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I always knew I wanted to adopt. My husband, Matt, and I even talked about it before we got married. The "normal" thing to do seemed to be to have a few biological children and then adopt later on, so we went with the flow. It only took 3 months for me to get pregnant and once I reached 12 weeks I thought I was home free. On the next visit the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. It was heartbreaking for both of us. Because I had gotten to 17 1/2 weeks, I had to go to the hospital the next morning and by the next day I finally delivered. It was horrible, but while I layed there in that hospital bed I sang one of my favorite praise hymns, "I Love You, Lord" and I meant it. I was also thinking I never wanted to be pregnant again, but by the time we left the hospital I asked the doctor how soon we could start trying again.
Five months later I was pregnant again but this time I only got to 9 weeks. Now I knew I couldn't go through this anymore and we immediately began looking into adoption. A few weeks later (this is such a God thing) we were at the library looking on the internet for information and ran into a lady my husband knew from his previous job. He had told me about this family and how cute their daughter was. She was adopted from China and they were in process for their second child. The conversation turned to why we were there and she said there was an adoption and infertility fair the next day and we should come. Matt had that day off so we went. So within a month after my second miscarriage I was walking around an Adoption and Infertility Fair but I didn't go to a single infertility workshop or stop by any of their booths - I was there to find out about adoption! We actually met our social worker that day - he was manning the booth of our soon-to-be adoption agency and I still remember sheepishly pulling up a chair to a group of international adoptive parents talking about going to get their children from China and Europe and other places. About this time I was reading a great book called "Are Those Kids Yours?" by Cheri Register. I was reading it just to find out more about adoption, but I ended up falling in love with Korea in the mean time! The rest, as they say, is history and 8 months later we were in Korea meeting our son, Ethan! He is such a blessing that I can't even describe it. He's also pretty cute (he's the big brother sitting in the money on the main page!).
Fast forward to December 2002......I had been wanting a business of my own for years, but I just couldn't find that perfect fit. I had stuffed samples into bags, substitute taught, babysat, done data entry, made crafts and proofread court depositions. I made money doing all of them but they did not fill this spot inside of me that longed to have something all my own that I was great at and loved. When I thought of what I'm good at and what I enjoy, the first things that come to mind are saving money and adoption! I also enjoy working on my computer, doing secretarial tasks, and writing. But where did that leave me? So one day in December I was in the shower (no kidding!) and thinking about this business stuff and all of the sudden all of these past conversations converged in my mind. I had told people that if I could make money by helping people save money, that would be my perfect job! A woman I know told me I should figure out a way to make money by being frugal. The clincher was a comment I made to some people at our adoption agency. I told them I was going to convince my husband to move me to Tulsa and I was going to convince them to give me a job helping families figure out how they can afford to adopt. And then it occured to me that I could do this from home and it was exactly what I was looking for. Of course, we were right in the middle of an adoption at that point, so I grudgingly decided to wait until Aidan (the cute little one in the picture) was home and settled in to start working on this website.
This story actually started when I was a little girl. My mom was thrifty because she had to be. It rubbed off on me and now I can't even spend a gift certificate unless I think I'm getting a good deal! Now she tells me to treat myself - she thinks I'm too frugal! Thanks, Mom. I also want to thank my husband, Matt, for being so supportive of this business and for saying that as long as we can all fit in one vehicle, we can keep adding to our family (I'm thinking we're going to need a Suburban!). And to John for helping me with all this techie computer stuff, you will never know how great it was to hear you say, "You just write it, I'll make it into a website." Thank you! And most of all to my God who has been with me through miscarriages and gotcha days, in that hospital room and the airport, through every hard day and every magical day, I love you more than I can ever say and I hope I bring glory to You through this endeavor. I love you, Lord.
