Eleanor's Family.

We always knew we wanted to adopt. We met in high school and talked about what our family would look like and we wanted to have biological and adoptive children. We went to college together and married a few years later in 2008. We were young and just starting our lives. We really enjoyed being married, traveling, and spending time together. We explored adoption through CPS/Foster for a number of years but when we hit our thirties, we wanted to begin trying to have biological children.

Within a year of trying, we thought we were pregnant but discovered that instead it would be very difficult to conceive naturally. We still believe God has biological children in our plan but were weary after several years of infertility treatments and heartache. We were 90% done becoming licensed to adopt a neurotypical child when we had a “stop” in our hearts. We couldn’t explain it but the process just stopped.

We were accepted into a study focused on couples with our medical condition that required us to stay in NYC for several weeks and for Rebecca to endure multiple medical procedures. After 18 days in Manhattan and three procedures we came home with a perfectly fertilized embryo. A few weeks later we had a negative pregnancy test and were heartbroken. We both prayed for guidance for next steps, and both fully believed the Lord wanted us to stop with the infertility treatment and refocus on adoption.

One day Rebecca felt like we were called to adopt a child with Down syndrome. I had limited experience with people that had Down syndrome but after learning more we agreed that we wanted to adopt a little girl with Down syndrome. We new a family online that adopted a lovely little girl and asked them how to start. They connected us with Stephanie Thompson with National Down Syndrome Adoption Network. She was a godsend. She connected us with our adoption agency and case worker. We waited for our little Eleanor for two years. We were close on three other adoptions prior to hearing about a precious birth mother in Houston.

We planned to meet her in December of 2020. The day we went down she had an emergency c-section; six weeks early. Little Eleanor had several serious heart conditions and subsequent complications that led to her staying in the hospital for almost three months. We moved to Houston during that time to be able to be with her every day. Her first year of life Eleanor was hospitalized four different times over the course of five months. She’s had two heart surgeries, was on dialysis, had sepsis, had multiple infections, wound vacs, five surgeries, two heart surgeries and more IV lines, more PIC lines and scars than you could imagine.

We’re so thankful that she is now healthy and strong. She is kind, beautiful, brave, smart, tender, and bold. She is so much more amazing than we could have imagined. People with Down syndrome are so very special and our little girl grabs attention and hearts wherever she goes.