The front of our adoption announcements reads, "Precious, Beautiful, Beloved, Meant to be …" and that is how we can best describe our experience with adopting our daughter, Sara Kimberly. 

We were married in May, 2005 and we immediately wanted to start our family. Unfortunately for us, this was easier said than done.  Two years and two unsuccessful rounds of IVF treatments later, we were spent both physically and emotionally.   We had the option to undergo up to two more rounds of IVF and decided against it.  We felt we had our answer and spent the next few years enjoying life as it was, but the desire to be parents never ceased. 

The topic of adoption came up in November 2009, and we decided to meet with St. Mary's Services to learn more about it.  Before we arrived, we both were apprehensive about the concept of open adoption and the impact an adoption would have on the birth families.  After talking with the counselors at St. Mary's, we were immediately put at ease and decided that adoption was the path meant for us.  We completed our paperwork, took classes, and learned more about open adoption and how St. Mary's counsels birth parents and their families.  By the time we completed our Home Study in March 2010, not only were we no longer fearful of open adoptions, but we looked forward to having an open relationship in our adoption. We wanted our child to have a connection and deep friendship with her birth families.

We then began what we thought would be a long wait for birth parents to pick us.  To keep ourselves busy, we made adoption business cards and pamphlets, created a YouTube video, and started a Facebook group page.  The support from all our friends and family helped get us through, but it was still hard.  To our surprise, we were picked by a birth family 6 months later. 

In September, 2010, St. Mary's introduced us to our sweet and wonderful birth parents, as well as the father of our birth mom. There was an instant connection between all of us and we all genuinely liked one another from the beginning.  There were some unbelievable coincidences as well, such as the fact that we both picked the same first names for the baby for both sexes before even talking with one another, and Matt and the birth mother's father both went to the same parish grade school. 

At the end of October 2010, our baby, Sara, was born.  At the request of the birth mother, we had the most beautiful and touching placement ceremony at the birth parents home. Their parish priest blessed all of us, and St. Mary's had our family members and our birth parent's family members participate in a candle ceremony. Our hearts ached for the birth parents, but knowing that we were entering an open adoption, we knew we would be strong together and that we would always be in touch. 

Most of us are who we are because of the love of our parents. Sara is going to amaze all of us because of the love of the four us.  A tremendous thank-you to Christina Buck and Cindy Anselmo for not only bringing Sara into our lives, but her birth parents as well.