVES children! Whenever our nieces and nephews are around we get ignored and he follows them around.

We have always known that we wanted children. We tried for one year and after failure to become pregnant, we went to a fertility specialist. After some testing, they found we are unable to have our own children. We knew that adoption was our next step. We took the step with both feet in even when we both knew little about adoption. Now that it has been one year since we were posted "live" online we have learned a lot about the adoption world and love every minute of it!

In the meantime of waiting patiently to bring a child into our home, we try to enjoy our favorite activities such as fishing, camping, hunting, hiking, swimming, sports riding bikes, jeeping, and any other outdoor activity we can find! We get the opportunity to spend a lot of time with nieces and nephews, who range in the ages of 3 months to 5 years old.

We are grateful to be able to participate in adoption and look forward to starting our own family one day!

To learn more about us visit our blog here...

Hoping to Adopt Feature!

Hi! We are Jake and Terri. We met when I moved in next door to Jake. After we got married, we planned to have children right away. Things didn’t go as planned and even after seeing lots of doctors and having fertility treatments, we have not been blessed with biological children.

We had thought about and looked into adoption for a long time. We thought international adoption was right for us. We met with several agencies and went to adoption information meetings. Nothing ever felt quite right. Then my mom was talking to a friend at church. Her friend’s daughter was pregnant and thinking about making an adoption plan. She was willing to consider us so we moved as fast as we could to get the paperwork done and be approved in time for the baby. We were thrilled that we were starting the process and felt strongly that we were doing the right thing. The mom decided to parent, but now we are ready!

We are very excited to be parents and experience all that children bring to a home.  We hope to have an open adoption with a birth mom who is a part of our lives. We know the more people that love and care for children the better.  Why have a family tree when you can have a family forest!

We have continued to pray and research and learn about adoption. We have met so many wonderful people on this journey. We have received lots of help and have been able to help others on their journey. Friends have passed along our pass along cards. Family has responded to our emails and suggested us to those who are considering adoption.

We are so blessed to have many people praying for us and keeping us in mind. We pray for families that are making and have made the decision to place a child for adoption.  

To learn more about us click here...

Hoping to Adopt Feature ......... Jared and Devin

Why Adoption is right for us?

Our adoption story is some what a unique one. When I (Devin) was born, I had what was known as infantile colitis. This made me extremely sick. While trying to diagnose me, the doctors discovered that I have Turner Syndrome.  Anyway, due to my medical history, biological children are out of the question. When I told Jared that I had Turner Syndrome, he was so accepting. Not to say he wasn't taken back. Honestly, it did throw him for a loop. Jared came to the realization... that loving me meant accepting this. Jared knew that no matter what that one day we would be an eternal family!

We know there are a lot of sweet spirits that need to be adopted so we choose to receive children into our home this way. Adoption to us is an absolute miracle. For two families to be joined by one sweet spirit, for this infant to be placed in the trust and care of another family, and for the birth family to be able to choose an adoptive couple there is definitely a Higher Being involved. There are no words to describe the feelings that come when adoption is involved. Our feelings for the birth family is indescribable too. To have that type of selfless love, the courage it takes, as well as the strength is incredible and admirable beyond compare. We would be honored to be the adoptive parents for any child that comes from that type of family. We are also licensed foster parents to help the kids that are in need. When the time is right for us, we will also accept foster children.

If you would like to know more about us click here to view our blog...

Hoping to Adopt Feature!

 

Russ and Kylee

Russ and I met through a mutual friend/cousin and were married almost 6 years ago. Within months of being married, we found out we were pregnant. We were ecstatic! Nine months later, our son, Caden, was born. Because we had Caden so quick we never thought that we were going to have any trouble having children. About a year after our son was born, we tried to get pregnant again. After a few months, we found out we were pregnant. We weren't expecting what was going to happen in a few weeks. I started bleeding and cramping, and discovered that we had a miscarriage. We were devastated!

However, we knew it was a common thing so we tried again. After 5 miscarriages in 2 years and lots of infertility testing, we knew we had to try something different. We had thought about adoption many times, but didn't quite feel it was right for our family. When we got to this point, we knew we really HAD to know what the will of the Lord was for our family before we pursued anything else.

One day while I was reading my patriarchal blessing, a phrase in there totally hit me like a brick. I shared it with Russ and we knew it meant that we were supposed to adopt. We prayed and went to the temple, and we both felt that this was how we are supposed to grow our family. We jumped in with both feet! We went to our orientation meeting and started working on all the paperwork, fingerprints, etc.

The day we got approved to adopt and our profile went "live" we felt like it was a victory over all the heartache, devastation and trial. We knew this was what we are supposed to do and we were doing everything in our power to pursue that route. We held an adoption kick off open house and invited all our family, friends and neighbors to come. It was very helpful for them to learn about adoption, what they can do to help us and to feel comfortable talking to us about it.

We took on the role of playgroup coordinators for our chapter of Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) to help us learn more about adoption and to promote a positive view of adoption in our area. We started the play groups (because they weren't having them before) and after a few activities, we now have a good group that goes almost every time. A few months later, they asked us to serve as the co chairs in our area. 

After talking and praying about it, we decided to take on that role. Now we are serving as the chairs in our area and have just held our 2nd annual area FSA conference and our 1st annual FSA 5K. We love being involved in FSA because it helps us to make great friends whose lives are also blessed with adoption!

We LOVE being parents and experiencing all the joy that children bring to a home! It is so fun to take Caden to the park, the pool, the library (or anywhere for that matter) and to see him learn new things. He ran in the kids fun run after the 5K, and loved it! We love the outdoors and frequently go camping, hiking, geocaching, etc. We are excited to go on our first family backpacking trip soon. Caden is very excited to adopt and frequently asks us when we are going to have a baby. We have been approved just over a year now and are excited for the opportunity to adopt and for Caden to be a big brother.

To learn more about our family, see our adoption blog click here