Heather’s Story
My name is Heather and I am a consultant here at AIS. I came to be an adoptive mom in a rather common way but 19 years ago it certainly did not seem normal or common at all. Let’s back up a little. Like most of us I got married and we planned on starting a family after our first year of marriage. We slowly progressed from treatment at my OB/GYN to a fertility specialist to IVF from “oh you are young and just need a little help” to “ we don’t have any other options” in a short 2 years. Once we moved through the grief of not being able to have a biological child, we began to explore other options. I found a Resolve seminar and there we learned about AIS.
Our start
AIS provided us with education and referrals to agencies. We signed up with an agency AIS referred us to (19 years ago this was the process unlike now) and the wait began. Unlike today we did not receive updates real time on if or how many times we had been shown. Every month or 2 we would get an update about the number of times we were shown. As I work with clients I always tell them I am not sure if it was easier the old way of not knowing or knowing too much! After almost 8 months we were match with an expectant mom due in 6 weeks. She requested a closed adoption in every sense of the word. We met our son when he was 24 hours old and our lives would never be the same as we became parents that day.
Second time around
About three years later, we began a second journey of adoption. We wanted to adopt a girl which meant we could not do another domestic adoption. Most agencies do not allow you to have a gender selection. It makes the matching process very long and difficult. We chose Guatemala as the program allowed us to adopt a child under 1 year old in a relatively short time. After what was mountains of paperwork and an excruciatingly long wait after matching, we flew to Guatemala and met our daughter!
Today
After being home and not working full time for about 12 years I was ready to move back to work. Through sheer luck I had connected with one of the consultants here at AIS. I had the opportunity to begin working as a support person to everyone here. I am honored to work directly with our clients as we prepare them for adoption all the way through their finalization. I’d love to share more of my story and help you to start yours. Contact us to learn more.
