Michael and I have a wonderful and loving 6 yr old son, Joshua.  But unfortunately, we were unable to have another child. We didn't even think twice about adopting.  We started our adoption journey in August of 2006, when we went through a small local agency. Boy...what a mistake that was. To make a long story short, they ended up being very unprofessional, changed our case worker 3 different times and 7 months into the process (March 12, 2007), our home study was not even close to being completed...due to this agency. 

We decided to cut our loses and get out of this agency. We were about to give up hope of ever being able to love and raise another child. I did some research on larger agencies and was very pleased with American Adoptions. I called and the first person I spoke with was Tani. We spoke for almost 1 1/2 hours as I explained the nightmare the previous agency had put us through. She explained, in detail, how American Adoptions works.  She was so caring and understanding. Tani gave us hope again. I discussed it with my husband and on March 26, 2007 we signed up with American Adoptions.

As soon as we received our first packet of paperwork, we dove right in. We did not want to waste one more day. We couldn't believe how smooth and fast everything went.  In only 2 1/2 months we completed everything and became active on June 9, 2007.

We prepared ourselves for a long wait, which we knew would not be easy.  But in only 5 months( November 13,2007), we received "THE CALL." Michael was at home when Annsley, our birth mom specialist, called him and told him about the match. I was taking our son to school when he called me on my cell phone and told me. I was so excited that I had to pull of the road. A million things raced through our minds. Our birth mom, Kristin, did not want to talk on the phone, but did want to communicate through emails. We started emailing her the following day. She was fantastic. She kept us up-to-date on her and the baby. At this point we only knew that her due date was in mid March of 2008. We realized just how blessed and lucky we were to have Kristin come into our lives. To know that she saw something special in our family. No words can prepare you for what you feel when you are told that you are matched. Well, just 10 days after we received The Call, we received an email from Kristin on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. She wrote to inform us about her latest sonogram that she had on the day earlier. Her news was that they discovered she was carrying twins. We could not believe it. We had to read it a few times. We cannot even begin to tell you just how ecstatic we felt.  And about 10 days later, the Dr's told her that the babies were fraternal twin boys. 

Now that we knew all this, we had to prepare and wait until they decided to enter this world.  Kristin made it easy on us though, as she had always kept us up-to-date on all of her appointments. We had chosen the names Ryan and Tyler and our birth mom chose Riley and Tyler.  We could not believe it when we realized we chose almost identical names.  

We got an email from Kristin toward the end of February that they were planning a C-section on March 4, 2008. So we got ready to travel. We only had a few hours drive, but it seemed to take forever. 

We received the call from Annsley, BM specialist that the boys were born and healthy. Kristin had decided that she did not want to meet us until after she signed the papers, which was at 48 hours. When we received the call that she signed, we were also told to go to the hospital to meet our boys. We couldn't believe that this had finally happened. We where parents... again.

Ryan and Tyler were perfect. There is no other way to describe it. We stayed with them until visiting hours were up. But once we were back at the hotel, it was the longest night because we so wanted them with us, but we knew that they were being release the next day.  When we went back to the hospital, the following day, to bring our blessed gifts home, we also met our BM and her family. It is a time that we will hold near and dear to our hearts. 

In only 3 1/2 months, June 23, 2008, we had everything finalized through court. Even to this day, it is still hard to put into words what it means to us to know that Kristin chose us as the family to love and raise these two angels. They have brought us more love and joy, then we thought they ever could in a lifetime. We thank God everyday for bringing Kristin, Ryan and Tyler in to our lives.  We now have the joy of loving and raising them. 

This whole experience has been such a roller coaster, to say the least, but so worth the ride. It is hard to believe that Ryan and Tyler are almost 4 months old already. And Joshua just loves being the big brother.  He loves to play with them and make them smile. 

We would love to thank everyone involved in helping us complete our family... Tani, Mike, Rebecca, Alli, Gary, Angie, Annsley, Mary and especially Kristin. We pray that you may continue to due this for many years to comes.

Michael, Theresa, Joshua, Ryan and Tyler