Telling Our Story

I've finally done it. Brielle is now 2 months old and I've finally caught up enough to spit this story out. If you look on the sidebar of my blog under pages- it is listed as Brielle's Story- Our Adoption Adventure.

I have 2 reasons for keeping our adoption pretty quiet before it happened. I was hoping everyone would forgive me later. For the most part we were bursting at the seams and wanted to shout it from the mountaintops. But after some serious thought we decided-

#1-We wanted to respect D's privacy before the adoption was a done deal. In the Hispanic culture, it is not the typical or usually even the acceptable choice to place the baby for adoption. Both of Brielle's birth parents are from El Salvador but moved to the U.S. 4 years ago. If Brielle would have been born in El Salvador, it would have taken over 7 years to adopt her because the laws are not accommodating. It breaks our hearts, but many people have been more than unkind to D. Because of the treatment she received, she did not tell many people about the adoption. She still hasn't. She gave us full permission to use her name and even pictures with our friends and family but because we feel so protective of her, we have chosen not to. Though we would love for you all to meet her one day. She is such a beautiful woman, inside and out.

#2- I have to admit, we were scared. What if we told everyone all the details and came back from Virginia without this little girl? We had faith that it would all work out, we certainly knew it was right, but that didn't mean it would happen.

I aoplogize that my story is so long. In my family, I have a reputation for being a talker. I tried to condense and edit, but I always seemed to end up with the same story. I didn't even come close to sharing every detail, although you will read that I am very open about our journey.

I could say that our adoption happened because Jake and I and our family and friends and even D had many special realizations and things come together at the right time for us. But that is only part of it. Yes, things happened because we all put forth our best efforts, but the amazing part of the story is that it also happened in spite of us.  We are not perfect and heaven knows that Jake and I aren't! The true miracle is that God orcehstrated it all, and I hope when you read our story, you will see that He has a hand in all of our lives.  He can turn something sad and broken into something beautiful.  That is how it happened for us.

I came to the realization lately that our story is something that has not only changed my life, but other people's lives too. I have been amazed by this time and time again. I only share it with people who are willing to listen and love us. (In other words, you) I have been surprised that lately I have had more opportunities than ever to share a little bit about our IVF story. Because Brielle is adopted, some people have asked us, "So, is Paige yours?" Meaning is Paige ours biologically. I laugh and say that both girls are mine, but they came to us in different ways.

And I share the story.