Emily and Paul met teaching at a school for children with autism spectrum disorder in 2010 and after many awkward attempts to ask her out, she finally accepted. We got married in June 2015 and began trying to grow our family. We attempted for a biological child for the first year of our marriage.
After a year trying on our own, we sought the help of fertility specialists. Over the past two years we have gone through 7 IVF attempts, with the 7th being our last. During this time we have gone through hundreds of needle injections, doctors appointments, tears and so many different emotions we did not know exist. The two hardest parts of this journey was deciding we were no longer going to try for a biological child of our own and deciding to reach out to others for help to make our family grow.
So, we are adopting a child!
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption related costs can easily total up to $40,000. This is why we have set a goal of $25,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents. Any form of help will be appreciated beyond words. We would appreciate any donation, help with a fundraiser, sharing our story or relentlessly contacting Ellen DeGeneres (who is Emily's favorite person, ever).
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he/she grows up.
