Sienna and Baby Sister Samiah ~ A Life's Dream

That’s one happy girl. This is her dream come true. Sienna is going to be just the best big sister. She wants to be with her all the time. What a blessing.

Sienna is so happy as you can see. We are happy that you would put their picture on your web site.   All is bliss on this end. Just enjoying every moment. What a blessing. Thank you so much.

Look forward to seeing you soon. Let us know if their is anything we can do. We pray our birth mom is doing well.

Big hugs from all of us.

We can’t thank you Michelle,  Adoption Answer, and all that are involved in this process enough. Our hearts are eternally grateful.

~ Michael, Amelia, Sienna and Samiah ~

Precious Ellie

Amber & Dave’s Ellie  ~ Always smiling

When God helped us to decide to adopt again, we didn’t realize exactly what His plan for us would include. We had two biological boys and we had adopted our daughter from foster care. We wanted to fulfill God’s calling to us to adopt once more but asked Him to please lead us down the path He chose. We were familiar with the foster-to-adopt system, but didn’t feel His prompt for this process again. We knew several families at church adopting from out of country and then believed that, with the support of these friends, inter-country adoption must be our new direction. We began the process of adopting from Rwanda.

 Six months later, Rwanda suspended accepting adoption applications. We were devastated because this seemed like God was definitely closing the door. We weren’t sure how to proceed. Private adoption had never even been an option in our minds and was certainly the most unfamiliar and uncomfortable road. But God doesn’t always want us to be comfortable, especially when He has greater plans for us.

 We began an intense search for how to pursue a private adoption yet we still kept our hearts guarded. We were skeptical about this new direction, apprehensively making calls and speaking with adoption agencies, attorneys, and facilitators. None seemed to “feel” right.

 Then, we found Adoption Answer.

 When we spoke with Michelle we finally felt some confirmation and encouragement that private adoption could be a realistic and viable option for us. It was very apparent to us that Michelle had a deep, God-inspired calling to help women who found themselves struggling with life-altering decisions. Michelle was also committed to helping find stable, Christian homes for these women to consider as they developed adoption plans for their babies. Finally, we felt God’s lead. It wasn’t the path we initially chose for ourselves, but realized He already had this plan in motion.

 On September 29, 2010, we stepped out in faith, met with Michelle, and began our new adoption journey. On October 26, the anniversary of our daughter’s adoption, Michelle made “the call.” We were chosen by a birth mom.

The next four emotionally-charged months were filled with many ups and downs as we developed a relationship with our birth mom. To be honest, it wasn’t always easy but we were able to maintain a respectful and loving bond. We lived by the verse “Love never fails” from 1 Corinthians 13. We also leaned heavily on Michelle who was a constant source of kind encouragement.

On March 4, 2011, just shy of six months from trusting God and stepping out in faith, our sweet little Eliana was born. Over the following three days, we were in and out of birth mom’s room with Eliana, spending what we knew were our last treasured moments all together.

 While we did experience some challenges we would never change the experience and situation that God gave us. We are proud to have called our birth mom “friend,” even if it was for a brief time. We are blessed to have known her and feel grateful that we will have wonderful stories to tell our daughter of the fun times that we did have together.

Right where she belongs.

 Adoption is ultimately God’s idea. It can be a challenging path but with a remarkable outcome. God had to send His Son to suffer, to take the burden of our sin so that we could be reconciled, adopted into His family and have eternal life with him. Our adoption into His family came with discomfort. But the outcome was more love than we could possibly imagine.

 Adoption is truly the ultimate act of love. It’s God’s love for us. It’s the love that birth parents have for their babies that they put their own needs aside to place them into another family.  It is the ultimate love in action.

In love with their baby sister.

Shannon & Rebekah with their beautiful daughter, Emelyn

Adoption Answer has truly been an answer to our prayers.  After years of failed attempts to conceive a child through fertility treatments, we decided to build our family through adoption.  There were so many choices and variations in the adoption world that we felt our heads spinning and we didn’t know where to start.  We came upon Adoption Answer by a divine chance and immediately felt comfortable and at peace with them.  Michelle and Wendy came to our home and answered all of our questions and when they left, we were excited and ready to start the adoption journey.

