Blog Post 001 - Thank You!

The last several months have been a whirlwind of emotions as we wandered aimlessly in the world of self-matched adoption. It feels like yesterday we had a long list of tasks to accomplish to prepare for our home study, just to be approved to pursue adoption. Yet here I sit on a couch in Kansas City, Missouri with my two beautiful daughters. Sure it was stressful at times. Gathering legal documents, updating Gadget's (our dog) shot records, covering every unused electrical outlet in our home, finding a place that would do fingerprints in the middle of a pandemic, hours of online training classes, the list goes on and on. But one thing was very consistent along this journey and that was our support system. So while trying to come up with what our first blog post should be, it only felt appropriate for that post to be a thank you post.

For starters, I want to step back in time a bit and thank each and every person who contributed to our IVF fund back in 2018. In a very short time we raised over $5,000 which was able to cover our medications for one round of IVF. While that procedure did not turn out in our favor we are still forever thankful to everyone who contributed. The support displayed on that site was the first time we realized how many people genuinely cared about our situation and wanted to see us become parents. Thank You!

To every member of our families who was there from the very beginning, thank you. Sometimes that support was a simple phone call just checking on us. Other times that support was sharing bad news with family member's we did not have the energy to share. Thank you for being understanding when we had negative feelings we could not explain when other members of our family announced pregnancy's. Thank you for always convincing us we would be parents when we had begun to lose hope. Most of all thank you for treating our two adopted babies no different than children with our family genetics. Thank You!

Thank you to every nurse, doctor, and staff member at both Parrish Medical Center and Citizens Memorial Hospital. Each and every one of you truly made our hospital experiences perfect. We were never treated differently because we were adopted parents and not birth parents. You made sure we had our own private room throughout our stay. Made sure we had meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. You kindly answered all 1,000 of Ryan's questions and made us coffee at all times of the night. Many of you were genuinely touched by our story and may very likely be reading this post. You all helped prepare us to be parents and we thank you for that. Thank you!

Thank you to every person who liked, shared and commented on all of Terri's Facebook posts. I'm sure the posts got annoying at some point but just know without those likes and shares, we may still be on the hunt for our first child. Our website has been visited almost 8,000 times since it's creation. You all are amazing. Specifically we want to send a thank you to the two individuals who connected us with both our birth mothers. We are very thankful for you. Thank you!

Thank you to our coworkers and bosses for being flexible with how demanding both IVF and Adoption was on our schedules. Without your understanding this process would have been longer and more difficult.

Thank you to our small circle who often served as our counselors even if you were not aware. You would listen to our stories and problems and know what questions were off limits. We both had people we talked to when things were darker than dark. You helped us stay positive and were always there for us. You all know who you are. Thank You!

We also would like to thank each person who showered our children with gifts. Again this support was absolutely breathtaking. As on January 1, 2021 we basically only had a crib. A crib that sat empty since the beginning of our IVF days. The week we brought Winter home we had a steady flow of deliveries daily for over a week. To no exaggeration, we would have 4 to 6 feet of boxes piled at our door step every day. We very quickly not only had everything to raise one baby girl, but TWO. We are so very thankful for you all. THANK YOU!

Lastly, we want to thank our two birth mothers. Both of you are incredibly brave and generous in your decision to allow us to raise your babies. We will never take this for granted and will always remember your bravery. Without you we are not parents and for that we are forever in debt to you. We promise to give these two girls the most carling and loving household imaginable. Thank You!

If you made it this far, thank you! :)