Our consultant, Jessica, has a beautiful adoption journey that we are so happy to share.
"From a very small girl I have always known that I wanted to be a mother. I was certain of it and never wavered. What you don't realize as a child is that life sometimes gets in the way of our plans. I had a wonderful career, an incredible group of family and friends and a very full life but as a single woman I hadn't fulfilled my dream of becoming a mother.
I started my adoption journey online and became so discouraged about the possibility of being chosen as a single woman to adopt a child. So I decided to try fertility treatments first. I was blessed to become pregnant with my son, Truett in May of 2010. Unfortunately, Tru was stillborn at 27 weeks. While this was devastating it did turn my heart back toward adoption.
I was matched within 24 hours of completing my home study, a born baby - a beautiful baby boy who was 1 month old. He spent a week in my home but due to some legal issues we had to disrupt the adoption and send him back to his first mama.
I was heartbroken but decided to forge ahead. I was matched with a new agency about 6 weeks later with a baby expected just a few months later. I decorated the nursery, shared the exciting news with family and friends - I was over the moon. But it wasn't meant to be. His mama decided she wanted to parent and I was told on Christmas Eve the devastating news.
I found A Step Ahead a couple months later and met with Diane over coffee since we were in the same city. I immediately LOVED HER!! She was so encouraging and truly helped me regain hope that I could grow my family through adoption. I was with Diane for 4 weeks before being matched with my daughter's first mother. There were 12 families that submitted for her case and I was the only single woman. She narrowed it down to two families and had phone call interviews with us. Talk about nerve wracking! LOL! But just minutes after the call, she called me and the first words out of her mouth were "I choose you". I don't remember what she said after because I was crying... I told her "sorry I'll bet you were expecting whoops of joy and not tears" She laughed and said "no - they warned me" haha!
That was the beginning of our lifetime of love. My daughter is now 5 and truly the best gift God has ever given me. I am incredibly blessed to be her Mom, and she is equally blessed by her first Mama. Her first mama has overcome so much in the years since my daughter Maryn was born and she is a great example of strength, perseverance and unconditional love. My daughter has so many people that love her and our beautiful family may be unconventional but it is certainly beautiful."
We have enjoyed celebrating National Adoption month with all of you. We would love to share one last adoption story. HAPPY NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH!
"From the moment I spoke to Shannon from A Step Ahead Adoptions on the phone, I knew we were in amazing hands. A Step Ahead is extremely knowledgeable and experienced, and so passionate about adoption. Throughout our journey, Shannon was always there with honest advice, emotional support, and guidance for navigating the interactions with agencies and birth moms. Her authenticity during our many talks helped me grow as a mother and as a person. I can’t express how much she helped our entire process from the moment we decided to adopt, all the way through bringing our daughter home, and after! We had a wonderful experience, our daughter was born only 8 months after our very first meeting with A Step Ahead. She is an absolute expert, I can’t imagine going through the adoption process without her!"