A lot of people have asked for our adoption story....

Before I go into the adoption story I want to kind of explain what led us to adoption.  Casey and I both wanted kids and started trying just about 6 months into our marriage.  After around a year and a half we both obviously knew something was up.   So I got tested and I went to our Doctor....a lot.  I did have some other health issues at the time so we thought it was that .   All my tests came back negative.  After a few long frustrating months we had the feeling that it we should get Casey checked out.  That's when we learned Casey has Azoospermia.  No worries I looked up the Definition for you  :)   is the medical condition of a man not having any measurable level of sperm in his semen.  Our Dr. referred us to an infertility specialist up in Salt Lake City.  We were very blessed to learn he did free consultations for qualifying couples.  We got the first appt possible which of course was a few months out.  We were both pretty excited since we both wanted twins and it does runs in both sides of our families and with having IVF increases the chances of having twins or more..  :)  But as soon as we handed the report to the specialist he looked at the numbers... and started to go into a long definition and finally saying there is a 0% chance of having your own children.  We can't do IVF because you would need at least 1 sperm to do that, and you don't have even 1 sperm.......After years of trying, crying and praying the specialist's official confirmation of  infertility didn't come as a shock to us.  Don't get me wrong, the 0% chance part did hit hard, but we knew we could be bless with children one way or another.  We met with our loving bishop to discuss our options, and we felt that adoption was the best choice for our family.

That next month we started the adoption process with LDS Family Services.  

The Adoption story :     

We started the adoption application Jan 2011 and after a year of interviews, paperwork, home studies, adoption seminars and back ground checks we were approved to be looked at, by potential birth mothers. (Jan 2012)  The way LDS Family Services operate, is the birth mother chooses the adoptive couple to place her baby with.  We set up an adoption profile similar to a facebook profile  so that only registered Birth mothers have access to all our personal details.  Other people could look at our profile but they didn't have full access like the Birth mother did.  

After having our profile up for about 2 weeks we get a call from our caseworker saying that a Birth mother wrote to us and we hadn't responded.  We were ecstatic!  That came as a huge shock.  We had heard of stories of couple's profiles being up for years without hearing anything at all.  We started writing to her and getting to know her better and after a few weeks the emails started to get further and further apart.  Finally we got an email saying that we were 1 of  3 couples she was looking at and that she chose another couple.  We were both a wreck.  Those 4 months were like a roller coaster;  we opened up a little too much and got our hopes up super high and it crashed down on us.  After that experience we learned not to get too attached with potential birth mothers but to rely on our heavenly father and his will for our family.

By the summer semester of 2012 I was able to get a great job  and out of nowhere we got an email from a birth mother named Kayla in Texas.  I was at work when I read it and I'm pretty sure I squilled and quickly texted Casey at work saying to read the email.  We continued writing emails and started to get to know one another.  When we learned she wanted us to come out to meet her.  That is when our case worker said we should have been talking on the phone by now.  The most nerve wracking call ever!!  Casey and I were both super nervous!  Which seems really funny now  :)  we made plans to meet her and her family over labor day weekend. We got to meet her wonderful family and explore Texas.  We loved getting to know her and what she was going through.  She told us the baby was a girl and that She did indeed pick us to adopt her baby.  After we got home and things kind of settled in, that is when the tears came back but this time it was the extremely happy and blessed tears.  From September to December time flew by really, really fast.  People told us not to set anything up in the nursery or have any baby showers because sometimes the birth mother changes her mind after she gives birth,  but I couldn't help it.  Everything was all set and ready for Kenzlee.  We had a very good peaceful feeling about everything.  We drove the 21 hour road trip to Texas with an empty car seat in the back hoping that we would be coming home with a baby. On December 7th we met Kayla's baby girl.  The next day Saturday Dec 8th, Kenzlee May Schofield was placed with us and after a week of goodbyes to Kayla and her family we drove back home, this time with the car seat full. 

For us, these past 4 years we have had the most disappointing and happiest moments in our marriage. We are still on the adoption journey hoping to go to court and getting everything legalized so that we can be sealed to our daughter. 

 We are have been so blessed by Kayla's  incredible decision to place her baby with us.  We are blessed by a Heavenly Father who has guided Kayla to us and thereby receiving a beautiful baby girl.  Thank you Kayla, you will always have a place in our heart! 

                                                                          2 days old

                                                                          5 days old

                                                                       7 weeks old