Our Adoption StoryHow It All Began...
A Journey of a Lifetime Begins
Deciding to pursue adoption was easy for us. We were at a point in our lives where we were anxious to become parents. While searching for adoption companies, we came across Angel Adoption. Reading the reviews and seeing how high the placement rates were, we knew we wanted to use Angel to grow our family.
Starting the process was made easy by Angel staff, but we were still scared. So many thoughts of whether or not this process would work started to fill your minds. There were times we felt very overwhelmed and stressed that we had decided to not tell our families we were embarking on our adoption journey. Keeping things bottled up made the process a little harder, but we felt that not having the added pressure of family and friends asking how things were going would take some pressure off of us.
A Long Road
When we started the waiting phase, there were so many unknowns. We went in blindy because we had no other personal experiences or stories. How long would we have to wait to grow our family? What if no one chose us? We waited about a year before hearing from an expectant mother. Once we received the call, we were told the expectant mother had actually been talking with another family but did not feel supported at all. She needed a lot of attention and communication in order to feel safe on her journey, and we were more than happy to give her the support she needed.
After a month, the expectant mother was going to be induced. It was time to travel, but we did not have to travel far since we lived in the same state as she did. We arrived the day before she was due to be induced so we could meet her and be in the room with her. Once Brayden was born, we knew our lives had forever changed! It was time to tell our families we not only were adopting but the baby boy was born! Our families were surprised to say the least but so overjoyed with the new addition to the family.
Following the birth of Brayden, his birthmother was so helpful in giving us tips and tricks on how she did things with her two other children. Being first-time parents, we found it so endearing to have that support from her. We have continued to stay in touch through pictures and updates and love that the door is always open for Brayden to have a relationship with her.
Round Two
Pretty shortly after we were blessed with Brayden, we were also blessed with a biological child. We were so thrilled to be adding to our family and that our children would be close in age. After our second child was born, we knew we wanted to add more blessings to our family. Our hearts and home were ready to grow by two feet!
The decision to use Angel was an easy one since everything had gone so smoothly the first time. This time around, we found ourselves way more relaxed and prepared. We were already blessed with two children who kept us so busy. With the busyness of raising our children, we had less time to dwell on whether or not round two would work out. We knew it was not in our hands and that if we stayed busy, everything would work out.
Again, we decided to not tell family and friends we had started our adoption journey again. This worked for us the first time, so why do things any different, right? This time around, we were gender specific when we started the journey because we felt we really wanted a girl. After some time into our journey, we realized how limiting that was and changed our preference to any gender. We were waiting for a little over a year when we received the call that we had been chosen! The expectant mother who chose us did not want to communicate. This was vastly different from the first experience. We took things at the expectant mother’s pace and respected her boundaries.
The birthfather reached out to us a few weeks before the birth, and it was nice to communicate with him so everyone involved was comfortable. Unlike the first time, we did not get to the hospital in time to be in the room when the baby was born. Jamie stayed home with our children while Jennifer traveled to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, the birthmother sent me a picture of a beautiful baby girl. To say we were excited would be an understatement. I sent the picture of baby Skyler to Jamie and our family. They were surprised yet again but so excited we were growing our family!
The Last Piece to Our Puzzle
Laying eyes on a beautiful baby girl was something we had only dreamed of. Our family was complete thanks to such an amazing birthmother making what she felt was the best decision for herself and her child. Being blessed by adoption twice was so amazing, and having Brayden and Skyler is something we are forever thankful for.
We have kept in touch with Brayden and Slyler’s birthmothers throughout the years. Leaving the door open for whatever relationship everyone is comfortable with is something that has always been important for us. Social media is how we share updates with the birthmothers as that seems to be such an easy way to communicate. Not a day goes by that we are not forever grateful for our journey with Angel Adoption and for the selfless gift of our children’s birthmothers. We now have all the pieces to our family, and we are complete.
Trusting the Process
Looking back on our journeys, we truly feel there was a bigger plan and everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Our best advice to other hopeful adoptive parents is to become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. There will be unknowns and so many things you cannot control, but if you commit 100% to your adoption journey, you will be okay. Don’t put added pressures on yourself, and know that in the end it will be okay.
If you are adopting for a second or third time, enjoy what you already have. Stay busy with the children you currently have, and remember that it worked before, so it will work again. Even if the road is long or bumpy, trust the process. We kept busy and counted our blessings, which led to everything working out in the end.