Sara and Ben are high school sweethearts, married since 2005, and had always hoped for a large family. In 2010, they were blessed to welcome their first child, Oliver, into their lives. Two years later in September of 2012, they were excitedly awaiting the arrival of their daughter Charlotte. Unfortunately Sara experienced complications during the delivery of Charlotte. Sara’s placenta ruptured and mistakes were made by the doctors and hospital in recognizing and responding. Their beautiful daughter Charlotte lived for 8 hours and then passed away in their arms. Sara lost nearly half her blood volume and they were told she was lucky to survive.
After that tragedy, they grew closer as a family, Oliver was their saving strength. A few years later they discussed growing their family again. Pregnancy for Sara was no longer an option and they were lucky to have a family friend offer to be a gestational carrier! It took some time and losses but their son Lincoln was born in April of 2015.
Today, they want to expand their family again and the thought of adoption gives their family excitement, hope and optimism. They are lucky to have a world class Children’s Hospital only a few minutes away, so they looked specifically for a child with medical needs that would otherwise fail to thrive in an orphanage. Their hopeful daughter has been diagnosed with heart disease, VSD, prematuring and an unspecified brain disorder. They plan a full evaluation once they get her home but they expect to spend quite a bit of time and money at the hospital and with potential heart surgeries. But again, they feel lucky to even have that ability to give her a chance here.
Their family is fun, they love each other and they spend their free time just being together hiking, cooking, playing board games. But they are all very excited about this opportunity to adopt. Their youngest son points at every airplane and asks if his new baby sister is on it yet. Their older son downloaded a language app and they have been practicing the language together (Brat = brother, so that one has been very popular around their house now). I know they will be blessed to add to their family through adoption, they already have been.
11/8/2019 — COURT PASSED
