We began as friends...

We met at work and became fast companions. Both with other people, we didn't realize that our friendship was in the middle of a grand intervention. As life changed, so did our hearts. It became obvious that we were destined to be together.

Pat and I became Mr. and Mrs. on August 20, 2010.

Soon after our wedding, my husband and I wanted to try for a baby. Three causes of infertility and two broken hearts later, we realized that it wasn't going to happen. We prayed, we discussed, and we eventually signed up to be foster parents. Little did we know that we were going be be given siblings right off the bat! Cameron, 6, and Taylor, 4, came into our home and life got real!

We had barely figured out what to do with these two munchkins and all of their "quirks" when the county asked us to adopt them. And so we did. We became a family of complete strangers, trying to learn how to love and accept one another's goods and bads.... and there have certainly been a lot of both!

On Taylor's adoption day, the children's biological mother gave birth to another baby boy. Five days later, we welcomed little Isaac into our home. We were set to adopt our chubby ball of joy when he turned one-year-old. But a few weeks shy of his adoption, Isaac's biological father was finally identified and we were told that baby boy was going to be taken from our home.

There we were - a mashed together family left with empty arms once again. We were sick with grief and struggling to deal with all the big feelings that come along with the loss of a child. And no matter what I did, I couldn't shake the nausea in the pit of my stomach as the day drew closer of Isaac's final departure from us. In my case, it turned out to be morning sickness. On the final day we were forced to let go of one child, I also found out that I was pregnant with another.

I gave birth to a baby boy on May 13, 2014. We named him Wyatt Patrick. He is my miracle child... the one that I was told couldn't exist and the one that filled my arms when they were aching from loss. 

Additionally, Isaac's father decided that he wanted to help us keep the siblings in one another's lives, which we were able to do for almost 2 years. Sadly, just before his 3rd birthday, Isaac's visits were ended abruptly and devastatingly. 

However.... through it all, God is good, friends.

Through the ups and downs of it all - we have found our Hope, and we refuse to let go.

"Where hope would otherwise become hopelessness, it becomes faith." ~ Robert Brault