Amanda & Chris

I (Mandy) found out that I wouldn't be able to become pregnant when I was 16 years old. In order to wrap my head around what this would mean down the road, my mom and I related it to the show Friends. I could either be a Monica and adopt, or have a Phoebe through surrogacy. When Chris and I first started dating, I let him know on one of our first dates that I would not be able to have biological children. He was extremely supportive and accepting from the start! We talked about this more and more throughout the years, and we always veered towards growing our family through adoption. As we started doing more research, we learned stories of family members' connections to Gladney and adoption. Chris's older half-sister is a birth mom. She made an adoption plan with her first baby at an early age through Gladney. We found out last year that Chris' grandmother (who had recently passed away) had been a transition home for infants through Gladney. Everywhere we turned, we spoke with more and more people who were adopted or were going through the adoption process. This assured us that we were making the right choice for us in this moment of time.