China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
Brazil
India
EthiopiaOur adoption journey began in August 2002, when we made the decision to adopt from Guatemala. Almost 2 years before this, after being married for 6 years, we had decided we were ready for the pitter-patter of little feet around the house. When it didn't happen like we planned or expected we began investigating our options. We both knew how far we were willing to go with medical intervention.
The decision to adopt came natural for us because Shannon is adopted himself. We knew we just wanted to be parents and to have a family. After some minor fertility testing with no serious problems found and many prayers we began looking into adopting. The decision to adopt from Guatemala using FTIA came after researching all the different options.
We sent our application to FTIA in August 2002, we received our information about the dossier on August 15, and on October 15 we turned in our completed dossier. We were immediately placed on the waiting families list. December 5, 2002, the much anticipated referral call came!! After accepting the referral of our son, who was born on November 14, 2002, the wait began! Although at the time every single moment of waiting and every single tear shed over the wait seemed unbearable, we made it through and on June 17, 2003, we traveled to Guatemala and our son, Aden, was placed in our arms! A moment that we will never forget!
Aden is an absolute joy. He is easy going, happy, and a loving child. He adjusted with absolutely no problems. Aden has brought more smiles into our lives than we ever could have imagined. We look at him every day and are truly amazed at each and every circumstance that had to happen to bring us together as a family. Aden has been home 6 months now but it seems as of he has been a part of our lives forever.
We are forever grateful to his wonderful foster family who cared and loved him for the first 7 months of his live. We know this is one of the biggest factors to his easy-going, happy, and loving personality. We also are extremely thankful for the FTIA staff and especially the entire Guatemala team. You are great! We have total confidence and trust in you! Erin was our main contact and we could not have asked for a more understanding, caring, and hard-working coordinator. Those days when we called to check in with her, even though we knew she would call if there were any updates, she was always patient and listened. She was always up front with what might or might not happen. We could never express in words how extremely grateful we are for FTIA. We have had
such a great experience with adopting that if God has it in His plans, we will
bring our 3rd child into our family through adoption.
We are actually expecting our 2nd child in April 2004. We found out in August 2003, after being home with our son, Aden, for just two months, that we are pregnant with our 2nd child. We are expecting a little girl this time and are planning to name her Gracie Lynn. God has truly blessed us with a growing family. We are growing from two to four in a 10-month period.
Love,
Shannon, Angela, and Aden
