A friend of mine is doing a new blog for her jewelry business and has a new piece she’s made to honor adoption. She wanted “our story” to put on her blog and she’s making me a cool “Choosen” necklace. I was more than happy to do it and can’t wait to see the finished product. Her website has some amazing, personalized pieces, you can check them out at The Silver Diva.
Anyhow, we get asked about our story as our family doesn’t fall into the traditional category! Here it is:
Dee and I started out as foster parents 9 years ago, with the hopes of adopting a baby and starting our family. We had a few kids placed with us that didn’t end up staying, which was heartbreaking, and we questioned whether adoption was the right route for us. Thankfully, we persevered and were soon placed with Dominic Ray (now known as Levi Dominic, 11 months old). He fit perfectly into our family and we all adored him from the start. After he had been with us about a month, one of his relatives came forward and he left to live with them the day before his first birthday. Again, we were devastated but believed that things would eventually work out for us. We were called shortly after Levi left about picking up a 3 day old baby boy (Edgar Pablo, now known as Carlos Stephen) from the hospital and were told that his mother’s wish was for him to be adopted. We finally had our baby boy and Carlos was perfect. Two weeks after Carlos came to us, we got a call asking if we would take Levi back, because his relative placement had fallen through. We were more than happy to! We couldn’t believe how quickly our lives had changed. Within a month’s time we were the parents of a newborn and a 1 year old. We adjusted to parenthood, the joys and the struggles, and after Levi turned 2 decided to continue fostering. It’s a way we could give back and provide a safe start for a babies in need of that. We weren’t planning on adopting any more kids, but we got a call from a friend of the family when Carlos turned 14 months old. She had just given birth to a little boy and asked if we would raise him. It was a big step to take, but we knew we had the love and hoped we had the energy. Kitsap Baby Kitsap (now, thank God, known as Trey, joined us when he was just 9 days old and completed our family.
We get asked about our story a lot and about how each of our boys came to live with us. We are happy to tell it, as we hope that our story might inspire others. There were certainly bumps in the road, were kids who we thought should have stayed, but if they had we wouldn’t have our boys. Things work out the way they do for a reason, and the kids who are meant to be with you, do stay. We still take in foster babies, but aren’t looking to adopt more at this point. Our family is complete with Levi (almost 8), Carlos (almost 7) and Trey (5 1/2). Life is certainly busy but we can’t imagine it any other way. Our boys are truly amazing!