When will my turn come?

In the past year, I've had several, I mean, several friends to have had children or to find out that they are pregnant. At one time, I had twenty friends that were pregnant or had young babies. While I have gotten to the point in my life that I can be happy for my friends when they are expecting, this journey has taken years and months to reach this point in my life.

In the last few months, I've had a few family members learn that they were expecting and I could not be happier for them, I will be an aunt by this time next year and cannot wait! I also learned of a few other friends this week that are expecting and look forward to their journey as well.

While the sadness for our first baby never really disappears, I don't break down every time someone mentions a baby. I've learned to treasure her brief memory and to hold on to those thoughts rather than dwell on the sadness. I'm not always as good at this as I'd like to be and I certainly have my days where I just want to mope around. This past week has been especially hard for me in some respects. We're relatively new to the area that we live in and are finally making a few friends. After learning that a friend is expecting and listening to pregnancy excitement, I once again wonder, when will my turn come??



Get em before they're gone!

Today is the very last day for T-shirt orders for our shirt drive. Be sure to check out our t-shirt drive that ends today, this 10 day shirt drive has been a short start to our efforts in saving and raising money for our adoption. For each t-shirt sold by today, the company will give us $11 to go toward our adoption fund!
Every little bit helps… and who doesn’t like a cute shirt??  
Check out the link below:
http://chromebuffalo.com/a/cb?drive=222

Embryo Adoption, Surrogate Mothers, An Option to Consider…

While learning about our options for having a child of our own, there are many options available. While we are completely open to using an adoption agency we have also looked into an embryo adoption and use of a surrogate mother and are really interested in the possibility of using this method for our family.

Even though our world is filled with children, both at home and in lands far abroad, there arise increasingly more times when families want to adopt in a highly specialized plus personal way. Particularly, embryo adoption via surrogate mothers is an option that provides satisfaction, savings, and security. Yet, what does adoption of an embryo from a surrogate mother entail?

The use of surrogate mothers and embryo adoptions have become an especially popular method for family building for infertile couples or those like myself who have no means of having a child. Along with that advantage, a woman formerly incapable of having a child can actually receive the entire experience of child birth and bonding.

If we are to decide on using this option for our family, my husband would have the chance to have a biological child via an adopted embryo and surrogate mother who would carry the child for us. For several reasons, we have been drawn to the idea of using a surrogate mother. Unlike an most adoption cases, the use of a surrogate mother could allow for my husband and I to bond with the surrogate mother, be present during pregnancy, and the actual birth of our child.

Over the years, we have had a few friends that have so graciously offered to act as a surrogate mother for us. This would not only mean the world to us that someone we know and love would offer to do such a thing for us, but it would also help tremendously with cutting the cost of the entire process. The rising costs of normal adoption procedures have risen and are still rising quite a bit.
Although American adoption costs can start out as low as $0, they reach as high as $30,000. Countless couples already know that adoption from a county agency can cost very little; but it also has many restrictions and normally only serves as a source for much older children.

The idea of adopting younger and without restriction normally causes pricing to rise. Yet comparably speaking, even the highest costs for embryo adoption via surrogate mothers can beat the higher costs of typical adoption procedures by approximately $5,000 to $10,000 or more.

Ready to start

Over the last few years, my husband and I have tossed about the idea of adopting a child. My husband himself is adopted and we have always wanted to adopt, although adoption was not our first choice for building our family together. After the loss of our daughter to stillbirth and my lifesaving hysterectomy following her birth, our lives and plans for future children changed as we knew them.

As we have grown together, helped each other to return to a somewhat normal life, we have often talked about a next child and what our hopes for that child might be. As two people in our mid-twenties, it often feels odd to be one of the only couples in our group of friends or family that do not or are not expecting a child or have had children in the last year or two. There must seriously be something in the water when it comes to our friends!!

In the last few months, we have moved, changed jobs, finished school, and are ready to say and finally make our plans to adopt official! We know that this could be a long process and are completely fine with waiting but we want to be sure that we are ready and have done everything we can to be ready for "our moment"

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Adoption Options...Where to Begin?

In the four years since losing our first and only child, my husband and I have had the hopes to adopt a child. There were numerous complications that accompanied our last trip to the hospital and unfortunately we can't have any other children of our own. As my husband is adopted, we have always wanted to adopt, just didn't expect it to be our only option for ever building a family of our own. It seems now that nearly everyone in our families and a majority of my friends are expecting their own bundles of joy, something that we have longed for, for so long.

In the past few years, my husband's job has required that that we move around and I have been working toward my bachelor's degree (completed in 13 months!!). Since we will have to adopt when we decide to start a family, we made a goal for ourselves to work on completing our education, finding awesome jobs, and saving up to start the process of adopting.

Fast forward from 2009, we are ready to finally start working on looking into our adoption options. Whether we decide to use an adoption agency, surrogate mother, or to foster-adopt a child, we hope to continue looking into and researching all of our options.

Our Story... Why adoption is SO important to us


Many of you are aware of our family history and obstacles that we have worked through together. Kris and I have been through a lot in the six and a half years that we have been together. We met during our first year of college, decided to take a few years off, and Kris moved from his home state to live closer to me.... We had a great first few years and then were met with the greatest challenge of our lives, losing a child. 

Just over four years ago, Kris and I lost our baby girl Samantha to still birth. There were several complications and after a few months in the hospital, multiple surgeries, and countless health problems, I was forced to undergo a total hysterectomy. At the age of 21 we faced the prospect of not being able to ever have a family on our own.  

Together, we have worked to overcome numerous obstacles, have worked hard to finish school, and begin a military career for Kris. We have just moved completely across the country for his last three years in the Navy and are then planning to move home (SC). 

Four long years have passed and there is still a missing link in our family. At this point in our lives, we hope to have a family, the family we started building four years ago. As we start the process toward adoption, we invite you to join us on the path to making our family whole again!

The blessing of friends, family, and encouragement

Kris and I launched a Facebook page today for our adoption journey.Facebook link is: https://www.facebook.com/HelpKrisAndNatalieAdopt It has been amazing so far to hear and  see the support from our friends and family members. Within an hour of launching our page, we had comments and messages from friends and strangers alike, with adoption stories, encouragement, and even adoption opportunities. We hope that we are able to share our progress and goals with each and every one of you :)

The journey begins...

As we begin our journey into the adoption/surrogacy process we invite you to join us on our journey. Over the next couple of years, we will be working through the process of beginning and working toward an adoption or use of a surrogate mother (open to both options) to fill in the missing piece to our puzzle we call our life!