50 Most Inspiring Adoption Stories with Beauty Revived: Part 18
Beauty Revived has joined with Adoption.com to bring you the 50 Most Inspiring Adoption Stories. We have found 50 amazing photographers with big hearts to donate a session to tell the story of an inspiring adoption story in their community.
Want to learn more about Beauty Revived and see the rest of the pictures? Check it out here and on Instagram.
Photography for this session by Madison James Photography Website
Two months after Mike proposed to Cindy, doctors gave Cindy devastating news. She had cancer and would need a hysterectomy followed by treatment. Mike and Cindy embraced the news and moved forward knowing they would not be able to have a family. Eight years later, Cindy and Mike decided they did want to have the family they longed for and started the process of in vitro fertilization. A wonderful and very dear friend offered to give up nine months of her life as their gestational carrier so Cindy and Mike could have the family they had always wanted. Cindy and Mike went through a month of shots, sonograms, and blood work that culminated on the day the doctors retrieved her eggs. Shortly after waking from the anesthesia, Cindy and Mike received the news that only three eggs were recovered. The average is normally 15 eggs. Cindy remembers that day well, saying, “I think that day I realized our story was over. No happy ending for us.” Weeks after doctors implanted the eggs, Cindy and Mike found out they were not pregnant.
Cindy and Mike decided then to try the route of adoption to start their family. They were excited when they met a woman who was expecting twins and she selected Mike and Cindy to adopt her babies. Six months into the birthmother’s pregnancy, Cindy and Mike received the news that the expectant mother had changed her mind and wanted to keep her babies.
At this point Cindy and Mike had all but given up the thought of having a family. Then miraculously, Cindy received a call from a friend. There was a young woman ready to deliver a baby, and once this beautiful little girl was born she would need a forever home. Within 72 hours, Cindy and Mike picked up Paige from the hospital. They were so excited to finally have their family. Two days later, Paige’s birth mother evoked her right to change her mind about placement, and Cindy and Mike were required to return Paige. Four hours after returning Paige, Cindy and Mike received another phone call from the birth mother saying Paige belonged with them.
Cindy says, “Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. It is simply our story. We have Paige, our blessing through adoption. She is our daughter. We didn’t give her the gift of life; life gave us the gift of her. She made us a family.”
About the Photographer:
Beth is a natural light photographer in Maryland and the surrounding Washington DC area. She focuses on family and senior photography and truly enjoys spending time with the families she meets. She is the wife to an amazing husband and mother to one sassy redhead and one crazy toddler.