Right away we had a few matches that didn’t come to pass for various reasons but within the 6th month, we were matched with our daughter’s birth mom and we couldn’t have been happier.  She is a remarkable young woman that we have great affection for.  Our birth mom graciously allowed us to be at every doctor’s appointment and even blessed us with the ability to be present for our daughter’s birth.  Michelle and Wendy were there for us every step of the way and Michelle and Arielle were with us every minute the day of our daughter’s birth.  I honestly don’t know what we would’ve done without the Adoption Answer team as they were our complete support system through what can be an intimidating endeavor.

We were completely amazed at how wonderful and peaceful the adoption process could be when you have the right people on your side.  They really care for the adoptive parents as much as the birth moms and that was invaluable to us.  Our adoption process could not have gone better and we have no doubt that Adoption Answer was the reason why.  We have truly been blessed beyond imagination with our daughter and the memories leading up to her birth with the help of Adoption Answer.

Rob, Christy & Katarina ~ feeling so blessed to be a family.

Rob and I are so thankful for Ashlene and Michelle at Adoption Answer.  They helped make our dream of being parents come true. We were blessed on November 13th with a newborn girl that we named Katarina Addison.  It is amazing how things work out and how your life can change in an instant.

Rob and I tried for over seven years to get pregnant.  We tried everything possible, and nothing seemed to work.  We decided in March of 2010 to adopt because we both knew that we had so much love to offer and really wanted to be parents.  We met Ashlene and her husband Chad in North Carolina around that time and just fell in love with them, and their little guy Zakai – whom they adopted through Adoption Answer.   Ashlene told us all about her experience with adoption and that just encouraged us to move forward with adoption through the use of Adoption Answer.

Rob and I knew this was God’s work that brought us together with them.

We spoke with Michelle a few times on the phone before flying out to California to meet with her.  She is truly an angel and listening to her just makes you so relaxed and loved.  Yet, what I love most about Michelle is that I know she is always praying for birth moms and those trying to adopt.  She is awesome!!!

Well, this is how we were matched with our birth mom… we received a call on Tuesday, November 9th wanting to know if we were ready.  We said “YES!!!”  I flew to North Carolina on Friday, November 12th and Saturday morning I received the call that our birth mom was in labor.  I rushed to the hospital and went straight to my birth mom’s room and never left her side.  That evening at 7:20 pm, I witnessed the ultimate of God’s work… my daughter was born.  I was there to see it ALL happening.  No one can ever take that memory from me or the ones to come with Katarina.

Rob, Katarina and I are a family and we are all blessed to have each other.  Thank you God for answering our prayers!!!  And thank you Ashlene and Michelle for making it happen.

Rob & Christy’s baby LOVE ~ Katarina

Darren & Karri's Sweet Baby Ainsley

Only six months ago, we experienced the blessing of a lifetime and an answer to our prayers – the birth of our adopted daughter Ainsley Isabella.

Our journey to adoption was a long one, but worth the wait.  Years of failed fertility treatments was compounded by the sudden loss of our baby daughter at 20 weeks in utero.

Shortly after receiving that bad news, we received a telephone call from a family member telling us about a successful adoption through Adoption Answer.  Thoughts raced through our minds – “Were we ready for adoption?”  “What about all of those terrible adoption stories we see on the news?”  “Can we afford adoption?”  We prayed about it and decided to call Adoption Answer.

We will never forget that beautiful day in January 2010 when we walked into the Adoption Answer office and spoke with Michelle and Wendy.  Our nervous and scared feelings were immediately calmed by the warmth and love we felt throughout the room.  We struggled to tell our story about the journey that led us to adoption and ultimately to the office in which we sat.  At the end of our initial meeting, we were convinced that God led us to the right place!

Within a few weeks, we received a telephone call from Michelle about a young birthmother who wanted to meet us.  We met over breakfast and immediately loved the birthmother.  We were officially matched by Adoption Answer that same day!

From that day on, we kept in close contact with the birthmother.  She graciously invited us to all medical appointments and ultrasounds, which we gladly accepted.  Through this time, we developed a caring relationship for one another.

We were both blessed with the enormous gift of witnessing the birth of our daughter in May 2010.  What a miracle!

Our birthmother continues to be a part of our lives.  We will always love her.

We would not recommend anyone other than Adoption Answer.  Michelle was extremely caring and helpful in facilitating communication with our birthmother and guided us through the pathways through the adoption process.

God bless everyone at Adoption Answer for making miracles happen and helping to create happy families.

Darren, Karri, Aiden (age 6) and Ainsley!

