Keith & Emily Are Adopting
Donation protected
Greetings, friends and family!
Keith and I have exciting news to share with you all...
In 2021, we plan to expand our family by adopting a child!
A little back story on Keith and me for those who may only know bits and pieces of our story. In 2012, way up in freezing Lake Placid, NY, this southern guy - Keith - met this northern Adirondack girl - Emily. You may ask yourself, how does this unlikely couple from different parts of the east coast meet? It turns out, Keith found himself in Lake Placid as a Strength & Conditioning Coach, working with winter sport Olympic athletes. As luck would have it - AKA a few mutual friends and Lake Placid being one of those tiny towns where everybody knows everyone, our paths crossed, and we started dating in early 2013.
Not long into our relationship, the southerner in Keith could no longer stand the Lake Placid cold weather and decided to move back south to North Carolina. We both agreed that we didn't want to end our relationship and decided to do the long-distance for a while and see where we landed in a couple of months. Well, those months of traveling, texting, and phone calls went by, and in doing so, Emily found herself enjoying the South more and more. To the point where she packed up her little blue hatchback to the very brim, along with her Mom (Linda), and left New York - her home state until then, and hasn't looked back since.
Following two years of dating, Keith proposed, and we were married on 11/13/15 and ever since our married life together has been a bit of a whirlwind. Keith is wrapping up his PhD studies for his Doctorate degree in Motor Development. After 6 years into his studies, it’s fair to say Emily will be happy when they are done and she can call Keith, Dr. Keith. Adding more into the mix we purchased our first home, have adopted our first children – our fur children, of the four legged variety. Our two very loved and adored dogs, Betty and Darla. The two of them give us so much joy and love. Of course, in getting dogs we both thought that would be a good test as we started to think about becoming more than just Dog Mom and Dog Dad, setting our aspirations for the two legged variety of animal with less fur.
We thought parenthood would come easy to us both, but little did we know that due to some health issues we’ve uncovered over time that this wouldn’t be a possibility for us. In May of 2017 Keith was diagnosed with a lesion on his pituitary gland causing secondary complications, which prevented us from conceiving ourselves. Keith is now on medication for life to manage his hormone levels, coupled with yearly MRIs to ensure the lesion doesn’t continue to grow. Additionally, Emily also discovered she has a blood clotting disorder that would put any pregnancy through alternative methods a high risk to begin with. In embracing our health complications for what they are and knowing adoption has always been an option we look forward to being able to provide a loving home in the near future. Together, we both know that there are so many children in this world that - for whatever the circumstances may be - need a loving family. Having experienced adoption on Emily’s side of the family - having several cousins through adoption – it’s clear to us that the meaning of family is truly rooted in love and compassion toward another far outweighing any genetic ties.
In working through the process, the two of us have selected an adoption firm out of Greenville, SC that has connections in all 50 states, and have had great success for many years. The only difficulty adopting is the costs which can add up quickly or beyond $30,000. We will also be applying for a few grants to help with adoption cost, unfortunately those are not guaranteed.
We understand 2020 hasn't been anyone's day, week, month, or year, but ask if you are able to help our cause financially or in any other way possible, we would be grateful. Even in helping us share our story will hopefully enable us to become the best parents we know we will be.
With Love,
Keith & Emily
Keith and I have exciting news to share with you all...
In 2021, we plan to expand our family by adopting a child!
A little back story on Keith and me for those who may only know bits and pieces of our story. In 2012, way up in freezing Lake Placid, NY, this southern guy - Keith - met this northern Adirondack girl - Emily. You may ask yourself, how does this unlikely couple from different parts of the east coast meet? It turns out, Keith found himself in Lake Placid as a Strength & Conditioning Coach, working with winter sport Olympic athletes. As luck would have it - AKA a few mutual friends and Lake Placid being one of those tiny towns where everybody knows everyone, our paths crossed, and we started dating in early 2013.
Not long into our relationship, the southerner in Keith could no longer stand the Lake Placid cold weather and decided to move back south to North Carolina. We both agreed that we didn't want to end our relationship and decided to do the long-distance for a while and see where we landed in a couple of months. Well, those months of traveling, texting, and phone calls went by, and in doing so, Emily found herself enjoying the South more and more. To the point where she packed up her little blue hatchback to the very brim, along with her Mom (Linda), and left New York - her home state until then, and hasn't looked back since.
Following two years of dating, Keith proposed, and we were married on 11/13/15 and ever since our married life together has been a bit of a whirlwind. Keith is wrapping up his PhD studies for his Doctorate degree in Motor Development. After 6 years into his studies, it’s fair to say Emily will be happy when they are done and she can call Keith, Dr. Keith. Adding more into the mix we purchased our first home, have adopted our first children – our fur children, of the four legged variety. Our two very loved and adored dogs, Betty and Darla. The two of them give us so much joy and love. Of course, in getting dogs we both thought that would be a good test as we started to think about becoming more than just Dog Mom and Dog Dad, setting our aspirations for the two legged variety of animal with less fur.
We thought parenthood would come easy to us both, but little did we know that due to some health issues we’ve uncovered over time that this wouldn’t be a possibility for us. In May of 2017 Keith was diagnosed with a lesion on his pituitary gland causing secondary complications, which prevented us from conceiving ourselves. Keith is now on medication for life to manage his hormone levels, coupled with yearly MRIs to ensure the lesion doesn’t continue to grow. Additionally, Emily also discovered she has a blood clotting disorder that would put any pregnancy through alternative methods a high risk to begin with. In embracing our health complications for what they are and knowing adoption has always been an option we look forward to being able to provide a loving home in the near future. Together, we both know that there are so many children in this world that - for whatever the circumstances may be - need a loving family. Having experienced adoption on Emily’s side of the family - having several cousins through adoption – it’s clear to us that the meaning of family is truly rooted in love and compassion toward another far outweighing any genetic ties.
In working through the process, the two of us have selected an adoption firm out of Greenville, SC that has connections in all 50 states, and have had great success for many years. The only difficulty adopting is the costs which can add up quickly or beyond $30,000. We will also be applying for a few grants to help with adoption cost, unfortunately those are not guaranteed.
We understand 2020 hasn't been anyone's day, week, month, or year, but ask if you are able to help our cause financially or in any other way possible, we would be grateful. Even in helping us share our story will hopefully enable us to become the best parents we know we will be.
With Love,
Keith & Emily
Organizer
Emily Yelich-Scruggs
Organizer
Irmo, SC
