Sharing is Daring

This morning was one of those mornings where I walked by our empty nursery and I stopped. Most mornings I walk by the open door and I don't even notice it but today I stopped, walked in and sat in the rocking chair and stared for longer than I would like to admit. I looked at all the baby gear I've accumulated over the past year since we decided to peruse adoption. The crib, car seat, stroller, changing table, baby toys and boxes of diapers gifted to us at our baby shower in March. Yup we had a baby shower for the baby we were supposed to bring home in the spring. It was just as you would imagine. A buffet of baby themed food, Diapers and wipes galore and adorable baby boy clothes. After the shower we brought everything home and in true Julie fashion I immediately organized everything. I remember sitting in the nursery that very same day staring. Staring at the crib, car sear, stroller, changing table, baby toys and diapers just like today but instead feeling a sense of relief....

Yesterday after seeing a dear friend of mine update her family and friends on their adoption journey, I got inspired to do the same. In May of 2016 we started our adoption journey. A few months later we started the home study process, fundraising and getting approved for adoption. We were officially approved January 31st, 2017 and have been on the family waiting list since then. As many of you know, birth mom situations were coming in at a rapid rate during those first few months and we were chosen for a situation in Ohio. Things moved quickly and we traveled to Columbus to complete our family. But our trip was cut short after 3 days with the baby, when birth mom decided she would parent. Feeling defeated we traveled home in silence wondering if we could go through this again. How could we trust another birth mom after going through this? How could we travel out of state with no guarantee we would come home with a child? Who do we keep in the loop going forward? It didn't take ...