blessings | OUR LIFE IN 3D

05 Apr 2015

Our Easter Story

I thought Easter was a great time to repost an article I wrote for LifeLines, Bethany Christian’s Adoption magazine several years ago on our journey through starting our family. Easter gives us rebirth and that is what adoption did for my family, rebirth, when it appeared we could not have one without God’s grace.

Amid all the struggles with infertility, numerous expensive and highly emotional IVF procedures, doubts, fears, and worries, adoption was the perfect solution for my family, allowing a rebirth or sequel for my family when my wife are merely an epitaph.

Parenting two great little girls and all the trials and tribulations that go along has been such a blessing! If you want to read my story I penned LifeLines and how 3D got its start, adoption and the blessings of an ‘open adoption’ read on! And always remember, “the more love the better”!

Happy Easter everyone!

A Dad’s Perspective: Our Journey Though Open Adoption

My wife, Sabrina, and I got married in 1996. About eight years later, we wondered why she had never gotten pregnant, so we went to a gynecologist and found out it was impossible for us to conceive naturally. Undaunted, we went down the uncertain road of IVF procedures. Anyone who has been down this road knows how emotional the trip can be—with extremely joyful highs and tearful lows, not to mention the agony of giving your wife shots a few times a day.
Feeling frustrated amid our third IVF attempt, we attended a local adoption information meeting. Sabrina felt we were meant to adopt; I wasn’t so sure. Call me crazy, but as we left that meeting, I saw a rainbow in my rearview mirror. That was my sign, and so our adoption journey began.

We researched adoption programs and agencies and chose Bethany. We went to meetings, paid the fees, got our physicals, and completed the paperwork. We were ready to start our family!

Probably the best advice we got along this journey was not to paint the new baby’s room just yet. It was a year later when we got our first call that some birthparents wanted to meet us.

Sabrina and I were nervous before our first meeting, but it left us more worried than excited. One of the birthparents had some diagnosed emotional disorders that we knew could emerge as their son got older. With no training about or prior exposure to these disorders, we reluctantly decided this was not the adoption for us. We wondered, Was this part of God’s plan or did we just sabotage it? We had waited so long!

Our First Adoption
A month later, we received another phone call. We met a quiet, pretty young lady. The meeting went smoothly with the help of the adoption specialist. We really liked the expectant mom but felt like we had botched the interview.

A few days later, we received a second phone call saying that the expectant mom wanted to meet us again. That meeting went fine, and we laughed and cried together. Her reason for getting together was to establish ground rules for an open adoption.

The expectant mom wanted us to send her photos frequently. She was a sweet, Christian young lady, and she needed to be sure that she was making the right decision. If all it took to realize our dream was to e-mail some pictures, it was an easy decision for us. What ever it takes, we thought.

Some people ask us why we said yes to an open adoption. We say, “Why not?” Try to put yourself in the shoes of the birthmother. To say this is a “life-altering” decision is an understatement. As I see it, adoption is an act of love and selflessness for these women. They love their children more than they love themselves. That’s what great mothers do. If we were to ruin that equation by being selfish as adoptive parents, what message would that send to our kids?

Have I told you how wonderful our two daughters are? We adopted our second child through open adoption in 2010 from another special young lady.

All that waiting. All those tears. It all was worth it. What a wonderful plan God had for us. Our daughters are awesome! Each day we tell them how much we love them and thank God for his gifts.

The More Love, the Better
Our journey continues to evolve. We feel like we expanded our family twofold, and the girls are the benefactors. Can you imagine growing up with four grandmothers? What could be better to a child at Christmas?

Our relationship with each birthfamily is unique. One family calls and visits more often. The other e-mails and sends gifts in the mail. But when they send gifts, both families send packages for both girls! These families have embraced us as parents. They do not intrude. They do not preach to us about how to raise our kids. They are simply happy to be included in the process.

Both birthgrandmothers are wonderful ladies, and we feel blessed to have them in our lives too. They love our children so much. One of the grandmothers caught us off guard when she said, “You are like family to us now.” Wow! The more love the better!

