Will you share our story?

The following letter is one that we are planning to mail and e mail out to anyone and everyone who will read it.  Please read it and consider sharing it. :)

Dear friends and loved ones,                                        February 2012

This letter comes to you straight from our hearts, and we thank you for taking the time to read it. We decided in the summer of 2010 that we would like to start our family and have children. We, however, did not stop to consider that sometimes our plans do not pan out in our desired time frame or in the way we might expect, and we’ve had to do a lot of self-reflecting and praying. This past November, after over a year of trying, we decided to do 2 things: see our doctors and apply for adoption.

To some it may seem that our decision to adopt was a bit premature because many couples adopt after having biological children, or after finding out there is no chance of conceiving. We have not had this news, but we no longer believe that we need to have biological children before adopting. In fact, all of our tests have come back fine so far and there is no obvious reason as to why we’ve been unable to conceive. We’re just feeling led to adopt, so we thought it was time to do something about it!

The longer we wait for the blessing of a child, the more God is working on our hearts and our perspective. We believe this waiting period itself has been a blessing as we have been forced to actively trust Him during this challenging time, and He has brought us closer to Him through it. Aside from the spiritual growth, we are feeling that perhaps we may not have even considered adoption had we been able to conceive right away, and we might have missed God’s message that He has a child or children for us that we are meant to adopt into our family. We are confident we will soon see His plan unfold and cannot wait to see what will happen!

So now to the point of this letter. We have applied for domestic adoption, which means we are adopting from Saskatchewan and basically are put on a waiting list as we go through paperwork, home studies and classes. Saskatchewan no longer has an adoption agency, so we apply through Social Services, and the process can be quite long and drawn out if you are looking to adopt a baby. While we have accepted this process and are happy to have started it, we are also interested in private adoption and have heard some wonderful miracle stories about it. Since we do not have an agency to privately adopt through, we’ve been told numerous times that we need to “spread the word” that we’re adopting so the chances of privately adopting are greater. In other words, we might be united with our future child because (as an example) you might be connected to someone through family or friendship that is expecting and they are considering making an adoption plan for their baby, and you could possibly connect us with that person.

This is our official request to you. Whether you are our family member, our friend, or an acquaintance, we just need you to know that we are two people who feel a deep desire to be parents, to be called “Mom” and “Dad”, and to raise and love the child or children God blesses us with—however He chooses to do so. If you know anyone who has expressed a desire to make an adoption plan for their baby, we ask that you would prayerfully consider us and give them our information.

We would not want you to mention this to anyone who has not already expressed interest in adoption. We just want to make ourselves completely open and available to our future child, whether it is through domestic or private adoption.

We will give you some more detailed information about us below in case you feel you need to know a bit more about us. If a situation does arise where you have this conversation with an expectant mother/couple, please feel free to give them our names and contact information. We would love to speak with them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. It can be a bit uncomfortable involving a lot of people in a personal issue such as starting a family, but we know there are good things in store for us and perhaps you will be a part of our story. If you would please keep us in your thoughts and prayers we would be so grateful.

Sincerely,

Devin and Holly

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Names: Devin and Holly

Contact info:  306-650-7111 (C)

  

E-mail: hollyroddick@ hotmail.com, djrodd@ live.ca

Ages: Devin 27, Holly 25

Occupations: Devin is a Constable in the RCMP, Holly is a Kindergarten teacher

Family: Devin’s parents, Sandy and Jocelyn, live in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. He has one younger sister, Amy, who has two boys, Thomas and Felix.

Holly’s parents, Bruce and Susan, live in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. She has two older brothers; Stephen is married to Nicole and has 2 children, Tori and Jaxon, and Shawn lives in Halifax and is married to Christen.

Hobbies and interests:

Devin:

• Enjoys playing softball and basketball.
• Enjoys being active and working out.
• Coaches a high school basketball team
• Plays guitar, mandolin and piano, and sings.
• Involved in his church and community.
• Enjoys reading.
• A “child magnet”. Loves being with children.

Holly:

• Enjoys playing softball and watching sports.
• Enjoys photography and being outdoors
• Involved in her church and teaches Sunday School
• Loves to travel.
• Enjoys reading, and involved in a book club.
• Loves the company of babies and children.

We both adore and admire children and have a lot of kids in our lives through Holly’s Kindergarten position, church, and our friend’s children. We have a strong bond with our families and have a wonderful, supportive network of friends and a loving church family. We feel that we are a responsible and mature couple, and we have a very strong and loving marriage. We are best friends, we laugh together, we’re head over heels for each other, and we make a great team. Hope this gives you a bit more insight into our world. Thanks again for reading.

The link below is a song called "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller.  It sort of perfectly describes our feelings about our "wait" to be parents. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9DTwLOxzhE&feature=related