World Adoption Day…Stories to Fill Your Heart!
Jaren’s Adoption Story
When we started our adoption journey we never expected it would take 4 years to complete or that we would have to switch country programs only to have a referral fall through. We didn’t expect to adopt a baby and we certainly didn’t expect to adopt a child with a disability. But doors closed and doors opened. We said little “yeses” along the way and continued to gather life experiences that eventually led us to say “YES” when our agency presented “Baby J” to us, a 9 month old baby boy with Down syndrome. We are forever grateful that our adoption journey didn’t go according to our plan. Jaren has opened our eyes to places and spaces of true belonging and acceptance. This sweet little boy has shared his joy with us each day; we are so grateful for the privilege we have to love him.
Rachel & Jake R.
Theodore’s Adoption Story
You could say our adoption journey started when I was in college. That’s when I knew I wanted to adopt a child with Down syndrome. It was something I just knew I was meant to do and needed to do. It took Jim (husband) a little longer to come around to the idea…4 bio kids and then about 9 more years 😂.
We ended up getting our home study done the end April of 2012. We registered with the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network (NDSAN). They are a wonderful organization that helps connections birth families with people who are ready and wanting to adopt a child with Down syndrome.
We got our first match in the beginning of June 2012. The birth mom was due in August with a baby girl. Once the little one was born, her parents decided to parent 😀. It was difficult at the time but looking back we know she wasn’t meant to be ours. We still have contact with the family and they are all doing amazing!
After that we continued to get calls about possible situations that we submitted our home study and profile to. However we were never chosen. Around the start of 2013 we were starting to feel as if maybe adoption wasn’t meant to be for us as things really slowed down as far as being asked to submit our profile.
February 24, 2013 changed all that! It was a Sunday night and Stephanie from the NDSAN called around 9pm. There was a baby boy who has been born in New Orleans and his birth family were making an adoption plan for him. They said that they didn’t have many details but he was on oxygen and unsure about any other medical issues. We had to agree to submit within a half hour as the family was going to make their decision overnight. Of course we said “Yes”!
Monday around noon Stephanie called me at work and the first thing she said was “when can you leave to get your son?” I of course left work asap and got started making arrangements for my other kids and to travel. We talked to the birth family that day and they wanted to give us all of the baby items they had for him so we decided to drive down with our van.
We left Tuesday morning and of course there was a huge snowstorm through the entire state of Illinois! It was the longest, slowest drive of our lives with us counting the amount of cars we saw in the ditch.
We arrived Wednesday in New Orleans. We met the birth family and then we’re allowed to head to the hospital to meet our son, whom we decided to name Theodore aka Teddy. That was a moment I will never forget and one of the happiest days of our lives. It was love at first sight!
There are so many things that happened in the next 12 days during his NICU stay. Like when our van ran out of gas in the hospital parking lot and we had to sleep on couches in the waiting room, when cockroaches came out of the food at the Ronald McDonald house or when we had authentic Indian food at the birth family’s home and I almost threw up after eating a date covered in edible gold. Each are things we can look back on and laugh about now.
There are so many things that happened in the next 12 days during his NICU stay. Like when our van ran out of gas in the hospital parking lot and we had to sleep on couches in the waiting room, when cockroaches came out of the food at the Ronald McDonald house or when we had authentic Indian food at the birth family’s home and I almost threw up after eating a date covered in edible gold. Each are things we can look back on and laugh about now.
We were very fortunate that Teddy was able to come off the oxygen after a couple days. He was born with a PDA and a PFA but they both corrected themselves before he turned a year old. Once we got the interstate clearance we were able to start to head home. And of course we hit another snowstorm in Illinois!
We have an open adoption with his birth family and have been sending photos and giving updates a couple times a year. We have gotten to visit with them in person twice. Teddy is such a blessing to our family and we can the more thankful for his birth family and that they chose us to be Teddy’s family.
Brenda & Jim E.
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