Scammer.........

An Adoption Scammer..... Someone that every hopeful adoptive parent hopes they never have to deal with, but sadly, more and more do. We ourselves have been contacted by scammers in the past.

Why do people scam? Sometimes for money (like the ones who contacted us, I still haven't been able to write about that. I've tried, and I just can't. I hope to someday be able to). More and more often though, it's for attention, Emotional Scammers. Mrs. R has written some fabulous articles following a scammer who contacted them. For the latest on her scammer (who is at it again, with other couples, the count is up to at least 10 couples who have been scammed by this person) Go here: Dirty Rotten Adoption Scammer Is At It Again. She also has some links in this post to her articles that contain the whole story to include an interview that she did with the person who scammed them.

So why am I posting about this? No, it's not because we are being scammed right now. Because we know K, and because of how we know her, we know she is not a scammer. Far from it. I am posting this, because I want to spread the word that there are people out there that do this, and I want to help get the word out on how to spot these people. Mrs. R featured a guest post on her blog written by Brenda. Brenda talks about ways to spot a scammer and how to avoid falling prey to a scammer. Guest Blog on Adoption Scams by Brenda

I am also here to tell you, that life can go on after a scammer. When we were contacted by the ones who scammed us, I knew the red flags to spot because of Mrs. R's articles.

A little boy named Patrick

Let me tell you about a little boy named Patrick. Patrick has got to be one of the cutest kids ever! He has the sweetest brown eyes, always has a smile, and has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. But Patrick is living with a life threatening condition called Short Gut Syndrome which means he is missing most of his intestines. Without intestines he is dependent on IV nutrition. Having to live on IV nutrition is hurting his liver and his liver will eventually become scarred and will fail. He needs a transplant before that happens. He was given a life expectancy of 1-2 years. He is a year and a half now.


What makes Patrick extra special to me, is that he has an extra special family. His Aunt is my friend Jill. His mom is Jill's sister, my new friend Emily. Emily and her husband Brian, adopted Patrick when he was just over a week old. They knew his prognosis when they adopted him, but they fell in love with him. How could they not, he is a doll!

I told you he had the sweetest smile:

And who wouldn't fall in love with this little one, I mean look at his eyes:

Patrick's mom and dad got a surprise when he was just a few months old. The courts approved their adoption finalization months before the normally would have so that they wouldn't have trouble with insurance companies. They were able to finalize his adoption and take him to the temple to be an eternal family:

He really is a happy little boy. He has had many, many hospital stays, but through it all he remains happy. Always with a smile for everyone around him.

You can easily see why he is the light of his mommy and daddy's lives.

With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant patients are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-needy patients.

Because intestinal transplants are not done here in Utah, Patrick's local dr.'s recommended that he be seen at Seattle Children's Hospital. Doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Washington recommended a life-saving small bowel/intestinal transplant. An estimated $70,000 is needed to help with transplant related costs.

Paul Cardall and some of his friends are putting together a benefit concert with 100% of funds raised going to help Patrick.

To get tickets for this fabulous concert go here:

http://www.showclix.com/event/9223/

Tickets can also be bought at the door. There will be a silent auction starting at 6:00 and the concert at 7:00. Again, 100% of funds raised go to help with transplant related expenses.

A list of items from the silent auction can be found here: http://www.cotaforpatrickh.com/node/885

To learn more about Patrick and how you can help: http://cotaforpatrickh.com/

Children's Book Giveaway on The R House

mrs. r over at the r house is doing a fabulous giveaway on her blog this week. I just had to enter. Here's why: The giveaway is for not 1 but 2 books about adoption. One is called God Found Us You. And the other is called The Best For You. I'm excited about both books and have wanted to add both to our collection. But The Best For You is the one I'm really excited about. It is written by a lady by the name of Kelsey Stewart. Kelsey is a birth mother (she refers to herself as a braveheart which is a perfect name for birth mothers!). Who better to write a children's book about adoption then her! I can't explain how awesome she is anywhere near as well mrs r. can so here is her post on the contest: The Best For You Giveaway. (click on the link for the giveaway, to read more about it, or to enter it yourself!)

Questions Answered

A lot of people have been asking me questions about who K is and how she found us. I haven’t said much up till now. Only that we have known her for a very long time (which in my case is an understatement) and that a family member called us and asked us if we were still looking to adopt. I will still not be showing pictures of her, or using her name. We will continue to refer to her as K. You see, although our family now knows, there are others who don't. So like I said, we will continue to refer to her as K, and ask that if you know her name, that you do the same. And we will not be showing her picture. So why am I discussing this now. Well, like I said, people have been asking us questions, and our story is a really unexpected and special one. Here is our story:



You may have caught that I said OUR family now knows. You may have thought I was talking about Jacob’s family and my family. While they all know, that isn’t the family I was talking about. Well, at least not Jacob’s family. You see, I was talking about my family; my family and K’s family. Because my family and K’s family are one in the same. To tell the whole story I need to back up 16 years.



