Alex & Cassie's Story
By Shila K
August 19th was the 4-year anniversary of our son’s "gotcha day"... it was also our daughter’s 19-month birthday. As my husband and I snuggled with our kids to view Alex’s Gotcha Day DVD, I was, once again, overcome with emotion. It is impossible to believe that Alex, our intelligent, highly energetic, 2nd-year pre-schooler is now 4! How could that chubby little bundle of joy with the unbelievable head of hair have grown so quickly? How is it possible that he now has a little sister who deftly climbs out of her crib, when she was placed in our arms just a little over a year ago as a helpless, teeny 3-month old infant?
Even as we struggle with the daily job of parenting 2 young children, we cannot help but count our blessings and marvel at the miracle that is our lives. In 2002, we were entering our 4th year of infertility... our 4th IVF attempt... and wondering if we would EVER realize our dream to have children. We had stood on the brink of success with our prior procedure... until a miscarriage at 6 weeks thrust us into the tumultuous conflict of "see, we CAN get pregnant" vs. "this is just not meant to be". We opted to try again. It was during one of the countless injections I had endured that I finally turned to Andy and said, "if this doesn’t work, it’s over and we adopt." He simply stated that he agreed — he too, was ready.
Adoption. It was a pie-in-the-sky concept with which we had toyed during the years prior to this time, but which we had never taken seriously. Surely, we wouldn’t "have to" go that route – we WERE going to get pregnant. When our final IVF attempt failed, we needed a few weeks to grieve, but once we closed that chapter, the idea of building our family through adoption became increasingly appealing. Our dreams weren’t dead – they were just taking an exciting new direction that would lead to the same destination: parenthood.
Our research and conversations with adoptive families and professionals led us to pursue international adoption from Colombia. We fell in love with the country, the culture... the beautiful babies. We were thrilled to learn of WHFC’s program with the Chiquitines orphanage in Cali, Colombia. Their partnership and commitment to the children gave us confidence that we would have an amazing experience, which we did... twice. Our WHFC and Chiquitines reps in Colombia made each of our 3-week stays — first in 2003, and again in 2006 - effortless and memorable. The journals we kept and photos we took during each journey are keepsakes we hope our children will treasure when they are older — they are priceless to us.
We cannot imagine life without our children, for as sure as the sun rises, they are OURS - Alex and Cassie are the light in our lives. We are grateful to God, our families, and our friends, as well as the amazing professionals at WHFC and our home study agency for helping us create our family and a lifetime of hope and happiness.