Adoption Dream Come True

We featured Mandy as a Story Behind the Tag last November—she shared her heartbreaking journey of trying to conceive naturally. After battling infertility for two years, she and her husband started the adoption process. She had a Tiny Tags necklace with the word ‘mama’ on it, to honor the babies she lost and to wear as a reminder not to give up hope. Here is the rest of her story!

In February 2018, just days shy of our one year mark in the adoption process, we received a phone call telling us that WE WERE MATCHED; an expectant mama had chosen us to parent her child! This call came on the heels of us having just lost our second biological child in a heartbreaking ectopic pregnancy and life saving surgery. When we thought our hearts couldn’t break any more, suddenly they were filled with joy, gratitude and love for the brave, amazing expectant mama and the precious babe she loved so very much. Less than 24 hours later, we had our first video chat with her thus beginning our beautiful relationship with her in an open adoption. To this day, it is a relationship we cherish and hold in the highest regard.

Over the next few months, we shared a very special time together and many intricate details of our daughter’s story came about. We had the honor of traveling to be present when our daughter was born in late spring. Our hearts overflowed with joy and love, not just for our precious little baby, but also for her birth family who are now a vital part of our lives and hers. Throughout our adoption, and even now, we saw the miraculous way a love so fierce overcame obstacles, gave strength and bridged gaps.... There is much heartache with adoption, as a birth mom grieves the loss of her child. As an adoptive family, especially one who’s struggled with infertility and loss, we recognize that and felt the burden of it. So much of the adoption story isn’t ours to tell, but we can say this - we now know a love so deep, it breaks our hearts and knits them together again, united stronger and steadfast. This love is the reason we have a daughter to call our own and the reason our dreams came true.  Our adoption was finalized recently and we felt it was so fitting to have been done during National Adoption Month.  We are honored to have been chosen to be her parents and she is the most precious gift we have ever received.