Harry & Jessica's Gift ~ Baby Sara

Adoption: So much more then a meaning to a word, its the most incredible gift we’ve ever come to know. After experiencing years of infertility, and trying to conceive naturally, we began discussing our options. Shortly after we began calling Adoption Services, and after four months of endless calls to adoption agency after adoption agency, I called Adoption Answer, this is where our journey began. I spoke to Michelle for what seemed to be hours. I was smiling, crying, happy and sad all in one great emotion. We began our journey in February of 2010 with hopes of a baby to come with Adoption Answer’s help. Little did we know our fast our family would grow. In August 2010 we had a beautiful baby girl Sara, she is “our PERFECT” baby. I couldn’t imagine life without her, my new family with Adoption Answer and the most wonderful Coordinator Ashlene. We can’t wait to expand our family again with the help of Adoption Answer!

Jason & Stacy's miracle baby Bradley

We wake up every morning and thank God for blessing us with our adorable little Bradley. He is such a joy and we are so deeply in love with him. After finding out we could never conceive a child we knew we wanted to adopt right away. We started our adoption journey and soon after we met the most amazing lady who was an adoption coordinator for Adoption Answer. After the very first conversation with the director, Michelle,  we knew at that moment we wanted to work with Adoption Answer. They made us feel so comfortable and excited to start our journey.

After waiting about 7 months, I can remember the day so clearly that I answered the phone and on the other end was Michelle’s sweet voice to let us know we have been picked. My heart filled with joy and my eyes filled with happy tears. That night we spoke to our birth mom and felt such a connection. On April 20^th at 12:30 our son was born Bradley Carson Gittins 6lb 11oz and 19 and half inches..such a magical moment. We love and care for our birth mom and are so grateful that she chose us to be the parents for her son.

Each adoption journey is so different and may have many ups and downs but please know to just hold on tight and in the end you will feel so much joy and love and forget all about the bumps and hills you had to overcome. Just know Michelle and the Adoption Answer staff will be right by your side holding on with you each step of the way. We have developed such a lifelong friendship with them. The devotion and love they bring to each adoption is so deeply appreciated and we can’t thank them enough. We love you guys and God bless you for all that you do for not only your adoptive families but the dedication you have for all the courageous birth moms during such a difficult time in their lives.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Love,

The Gittins Family

Jason, Stacy and little Bradley

(Below is a picture Michelle took as Jason & Stacy were seeing Bradley for the first time.  Jason immediately started crying and I love the look on Stacy’s face.  The nurse on the right was also adopted as a baby and was very supportive of this whole situation.  Thank you to the amazing staff at Northridge Medical Center who cared for Bradley during his stay in the NICU.)

- It was LOVE at first sight -

Ashlene & Chad with Baby Kai

 After going through infertility and then suffering miscarriages, we came to realize that we were meant to be parents and could love any baby as our own.  At the very beginning of our search on adoption God intervened and brought us directly to Adoption Answer.  As soon as we had our phone meeting with the director Michelle, we knew we were on the right path.  As we were brand new to adoption, we were doing a lot of research and understood that it typically could take a long time – even years  – to be matched.  Through Adoption Answer, we were matched within a month!!!

We fell in love with our son’s birth mom the first time we met her.  We formed a connection and developed  a close bond.  Our relationship remains open and loving.

The Adoption Answer Staff was always there for us.  Michelle, Wendy and Arielle – we honestly felt like they were our guardian angels through the whole process.  The service is incredibly personalized – Michelle was even the birth coach to our birth mom during our son’s delivery.  We are forever grateful to Michelle and the entire Adoption Answer staff – for their true love and support.  We could not have asked for a better group of women to take on this journey with us.

- Scottie & Christa with their adorable son, Sam -

Every day we thank God for bringing us to Adoption Answer.  After struggling with infertility, we decided to move forward with adoption.  We felt very overwhelmed with information when searching for the perfect fit.  That’s when we met our adoption coordinator from Adoption Answer.  She made us feel a sense of peace, she was truly our angel in our adoption journey.

We then spoke with Michelle and within the first month we were immediately matched with an AMAZING birth family!  From the moment we signed with Adoption Answer, they never left our side.  They were available at any time for our phone calls and Michelle was with us every step of the way during our meeting with our birth family and the day our son came into this world.

We remain very close with our birth family.  They are amazing and we have been blessed beyond belief.  Adoption Answer truly answered our prayers.  They were the angels that brought us to our miracle.  Not a day goes by that we are not thankful for the fabulous staff that helped us through this miraculous event!