Our family is looking to expand from four to five! We are so excited to be starting our third adoption journey and thrilled to be able to share our story with you. We truly believe that God had a hand in bringing two people together with fertility issues and helped lead us down the path of adoption.
We met online the Spring of 2010. We instantly hit it off and was engaged on December 31st, 2010. We set our wedding date for August 27th 2011, as this was a special day for Rachel; both her mom & dad and grandparents shared this special date. We knew we wanted children right away but also was well aware that fertility issues were going to be involved. At the age of 17, Bryan was diagnosed with Klienfelter’s syndrome and knew he couldn’t have children. Since we didn’t think Rachel had any issue we started fertility treatments with donor sperm.
We started IUI fertility treatments October 2011 and found out we were pregnant January 2012. By the end of January though things started to turn the other direction and Rachel had to have a D &C due to miscarrying on January 31, 2012. We were devastated to say the least. We waited a couple of months and started treatments again with no success. By May 2012 our fertility specialist wanted to run test’s on Rachel to see if any issues were present. It was found that Rachel had a unicornuated uterus and that if she were to become pregnant that it would be considered a high risk pregnancy. Our specialist then wanted to do exploratory surgery. After a long discussion we opted against this surgery. We knew then that God had bigger and better plans for us and that we were being called to adopt!
Although there were many emotions along the way with each journey, they both ended exactly the way we envisioned them. We started our adoption process shortly after finding out all of our issues with infertility. We were matched with our first child August 2012. One week prior to the birth, the birth mom decided to parent. We were then matched again March of 2013, again the birth mom decided to parent as well. Our 3rd match came July of 2013, with that one failing soon after the match. As emotional as it was, we knew a child was out there who would be perfect for us and who needed us more than the first three matches. At that point, we had to look to faith and know we would be guided to the perfect baby!
On December 7, 2013, we received a call stating a baby girl born the night before needed an adoptive family. We had one hour to decide what we were going to do since we would need to be in Florida that night. During that hour, there was no hesitation. We immediately started making arrangements for our pets and booking flights. That night we had our daughter in our arms and have had her ever since.
In late 2015, we knew we wanted to grow our family once again! This time we were presented with 3 potential matches/situations within the first year; these however did not work out. In February 2017, we received a call stating a baby girl was born and the agency was needing potential adoptive families as she had medical issues and drug exposure; her first matched family withdrew their match after finding this out. After hearing all of the information, we knew this sounded like the right situation for us! During the next week we were on pins and needles as it was between us and another family. We checked in on baby and mom/dad every day as we knew in our hearts this baby was the right one for us. A week later, we were told we were the chosen family! We immediately gathered our things and the 3 of us headed down to Florida the next day! We spend 6 weeks in FL before coming home as a family of 4.
Both girls are truly one of the most amazing gifts we could ever receive and their birth parents were just as amazing. We are ready to start our next journey and we cannot wait to hold our third baby in our arms and bring him or her home to their forever family just as we did our first two. We love the idea that all of our children will be able to share the blessing of adoption and lean on each other for support. We wanted to be able to bless children with opportunities they may not have had in the situations their birth parents may have been in at the time of birth. Adoption is an amazing gift to not only the adoptive child but their adoptive parents as well. We truly believe that god had a hand in bringing two people together with fertility issues allowing them the wonderful experience of adoption. We want to be able to impart the same beliefs in our children and have them grow up knowing that God will be there and there is a reason why certain things happen. We hope instill good moral beliefs and raise them to be caring, compassionate, responsible adults. We cannot wait to start our third journey!
STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction). Your donations will be decreased by this amount. You may also send a check payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo line please write “Wendel 09805”, to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 9, Gridley, IL 61744.
Lifesong has been blessed with partners who underwrite all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.
- In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong for Orphans. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
- Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. Individual donations of $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.