Please join us in fasting...

Hello to all,

As you may have read in the previous post, my dear friend and fellow blog contributor Deanna is currently facing a heartbreaking trial. I am asking all those within the adoption world to join us in fasting tomorrow. We will be fasting with these thoughts specifically in our hearts, minds and prayers: for the best thing to happen for baby Emerson, that his birthmom Jules will receive clarity in her decisions, that God's glory can be shown through miracles, that Jules family will be in tune with Heavenly Father's will and will have understanding and clarity as well.

I know this is an unusual place to request fasting but I firmly believe in strength in numbers and faith. The Lord is able to do anything if it his will, I have seen it in my own family with our adoption journey. Our hearts have to be open and our minds willing to bend to his promptings and I sincerely hope that comfort, healing and love will be abounding in the resolution of this trial for the Little Family. I know that the Lord has a divine plan for all of this.

I will keep you all posted as Deanna chooses to share. Love to Jules, her family, Emerson and the Little Family at this time.

-Elise

We need your prayers and faith!

Shared with the permission of the Little Family:

So so sad and broken hearted...

"Let thy Cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy world" - Psalms 119:169

I feel very numb at the moment...I have gone through so many emotions in the past few hours and wonder why and can only ask for Heavenly Father to help me understand what has just happened...

There are no words to explain what our family is going through as well as our extended family. PLEASE PLEASE Pray for us...Pray for Emerson....we miss him so dearly already...Jules revoked her relinquishment yesterday afternoon after 4 weeks and LDS Family Services came for Emerson and brought him back to California...

Jules is set to place him with a cousin now...A wonderful cousin who is pro adoption and has even adopted and even congratulated us about our adoption from this blog...My heart is broken...

I PRAY for these cousins to seek confirmation and to pray to pray fervently about this ....

PRAY for Emerson to be surrounded by guardian Angels..I swear he see's them all the time...

PRAY for Jules to REMEMBER why she chose us and the Spiritual experience she had at the Temple and the confirmation she received....

We love Emerson so much and I have never felt pain like this ever in my life...I feel like I have been forced to give my child away, I never made any choices to create this feeling and we did everything right...the only feeling that I can compare to this would be the death of a child...I am a mess...James and I have gone through so much in our quest to grow our family and are at a loss...Abbe is unbelievably heartbroken...Her little brother was taken away, and I have never heard her cry like she has...why would someone do this...please Heavenly Father help me to feel peace and comfort even if I can not understand ones reasoning...

We love you Emerson...It is so hard that you are not here...your sweet spirit..your little lambie grunts, your beautiful blue eyes and baby smell...We long for you to be with us again...

"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;for thou art the God of my Salvation; on thee do I wait all day." - Psalms 25:5

"Remember , O Lord thy Tender Mercies and thy lovingkindness; for they have been ever of old" - Psalms 25:6

What's Mine Is Yours..

You guys, I have spent my entire day listening to this song over and over. I pulled up the R House blog this morning to see a new post detailing how Lindsey (Mrs. R) had a special tie to this song by Katherine Nelson. She shared the touching story of how her and her son's birthmom sat together listening to a live performance of this song and then got to meet Katherine and tell her about their story.

Today Katherine Nelson released a video to go along with her song "What's Mine Is Yours". I clicked on the link that Lindsey had included and within moments tears were rolling down my cheeks. The emotion Katherine conveys, the images of the mother who loses her sweet baby and of the courageous birthmom placing her baby in the arms of another....ah, it just rocked me to my very core, but in a GOOD way.

I have literally been pulling up youtube and playing the song for anyone who will listen. It is so beautiful and the message is so tender to me, being someone who has experienced both a miscarriage and the miracle of a birthmom placing their most precious gift in my arms.

Please support Katherine by going onto her website  or Amazon and purchasing this song. Share it with your family members and friends. She has been blessed with an amazing talent and I am so grateful that she used it to write this song.  May it touch your heart as it has touched mine today.

