Spotlight Saturday - A Happy Utah Family Hoping to Adopt Again

Please take a moment to get to know Ryan and Helen and their adorable little toddler, Emily.

You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://ryanhelenandemily.blogspot.com

Update: Congratulations to Ryan & Helen! They adopted a girl in July!

We met in the Fall of 1998. Helen was a senior in college, and competing on the women’s volleyball team. Ryan was a first year law student. Over the next several years we kept in touch. Helen served a full-time mission and started graduate school in Utah and Ryan started practicing law in California. Despite living in different states, we began dating and eventually fell in love. We were married a year later in December 2003.

Shortly after our wedding, Ryan was offered a job in Salt Lake City. We were thrilled to move close to most of Helen’s family, and we bought a house only one block away from one of Ryan’s older sisters. The house, a 1960’s rambler, needed some work, but we chose it because of its beautiful and convenient location.

After a couple of years and many doctors’ appointments, we learned that we will most likely never conceive children. Although it was sad, adoption was an easy choice for us. Helen has a sister who was adopted and we both have cousins who were adopted, so we knew how inspired adoptions are.

In October 2007, we were placed with a beautiful newborn and named her Emily. She has been an extraordinary blessing in our home and in our extended families. We adore her and thank Heavenly Father each day for her birth parents who selected us. We have an open relationship with them and have been blessed by their continued interest and support in Emily’s life. We love taking lots of photos and video of her milestones to share with them.

Ryan’s job as an attorney allows Helen to stay home with Emily. Helen loves getting to spend the whole day with Emily at home or out with friends and family. Emily goes to swimming lessons once a week, music class once a week, and frequently meet friends for lunch or a play date. In the summer Helen and Emily enjoy "cousin days". Each week they meet Emily's grandma, aunts and cousins to visit a zoo, museum, park, or pool.

Before Emily was born, we adopted two cats from the animal shelter. They are quirky, but we love them. Emily especially loves the cats and is learning how to pet them and play with them.

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The Magic

We ran into the big man himself and "Mrs. Santa Claus" (as Carter calls her) on Christmas Eve. Carter was thrilled -- seriously, he was so excited! He kept smiling and laughing in a blown-away kind of way. It was like magic! They were the sweetest Santa and Mrs. Claus I've ever met. SO glad we got pictures with them for Ruby's first Christmas, too!

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Peace

I have a family here on earth.
They are so good to me.
I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Families can be together forever
Through Heavenly Father's plan.
I always want to be with my own family,
And the Lord has shown me how I can.
The Lord has shown me how I can.

(words by Ruth M. Gardner, from the hymn Families Can Be Together Forever)

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Cousins!

Carter loved having his CA cousins in town for Ruby's adoption finalization and sealing.

Carter loves "Lukie"...

and Ty...

and Mikelle (and Cole, Crew, Chad, and Nicole). We all do!

We promised Carter that if he was quiet and happy in the temple, we'd do some model rocket launches. He did awesome! We took a fun and quick little trip to the park before Chad & Nicole's family left for home. The kids all loved it!

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Our Little Secrets: The Design Loft

As a couple building our eternal family through the miracle that is adoption, we try to do everything we can to make sure we find the children that are meant for our family. We want to open doors, as many as possible, through which our child's birth family may discover us. One way to do that is through pass-along cards and/or pamphlets. They are easily shared with family members and friends who then share them with anyone they can. We wanted to share with you one of our little secrets in this process...The Design Loft.

Cynthia at The Design Loft designed these beautiful pamphlets and pass-along cards for our adoption efforts and we could not have been more pleased. We were chosen before we had the pamphlets printed, but many who received those pass-along cards in our Christmas cards last year commented on how great they looked. She made the process so simple, straight-forward and affordable. Just wanted to share with any of our hopeful adoptive friends this great resource!

Check out http://thedesignloft.blogspot.com/, http://thedesignloftonline.com/ or contact Cynthia (cynthia@thedesignloftonline.com) with any questions you might have today!

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Spotlight Saturday - An Oregon Family With Lots of Love to Share

Please take a moment to get to know Greg & Michelle and their two boys. You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://greg-michelle-noah-sam.blogspot.com/

Greg & Michelle, Noah & Sam

We are excited to add to our family through adoption. Adoption has been the hugest blessing of our lives and we are ready to adopt again.

