Bryan, Erica, and Larryn

As we sit here looking around our living room this Thanksgiving holiday, we are overjoyed at how much that we have to be thankful for…we are thankful for the many toys that are strewn and scattered about the room; we are thankful for the sound of little feet up and down our hallway. For, you see, these little things are a dream come true for us because at one point in our lives, this is a sight and sound that we feared would never grace the walls of our loving home.

Our journey began on our wedding day, as we pledged our love to one another and to God, and then we looked forward to all that would follow, and our hopes had always been to be parents. After 12 years of marriage and several pregnancy losses, our hearts were broken, but we knew that God was leading us elsewhere…we were actually at a point where we could feel God saying to us, “ I am waiting on you…” which is exactly why our adoption story is truly remarkable.

We had been considering and reviewing adoption entities for some time, but in October, we came across Adoption Network Law Center, and from the time that we received our information packet, we were instantly assigned to an adoption consultant, and they were there every step of the day at all hours of the day to answer our questions and give endless support. At this point, we began to fill out the required paperwork, and by February, we had competed one of our adoption profiles and were in the process of finishing a secondary profile. We braced ourselves for the possibility of waiting many long months, but before we were even able to complete the second profile, and after only two weeks, we were contacted by ANLC saying that we had been selected by birthparents…we were speechless and overjoyed! From the beginning, we connected with our birthmother through a supervised phone correspondence, and she connected with us as well. From there, we decided that we would like to meet one another the next month. In fact, it is amazing just how well it all fell into place because my husband had a conference in Denver in April, which was much closer in timing and in location to where we had to be to meet our birthparents. We flew to meet our birthparents, and from there our lives will never be the same because we met two people who we will forever be grateful for because of their ability to give life to their unborn child, and for their ability to give to us the desire of our hearts.

On June 1 at 10:00am, Larryn Daniel, our magical moment tied with a blue ribbon, arrived in our arms and forever into our hearts. We will forever be grateful to his birthparents and to the journey of how he came to be; we are grateful to our adoption consultant for her unconditional support, and we are grateful to God for truly blessing “the broken road that led us straight to our son, Larryn”. Today, we stand profoundly amazed at the miracle of life and at watching our son grow and thrive. It is such a blessing to see our son enjoy his childhood, as he stands before us now in his dinosaur pajamas playing with his trucks and cars and making “Broom… Broom” sounds. “Some people come into our lives and they leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.”(Unknown) We have been blessed with a gift, and we will never be the same.

Love and Blessings!

Written by Samantha Gindi