Jerry, Lisa and Luke's Adoption Story

We had always wanted a family. When we began our journey we had no idea what lied ahead. After four years of infertility heartache we decided to stop the emotional pain and adopt, we would be guaranteed a family.

It was a huge decision choosing an agency. We were emotionally exhausted and just wanted a baby and an agency that would handle all the paperwork and legal issues for us. Our friends, who adopted a beautiful little girl, recommended American Adoptions.

We filled out all the paperwork and had our home study completed. This seemed like an overwhelming task at first but went very well once we got into it. We were quickly active and began our wait.

We received calls immediately but declined them due to situations that did not match our APQ. We were matched with a birthmother six months later. We were so thrilled! The baby was due in three months. We told all our family and friends and began to get everything ready. Our dream was about to become reality. We ad hoped to meet her but she did not want any contact, we respected that.

As the date drew closer we could not believe how excited we were. Unfortunately, that dream was shattered as the birthmother decided to keep the baby when it was born. We were devastated and thought our dreams of becoming a family were over.

The agency immediately began showing our profile again, at our request. We did not want any healing time we just wanted to move forward again. Just two months later we received a call that a birthmother and birthfather in Wyoming had chosen us. They matched our APQ perfectly, we were happy but did not allow ourselves to get excited. She wanted conference calls right away and wanted to meet us during the five months before the baby was due.

We were unbelievably nervous for the first call. But the moment she answered we talked like long time friends. It was a wonderful phone call. We had several calls with her and flew to meet her in Wyoming. We were so nervous again, we will never forget the first time we met her. We can still see her standing there smiling, a nervous smile. But, again, we felt comfortable instantly. It was a very special visit as we also met her two children. We looked at several pictures with her and she gave us the sonogram tape and some special items for us to save for the baby. She also gave us a card and letters for both us and the baby. We all went out to eat and had a wonderful evening. This time flew by and we will treasure it forever.

We continued to have calls until the due date and created a very special bond with Lona. We were feeling very comfortable about this situation but remained cautious due to our prior experience. We felt guilty for this -- felt that we were cheating Lona and the baby by not letting ourselves become excited. We just had to protect our own emotions. We even felt comfortable enough with Lona to share this with her. We did not tell any family or friends this time -- we were tired of having to give them bad news and wanted our next news to them to be happy.

We had wonderful calls with Lona over the five months and will forever cherish all that was shared. This will be wonderful to share when the baby is older. Lona is a remarkable young lady, very motivated, very compassionate, very thoughtful, and we love her so much. She made us feel very comfortable and did all she could to make it a good experience for us. We were very sure that she was going to bless us with our first child. She had even told us she wanted to give us our first miracle.

A week and a half before the due date, Lona asked that we call her. She told us we may want to begin to travel to Wyoming because the baby could come any day. And if not, she would be induced the following Monday. We were so excited! We packed the car that night and took off first thing the next morning. The drive out was so nice, we spent a lot of time talking and reflecting.

We arrived in her town on a Friday and took her to lunch. We spent the afternoon with her. We think this was a very crucial time for all of us to be together. It helped us so much and we hope it helped to reassure her of her decision. She shared the sex of the baby with us that day. We were having a boy! Lona was reassuring us at this point that we would be parents. How ironic that she was counseling us!

He did not want to enter the world any too soon so we spent the weekend there and went to the hospital at 7 am Monday morning. We talked to Lona and met the birthfather for the first time. It was so nice to be able to meet him.

The hospital made us feel very comfortable, all thanks to Lona. She had told them all about us and even arranged for us to have our own room. Lona felt the bonding period was crucial, as did we. She had originally wanted Lisa in the delivery room but decided on that day that she and the birthfather needed that final time together alone. We were sad but respected their wishes.

After a long day for all of us, our baby boy was born at 5:54 pm. In less than an hour Lona let us have our little boy. We will forever thank her for this. We will never forget the moment in that room as she and the birthfather kissed him goodbye and we welcomed him into our lives we were a family! He was beautiful.

We were able to be with Luke Alexander from that moment on, thanks again to Lona arranging this all with the hospital. This time with Luke was so very precious and we hope she knows how greatly it is appreciated. We visited Lona and she visited us while we were all in the hospital. And we took a picture of the four of us for Luke to see some day. These last times together were so touching. We will forever cherish them.

After a few days at home, the agency asked if we would be willing to have one last call with Lona. We immediately said yes. And we are so glad we did. We spent this phone call listening to her read her letter she wrote for the agency. We all cried once again she told the story so beautifully. It is truly a beautiful story. We will never forget the last words she said to us...."give your baby a kiss for me".

Our letter ends here but our deep love and respect for Lona will go on forever. We hope she realizes that she filled a tremendous void in our lives and we will thank her for the rest of our lives. Our entire family and all of our friends only wish they could have had the chance to personally tell her thank you. We want her to know that she is loved and respected by so many people. She is truly a remarkable lady and will forever be a member of our family.

We know that each one of you have been through a remarkable amount of heartache to get to this point. Please know that it will happen some day. We wanted to share our story with you to give you hope. We had many moments where we wanted to just give up. We thought we weren't supposed to be parents. When our first match fell through, we didn't know if we could go through it all again. But every time we look at Luke, we know why we did. Being a parent is truly an overwhelming emotional experience and so worth fighting for. We did not know we could love so deeply. The few months we have shared with him have been the best months of our lives and, for this, we thank Lona.

Jerry, Lisa, and, Luke

Read Lona's Adoption Story. Lona is the birthmother of Jerry and Lisa's child.