Before Sarah and I got married, and as we discussed our desires to have children and to raise a family, we knew we might choose adoption as a way to bring children into our home. After we married and tried to have children we were told we would have difficulty conceiving (that is until Alicia was born!). Since we had dealt with this beforehand it wasn’t a major blow to us, rather it helped us get excited about adopting. Going through the application process was a roller coaster of emotions which culminated in our creation of an online profile on LDS Family Service’s website. We didn’t realize how important our profile website was for another nine months. We have many friends and family who have adopted, who have placed children for adoption, or who were adopted, and even though we had heard many stories about adoption the story that would unfold for us that year was nothing like what we anticipated.
Our paperwork was approved in January of 2005 and so we began the notorious waiting period with a new year and expectations to soon be parents. Throughout the year we continued our preparations, we got the nursery ready, we picked out a theme Winnie the Pooh, and we picked colors Lavender and Sage. We felt wholeheartedly that we would receive a child that year, and we prayed with hope and faith that Heavenly Father would bring us our little one. As the months went on I kept busy with work and School while Sarah continued to make what preparations we could for a little one.
As we dreamt about children throughout our marriage we picked out both boy a girl names that we liked. For a girl we were set on Isabella, we like names that end in an “a”. Unfortunately, a close friend of ours had a daughter who was still born who they named Isabel, so we decided against using that name for our daughter. We settled on another name we both liked Annabella, again it ended with an “a”, and we waited for our opportunity to name our daughter. At the beginning of September we began to worry that our dream of being parents this year may not be fulfilled. In many of the adoption stories we’d heard the birthmothers choose the family they want to place their child with a few months into their pregnancy, this seemed to make it unlikely that we could be chosen and placed with in 2005. But we continued to pray and ask for a child that year. One day after when I came home from work Sarah asked me what I thought of the name Adrianna. I liked it, and we both thought it felt right, and of course it ended with an “a”.
On the 28th of that same month our life changed forever and everything we had done before came too a culmination with one short e-mail. Sarah called me at work and told me I had to check her e-mail. I logged in and pulled up the message from Eve FS that read:
This is a question for:
Joseph and Sarah Profile ID: 3134
Question:
My little girl is 15 months old now and of hispanic/mayan descent. Would you consider a child of this age?
Please respond
We were so excited for this opportunity, when I got home we discussed how to respond, we had waited for this moment for such a long time and it was finally here. We tried not to get our hopes up but we couldn’t. The question posed was pretty straight forward we said “ABSOLUTELY!!!!” We also explained that we were both of Hispanic descent and we would love to learn more about her and her daughter, whose name we didn’t know for another 2 days. We received a response early the next day stating that the situation was a bit complicated and asking if she could talk to Sarah about it. As the questions and excitement boiled up inside us both we responded and made arrangements for Sarah to speak to her the next day. Neither of us could sleep, we were so excited to learn about this wonderful girl who we had affectionately named "Mya".
Sarah and Emily (name changed for anonymity) talked on the phone for the first time for an hour on September 30th. They talked about why she picked us and talked about her children. Four of her children were adopted, three from Russia and one little girl from Guatemala; they also had four biological children. She explained their situation and the difficulty they were facing as the grappled with the choice of placing this beautiful Guatemalan girl with a family who could better tend to her than they could at the time. She was looking through the profiles on LDS Family Services web site to prove that she would not find a suitable family for their daughter. Emily explained how she made the decision to choose us. She was impressed with the way Sarah and I talked about each other and our love for one another. She also couldn’t sleep at night because of struggling with the hard decision she is faced with whether to place Adrianna for adoption or not. But our profile and the image of Sarah and I with their daughter in our arms gave her peace and was comforting to her. Though she couldn’t remember our names she looked for our profile again, through hundreds of names and found us. She also told Sarah her name, “Adrianna”, which her biological mother in Guatemala had given her. Sarah cried as she knew that Heavenly Father had worked a special miracle for our family. Emily wanted us to be Adrianna’s eternal family.
We arranged to go to Utah that following week to get Adrianna. We were surprised at how quickly the events unfolded but we were ready. We arranged to have placement at the LDS Family services agency around noon. Sarah and I visited the temple before the placement visit; it was a wonderful and peaceful experience. We then went to the agency where we met with the family. It was a bitter sweet moment for us that we will never forget. The family was heart broken to have to place their beautiful daughter, though they knew it was the best choice for her. We were so excited to be getting the daughter we had dreamt and prayed about. And though our prayers had been answered and our hearts were full, it was one of the most difficult moments we have shared. To ease the moment a bit we decided to go to the park with Adrianna and Emily. Adrianna had had a long day too and fell asleep in the mini-van on the way to the park, so instead we headed back to the agency where we said our tearful goodbye’s and finalized Adrianna’s placement in the van with the caseworker. Our adoption had finally come to fruition; it took us about nine months from the time we were approved to when we had Adrianna in our arms. Our prayers had been answered and we had the daughter we had always wanted.
We were sealed to Adrianna for eternity exactly one year after she was placed in our arms. We are amazed at the amazing journey Adrianna had to get to her eternal family. She started in Guatemala where her birthmother placed her first daughter, after raising five boys, for adoption so that she would have better opportunities in life. She came to a loving family in the United States who made extraordinary sacrifices to bring her here, and who made an even greater sacrifice of love to give her to us. We are grateful to LDS Family Services for helping us participate on this wonderful journey and for bringing everyone together to make our eternal family a reality.
Los Abuelos y sus Vis Nietas 
Yummy Rice Cereal, served by Abuela
I'll walk for you Abuelo!
So which is it? I was had at first, then I realized it was too early for stores to be making jack-o-lantern cookies, and these cookies were much too delicious to be made in any store. Sarah continues to perfect her decorating talent and made these with fondant. She is taking a class now learning how to use this dough-like frosting. I expect you will see some beautifully decorated cakes in the near future!
