November 2026
Our Story with Ezra
Hi! We are Mark and Richie, and this is the story of how a little boy named Ezra made us dads.
The desire to build a family was part of our relationship almost from the beginning. Within our first few
dates, Richie was already talking about how much he wanted children, and I felt the same way. It quickly
became one of the things we loved about each other. We knew that as a gay couple our path to
parenthood would probably be more complicated and expensive, but we also knew very early on that we
wanted to build a family together.
Adoption had been on both of our hearts for years. For us, it was never a backup plan. We believed family
could be created through love, commitment, and the decision to show up for a child every day.
So, we started the adoption process.
And then we waited.
We spent a little over a year with our original adoption agency without a single expectant mother entering
the program. It was a season that required a lot of patience, prayer, and learning to manage our
expectations. We wanted so badly to become parents, but there was very little we could do except
prepare and wait.
Then, during a conversation with friends about adoption, Richie mentioned something he had felt for a
long time: a particular pull toward adopting a child with Down syndrome.
We understood that raising a child with Down syndrome could bring additional medical and
developmental needs, but we also knew those things did not diminish the joy, purpose, or fullness that
child’s life could hold. Our friends told us about the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network, and we
decided almost immediately to join.
On our very first day on the NDSAN registry, we learned about a baby who needed a family.
Another family was chosen.
Strangely, though, even that “no” felt hopeful. After more than a year when nothing seemed to be
happening, it finally felt like there was movement.
Then, just a couple of weeks later, we received information about another baby boy.
But, there was one pretty significant problem. Our home study was approved only for an adoption in North
Carolina, and this baby was going to be born in Georgia.
But as we read about him, we knew we wanted to say yes.
We immediately began working with the adoption professionals supporting his birth parents to find an
agency that could update our home study for an interstate adoption. Everything moved incredibly quickly.
We thought we would have several weeks to prepare before his birth.
Ezra had other plans.
Only nine days after we first learned about him, he was born prematurely at 34 weeks in Atlanta.
Suddenly, the adoption journey we had spent more than a year waiting for became very real, very fast.
We packed our things, traveled to Georgia, and found ourselves standing beside the hospital bed of our
newborn son.
We knew before Ezra was born that he was expected to have Down syndrome and a congenital heart
defect. After his birth, we learned that his medical story was even more complicated. In addition to Down
syndrome, Ezra was diagnosed with an additional chromosome condition and an issue with his kidneys.
He also has a complex congenital heart condition that will require significant cardiac care and surgery. His
first months of life have included the NICU and cardiac intensive care, procedures, specialists, feeding
challenges, and more medical terminology than we ever expected to learn as first-time parents.
And yet, underneath all of those diagnoses is simply Ezra. He is our son. His life has started surrounded
by an extraordinary amount of love.
One of the parts of Ezra’s story we never want to overlook is the love of his birth parents. They were
already raising three older children and spent significant time considering whether they had the financial
resources and support necessary to raise another child with Down syndrome and complex medical
needs. Their decision to pursue adoption was not because Ezra was unwanted. They loved him deeply
and wanted him to have every opportunity possible.
We will always carry a profound respect for the decision they made and the trust that has been placed in
us.
There have certainly been moments during this journey when we have wondered how everything would
work out. Adoption itself is expensive. Then came the unexpected costs of completing another home
study, traveling to another state with almost no notice, spending an extended period away from home,
stepping away from work, and navigating life with a medically complex newborn.
That is why organizations like GLADS mean so much to families like ours.
Receiving a GLADS grant does more than help us pay an adoption bill. It means that people who have
never met Ezra believe his life is worth investing in. It means that during an incredibly expensive and
uncertain season, another part of the financial burden has been lifted from our shoulders so we can focus
more of our energy on being his dads.
When we first started dating and talked about having children someday, neither of us could have
imagined this would be the way our family began.
We couldn’t have imagined the long wait.
We couldn’t have imagined Down syndrome adoption.
We couldn’t have imagined suddenly moving our lives to Atlanta, learning our way around a NICU and
cardiac ICU, or becoming fluent in feeding tubes, oxygen saturations, cardiology rounds, and surgical
plans.
And we certainly couldn’t have imagined Ezra.
But now we can’t imagine our family without him.
More than anything, we want Ezra to grow up knowing that his worth has never depended on a diagnosis,
a milestone, or what the world thinks he should be able to accomplish. We want him to know that he is
deeply loved by God, by his birth family, by his dads, and by an enormous community of people who have
already shown up for him.
There will be surgeries, therapies, appointments, milestones, and challenges ahead.
We will be there for all of them.
We will advocate for him. We will celebrate him. We will give him every opportunity we can. And we will
make sure he always knows that there are two dads in his corner who spent a long time hoping to
become parents and who feel unbelievably grateful that, somehow, that journey led us to him.
