My husband and I decided to adopt after a few years of trying to conceive on our own, with no luck. We attended the orientation session given by Adoption STAR with our families, and were very impressed. We submitted our application and became home study ready by the spring of 2006. Our first year waiting was very slow; we didn’t receive many profiling opportunities. Shortly before our home study was ready to expire, we met with Adoption STAR to go over our grids and our profile. We also met with other families who had adopted children of another race. After talking it over and researching, we decided to change some of our grids, and we renewed for another year.

The second year brought a lot more profiling opportunities. In the fall of 2007 we were matched with a birth mother in Indiana. I was at work, when I received the phone called letting us know that the birth mother had changed her mind, and decided to parent. We were devastated. We had the car packed and ready to go. My husband said the hardest thing he’s ever had to do, was to unpack that car, and look at our empty nursery. We took time off from being profiled, but started up again shortly afterward. We had a lot of emotional ups and downs, and were ready to quit several times.

In the spring of 2008 we decided to renew one last time. If it didn’t happen, then it wasn’t meant to be for us. We were still having a hard time emotionally and were about to call Adoption STAR and say this is it for us, when we got our magical call. I was at work again this time, and I was told we had been matched with a baby girl who was born that day! We were excited, but also nervous, because of our previous experience. At first the birth mother didn’t want to meet us, and then the day before we were to pick up our daughter, we got another call from Adoption STAR. This time to tell us she did want to meet us. We didn’t know what to think. We were so afraid this adoption would fall through too. However, when we walked into the hospital room and she placed her child in my arms and gave me a hug, I knew everything would work out. Our daughter, Brianna is now 2 years old. We still look at her today and can’t believe she is ours. She’s brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. We can come home from a bad day at work and she makes us forgot about all of that.

This past fall, we started thinking about adopting again, and asked for an application. We decided to put it off until this year, so we could get a 3 bedroom apartment or house, and make room for another baby. So when Adoption STAR called just before Christmas, I assumed it was to follow up with us, but that wasn’t entirely true. We were being contacted because our daughter’s birth mother was pregnant again, and wanted to know if we would adopt again. The best part of the news was that this was going to be Brianna’s biological brother!!! While we always hoped for this situation, we never ever thought it would happen! We of course said “YES!!” Our son was born a month later. Shane will be baptized June 2010 and our children’s birth mother will be attending, where she will also be able to meet Brianna for the first time since being born. We are very excited, and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us!