Personal Adoption Story

Hello. Our names are Kara and Gary. In January of 2001, we were blessed with experiencing the adoption of our beautiful son, Sam. We would like to share our story with you.

About eight and a half years ago Gary and I met each other for the first time, fell in love, and have been together since that first date in 1995. Having children together was a dream of ours; something we talked about from the beginning of our relationship. Following our wedding, we began eagerly trying to have a family and it became our central focus as a newly married couple.

After eight months of trying to conceive a child together and consulting with fertility specialists, we learned that we were totally infertile. We decided after much open communication and many heartfelt conversations both with each other and our families, that adoption was the best choice for us. Soon our hearts began to feel alive in a way we had never felt before and this feeling could not be explained until they laid our baby boy in our arms for the first time, January 31, 2001.

It was at that moment we felt gratitude for our infertility, a sense of thankfulness because, after all, if it had not been for our infertility, we would have never had Sam, our treasure.

We received a call January 31st at 1:30 in the morning. It was the nurse at Bayfront Medical Hospital asking for Kara or Gary. "Hello, my name is Nancy and I am calling to tell you your son is being born!" "Your birthmother is calling for you, please get on a plane or get in the car and come get your baby." We jumped out of bed and called our parents and the dog sitter and began vacuuming, cleaning and looking for the next available flight. It was the most exciting day of our lives, we cried, we laughed, we hugged, and then cried some more. Little did we know, in nine hours, we would hold our beautiful son in our arms for the first time. Soon we experienced an overwhelming feeling of love that at one time we thought would never come into our lives. So much love for just a little person, it was as if someone stepped into our heart and soul and became a part of us at that very first moment.

We keep a scrapbook of all the hospital pictures and memories of the special time we spent at the hospital with Sam's birthmother. She will forever be in our thoughts. We will be thinking of her fondly and telling Sam how wonderful she made his birth experience. Sam is two years old now and we read to him his adoption story and he loves to look at his scrapbook.

We are anxiously waiting to adopt our second child now and wouldn't dream of having our children any other way. Adoption is a special gift of love that has changed all of us as individuals in the best way. To be touched by adoption is to be touched by God or goodness. We consider ourselves the luckiest of people to have adoption as a part of our lives; we wouldn't have it any other way.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Kara, Gary, and Sam