Getting to Know Ryan & Amanda: Choosing Adoption

The day after we brought Abby home

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes.........infertility. Ouch.

We weren't super surprised that we didn't get pregnant right away and knew that once you were unsuccessful after a year it was time to go to the doctor. So we did. Several months and tests and doctors later we were shocked when we were told that it was very unlikely that we would ever have biological children without medical interventions. After getting over the shock we realized we didn't really care how our children came into our family, we just wanted the children meant for us. As we prayed to know Heavenly Father's will for us we considered our options and started pursuing them. We went to more doctors to try to better identify the cause of our infertility, but after tests and drugs there wasn't much left to do. Our options came down to adoption, in vitro, or just wait and see if our bodies would ever cooperate. We met with our case worker, and although impressed with him and the agency, we didn't feel like it was time to pursue adoption. So we guessed that we should try for in vitro. But when we were about a month from scheduling it we felt that it wasn't right either. Both of us individually felt that we would absolutely have children one day, but that we were going to have to wait awhile, and that there wasn't anything for us to do at the time.

Not too long after we were shown a video of a baby with her parents. When we saw that video Amanda felt powerfully that we should adopt. Ryan didn't have the same feeling while watching the video, but when he prayed about it later he also felt that we should adopt.

Amanda grew up in a cul-de-sac. Her family was one of 5 in it. Two of the families had adopted children. Because of that, and also from knowing other people who have been adopted, Amanda has always been comfortable with the idea of adoption, as has Ryan. We were very open to adoption from the time we learned of our infertility. We just wanted to know what Heavenly Father wanted us to do. Since feeling this is the right path for us, the way we will receive our children, we have been very excited. Our love for birth parents and our gratitude for the opportunity of adoption has increased. Adoption is a miracle and we are so grateful to be part of it!