If you didn’t already know, we’re trying to adopt! Our story is a long one, and so far, sad. Back in March of 2020, we began our journey to find our baby. Not only this, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Never did we expect what we’ve experienced thus far with this process. This website has given us hope again. All donations will go directly towards our adoption expenses. We must show proof of the expenses to AdoptTogether in order for them to be disbursed to us. You also are able to write off your donation on your taxes!
If you don’t know how the adoption process works, with our agency, we receive emails telling us of situations that we can submit for. COVID-19 hit the adoption industry hard, as the amount of birth-moms was at an all time low. We’ve submitted for many babies, and we were not picked, until September of 2021. We were so excited to be parents. We matched with a birth-mom in California, and we were waiting patiently for our baby boy.
The wait was probably the hardest 5 months of our lives. Not having control of anything during the process is more difficult than you can ever imagine. We had phone calls and text messages occasionally, with the birth-mom and the adoption agency in California. When we were matched, we were matched through our agency in Medina Ohio, but they partner with the agency in California. We made the decision to start to close Julie’s boutique, because we knew we couldn’t handle being parents and running a small business.
In January, we had our “adoption shower.” We were trying our best to make the process as normal as we possibly could. Our anxiety for it all was at an all time high. The support at the shower was amazing, and we received almost everything we needed for a nursery and to raise a baby for a whole year! We picked a name, “Hunter Robert”, and we started picturing our future.
February arrived, and we were on our way to California for a scheduled C-Section. We carried an empty stroller and car seat through the airport on the way there. People were staring and asking questions and when we told them what we were doing, they were so happy for us.
We arrived in Los Angeles on a Monday. The C-section was scheduled to happen on Tuesday. After a few hours of anxious waiting, we received a text message asking if the adoption agency could call us. We immediately knew something went wrong, because they agency only ever wants to call if something was bad. We answered the phone and the first thing we heard was “Bob & Julie, I am so sorry, but the mom has decided to not follow through with her adoption plan, her brother is taking the baby.”
Devastation, anger, sadness, anxiety, doubt and much more set in all at once. We were in shock. We didn’t know how to react, or what would happen next. Not only did we experience severe emotional trauma, we suffered a devastating financial loss. A loss enough that we would most likely, not be able to adopt out of state again because of the cost. Travel, agency "match" fees, and birth mom living expenses are very expensive.
After a couple months, we had more hope here in Ohio. We were told we were one of three families picked to meet with another birth mom. We traveled about 2.5 hours to meet with the parents for 40 minutes, then drove right back home. Unfortunately, again, more bad news came, that we were not chosen as the adoptive parents of this baby girl.
We were ready to give up, but all our friends and family have urged us not to. We didn’t understand how we would ever be able to pay adoption expenses again, until we found this charitable crowd sourced, donation site.
We never expected the journey we have experienced, but we are not ready to give up yet. We are humbly asking for a donation of any size, to support our recovery of the funds we have already lost, which will 100% go towards our next attempt at adopting. We have even started selling some clothes again, to work towards the expenses ourselves.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. If you are unable to contribute, we completely understand, and we hope that you will pray for us moving forward. We have been married for 11 years and want to be parents more than anything in the world. Anything at all will help.