A few years after getting married and after being unable to achieve pregnancy, we felt strongly that we should adopt our first child. It was a very spiritual decision and we were overjoyed to be chosen relatively quickly by a mature and amazing woman. We knew little about birth mothers before we met her -- besides they were brave and selfless. As soon as we met her we felt a connection to her so deep we could hardly explain how much we loved her to others. We thought we were so lucky to have an angel birth mother in our lives. When she placed her precious baby with us, the love we felt for Noah was overwhelming. The first night we had him we unwrapped his blanket to change his diaper and just stared in awe at our tiny and perfect little boy. We knew right then and there that adoption had changed us. We loved being parents and loved the friendship we had formed with Noah's birth mother. In those first few weeks and months we knew she was suffering, but her strength made us want to be better. We tried hard from the very beginning to be the kind of parents that would make her proud.

A year later we began infertility treatments again. After a few short months of doctor's visits, we weren't getting anywhere and we knew for certain that we had another baby boy that would come through adoption. We began the adoption process again and after a two-year wait, we were again chosen by a beautiful birth mother. We were so lonely for Sam before he came to our family that sometimes the sadness was unbearable. It was a miracle when his birth mother first emailed us and will be a day we will never forget. We spent several months getting to know her through her pregnancy. By the time Sam was born, we shared deep concern and love for her and all she had already endured to ensure his save arrival. We met Sam for the first time the day after he was born. He was laying on the hospital bed, curled up in a tiny ball. Our hearts immediately recognized his sweet spirit as the one we could feel here and there as we waited for him to come to us.

During the night when I would feed baby Sam, I would often feel overwhelming love and joy for my boys. I hoped and prayed during those late hours that more babies would come to us. We love adoption and know how wonderful it can be for the birth parents, their families, us as adoptive parents, our families who pray along with us for more babies, and especially for the children who will grow up knowing they are loved and adored by so many people.

One of the biggest joys of our lives has been the way Noah treats his little brother, Sam. Noah is totally obsessed with his brother and never once has shown any sort of jealousy or frustration about having to share his parents, his toys, or anything. Noah likes to share his room with Sam because Sam “protects him” during the night. And Noah often tells us how badly he wanted Sam and how the day Sam was born was the best day of his life. The boys have a very tight bond and we hope to continue to encourage that bond as they get older. Much of our motivation for adopting again was because of the amazing love Noah and Sam share. Another baby would be so lucky to be nurtured by these two older brothers.

We are passionate about adoption and are so thankful this is the way our family was meant to be created. We wouldn't have it any other way!

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Officially Ruby!

Carter is officially a big brother. Ruby is officially a little sister. And we are officially speechless!

There is so much I could write about what an amazing experience it was to have Ruby's adoption finalization, sealing, and blessing all happen this past week. But time is short, and rather than delay this post any longer trying to figure out some way to put our feelings into words, I'd like to share some pictures from finalization day.

Outside the courthouse.

Both sets of our parents flew down for the occasion. Ruby loved meeting Grandma Kengie, Grandma Linda, Grandpa Russ, and Grandpa Gary for the first time.
Joe & Claudia also took off work to be there.
Thanks so much for the support!

We want to give a special thanks to Cali Tidwell (our case worker)
and Brent Ellsworth (our attorney).
It's thanks to both of them that we were able to finalize when Ruby was only 4 months old!

Judge Thompson decreed the adoption as final.

Grandma Kengie and Ruby after the finalization

Carter joined in too!

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Spotlight Saturday - Waiting for the "Wright" baby

Lincoln, Megan and John Henry are a great family in Washington state. They have been actively involved in the adoption community while they have been waiting to adopt. You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://mightbebabywright.blogspot.com

Update: Congratulations to Lincoln & Megan! They adopted a boy in February!

We like to have fun and often err on the side of silliness. We like to TRAVEL and see new things. Some of the fun places we have been are: British Columbia, Oregon, California, New York and Washington DC.

We also enjoy playing board GAMES. Some of our favorite games are Settlers of Catan, gin, and cribbage. We also like “The Bean Game.” We don’t know what it’s really called because neither of us speak German and the whole game is in German, but we have a lot of fun making up our own names for the cards.

When we get a bit of FREE TIME Link likes to spend it swimming and paint-balling. Megan loves to knit and even spins and dyes much of her own yarn. John Henry loves to listen to music, go swimming, and play with our family dogs, Maggie and Logan.

Of course, if you want to play hard, you have to WORK hard first, and we know all about that. Lincoln has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Doctorate of Pharmacy. He works as a pharmacist in a hospital. Megan has a bachelor’s degree in History and as of writing this is three classes away from her Master’s degree in Business (Hurray!) She goes part time in the evenings so that she can spend her days with John Henry (and his brothers and sisters, eventually!)

We have a big extended FAMILY that we visit or are visited by several times a year. Since Lincoln's brother has ADOPTED TWO CHILDREN, our families know how wonderful adoption can be and are already eagerly waiting the next grandchild, nephew/niece, or cousin.

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