I remember deciding I wanted to adopt a second time shortly after I was blessed with a baby girl. I adopted rather quickly the first time and thought that there would be no way that I would enjoy the same luck.  I got my home study updated and prepared my “Dear Expectant Mother Letter”.  About that time, I had just started a new job.  I was upfront and honest with my new employer and told them about my intentions to adopt and said good news could come tomorrow or a few years from now.  I remember laughing and thought to myself, I would be rather shocked if a call comes tomorrow.  My second adoption journey began in late May of 2007.  Shortly thereafter, an email arrived from an adoption advocate in Florida.  The advocate asked if I wanted my profile submitted for this baby girl that was to be due in August 2007.  Of course I wanted to be submitted!

On July 13^th, 2007 I received a call from my friend. She said, that the expectant mother came across our letter and felt an immediate connection. She requested a conference call with me. I was so excited but I contained the excitement and waited until I was home from work to make the call. My first conversation with birth mother, Stephanie, was amazing.  We had so much in common.  It was apparent she was as nervous as I was.  During our conversation, Stephanie told me that she selected our family to adopt her baby girl!

To my surprise, I received a call that Sunday evening that Stephanie was in labor!  I quickly prepared suitcase full of all the baby items I could find in my house and also packed for my 20 month old baby girl.  Everything was happening so quickly!  My employer was extremely understanding of the entire situation.  I managed to book our flights that same day as Stephanie was set to have a C-section on July 18^th.

Arriving at the hospital I remember I was extremely nervous. I came back and met Stephanie face-to-face for the first time.  We embraced each other and cried.  We both felt the connection and I was there to hold her hand as she delivered my daughter.  I will never forget this experience. It was the quickest adoption imaginable!  I was prepared to wait forever!  It was such a blessing to have a new addition to our family so quickly.  It just goes to show in adoption you really never know what will happen.

Thank you to our birth mother, Stephanie, who blessed our family.  You will always be in our hearts and prayers and we give thanks to all birth mothers for blessing other adoptive families.

My name is Kelsey and I am 15 years old. I am the middle child out of my 4 sisters: Tiffany; Jessica; Anna, and Mcgraw. My mother was left with two options when it came to her pregnancy with my two baby sister's Anna and Mcgraw. She could keep them and continue to struggle in life not being able to cater to them or provide them with the life they deserved, or put them up for adoption with a family who could give them what they needed both mentally and physically. I was really looking forward to being a big sister, but I knew that adoption was the right thing to do.

I am currently placed in Foster Care Services due to not being provided for in the right way. I thank the LORD every night that adoption was the choice my mother made for my sisters. I look at the photos of my sisters and I can see happiness radiate in their faces.  I would rather know that they are happy even though it means we will never have the sibling bond.  I often wonder if my mother decided to keep them, how they would be struggling as I am today.  As you can see my experiences with adoption has been wonderful.

If you are pregnant, and not ready to be a mother, I recommend adoption over abortion.  Give the gift of life to a family if you know you are not prepared to provide fora  child.  It is an amazing experience getting to meet the adoptive parents.  Through adoption, you get to see a dream come true for another family.

I have little to no contact with Mcgraw's adopted family, but I am really close with the new parents of my other baby sister, Anna. I can honestly say I couldn't be happier knowing they are nurturing my baby sister. They treat her like a queen and she is a very happy child. I know I may be young, but I know truths when I see them. And the biggest truth is that adoption is a miracle for many families. As a birth mother, only you can make a wonderful decision for your child with adoption.

It is hard to believe that I am celebrating my 20th gotcha day!  Twenty years ago today, I was blessed with the addition of my third and final adopted child.  Because of the miracle and gift of adoption I am a mother of three and grandmother of one (so far). I will be forever grateful to God and the birth parents of my two sons and my daughter.  I can't imagine life without the opportunity to be a mother especially to the three greatest kids in the world!  Adoption is truly the ultimate sacrifice and gift!  I give my thanks to all the birth parents who are able to put your own desires aside to assure that your child has a full and complete life. 

That is unconditional love, exactly what every child needs and deserves!

Authored by:  Vicki Allen

STRESS It can hinder us in our daily lives and seems to amplify x 100 when you are going through the adoption process. I am speaking from experience when I say that you should try your best not to obsess over what COULD happen. The reason is there is always going to be something that comes up in adoption and it will usually not be the thing you stressed over. I am living proof that this type of worrying doesn't do anyone any good. And is the worrying going to prevent things from happening?

Adoption is not for the faint of heart.  If you do not handle stress well you will probably not handle all the curve balls that adoption can sometimes throw at you. One of the important things is to know ALL RISKS that are associated with adoption. You should weigh these risks before you move forward. If you decide to adopt and accept the possibility that things can go wrong with your adoption journey you should be prepared with a back-up plan. Once you have the plan in place try to put the risks in a corner of your mind and try not to obsess over what COULD happen.

Adopting domestically was a decision my husband and I made because we wanted to experience parenthood from the birth of our child on. We looked into both International and Domestic Adoption. The idea of international appealed to us at first because we knew there was no chance of a Birth Mother changing her mind. But ultimately in our hearts we knew we wanted to adopt an infant.

In domestic adoption you should expect no time frame. The more open you are about race and gender the quicker you can expect to adopt. Decide up front how open you and your spouse are with willing to be with race, gender, handicaps and challenges. We knew that God would place the right baby for us in our arms. And He did!

We were extremely fortunate because we adopted fairly quickly with both of our daughters. I put my heart and soul into our birth mother letter. I strongly believe that this was the key to our being picked so quickly. When writing a birth mother letter you should try to put yourself in the shoes of the expectant mother reading your letter. It is easy to get carried away selling yourself because you want to adopt so badly. Include pictures of your family, talk about what type of upbringing the baby will have and talk about all your home has to offer. Make sure that pictures are clear and you are very specific and confident in how you will raise the baby.