Monthly archives: August, 2013

Popping in for a puzzle piece update as well as some celebrating that we’ve made progress in the homestudy process of adoption.

After only a week, we’ve had more than 24 donations resulting in an astounding $1465 towards our adoption fund and 73 puzzle pieces adorned with the names of people who’ve graciously helped move us closer to our goal. Equally important are the hundreds of shares and thousands of views that so many have contributed to get our story out there and rally the community. Thank-you so much!

We’ve had an exceptionally busy last few days as we made the very most of the very last week of summer! We survived, conquered, and dare-I-say-it even enjoyed our first homestudy visit. It’s difficult to predict how disability will set the tone when meeting new people-especially those who hold a piece of your fate in their hands. Our social worker was fantastic and the couple of hours meeting with her flew by. She’s an adoptive parent herself and will be a fantastic resource and support for our many questions through this process. We’ll be meeting with her weekly to complete this phase as quickly as we can (and China allows). We’re also working on our adoption training together-during the evenings and over the weekends. Still so many things to check off our list but we’re making the most of the process and doing our best to be optimistic-and fast!

Right after the homestudy, we buzzed out of town to visit family in Charlotte, NC. Ask Hannah her favorite thing in the entire world and she’s sure to respond, “Cousins.”……or unicorns (depending on her mood-but usually it’s cousins). She was in cousin overload all weekend. We had so much fun. Even with the 9+ hour drive, it was remarkably relaxing and now I’m ready to kick off the school year. Tomorrow-Hannah starts her new preschool. My summer teaching lull is over and I’ve officially begun teaching what feels like a million students (but will simmer down after we all get through the start). I love this time of year and it always seems to fly by into Christmas. I’m hoping this year will do the same-with one new addition—that we’ll fly by to nearly Christmas AND I’ll have done what I say I’m going to do EVERY year (i.e. finish shopping early) *AND* we’ll be even closer to bringing Eli home.

Again….thank-you all for your help, support, and love.

The Ayers family is proud to announce that we are in the process of adopting. Adam and I have both contemplated adoption for most of our lives and we’re excited to take the plunge into expanding our family and adding another bright light to the disability community.

We’ve decided to blog about our journey for a few reasons:

• To share our perspective as adoptive parents with disabilities
• To celebrate the opportunities the disability community can provide for children
• To increase awareness of the many children with disabilities available for adoption
• To be open and honest about the process in an effort to decrease stigma and finally….

because we need your help. In our 30-some-odd years, Adam and I have lived a life full of adventure and triumphs that few people probably expected. This journey is perhaps our largest leap of faith yet…There are still many unanswered questions and no one can really predict what our unique family can expect. We need your help on the practical level of raising funds to offer a child a future and also on the emotional level, we would be so appreciative of your support, cheers, and good wishes. We’ll need them!

We wish we could share all of the details about our hopeful new addition but will respect international wishes for privacy. As we proceed, we’ll be open with how you can do the same in a joint effort to avoid anything that could disrupt our adoption. We can share this: We are working hard to bring a boy with achondroplasia home from China as our son. As we move further in the process, we’ll be able to share more openly. For now, we hope you’ll join us at the start of this journey.