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Dear Birthparents,
We are Craig and
Michelle and Marcus! Marcus joined our family
through adoption 8
months ago, when he was just 3 days old. Adoption
has been a true blessing to our family.
When we decided to
start a family, it took us some time before we
realized that adoption was the path for us. After
some disappointing years of unsuccessful attempts
for a biological child, we began to explore adoption
as an option for creating our family. After talking
to Journeys of the Heart and learning more about
adoption, we felt excited and eager to create our
family through adoption.
We started with the
Journeys of the Heart office in Oregon. Jessica was
very helpful in educating us about the process and
helping us prepare our portfolio to be viewed by
birthparents. Very soon thereafter, we began working
with Ann in the Chicago office. We were amazed with
how smoothly Jessica and Ann worked together between
the offices. Our portfolio was soon shown to a
birthmother in Chicago. We were so excited to learn
that the birthmother had chosen us to parent her
child! Ann from Journeys-Chicago was wonderful as we
went through the remaining process and waiting. This
was such an exciting but scary time as we prepared
for the arrival of a new baby but also waited for
his birth and the birthmother’s final decision. Ann
was great about staying in contact with the
birthmother and with us during this time, and she
helped to put our concerns at ease.
It was such an
amazing moment when Marcus was placed in our arms
for the first time and we became parents. We will
never forget the joy and awesome sense of
responsibility that overcame us in that moment. It
has been an amazing and wonderful adventure with
Marcus since those first days and nights together in
Chicago. What a miracle to watch Marcus as he grows
and develops!
We have been
sending pictures and update letters to Marcus’
birthmother and we will continue to do so several
times a year. We are always excited to share updates
of Marcus’ life with his birthmother, the women who
cared for him so well during the months of her
pregnancy. We would be delighted to hear more from
our birthmother, but we understand that this may be
difficult for her at this time. We want her to keep
whatever level of involvement is best for her and
her family. We are open to letting this relationship
evolve over time.
 Marcus’
birth mother will always be a special and important
person to our family. We are so grateful to her for
entrusting us with the care of Marcus. We are still
often overwhelmed by appreciation and love for
Marcus’ birthmother. Her difficult decision brought
us the incredible gift of a child. We love and
respect her so much for this.
Even though Marcus
may still be too young to understand, we often tell
him about his birthmother and his adoption story. We
made a special book for Marcus that tells this
story. He loves to listen to us read it and he loves
to look at the pictures. Our hope is that Marcus
grows up with a positive attitude about his adoption
and that he knows that his birthmother is a
wonderful and courageous woman and that she will
always hold him in her thoughts and heart.
We are also
grateful to Journeys of the Heart, both for helping
to bring Marcus to our family, and for its wonderful
staff, who were always so helpful and caring. We
feel that Journeys works so well with birthparents
and with adoptive parents. The staff at Journeys
showed concern and respect for all throughout the
process.
When Marcus is
ready for a brother or sister, we will definitely
return to Journeys of the Heart!
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