jallwein

Congratulations Linda, Guy, and Heath! He looks like a precious angel. Enjoy these first few days -- they grow up so fast!

Rebecca -- hugs to you! God gives us what we can handle, and often it seems so difficult and doesn't make sense. Keep your faith in him, and he will gradually show you the path he has chosen. It's so difficult going through the infertility while it seems that everyone else is getting pregnant, and now with your friends adopting and having children. We'll keep you in our prayers, and are so glad that you trust all of us in forum land that you are able to share your feelings. Prayers to you!

Prayers to Elizabeth & her family; Jon, Julie, and the twins for each of their losses.

Congratulations to the newest Abrazo family! Prayers lifted for the baby's birthmama!

Congratulations, blessings, and prayers!!!

Congratulations to the newest family! Blessings and peace to all.

What a wonderful announcement! Congratulations to the MPT's on TWINS! Our prayers are with the birthmom and the twins birthsiblings as they begin to heal and continue to develop a deeper relationship with two wonderful new parents!

Congratulations Julie, Jonathan, Jessika, and Jack. Many blessings to the newest Abrazo family!!!

Prayers, thoughts, and blessings to the Davis family!

Welcome to the forum Pam and Chris!

Welcome Danette and Chris! I love the inspiration Elizabeth! So many great families blended together.

Good for you Ann and Laurie! I am so happy to hear that you are taking a proactive approach in the adoption process! Let us know how it works out for you!

Welcome Jenny! When we started the adoption process, we were not very educated about open adoption. We found the forum to be absolutely wonderful and a wealth of information! The forum is also a great support system for those who participate, as I am sure that you can tell from following the forum! The Abrazo ladies are really great -- we learned a lot at orientation, and their are truly dedicated to finding the right match for the child, birthmother, and adoptive parents. Lastly, I find peace in knowing that all of the AP's have similar stories about infertility and that we all share a common goal of embracing a child and birthmother into our families. We hope that you consider Abrazo and send in your inquiry!

Excellent points Patti. Jeremy and I originally started the process to adopt through China because of the closed adoption. The reason is because we were truly uneducated about open adoption, and the many benefits to pursuing an open adoption. One of the largest resources to learning more about open adoption was through the Abrazo forum! The stories that were shared regarding real life situations were truly heartwarming, and it's really enlightening to know that open adoption positively affects all involved (BP's, AP's, and most importantly the child!). We were truly blessed to "stumble upon" Abrazo, and are excited to begin our journey!

So glad that we are in Texas and are attending the March orientation! We are SOOOO excited for the orientation and to be considered as adoptive parents!

We would have loved to attend the January session just to verbally hear the stories of the againers. On the other hand, the childless couples that attend together seem to also form their own unique bonds. And, we have this place to share!

Thanks Heather! We are hoping to attend the March 2008 orientation! Congratulations on your new baby! 3 months we see! How long was your wait?

Thanks Robin. This is Jessica -- we received the application on Wednesday, and I am mailing it today! We are so excited to begin the process. Thanks to everyone for all of the warm welcomes! We look forward to getting to know you all through the chats, and perhaps some day in person!

Thanks for all of the warm welcomes! We'll keep you all updated on our progress...we actually received the application yesterday, so we are in "complete application ASAP" mode now.

Ah...Gettysburg. I've been there so many times I can see it in my sleep! My wife's family is from the Hanover/Spring Grove area and we spent many day trips at Gettysburg. Although we miss PA, the winter weather here in Texas is much better and makes up for it. Talk to me in the humid summer and I may not say the same thing.

Geez, I got so excited to chat about us that I forgot our names... Jessica and Jeremy

My wife and I wanted to say hello (from the Houston area) and share our story with you all. We've been married since 2003, with our 5 years coming up in July. Boy does time fly! Since the day we married each other, we wanted to start a family of our own. We tried on our own for two years, with no success and then decided to start treatments with a fertility specialist. My wife has a bad history of cysts and abnormalities with her ovaries. She's had two laproscopic surgeries in the past 3 years and she still has problems. Anyway, much like a majority of the people on here, we spent thousands of dollars with no results and it got to the point where we would be spending a ton of money on bigger treatments, all of which our insurance would not cover. We lived in PA at that time and there is no state regulation to cover infertility procedures. A few months ago, my wife was offered a huge promotion with her job and we moved from the Harrisburg/Hershey area all the way down here to the Houston area. About a year ago, we started the internation adoption process through China. We filled out all of our paperwork, only to find that we would have to wait until January 30th (my wife's 30th b-day) to send our information. We started to find out little things like this (income requirements, marriage requirements, height/weight requirements, etc, etc, etc.)while researching international adoption. Well, we still decided that we could endure the 2 year wait period until we adopted a child. We've waited almost 5 years already...what's two more??? A few months ago, our social worker with the agency had told us to expect the wait time to significantly increase and it would be another 3 years until we would have a child. More heartache. Now to the good part! The woman who completed our home study here in Texas had suggested that we should look into domestic adoption. Keep in mind that we had attended domestic adoption seminars with an agency back in PA and we were kind of turned off by the state regulations and the red tape that one would have to go through in PA. So we did some research and kind of stumbled across Abrazo's website. I was immediately taken back by the whole vision of Abrazo...families adopting newborns, while still keeping contact with birthmothers and celebrating with people they went to "orientation weekend" with. There is a certain heart-warming feeling you get when you read the stories on here and read the articles about individuals making strides to promote open adoptions. But to make a long intro short, we submitted our initial "I want to hear more" application and hope to be one the many blessed couples that have experienced adoption through Abrazo! Suggestions on a 30th b-day gift would be appreciated!