Katherine Nelson's website: www.katherinenelson.com


Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review nor was I approached by Katherine Nelson to write it. I just think she is AMAZING!!!!

-Elise

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! I made some changes to the couples hoping to adopt list. I go through them pretty regularly and read them. Please keep your adoption blogs updated! Having new posts shows expectant parents that you are still hoping to adopt and keeps you at the top of our list :) If you have not posted something new in over six months, I will be removing you from our list next week as I am no longer sure whether you are still pursuing adoption and want to have updated lists for prospective birthparents to look through. Email to be added back if you update posts after I have edited the list :)

On another note, a reader wrote in and asked me if I had any suggestions for birthfather gifts. Since we have never had any communication with our son's birthfather (yet, I'm hoping things will open up in the future), I didn't really have any ideas for her. Can you share some things you have done? I know that so often adoptive couples plan nice things for the birthmom when they meet or for placement. It would be great for all of us to hear suggestions on gifts for birthdads. Thanks!

Oh and....

EXCITING NEWS FLASH!!!!


I took Jon and Bridget off our list because they are expecting in May through IVF! So exciting. Also in other goods news, Que and Brittany have been matched as well as James and Deanna. Looking forward to hearing more about their adoption journeys in the coming months! One thing I wanted to point out about these two couples who have matched is that they are very active with social media. Facebook and blogs can be powerful tools in communicating  new things going on with your family and your desire to adopt. These tools are also great for advocating for adoption and continuing openness with your child's birthparents following placement. Use technology to your benefit, it can work miracles!

-Elise

Returning Blog Poster: Adoption and Social Media

Hey everyone, guess what? Deanna who used to be the blog administrator, is getting recertified to adopt. Her and her husband James are an amazing couple and I am really excited to watch their miracle unfold as they search and wait for the baby they have been hoping for to join their family. She has graciously offered to help me out with some posts each week and I am looking forward to getting to read them. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Deanna! -Elise

Since we have been through this process before of getting certified to adopt but took a breather and now we are back on the wagon so to say I thought I would talk about the importance of getting yourself out there and helping a birth-mother find you!!!  There are many ways to give yourself exposure but by far the FASTEST way for ALL of your friends and networks to know you want to adopt is thru social media and FACEBOOK!!!

You need to be "thinking" who birth-mothers most likely will be and how will she see glimpses of us and know we are wanting to adopt?  How does she connect with others... Even people without computers have smart phones and Facebook! Broke people have Facebook! Students and old people have Facebook!  Most likely she will have Facebook!!!  If you share posts on Facebook about you wanting to adopt, people in your network can "like" or "share" it and it shows up in ALL their friends feeds!! These are people you have never ever even met now knowing of YOU and YOUR search to adopt!!!

Current Timeline cover - Change your photos often to reflect you...the timeline photo btw will always show publicly when searched....

Another point to think about it does my post say "READ ME" or does it say nothing....you want to intrigue your Facebook friends to "actually" click your post and visit your blog or Facebook page...Try NOT to post links without commenting above unless it is BEYOND self explanatory...(Ex: your itsaboutlove link and it shows that number id on the link and no comment...people who aren't LDS don't know what that is...I didn't grow up in the Church and if they have never adopted and are LDS they still may have no clue what that is...its not intriguing...it's just a next keep scrolling post)

You have to be thinking what would make them want to read this post assuming they aren't excited about adoption as much as you...if you can do that you are golden!

Here is an example of a post I posted last Saturday!  It helped my page go up 20 likes just that day!  p.s. you can post this also in ALL groups you know that it would be appropriate for others to know so they can LIKE your page and get it into their networks! I have already had people pm me that I never met already because of this!

Deanna Little

December 15 near Phoenix

Hey all of you amazing friends!!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! Please help us to spread the word.. We want as many people to know we are wanting to ADOPT as possible so please PLEASE spread the word to ALL of your AMAZING networks here on FACEBOOK!

You can do this by sharing this link or by going to our page and hitting "like."

