Welcome

Welcome to our blog, and thanks for taking the time to check us out. My name is Shelly and you should know that I love blogging. I have found this to be such an amazing outlet and a very therapeutic way for me to express myself, and "my emotional life". I have gained a lot of support and ideas through my online friends, and it is my hope that through blogging, I can pay some of that back and offer you some enjoyment or support of your own.

Let me tell you a little bit about our story.

This is me and my hubby - we are Mike and Shelly.
We met while working together at a sandwich shop. We quickly fell in love, and after dating for almost six years, we were married in May of 2000. We have a very loving, happy, and fun relationship. We are truly best friends and would rather be together than anywhere else. We work hard at communicating well, keeping our days full of love and laughter, and keeping our love not only alive, but thriving!

Not long after we were married, we discovered that we suffer from somewhat unexplained infertility. We do have some underlying issues, but have been told that we "should" be able to get pregnant. Easier said than done, apparently.

We had fun trying to get pregnant at first - who wouldn't, right? But very soon it became a very trying, disappointing, and painful experience. Surgery, fertility drugs, mood altering hormone therapies, and failed IUI's, just to name a few of our heartaches, led us to some tough decisions on whether or not we were even "meant" to be parents, and if so, how were we going to bring our children to our family?

It was almost six years into our journey to become parents, when Mike (in all his infinite wisdom=) brought up the idea of becoming foster parents. We prayed, considered, and thought about it a quite a bit before we finally felt like this was a good idea for us. Turns out, it was a GREAT choice for our family! Exactly nine months later, our son was born and placed in our home. (He was our second placement. Our first little guy having been reunified with his birth mother and taking a little part of our hearts with him forever!)

Our son Ian came to live in our home and in our hearts at just three weeks old, a tiny bundle of pure miracle! He has brought so much love with him and we are truly blessed to be his Mom and Dad!

When Ian was just 7 months old, his birth mother "E" made the very painful decision to relinquish her rights, knowing he was our son and was meant to be with us. She is such an amazing woman, and wanted more for him than she could give. We owe her so much and without her, we wouldn't be a family. (We are able to enjoy an open relationship with her still, and are so grateful to have her as a part of our family, and to have our son know and love her throughout his life as well.)

After her extremely courageous and life-altering decision was made, we naively believed we were home free - NOT SO. We then faced a long and emotional battle through the Court of Appeals over termination of birth Father's rights. It was the most terrifying thing we have ever been through, and one we hope to NEVER experience again!

However, at long last, we were finally able to adopt our son and make him ours forever. It was such a beautiful and emotional day, filled with love and support from many friends and family - a day we will surely never forget.

The day was May 25, 2010 - it was our 10th wedding anniversary.

We believe very strongly that there was some divine intervention in the formation of our little family, and that we were always meant to be together. . .

and then there were three.

PART TWO:

Shortly after our son Ian turned two, we called our case worker and asked her to put us on the waiting list to take foster placements again.  We wanted Ian to have a sibling and felt it was time.

The waiting periods for our first two foster placements were relatively short, but this time, we were on the waiting list for over five months before we got the call that an almost three month old baby boy needed us.  Of course, we said yes!


It was apparent, from almost the very beginning, that this was not going to be a permanent placement.  Knowing that, however, did nothing to stop all of us from falling absolutely head over heels in love with this little boy! 


We tried to prepare Ian as much as we could, but it was still so hard for him to understand why "his baby" couldn't stay with us forever.  We cried a lot and loved a lot, and just tried to enjoy him for as long as we could.


A few months into his time with us, we started talking about adopting privately, so that Ian could have a sibling that could stay with him forever.  We thought about it a lot and knew we wanted more children, but we couldn't keep putting our Ian through the pain and uncertainty that came with foster care.  


In October of 2011, I was talking on the phone with our attorney, about another matter entirely, when I just happened to mention that we were thinking of adopting again. He told me that he was meeting with a pregnant woman two days later and if we could get a profile to him before then, he would add it to the ones he had prepared to show her. We hurriedly put one together and got it to him.

A couple of weeks later, having been notified that out of those profiles, we were the only family that the "pregnant woman" had asked to meet, we first met "K".  She was 7 months pregnant with a baby boy, and was looking for the right family to raise him as their own.  We loved her immediately!  Over the course of the next couple of months, we got to know each other and realize that we were a family, and had been destined to find each other.

On December 29, 2011, around 9:00 p.m. (and incidentally, just minutes after the final guest from my baby shower had left=) I received the call that "K" was in labor.  I lost my mind for a bit, scrambling as fast as I could to pack some things for Ian, and get him to my sister so he could spend the night there.  Our baby was coming, and ahead of schedule!

We raced to the hospital and were there when our precious second son Logan was born.  We were able to spend the days following his birth in the hospital with him and our beautiful "K".  Those are precious days that I will remember forever.

Words cannot express how grateful I am for adoption, for the two miracles that are now mine because of it, nor the two beautiful women who brought my sons to me.  My life is richly blessed!

and then there were four.