Having the title of adoptive parents is a privilege, an honor, and a gift. It has allowed us to become parents, something that we had desired so deep in our hearts for a long time. The new joy that filled our souls, however, meant that someone else’s was shattering. Our girl’s birth moms loved them first and allowed us to enter into that sacredness, giving us the honor to love and raise them every day after. The brokenness they had to endure and the courage to choose life, will never be lost on us. There are not enough words to express our gratitude and admiration for them. After becoming an adoptive mom, there was this even deeper drive to uphold this gift of parenthood.
This meant diving into further education on raising adoptees from nutrition and developmental support. Being able to provide our daughter’s donated breast milk was one of them. Having to let go of the desire in being able to provide this as a mother was difficult. We have been incredibly blessed along the way when family and friends stepped in to help with both girls.
When I stumbled across Holden’s Milky Way, my heart was heavy again of the heartbreak Taylor and Ryan had to endure. To overcome the devastation and channel it into a mission to help other mamas, is admirable. Because of them, their loss and brokenness, we are again blessed with new relationships and a precious gift.
To benefit off of someone’s loss again and again, has been difficult to come to terms with. There are few words to truly explain our gratitude for the gift, love, and desire to help our little girl thrive. Our daughter’s birth mom and her donor milk mamas are true super heroes in our book. The heart and passion of Holden’s memory is felt all through this non-profit. Holden and his beautiful family will always hold a special place in our heart. We hope we can continue upholding the honor of raising our little girl tribe and sending our appreciation to those that have allowed us to do just that.
In order to give back, I am writing on behalf of my own adoption journey for this organization and plan to share all that it entails, hoping to help some other adoptive parents along the way.
xo Kayla, Paul, Hadley, & Amelia