All this for two little girls at Christmas

The Future

When our daughters receive gifts and cards in the mail, we try to explain who they are from. We save and date the cards to show them at a later time. We tell them that the ladies who sent them love them very much.

We will explain open adoption to our daughters at the right time. To us it is not a moment but an ongoing conversation. You answer the questions as they come up and at a level they understand. The adoptions are not to be seen as dark or dramatic moments. Its more about how God put our family together. We actually have a “Family” cheer we do at the dinner table! We speak openly to friends about adoption in front of the girls, so when the subject comes up the girls will not be unfamiliar with it.

We are not sure what the future holds. It comes on so fast and can change in many ways. We do hope to stay in touch with our birthfamilies. We want to share birthdays and milestones with them. My personal hope is that, as we get older / they get older, our girls will know and be close to each birthmom. They can be a source of “family”, moms and siblings, after we are gone. The more love the better!

We will always be indebted to our two birthmothers for entrusting their children to us. And we thank God for our wonderful journey, and we will be sure that our daughters know that He brought us all together.

Posted in Archives and tagged adoption, blessings, Easter, miracle, open adoption

19 Jul 2014

5 Comments

Hey, this ain’t easy!

If anyone has followed me for awhile this may be a bit of a repeat post for you all.

Sorry!

You see its that time again. Every year, this time of year, I try to take a deep breath, enjoy the Oxygen flowing in my body, and thank God that I am able to do so.

You see there are many people out there who have difficulty or discomfort breathing in. And that’s why I dedicate each Saturday in July to raise money for the American Lung Association through running in our local “Fight For Air” Stairclimb, taking place this year taking place on Saturday July 26^th.

Yes, a ‘sensible’ person might opt to stay in bed on hot Saturday mornings, but that adjective has always eluded me somehow. So this Saturday, and every Saturday I hang out at our local Coliseum, where our stairclimb takes place at and run up and down some stairs to get ready for this event. Sound like fun? Take a look:

Its not always easy at first but the Saturday practices slowly get my legs in stairclimbing shape. And true to its name, this event really effects your lungs, compared to other 5K or marathon races. You really get a new appreciation for the need and the work that your lungs do after running some 1500 stairs! Oh there is a monster 5000 stair climb event, but I am not that crazy!

And, even at my old age, and a bout with cancer, I am still in this to win it! I run hard on those stairs on Saturdays.

I am watching my weight so these old legs don’t have so much weight to lug up and down those stairs; meaning no more of this:

I even have taken to riding my bike to work to help with my goals.

…..and I am doing all this for you….and your money.

(you knew it was coming didn’t you?)

Yes, I am trying to raise money for Lung Health. I am busting my butt so you might feel sorry for my cause, feel I am committed, and hence, cough over a dollar or two to help those unfortunate young and old people that are tragically affected with poor lung health.

I will spare you the details or the facts you have seen every year. If you are interested in them you could click here.

Lung Cancer kills thousands each year. It is not the same uninvasive Cancer (it’s a word I just made up) I had.

This cancer is for real!

And did you know Asthma is the number one reason for children missing school? It is.

So these are just but a few reasons I am dedicated to raising money for improved Lung Health each year. I appreciate what my lungs have done for me over the years and I hope other young kids get the same opportunity to enjoy running and biking like I did.

In fact, part of the money raised at this Stairclimb goes to a week-long camp, Camp Puff-n-Stuff, for kids that teach kids how to deal with their asthma. Rebecca Balitsaris, the Area Director for the American Lung Association told me this good story on the success of this camp:

Rebecca told me, “I do have a good story from this year’s camp. A school nurse shared with us that one particular child used to visit her room 2 or 3 times a week due to his asthma the year before he attended camp. The child attended camp last summer, and he only visited the nursing room 2 to 3 times the whole year last year!”

So the money you and I donate actually does visible results each year. And I think that is part of the great intrinsic feeling of ~~running~~ climbing in this event each year: It actually helps real people and deserving kids. And, hey breathing with asthma Ain’t easy!

How many people with asthma do you know?

If you are interested in donating a few dollars or would like more info on our stairclimb please click here.

So instead of doing this, this Saturday and the next….