Personal Adoption Story

Tim and Kathy got married in February 2005, and always knew they wanted to have more children together.  Kathy had a daughter, Samantha, from a previous marriage, and had been a single parent for six years.  Right after the wedding, Tim and Kathy starting trying the 'natural' way.  We made an appointment to see Kathy's doctor to get some advice.  After six months, Kathy's doctor referred us to a fertility specialist, and there began the roller coaster ride of fertility treatments.    We continued this for three cycles with no luck.  In between cycles we got pregnant!  But alas, it wasn't meant to be, because Kathy had a miscarriage at 6 weeks.  We were devastated, but decided to continue with at least one more cycle of treatments.  It didn't work, and a few months later both Tim and Kathy decided that they needed to get off the roller coaster.  After much prayer, research and discussion, Kathy and Tim decided that parenting a child was more important to them than the act of bringing a child into the world.  This is when they decided to pursue, with excitement, the process of domestic adoption.

Their research led them to American Adoptions.  They completed the registration in November 2006, and found a local social worker to complete the home study.  The home study took a long while in our home state, but was finally completed on March 27, 2007.  That is when our profile became active and was shown to prospective birth mothers.  We had enrolled in the Traditional I program, and thought we would probably be waiting for approximately a year to get that important phone call--although we were praying that God would make it happen much sooner!  God answered our prayers, because we got that wonderful phone call on June 19, 2007 while on vacation in Florida!  Jennifer Van Gundy, the birth mother specialist, contacted us to tell us that a birth mother in Oklahoma had chosen our family and wanted to give us some information.  Kathy was on a cell phone, with her heart beating so loud and fast, she was thinking Jennifer had to hear it too!  There was one specific issue that was 'outside' our APQ (adoption planning questionnaire), and so Tim and Kathy decided to discuss it and get back to Jennifer.  There really wasn't too much to discuss, because Tim and Kathy both believed that God meant for this match to happen!  Kathy called Jennifer back and told her "YES", and then the excitement grew!

A baby girl was due to be born on July 13~less than a month from when we got the call!

Tim, Kathy and Samantha (12 years old) flew out to Oklahoma on July 11, 2007.  We met with the birth mother and six of her family members on July 12 when we took them all out to dinner.  It was wonderful!  Conversation flowed, and a connection was definitely forming.  Tim, Kathy and Samantha left the restaurant with very good feelings about everything.

The three of us met the birth mother and her family members at the hospital the next morning, July 13, 2007, for the scheduled C-Section.  We gave the birth mother a couple of gifts to let her know how special she is to our family.  The operation took about an hour, and the birthing center of the hospital has a tradition of playing a lullaby over the speaker whenever a baby is born.  The music played and we knew that Kara Anne was born!  The birth mother thought the name we had chosen was nice, and said she would put that name on the birth certificate.  Approximately 30 minutes later, a nurse wheeled little Kara Anne out in her bassinette to us, and we were able to take care of her in our own room for the two and half days that we stayed in the hospital!  The birth mother was in her own room down the hallway, and we took Kara in to see the her periodically during the hospital stay, but it was her to choice to have us parent Kara right from the beginning.  We can't thank her enough for that wonderful experience!

It is now 10 months later, exactly, and we are thrilled about being Kara's parents!  Every day is so special and we think it's impossible to love her anymore, but the love still grows!  Samantha enjoys being a big sister, and Kara just grins from ear to ear when Samantha walks into the room.  We thank God and the birth mother who gave us the most amazing gift our family could ever receive--our sweet Kara!