16 years ago my dad found out his baby brother and his wife were expecting a baby. They would be unable to take care of their little one. So my dad and my stepmom decided to adopt this baby girl. That baby girl, who was born their niece, became their daughter, and my sister. That little girl, is K. Now, almost 16 years later, K has found herself with an unexpected pregnancy. The family member who called us to see if we were still looking to adopt is our dad, mine and K’s. Placing the baby with us was K’s idea. As soon as she started considering adoption, she knew we were the parents for her little one. When I say we will have an open adoption, that obviously, is a big understatement as well. We will see K often. She lives two hours north of us, so not as often as we would like, but as often as we can. K has asked that Emily call her Aunt K. Emily will know that K is her birthmom. We will be open and honest with her. And she will above all, know how special her K is, and how special she herself is to come from K.



Trust me, this was unexpected for us. We thought that our baby’s birthmom would be someone we didn’t know, or maybe someone who was a friend of a friend. Never did we fathom that it would be someone we both know and love, let alone someone we are related to. What’s funny is over the last couple of years, the thought has floated in and out of our minds, what if our baby’s birthmom was K. We always dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. In Jan. of 2009, when we were sitting in church and got the overwhelming feeling that we needed to start the adoption process again, we thought maybe our little one would be coming soon. We were going to wait till we moved to Utah, but like I said, the feeling was overwhelming that we needed to start right then. Had we waited until we moved to Utah, we would have waited several months to even start the process after we arrived, taking the time to settle in, get the house in order, enjoy the holiday’s and then start the process. But because we started the process in New Mexico, we were already approved to adopt when we moved here. All we needed to do was update our file with Utah state background checks & a new home study. We were approved within a couple of months of our move. So why is that important to our story. Well, if we had waited until we moved here to start, we wouldn’t have started the process until Jan. if that. But because we were already approved when we got here, we were eager to get the updates done. Because we were, our file was updated by Thanksgiving and we were good to go again. Because of this, we told all our family at Thanksgiving that we were approved and hoping to adopt. K overheard us talking about that. She thought at that point she might be pregnant but hadn’t confirmed it yet.

When she went to see her dr. they discussed her options. When she decided to consider adoption, we were in the back of her mind. K took sometime to consider whether we were indeed the right family for Emily. When my dad called to see if we were still looking to adopt, we had a feeling the expectant mom was K. In fact months before, right around thanksgiving in fact, we had a feeling our baby was coming soon, and again, the thought came to us, not knowing that K was actually pregnant, “what would we do if K came to us and asked us to be her baby’s parents.” 5 and a half weeks after dads call, our suspicions were confirmed. Because we already suspected, we were able to take the time to pray about whether we could adopt K’s baby. When K called and asked us how we felt about being the baby’s parents, I can’t explain how honored we were. And to this day still are.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and I will answer them if I can.

28 week appt.

Last Tuesday was K's latest dr. appt. She asked the dr. if he could do an ultrasound since I was there. So sweet of her to think of me! It was so neat to see baby girl on the screen. She even waved at us. So cute! K is such a sweetie. She gave me this card:

And these cute bows for baby girl's hair, and this adorable elephant to hang in her crib. The elephant plays Lullaby. So sweet!

I also got this cute cute baby bump pic of K at her dr. appt. Love it!

We all went up to see her a couple of weeks ago and gave her a birthmother's day present early. Jacob wanted to be there when we gave it to her. I don't have a picture of it, but I will get one and post it later.

Baby girl is growing wonderfully. K is glowing! She is amazing. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful birthmom for our baby girl. We love you K!

And Baby Girl has a name. we were going to wait to name her until the hospital, but there was one name that kept striking us all as the right name for this little one. When I was up there last Tuesday K referred to Baby Girl as Emily. That is the name we have all felt is right for this little one. So Baby Girl will from now on, be known as Emily Rose. Here is the story behind Emily:

About 5 or 6 years ago Tammy said that if we had a girl she wanted to name her. I asked her what she would name her and she said she had "always wanted a sister named Emily". So it has stuck with us since. Rose is K's middle name, so to honor her, we wanted Emily to have her middle name. So Emily Rose it is. YAY!

Next dr. appt. is on the 3rd of June. I can't wait! Hubby will have drill that day so he won't be able to make it. And Tammy still has school until the 4th. In fact the 3rd is her 9th grade Lagoon day. She is so excited! I can't beleive she will be in 10th grade soon! That means driver's ed next year! AGH!!! ;o)