Chloe's Adoption Journey

Chloe Valynne Stephens

We first learned about Chloe through an email conversation with her birth mother, who has requested to stay anonymous.  She had been led to our profile through a trail of mutual acquaintances and felt good about us from the start.  She kept her first email brief and asked a couple questions that had lingered in her mind after reading through our profile.  We answered her questions and sent off the email, eagerly hoping to hear back from her.

Within the week, we were contacted by our caseworker with LDS Family Services.  She said this birth mother was interested in meeting with us and told us to prepare to meet her soon.  We put together a small gift basket that helped her get to know some interesting things about us and traveled to meet her in the Salt Lake Valley.  She brought her father with her and we had an amazing 2.5 hour conversation.  We were able to ask her our burning questions and she was able to learn so much about us!  I loved seeing and getting to know her and marveled at how much we had in common. Amongst all of the general get-to-know you questions, we discussed some of the most important questions like feelings about openness, her and our greatest hopes for Chloe, and then we parted ways.

I knew she was hoping to make a decision soon, as her delivery date was only a month away, so I was glued to my phone all week!  If she called, I was going to be ready to answer!  I checked my email account incessantly, haha!  No word.  Then one day during work my mother-in-law called to tell us the family was holding an important meeting and that we needed to come to her house immediately after work.  I tried to pry for details, but she refused to expound at all.  Due to a recent failed placement that brought a lot of family discouragement, we hadn't mentioned to our families that we had met with a new expectant mother.  This being said, the last thing we ever thought was that they would be involved in the surprise news that we had been chosen to raise Chloe. We arrived at the house and were led to the living room where Chloe's birth mother and grandfather were sitting on the couch with balloons and a gift for us and Chloe!!!!!!!!!!

Chloe's birth mother and her family are so clever!

Being the homemaker that I am, I was SOOOOO excited to finally paint her room and glam it up for her!

Associating with Chloe's birth mother has been a great gift to us.  She demonstrated so much courage when making this decision and in building a relationship with us!  I immediately started bawling when seeing her at my in-laws house and she teared up, for sure, but had such a relaxed demeanor overall. I knew the Lord was holding her up and I marveled at her!  I was elated and so consumed in emotion!  I was hurting for Chloe's birth mother, but also soOo excited to become a mom!!! We hugged for what seemed like forever and spent a while talking about her birth plan and how involved she wanted us to be at the hospital.  The whole next day was a blurr and a dream!

This is one of the pictures we used to announce to our friends and family that we were expecting!!!

We had less than a month to prepare the finishing touches on her nursery, to hold showers and to purchase the last of the baby items we had on our list before she arrived!!!  We had soooooo much support from family!  Holy cow!  At 8 months, Chloe had never worn the same dress to church twice! We were so fortunate. People swept in with gifts, advice, and endless support!  We were humbled, honored, and so grateful to be bringing this little girl into such a network of loving friends and family!

A fun sign a friend made up for one of Chloe's showers!!  I couldn't believe how much support we were experiencing!
Everyone I knew was so excited for Chloe's arrival!  People I hadn't talked to in years reached out in support!

It didn't take very long to settle on a name we loved once we knew Chloe was coming.
This picture was how we announced her name to the world!

Chloe was due to be born on July 18, 2014, but came early on Sunday, July 13, 2014.  I had left early for church and Ryan was on his way to the building when he got a call from his mother, saying that (birthmother) was at the hospital and that her doctor advised that she have an emergency c-section because Chloe was in distress.  Ryan found and updated me and we waited, painfully, for 3.5 hours, hoping for any news.  I knew c-sections go quickly so I feared the worst, but sat outside the chapel on the grass, praying incessantly that Chloe would be okay.  We eventually went home and I was breaking down with fear.  Then we got the call from Chloe's grandfather, announcing that Chloe had been delivered and that she would be just fine!!!  He congratulated us on becoming new parents and invited us to the hospital that evening to see Chloe for the first time.

I would say it was the greatest day of our lives, but pretty much every day since we first held her in our arms has seemed like the greatest day of our lives!  She is our everything!

We love you Chloe!

U

At her birth mother's request, our current level of contact is relatively indirect but she has friended us on Facebook, has sent a gift to Chloe for each of her birthdays, and we have each other's contact information (if we or Chloe need to talk with her or if she decides she is ready for greater openness).  It is an open-door policy, in other words.  We love her and will never be able to thank her enough for her courage, strength and goodness.  She brought about our greatest miracle.  We respect her needs and wishes as Chloe's birth mother and as our friend, and pray for her often as a family.  Chloe is now beginning to understand the concept of adoption, saying that she grew in her birthmother's tummy while she grew in my heart.  We read books about adoption and she has a picture of her birthmom in her bedroom.  She is proud of her adoption story. 

If there as ever a question in your mind of how much she, or our future children, will be loved on and doted over, here are a few pictures that show just how admired this little one is by our family:

 A few of Chloe's favorite things:

UPDATE:  Chloe has finally let go of Mother Goose Club (THANK GOODNESS, haha).

She now enjoys evening walks, swings and slides, Callies Wild West, animals, and cousin time!

She eats like a pro - just anything we hand her - and is talking lots and lots!

We may enroll her in a mommy and me gymnastics class soon because she has great balance and agility!  She can effortlessly carry a melody, which mommy LOVES.  She's just amazing.