Our Journey

10-11-15
Carter has been eternally ours for one year!

10-6-15
It's been a year since Carter's adoption was finalized!

3-28-15

Carter turns 1! We've been been parents for one year!

2-13-15
Home Study complete and we are now adoption ready!

1-8-15
Begin the process of becoming adoption ready again!

10-11-14
Carter was sealed to us and received a blessing from dad. We had so many family and friends there to help us celebrate.

10-6-14
Court Date to finalize our adoption with Carter. YAY!

3-29-14
Left the hospital and headed home for the first time as a family of three!

3-28-14
Carter Bradley was born! We were blessed to be a part of the whole process and are so lucky to be the parents of the sweet baby boy.

3-27-14
Courtney calls us and tells us to pack our bags and to be ready because baby boy was probably coming that night!

2-8-14
Our first trip to Vernal! We went to visit Courtney and meet more of her extended family. We also got to see the hospital where baby boy would be born!

12-14-13
Met Courtney and her family in Salt Lake - enjoyed a lovely dinner and walking around Temple Square together. We talked about anything and everything. We were together for hours and felt like we could have all been together for longer!

12-11-13
Courtney emails us and asks if we can arrange a time to meet because she wanted to ask us to be the parents of her sweet baby boy! Best Day!

11-29-13 thru 12-8-13
Consistent email correspondence with Courtney answering and asking each other questions - helping each other get to know one another better.

11-29-13
Our first email from Courtney - telling us a bit about herself and the sweet little boy she was expecting, letting us know we were one of the families she was considering for placement.

*In between July and November we had a couple of expectant mother's contact us, potentially and went another way*

7-18-13
We have officially been published! Phase 4 of 5 is complete! Our profile can now be viewed  for LDS Family Services: Hoping to Adopt. Next Stop: Phase 5: Placement :)

6-19-13
Our home study was done and now we wait for it to be written up and approved by the board!

6-16-13
Finally finished with Phase 2 AND Phase 3! Now we are just waiting to get our home study scheduled! After our home study is done and written up, our profile is published and we will be "adoption ready!"

4-3-13
Finished with Phase 1 of 5, almost finished with Phase 2 of 5. Only one more phase until our profile is officially published!

3-25-13
Received our New Client letter and are working through the (5) phases of the adoption process

3-21-13
Paid our deposit to LDS Adoption Services and started building our online profile

2-21-13
We have officially been assigned a caseworker and will begin the real paperwork process!

11-1-12
***NEW UPDATE***
Brad now has a job that offers full benefits, including partial adoption coverage. SO AWESOME! Now we are working on getting our papers started with LDS Adoption Services. Thanks to everyone that made this possible!

9-1-12
A letter we sent to our close friends and family on 8/26/12

We have been trying to start a family for about a year now. After several months with no success we decided to be proactive and find out if there was any problems of which we were not aware. A number of routine tests were run on Emily, finding out that everything seemed to be functioning properly. The OB then suggested we do some routine tests for Brad. The initial results for Brad were not very promising. We were then sent to a specialist and he sent us up to the U for more intensive testing. We had our final appointment this past Friday (8/24/12) to go over the results of the most recent tests.

                                 

It is with heavy hearts that we share with you the results. Unfortunately we will not be able to create children of our own. After discussing our options with the specialist we learned that In Vitro is not even a consideration. To bear children of our own, a miracle must occur. Although we do believe in miracles, until one occurs we will be actively pursuing the miracle of adoption.  

This is where you come in. We have learned through talking with a lot of people that much of the success with adoption is through networking. We have learned the significance of having a blog and word of mouth to share our desire to have a family. 

We have not actually started the paperwork for adoption yet. Brad must have full time employment that offers full benefits before we can apply.

***Brad now has a job that offers full benefits, including partial adoption coverage. SO AWESOME!***
At this time we are asking for your support and prayers for Brad to be able to get a job, as well as a blessing of peace and comfort during this difficult time.

With that being said: We do know that the Lord is aware of us and our sincere desire to be parents here on Earth. We have been blessed with so much love and support already from family and friends and we are SO grateful. We do believe in miracles and know that however our family is created, it will be by a miracle. We feel so blessed to be a part of this gospel that offers the blessing of an eternal perspective. We know that the Lord has felt every pain, sorrow, and emptiness that we have felt and know that we are not alone. We are moving forward with a positive attitude, knowing that we will be blessed as we act in faith through the trials we face.

We love you all and thank you for your love and support. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have as well, so do not hesitate to call or email us. J

Love,

Brad and Emily