Success stories: Erin and Chevy

A few days ago I was reading through some blog posts on Adoption Voices and I ran across this post by a member named Erin. She had written down her adoption story while it was still fresh in her mind and wanted to share it. I was so taken by it that I emailed her right away and asked her if I could share it with all of you. Not only did she say yes right away, but when I asked her if I could share pictures too, she sent me a few, 4 to be exact. Thank you Erin and Chevy for letting me share your story.

Here is Erin and Chevy's adoption journey, in their words:
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"Chevy and I were married so young. We wanted kids right away, I never took birth control at all because we (mostly I :) just wanted a baby like everyone else. Ummmm, never happend. 3 years later, I think we both kinda figured something might be wrong so we got checked out. There was a small problem with Chevy and one doctor said we could try invitro, one doctor told us to try adopting. Well, knowing Chevy and I- either one of these are a big step. Chevy hates doctors, and I'm non confrontational and I dont like to talk to people I dont know- which you do tons with adoption. At the time we were in denial so we did nothing for another year or two. Then one day(last January) I got a strong impression that we had a baby coming SOON- I remember thinking I was pregnant or something- whatever..... BUT I will never forget that impression I got- I cried when I started my period AGAIN- every month we were married I thought I was pregnant- talk about crazy, I KNOW I KNOW!! I had the forms that I needed to fill out, they had been sitting on our desk for about a year or so- so I filled them all out that night and sent them in to LDSFS the next day. Our caseworker told me it would probably take a couple of months to get everything together- and it did. We were approved the beginning of March.

When we got approved, I was a crazy woman and I expected our baby RIGHT NOW because I just kept thinking we had a baby coming soon soon soon. I made business cards, sent out mass emails, made 2 internet profiles, and went to any adoption classes or firesides thinking that if I did all of this, we would find our baby. After numerous scams and false leads we met (i dont like to say her name) S. Shortly after we met her I was woke up in the night by yet another impression that we were getting a baby BOY SOON. I woke up Chevy and told him. He had the same feeling too. So when S told us she was having a baby girl- we were like- THATS NOT OUR BABY! We kept working with her anyways because we wanted a baby so bad- and those were just feelings anyways and I had always had a hard time judging things by feelings. We were not surprised when S disappeared off the face of the earth AT ALL- we were sad, because we felt like we invested a lot of time but almost relieved at the same time.

By the time 8 and a half months had gone by since my first feeling of a baby coming to us soon, thats when we got the call. When I saw the number on my phone, I knew what they were going to tell me. What a different feeling we got when we found out we were getting a baby boy in ONE WEEK. We knew it was right- we were nervous but we had a feeling of peace that this was our boy we had been waiting for. I have had a lot of time in the last couple of weeks to think about this whole process and it was definatly meant to be. I believe that Camden was up there telling me from time to time- mom, quit freaking out IM COMING SOON IM COMING! Camden was concieved in January and thats when I felt that we needed to get ready. Camdens birthmom also had some of the same feelings about us. She felt like Camden was meant to come to us not her.

I think in the back of my head I knew that the internet profiles, cards, emails etc.. were not the way we were going to find our baby. We had a lot of people tell us that we should only go through LDSFS only. Just because they felt like it was safer and "more meant to be" Im sorry but thats not true.... (sorry if I offend anyone:) LDSFS is a wonderful service- I will agree. BUT our birthmom would have never found us through LDSFS. I have no idea why we felt like we should go through the agency we did (A Guardian Angel Adoptions)- but we did. I know that the spirit guided us to that agency ALL THE WAY- there is no other explanation at all. If I have learned anything throughout this whole process it would be- Trust your gut! Listen to those feelings you get AND good things CAN and WILL happen as long as you have faith. There might be MANY bumps or hold ups in the road- but when we look back on them usually we can see why they happened.

We had the opportunity to spend those first 72 hours in the hospital with Camden and his birthmom. Honestly we were really nervous about it. BUT it ended up being the most wonderful 72 hours of our lives. It was such a spiritual experience. Our birthmom had a C- Section and I got to be in there. She wanted ME to hold Camden very first. I got to sit by her while they were doing the surgery and we cried together. She kept asking me if I was okay and then I kept asking her if she was okay. When he finally came out she told me that he needed his mom and to go over there and be with him. It was hard for me to leave her! When I saw him I couldnt help but smile and cry at the same time. He was really REALLY cute- full head of hair and I was instantly IN COMPLETE LOVE with him. The next couple of days were so great! We sat in our birthmoms room with her and the baby most of the time. The rest of the time we were in the nursery with just Camden. His birthmom gave us all kinds of advice on how to take care of his skin and hair (he is biracial) She gave us such good advice and tips that we will cherish forever- She is a wonderful person and mother. Camden was her fourth and last child. She wanted him to have a DAD and a MOM and a better chance in life- and she knew she couldnt provide that herself. The best and worst day in my life was the final day at the hospital. I knew that we were going to have to leave her and I knew it was going to be hard. Our birthmoms caseworker wheeled her to us- (we were in the nursery with Camden). She had one last picture left on her camera and she wanted to get a picture with Me and Chevy holding Camden. We were ALL BAWLING in the picture. I will never forget her last words- "Thank You so much you guys- I know how much you love him" I remember thinking- Did she really just thank us? She loved him so much and that is why she did what she did. We will be forever grateful for her and we thank our heavenly father everyday for HER and CAMDEN."

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I love Erin's advice, trust your gut. You will know what you need to do. This is your adoption journey. We are going through LDSFS, we have had other people talk to us about other agencies, we've considered them, but we feel we are where we need to be. Although, our guts and our hearts are also telling us that we should think about foster care again. I was surprised by this. After the heartbreak with Isaiah I didn't want to do foster care again and I was reluctant. But after reading Erin's story, and after a lot of prayer, I think this is the road we should be on. We are staying with LDSFS, because we feel we need to, we are just going to sign up to be foster parents as well.

Thank you Erin, for letting me share your story, and for your advice. :)