2008-11-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to do this for a long time know and haven’t done it yet and I thought that now is a perfect time. I would love to share some personal and special experiences we have been through dealing with adoption. I am truly grateful for the opportunity of adopting. It has been an amazing journey that James and I have been on. And it is dear to our hearts and I pray that I may touch and uplift others as you read this. Here is our story.

James and I were married on May 11, 2001 in the Bountiful Temple. That day was and is one of the best days of my life. Soon after we were married we both felt like it was time to start our family. Months went by and nothing. It was really hard on me because at the time, we were living in a student ward and everyone knows that there are tons of children and babies there and I can’t forget all the cute pregnant women, so I became very discouraged and down. We prayed and pleaded with our Father in Heaven to “Please bless us with a child.” Wasn’t that what we are supposed to do? Get married and have children? These questions were constantly on my mind. I thought that maybe it was me because of my Cerebral Palsy that I was born with that was keeping us from becoming pregnant. We found an amazing doctor who did everything in his power to help us. I had several Laparoscopies’ done and found that I have bad endometriosis, which is very painful. We did fertility treatments and even went to the University of Utah to a specialist to help us. I had my uterus looked at and tested and everything looked great with me and my husband was fine too.

We learned then, that is wasn’t in our hands and felt it just wasn’t time. A year had gone by and one of my aunt’s ex-boyfriends daughter named Jessie that I pretty much grew up with and loved was expecting. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Kylee. Jessie was into drugs pretty bad so the state took her baby. Somehow, my mom came into the picture and got the baby back and was only going to keep her for a weekend, but by the time they had to give her back my parents knew they were suppose to adopt her. So they adopted little Kylee and had her sealed to them. It was a really neat day. Another year went by and James and I were still trying to get pregnant, we found out that Jessie was pregnant again!

One night, I had this incredible dream! I had dreamt that Jessie and I were talking and she told me that she wanted James and me to have her baby. We were both crying and hugging. It seemed so real. I woke up crying and I told James my dream. We prayed that she would feel good about giving her child to us. One night, in October 2003, my mom had James and I go with her to my aunt’s house. While we were there, Jessie and her ex boyfriend came over too. She looked really good and she had a cute little belly. She also had an older daughter who my aunt has custody of and Jessie was bringing some things to her for her birthday. She said that she had one more present to give and that it was for James and I. It was exactly like my dream I had! She told us that she knew we had been trying to get pregnant for some time now and she wanted us to have her baby! The spirit was so strong in that room that night. We all hugged and cried together and I kept telling her that I would take care of this child the best that I could and give this child all the love in the world. She knew that I would and she told me that she loved me. It was incredible!

Jessie invited us to one of her doctor’s appointments and we found out that we were having a boy and she was due at the end of January. We were excited yet sad for her. She asked if we had any names picked out and we said we liked the name Chase. She said that she LOVED it and was happy for us. Amazing woman.

It was now December, and I went in to have surgery on both of my feet because I was having some pain. I wanted to have this surgery before the baby came, so I could be all healed by the time he did. I went in for my surgery on December 10^th. It was so painful. I was lying on my couch that night and I was thinking to myself, “What if this baby comes sooner than we think? I just had this strong feeling. Well, it was around 4 in the morning and the phone rang and it was my mom telling us that Jessie was in labor and to hurry to the hospital as fast as we could. I told my mom that I knew he was going to come early! I just knew it. So, we grabbed a couple things and James had to literally carry me to the car since I had just had surgery the day before and couldn’t walk yet. It was just crazy. We had to drive an hour to get to the hospital and by the time we got there she had given birth. Chase was six weeks early and so so tiny. We went into her room and my heart was aching for her. I had so many mixed emotions. She gave me this huge smile and told ME congratulations. I was taken back a little. It was kind of an awkward moment for James and me. James and I went to go see Chase in the NICU and right when I saw him I broke down in tears. I could not believe that he was OUR baby. We felt so blessed and knew that Heavenly Father had answered our prayers. Chase was in the NICU for about a month and then on January 1, 2004, we took him home. Six months went by and we were able to finalize the adoption and have Chase sealed to us. What an amazing day. Around that time, in August of 2004, I found out that I was pregnant! We were so shocked and excited. We couldn’t believe it. Sadly, I lost the baby. It was so hard to be trying for so long and finally become pregnant and lose it. Then, two weeks went by and we found out that our sweet Jessie was expecting again and wanted us to have her baby. Of course we did!! We were so excited and she found out it was another boy. Perfect! Two months went by, and I found out that I was pregnant again! This time it worked. We definitely felt very blessed. We thought, “We are going to have three babies under the age of 18 months!” Wow! Our little Tyler was born on January 9, 2005. He was seven weeks early and was in the NICU for a little more than a month. He did great. We brought him home in February. It was so fun to have the two boys together. They have the same birth mom and dad, so they look a lot alike. On July 1, 2005, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Gracie. I had a c-section with her so it was a challenge with trying to handle them all being so little. Tyler was just six months old and Chase was about 19 months. When Tyler’s adoption was finalized, we were able to get him sealed to us and all three of our sweet children were able to be in the sealing room. It was so amazing to see them all together dressed in white. I am so grateful for Temples so that we can become eternal families. They are ours for eternity and I am forever grateful to my Father in Heaven and I KNOW He knows us and what is BEST for us.

I want to share some of my very personal thoughts now. It has been very challenging for me as a mother with a disability. It may not be severe, but I definitely have my challenges. I have very poor balance and fall very easily, so it can be very scary while carrying my babies around and it can be hard for me because I feel so helpless sometimes in doing these types of things and sometimes I need a little extra help. I can be very hard on myself because I just wish I could do everything on my own without help. But I can’t. I have an amazing husband who is my strength and helps me so much. I have been truly blessed in my life. I know that I have been blessed with these children for a reason and I always do the best that I can to make sure my children are loved and have the things that they need. I know I am not alone and that Heavenly Father is there to help me too. I rely on Him to get me through the hard times that I am faced with. And He truly is there. I absolutely love being a mother even though it is a hard job. It brings me so much peace and joy.

Jessie, words cannot express how grateful we are for the two gifts you have given James and I. You are such an amazing woman and we love you very much.

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