2011 Newsletter

We married young, a plumber and a nurse, in hopes to start a family at a young age. After years of trying to conceive and with the understanding that it was going to be a difficult journey of fertility treatments and emotional stress, we decided maybe our life was meant for a bigger plan. I, Heather, had always felt that someday I would adopt a baby but to Steve the idea was a new one. After a lot of praying and seeking out information the idea started to feel more like a calling. We went from meeting to meeting trying to figure out which agency we would use. We finally decided on an agency in the North Shore where we started our home study in March of 2010. The financial commitment for a process such as adoption was FAR too much for a pocketbook of two twenty-something year olds so we needed a plan. We made the decision that instead of taking out loans we would do fundraising and apply for grants. This would require a lot of patience on our part but we knew it was the only way.

We had a few very successful fundraisers and felt we were really making a dent in the costs. In December of 2010 we got a call about a baby boy who had been born on my husband’s birthday and thought this must be a sign. Foolishly we got our hopes up really high. We waited for two weeks only to hear right before Christmas that we were not chosen. As gut wrenching as it was we felt that there must be a child out there waiting for US.
The winter months past and I would say to Steve about once a week “when is my baby coming?” Something started to tell us in our hearts in February that it was coming soon. I can’t explain it, we just felt it. Then….I’ll never forget the day…. March 1st at 4:30pm the phone rang. I answered and the voice on the other line was our social worker. “Are you sitting down?” Within 24 hours we were standing over a beautiful baby girl weeping the happiest tears we have ever wept, just looking at this 7 day old bundle of TRUE joy, knowing that our lives would never be the same. The technical part of it all was that an agency in Newton, Mass had contacted our social worker in search of a family for this baby girl. We of course knew that in order to call this baby girl our daughter we would have to make the switch from the agency we had dealt with for a year to Adoptions with Love. When all was said and done, the costs were more than we had in our bank account. Amy the new social worker got right to work referring us to different organizations for funding. That’s where we met Ed. He was amazing. He drove an hour (at least) to our house and sat down with us genuinely interested in our story. The sense of peace he left us with was one that couldn’t be described when he said “you two are exactly who we are seeking out to help”. Within a few days we heard back the news that lifted a thousand pound weight off of our shoulders. The Stone Adoption Foundation was awarding us a $5,000 grant!! Thank you to all who give to this wonderful organization. Its people like Ed, his staff and volunteers like yourself that have made our lives so rich with the new love of our lives Madilyn May Stratton. Thank you Thank you Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

With Much Gratitude,
The Stratton Family