Adoption in motion

Hi!

We are the Liker-Hill family and we are blessed to be here during this exciting time!

The tale of two adoptions

In early 2019, we met our then-future son, Gabriel. Through that adoption process, we realized just how badly we yearned to be fathers through all of the ups and downs of adopting a child. Later in 2019, we decided to apply to adopt through an agency, as well as continue our journey with Gabriel, as we knew we wanted more than one child. Imagine juggling the adoption process through a private adoption and one through an agency-- it was a lot. While we began the transitions needed to adopt Gabriel, we continued to apply for situations with our agency.

Matched!

In early 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning, we found out we were matched with a birthmother! We were beyond excited, but nervous at the same time, as the birthmother was not due for another 6 months. A few short weeks after we matched, as we had began to make plans to fly to meet her, the pandemic hit and cancelled all plans.

Adopting Gabriel!

Fast forward a couple of months, in the height of the pandemic, we sat in front of a judge on a TV screen and FINALLY went through the adoption with Gabriel. What seemed like forever was worth every single minute and every single up and down we had encountered along the way as we agreed to love and cherish him for our entire lives.

Heartbreak

Just shy of a month later, we got a text from the birthmother we were matched with. She said the baby had come, but that she was not going to allow us to adopt. There were many things said to us and many hurtful remarks. She went so far as to tell us that she never intended to place her child and she was only doing it for the money. We were heartbroken.

Realization

We continued to love on Gabriel as we worked through this heartache and a few months later realized that this had happened for a reason. Our hearts had started feeling something different, something that everyone else had already seen. Our hearts were telling us to look into adopting a child with special needs, specifically Down syndrome. We found the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network and reached out to Stephanie. Since we already had our homestudy and profile done, the beginning process went fairly qiuckly.

Matched! AGAIN!

Just a few short months later, we applied for two situations in a matter of days, not sure what to expect. Little did we know that one of those birthmothers would be the one we would match with. On a Sunday, at 9:00 am we got a text stating that she would like to chat with us and see if we would be a good match. Two days later at 2:00 pm we had a phone call with the birthmother and 5 minutes after that call, Stephanie called us to tell us that she loved us and wanted to move forward with us! We were exctatic!

Medical information

Our newest addition will be here any day now (we are keeping gender a secret ;) ). Baby does have confirmed Trisomy 21, via amniocentesis. Baby also will need to have heart surgery within 3-6 months of birth and has some other potential problems that may need to be dealt with, however more will be known after the birth. We will be traveling to Ohio via car, due to COVID. We will spend a minimum of two weeks there due to ICPC paperwork, but it could be longer depending on health needs.

We are over the moon excited and cannot wait to meet our little bundle of joy! We are appreciative of all the prayers and support that we have been given so far and are grateful for any monetary donations we may get! We cannot wait to update everyone when baby number two comes!

THANK YOU!