Andersen's Family

We sat at a coffee shop on our first date as naïve 20-something year olds and discussed how we both saw adoption as something we would want as part of our futures. Fast-forward 7 years through college graduations, an engagement and wedding, we found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant with a baby girl. After her birth, we felt that God was leading us to have another biological child. Shae experienced 2 miscarriages then traumatic medical complications early in pregnancy with our son. We knew God was opening the doors for us to complete our family through adoption.

We discussed registering with the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network (NDASN) early in the adoption process. Shae is a physical therapist and has lots of experience with children with special needs. Jon has people with special needs in his family. After some discussion, we felt it was not the right time to solely pursue a child with special needs.

We adopted our 3rd child through a private domestic agency. We saw the power of prayer and God’s faithfulness as we waited for him to join our family. God gave us the gift of having a very open adoption with our son’s birth family and we experienced the miracles of becoming one big family through adoption.

When our 3rd child was about a year old, we knew we wanted to start the adoption process again. Our hopes were that we could have another child to share the story of adoption with our son since they would not share DNA. We signed up with a consulting group and submitted our profile to over 40 expectant moms over the next 2 years. Time after time, we received emails that we weren’t the chosen family for the baby. We were left feeling disappointed and confused about the right steps for completing our family.

The last case we saw with our consulting group was for a little boy who had Down syndrome. While we weren’t the right family for him, God used that situation to remind us of the NDASN.

In March 2022, we signed up to be on the registry and began a new wait for an extra special baby to join our family. Two months later, on our anniversary, we got an email about a little boy who was being born close to the town where we grew up. We spent the night of our 9th anniversary filling out forms so we could have our profile shown to his expectant parents.

Four days later, we got a call from Stephanie at NDASN. Thinking she was calling to ask for more information from us, we were shocked to hear her say “Congrats, mama! (Birthmom) chose you!” Over the course of the next 4 weeks, we met the little boy’s birth mom, had several meetings with social workers, and scrambled to get everything ready for another baby boy to join our family.

Andersen was born on June 6. He was 34 weeks and weighed a tiny 3lbs, 7.5oz. He has a complete AVSD and will be getting his heart completely repaired when he is 5 months old. He has bilateral club feet that will be addressed with a series of casting. His full name, which means, “God is our gracious, upright strength,” was chosen by us and his birth mom.

Andersen is still growing and getting stronger in the NICU after some complications from his heart and other infections. He recently had open heart surgery and is recovering well. We are full of anticipation for the day he can come home to be a part of our family!

Words cannot express our gratitude to GLADS for the generous grant to assist with our adoption. We have been able to spend more time driving back and forth from the hospital and take time off from work to be able to focus on Andersen’s health. Thank you for investing in our family and being part of this miraculous story!

June 2023

Andersen had a very long few months with heart surgery, recovery and several serious illnesses that had him hospitalized. When all the medical information led doctors to believe Andersen’s life on earth would end soon, God intervened in miraculous ways. He healed our son and we are forever grateful! What a gift to love and watch Andersen grow every day!

Andersen can roll and sit! He loves to try new food and put things in his mouth. He loves the attention from his big sister and brothers! Andersen goes to therapy 6 times a week and is working hard to eat enough so we can get rid of his gbutton. We are hoping his adoption will be finalized in a few months  God continues to give him new mercies every day and we are so grateful to have a front row seat.

Thank you for supporting us and encouraging our family! Words cannot express our gratitude!