Greetings!

Thank you for helping us reach our goal to adopt! We are pursuing a domestic infant adoption and are "active" with our agency. This means birth families are looking at our profile and we are officially waiting to be chosen. The phone could ring any minute!

Why adoption?

When we first wanted to start our family, Allie experienced two miscarriages. The doctor dismissed the losses as simply "bad luck" and encouraged us to keep trying. Allie's third pregnancy was full -term. She gave birth to our daughter, Kate! Kate is hilarious, full of energy, and SO READY to be a big sister.

A couple of years ago, we began trying for a second child, and Allie, again, suffered two more miscarriages. At that point, she reached out to a specialist for help. Through testing we learned that Allie actually has a birth defect that severely lowers our chances of both conceiving AND maintaining a pregnancy.

After getting that news, we were advised to try invitro fertilization (IVF). We were told however that IVF would only offer marginally better chances of a successful pregnancy. It was at this point we started seriously investigating adoption as a way to grow our family.

We are very excited to be pursuing an open adoption and bringing another child into our family!

Open Adoption?

Adoption has changed dramatically in the last few decades. While most adoptions used to be "closed" (records sealed, birth parents and adopted children didn't know one another), now the opposite is actually more common! Open adoptions are more beneficial to the adopted child, the birth family AND adoptive family. For a child, having a relationship with their birth families helps provides a solid sense of identity and security. For the birth family, they are kept updated on how their child is growing, they aren't just left wondering.

What would your donations be going towards?

Any gifts received will be put directly towards our adoption expenses including:

*agency fees - Our agency is the link between ourselves and potential birth families. They assisted us in creating our video and adoption profile and are actively engaging with birth families to help us make a match. They will also provide legal assistance and guidance when the time comes for placement.

*birth family needs - Depending on the circumstances of our child's birth mother, we may be responsible for some medical and living expenses towards the end of her pregnancy.

*travel expenses - The agency fees DO NOT cover any travel related expenses, so we are expected to pay for plane tickets, accommodations, etc. These tickets likely need to be purchased last minute (we are encouraged not to travel until we receive notice that our birth mother is in active labor...yikes!).

A note about adoption loans: Since we need to have ALL needed agency funds in place BEFORE we can commit to a match with a birth family, we have received loans to ensure we can say "yes!" when presented with an adoption opportunity. Our loans cover a large portion of our adoption budget for American Adoptions (including agency fees and the birth family needs). Those loans do not cover travel expenses or  items needed for our child. While we have adjusted our budget to allow for loan payments, we are certainly stretching our finances. We are very grateful for any donations that will ease the financial burden.

Do you have questions about adoption?

Consider visiting the American Adoptions website (https://www.americanadoptions.com) or YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanAdoptions). You will find lots of informative articles and videos. If you are interested in our own adoption profile, you can find it here: Allie and Jon's profile .

We sincerely appreciate any support you can give. Financial, emotional, spiritual; it's all appreciated .

Thank you so much for helping us reach our goal of bringing our child home.