Many of you who know us know that we tend to go hand-in-hand with Collin and Emily - especially since Corey has been with Collin since the moment they were born. When Corey and I started our family in 2018, I saw a spark in Emily's eyes and knew she was eager to become a mother too. However, their journey to become parents wasn't going to be as easy as most.

Collin and Emily Walker were married in June of 2019. After a year of being married, they decided they were ready to start a family. However, Collin and Emily have known that their road to parenthood would look very different than most. Emily was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect as an infant, which led to three heart surgeries by the age of three. Since then, Emily has been blessed with minimal complications; however, a pregnancy of her own is likely to derail her progress.

In May of 2020, Collin and Emily met with Emily’s cardiologist to talk about their options. Her doctor made it clear to them there were countless risks to Emily, as well as a baby if they decided to get pregnant. Emily’s heart is simply not strong enough to support her as well as a growing baby for nine months. They soon decided that they would research alternative routes to becoming parents.

In January of this year, Collin and Emily submitted their initial application to adopt through Building Blocks Adoption Agency out of Medina, OH. Since then, they have spent months meeting with the agency and filling out paperwork and are now finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! They have finished all paperwork and are waiting to get the green light to start applying to be matched with birth mothers! However, in order to be matched, they will need to have all of the funds ready in full.

This entire process of in-state adoption costs about $25,000. Collin and Emily have already put in thousands of dollars of their own savings up to this point, but need help reaching their expected amount of $18,000 that they will need in order to be matched.

We've had the joy of watching Collin and Emily with our daughters, Allie and Evy, as well as their niece, Jordan, on Emily's side. They are naturally so loving and those of you that personally know Collin and Emily already know they were meant to be parents. We have been more than blessed to have them as part of our "village" and want nothing more than to give back and be part of theirs.

We know that they will be eternally grateful to their friends, family, and community for contributing to making their dreams of becoming parents a reality.

Collin & Emily with Evelyn after we brought her home from the hospital.

Emily is always the first to jump in and help with projects for the girls. She helped put Allie's crib together after we moved to Bryan.

Collin & Emily with their niece, Jordan. Look at that smile!!

Collin has been Allie's best friend since Day 1. Ask her yourself - she'll instantly tell you Uncle Cow Cow is #1!