John and I originally started this blog as a way of documenting our journey of adoption and sharing some photos and announcements and awareness as we started the process. When we were officially matched with our daughter's incredible birth mom (Dawn), we sort of went into overdrive getting ready, making sure all of our finances and paperwork were in order, and spent a majority of the time focusing on our relationship with Dawn and her daughter, working a lot, moving into a new house, and re-doing our paperwork again! We updated our Facebook Page back then but forgot about this one!! Sad!
When I realized that Pinterest was feeding a lot of traffic here, it dawned on me that I have to share the amazing story of Macie Kate's birth with those that found us outside of our social circle. So... without further ado, YES! We Adopted our daughter in September 2013 and NO! We still cannot believe it!! :) She is the absolute light of our life and a treasure to our family! She is now the most incredible, hilarious, spunky, and joyful toddler I have ever met (if I do say so myself) and we are daily humbled that the Lord empowered Dawn to choose us to be her parents. I'm sure some people think we just get numb to it, but I can honestly tell you that the overwhelming gratitude I feel everyday is REAL. Even on the hardest days.
I wanted to do this quick update to share our daughter's birth story and also Dawn's perspective, in hopes that it may find it's way to the screens of just the people who need to read it and be encouraged by the Great Work He is doing all around us! Adoption is beautiful, and Adoption is HARD. There is love, family, joy, gratitude, and simultaneous heartbreak and loss. There were many No's that led to the Yes that the Lord had planned for our family. We are forever grateful to everyone who encouraged us and helped us out in so many ways. And I'm also grateful for the random blogs that I scoured every night reading for inspiration or education. So my prayer is that you'll find our story but simply a vessel to share a way in which God worked all things together for good, creating beauty from the ashes of pain, fear, and emptiness. Truly, His plan is greater than any I could have ever hoped, dreamed or imagined. And I continue to learn and see that every day.
Kristen now works full-time as the Adoption Coordinator for a boutique Adoption Law Firm in Georgia, serving Birth Parents and Adoptive Parents throughout the region. She has helped with dozens of adoptions, witnessed many births, met with countless women considering adoption as an option for their baby, educating about the adoption process for all parties, setting expectations, dispelling myths about adoption, as well as advocating for children and families in the Foster Care system. Feel free to contact her through the Contact Us Page!
