This year, deemed "The Year of Thirty," Ryan and I entered a new decade, embraced new life changes and embarked on an (atypical) journey to parenthood…parenthood through adoption. Since we&'ve been together, we have always wanted to adopt. We decided to do so with our first child, so he would always know he was the first choice for our family. If you know anyone who&'s been through adoption, you know the process can be lengthy. It took us time to find the right agency, to fill out paperwork, to meet with the social worker, to wait on more paperwork, to get fingerprinted, to share and understand so much information about ourselves. To get from one step to the other. And then, just like that, there were no more steps. After only one week becoming "Parents in Waiting," a birth mother chose us. The kicker: She was due in ~3 weeks. On October 6th at 6:51 a 6lb boy was born. We spent three rollercoaster days at the hospital, and on October 8th, we adopted him and brought him home. His name is Arrow Mark Granzow. He&'s precious, and he is our son. We are thrilled to be parents, but as you know it takes a village to raise a child. Because the adoption happened so quickly, we honestly did not have the several (expected) months to save for fees, to prepare for a nursery, to read maybe one book. So we set up this grant to help us with Arrow&'s adoption. If you would like to donate to his grant, know that it&'s tax deductible. Hooray! If you have any questions, warm wishes, parenting advice or time to meet Arrow, you can email us at [email protected]. Much love and many thanks. Love, The Ryan(n)s
