Our adoption story...

On Dec. 3rd our homestudy was approved and the very next day Braxton's birth mom choose us to be his parents. We met her about a week later to have dinner with her-open adoption. Braxton was born on Dec. 14, 2014 at 11:22 Am. We were called that morning around 3 I believe to head to the hospital where we waited till our sweet boy was born. It was love at first sight. We love

his birth mom so much..she made some choices during her pregnancy that we were not sure how it would effect him, but God protected our sweet boy and he is perfectly healthy. I am choosing to not go into detail about those choices because I don't want a lot of judgment against her. She made a selfless choice. She has had a hard life and unless you walked in her shoes we just can't sit back and judge her. He weighed 6 lbs and 3 ounces. It took 2 months to fully get rights terminated from both potential birth dads. It was a long wait, but it is finally over. Our adoption happened fairly quick overall. It is crazy to think about how it all worked out for us. Our case workers have been amazing and I love our agency so much! Adoption is really an amazing thing and I can't imagine our lives without our little miracle baby. He is truly a miracle baby to us!

Our adoption

Sorry I have not updated in so long! First off our adoption home study was approved on December 3, 2014. Then a birth mom picked our profile on December 4, 2014. Then our sweet blessing was born on December 14, 2014. We are not allowed to share details or pictures at this time. Later in time I will share more about our beautiful story. We are truly thankful that God picked us to be parents of this child and forever thankful for this opportunity that at times we never thought we would have. After a long and painful 3 1/2 years we finally have our little miracle baby. Until later...

Treatments to adoption-what does it look like?

Here lately, I have been blogging less. I have at times felt like I do not have a lot to share or no one will relate. It is the awkward time where I stand between the fertility treatment and adoption world. It is weird and different. So, I thought I am going to share how this time is feeling for me. 
First, the sadness of not experiencing pregnancy is still very real and sad. I am not sure if this sadness will ever go away till I am in my grave. I have met so many wonderful ladies in the infertility world that I love dearly. Recently it has been hard to relate to a lot of them because I feel so alone in this part of my journey. Most of the girls I was the closest to have either had babies or currently pregnant. I am so happy for them, but such a lonely feeling for me. Every day I am more and more ok with the thought that I may never have a genetic baby. I know that God has a perfect little baby out there for us. I can't wait till that day! 
Now, we are on the adoption side which I can say is not an easy process either! You feel so judged by their questions because they dig for any negative they can get to...at least that is how it feels. I can honestly say though after beginning the journey to adoption this is the happiest I have been in a very long time. I finally feel like we have a light at the end of the tunnel. Our infertility and treatments were some very difficult times that most will never fully understand. The sadness, depression, feel helpless, and no control over anything really sucked! With adoption it is hard, but I feel like we are moving forward at least. Now we just wait...and wait..and wait some more till the perfect gift is given to our family. 
I have heard so many times just adopt after failed treatments. First, please don't say that to someone struggling to conceive. Can you imagine the feeling this couple has at not being able to have a baby? It is awful. Also, adoption is not easy and it is expensive. Adoption is a wonderful thing, but it is not for everyone. Adoption is for us though and we are so happy to be on this journey to our sweet baby. We have been preparing our nursery and having fun doing it. 
I thought the comments I got during my fertility treatments were bad...well I have heard some pretty pathetic comments towards adoption too. Here are a few.. Oh, when you adopt you will get pregnant! Wow, really? It isn't that easy people! I have been told that I am "lucky" that I don't have to experience pregnancy and delivery. I don't know how anyone would think I was lucky..I think that makes me pretty unlucky actually. Could you imagine not having the children you have or never having a baby? No matter how awful your pregnancy or delivery was. Aren't you scared the birth-mom will steal your baby? No, I am not. Open adoptions are great for all involved. Those mama's need our love and prayers so much. I pray for a love so fierce for my child's birth mom because that means so much to Chris and I. After attending our seminar I learned so much and took in so much. I cried and cried. You know, these women are giving the life of their baby to us and trusting us to parent. These women deserve to be loved and prayed for. They deserve to see pictures of their babies. They deserve to be respected. They do not deserve to be put down and told they made that choice. They made a decision that they felt/feel is best for their child. That takes a strong woman! 

Home-study

We had our home-study visit Thursday. It went great. We will receive a letter in about 3-4 weeks.  Then at that time we can be on the list for birth mom's to look at our profile. We are excited to see God's beautiful blessings come through. So excited for our journey to be parents.

Home study process

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Teaching again really drains me. I have no energy. Haha. Anyway, so here is an update. Chris and I both have done our interviews, test, etc. and now we have our final home study/couple interview tomorrow. I am taking a personal day so I will have the whole day off tomorrow! Yay! After this we will be on the list for birth moms to look at our profile! Yay! Please pray that God has a great woman out there ready to choose us! :) We are limited on what we can share with this process, but I promise soon we will be able to share lots of pictures etc. Just pray this is a fast and smooth process. I know God has a wonderful plan for our lives and a child perfect for us!

Photo book

 I wanted to share our photo book. Let me know if you have trouble viewing it. Let me know what you think about it! Thanks!


http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/all/lisa-and-chris-10926003?vk=2XNgn5GjAC

Sneak Peek Pictures

I hope you enjoy looking at a few photos from our photo shoot! We can't wait till we get them all! Jennifer Klotz photography did an amazing job! So happy with our photos and so glad she captured such an important part of this journey to adoption!