Your Love and Support means more to us than all of you all know...

https://www.facebook.com/LeapsofFaith

Leaps of Faith - James and Deanna's Journey to Adopt

We are hoping to adopt! Visit our Blog at: http://alittlefamilyblessing.blogspot.com/ Contact us at: alittlefamilyblessing@yahoo.com

Page: 90 like this

As far as when to post on your page or personal FB...Post at night or on Saturday mornings and Sunday Evenings...You have to be thinking when are the most people on Facebook!  If you want them to share your posts you MUST post when they are on!  You want them to share or like when there are lots of other people on too!  Yes, posting at other times it still shows up in their feeds but so does everyone else's that day ahead of you....

I post a lot of stories with in my Facebook as a whole because that is what people like to see...STORIES that include a picture...they don't really care if you got an oil change or had a tuna sandwich for lunch or you are watching some tv show...(I am sure none of you do that...lol)... but you want your Facebook to really tell people who you are (not the fake you the real you) so that they WANT to help you and they want to share with their friends!  You want to help others!  Be inspiring! You are sowing seeds with your posts and the likes/shares are your sprouts!  Don't just inundate them with adoption either...But always be thinking I am a farmer and I am planting seeds... Post LOTS of pictures...use instagram to spruce them up and ALWAYS write comments above them!  Ask the reader questions...on Facebook when someone asks a question you can't say it doesn't make you want to respond!

Think NETWORKING!!!  Seriously...I want you to look at your friends Facebook timelines thinking does this intrigue me, does this say they are someone people want to know or that they are lame and boring and then look at yours and say what can I do to show who I am better...not change who you are but to intrigue people to want to help you!

This is the page I created for us earlier this month...

Now that we are talking about Facebook...lets talk about those you don't know...They need to be able to find you...so I would say if you are wanting more people to know about your journey to adopt that you create a Facebook Page.  Make it inviting and fun...reflecting again who you are!!! Also it doesn't just have to have only your blog posts...have other posts that reflect your thoughts (somehow relating to adoption typically).  This will allow people you don't know to like your page and have your posts show up in their feeds!  Again people you don't know seeing your posts to help you spread the word!...I am not sure if you knew this but the average person knows 2000+ people by the age of 21 now many people on FB have over 2000 friends and if they choose to share your post it shows to all their friends on their timeline!  BTW if you don't have timeline...no comment.

Our current Adoption blog

If you don't have a blog and you are wanting to adopt...you need to get one...the itsaboutlove site is not going to jump out and have people follow it...yes it is a great resource but you can't have people following your posts...updates can't be automatically updated in blog lists on other peoples blogs that way...

That brings up another thing...blogs that get updated get WAYYYYY more traffic than blogs that are another version of itsaboutlove...just saying.

Also, post lots of pictures and make sure you can read the font!!! Scripty stuff is pretty but hard to read...Ask others for feedback.  All the things I said about Facebook about your page intriguing others and if they could really feel like they knew you also apply to your blog...Think "If I was a birth-mom would I feel like I knew them?"

Lastly, once you have a Facebook page you need to link it to your blog!  Our adoption pass-along cards are connected to our blog which then they can connect to Facebook! We also decided that by having only our caseworker and blog on our cards there is no need to update anything else all the time...if something changes like parent profiles it doesn't matter...

P.S. please visit our Facebook page and "LIKE" it!!!



-Deanna

I need some help!

Hi Everyone! So I have been super caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, in addition to attending the finalization of our dear friends little one, as well as the return of my brother from his mission and getting a new calling in our ward....whooo, that even wears me out writing it!
Anyway, I need some help keeping up this blog. I love adoption, love promoting couples searching for their babies, love reading success stories and hearing from birthmoms and writing for this blog. But I need some help with weekly posts and keeping me filled in on the latest in the adoption world. So if you are interested in becoming a weekly contributor or even just writing a guest segment, please please please shoot me an email and let me know what you would like to do to help! Thanks and Merry Christmas to all! -Elise