Us

It has been awhile....  Awhile since what, you may ask?  Well, as the ebb and flow of a blog goes, I feel it necessary every several months to "re-tell" our story.  New people come to the blog and it's nice for them to know who we are, where we stand, our background....without going digging through blog.   So here you go:

Pre-Adoption:
JT and I met in college.  We were friends first....well, rather, I would not date him because I was 18 and an idiot.  When I finally wised up, we were engaged in three months and married 13 months later.  We thought, "well, we'll have kids in a couple of years once Natalie finishes her teaching degree."  Well then I got daring and decided to be a doctor or something crazy like that...A year and a half of pre-med, two years of living apart, moving to NYC .... we thought we had weathered enough storms. 

The Trying:
On the weekend of our 5th anniversary, we decided to try to get pregnant...  I got obsessed.  For the next year, I was consumed and JT was pushing away.  Let's be honest.  Scheduling sex is not fun.  Taking basal temps is strange...  having clomid-induced hot flashes while scrubbed in for a six hour abdominal surgery.... none of this was fun.  But we wanted a child.  Yes, we talked about adoption.  Said we would do it......do it someday.... after we had our "own" (I can not even stomach writing that now).  Well, as the end of my medical school inched closer we realized that pregnancy was a less than ideal way to start residency.... so I re-filled the birth control prescription, shed a few internal tears, and went on a cruise (for real).

Adoption:
I was sitting in JT's mamaw's house, relaxing in her small bedroom recliner when JT walked in and brought up the idea of adoption... the timing for both of us was right.  Something inside of us, individually, and now jointly, moved ...and now it clicked.  Forward we went.  I won't sugar coat our experience.. We had family and friends that disagreed with our decision....basically openly bashing us.  The wait was hard...having wanted a child so badly, each day proved increasingly painful, especially after seeing Tedi's face.  So much for a kid early in residency.....Tedi came home three days after I started.. Yep, so much for our timing.

Now:
If you are called to adoption...(and by that I mean....not just called to adopt a child, but support those that do adopt, be involved in the lives of adopted children, sponsor children in orphanages, do mission trips), it is hard to stop caring... most of us are not built that way.  If we were, adoption likely would not be our calling.  Here we are... 18 months later, in the middle of our second adoption... with "our own" child and another boy in our future.  I am now a doctor.  We have a 5 year old.  We are blessed.  Will we adopt a third or fourth time? Yes.  Will we get pregnant in the future?  Maybe.  Will your life be changed if you adopt, sponsor a child, support a family?  Yes..without a doubt.  So think about it....

What will stop your plan?  What will make you change your path?  Meeting one child, reading one blog, one or 45 negative pregnancy tests? 

With all of this said, we are not just an "adoption family".  We are a "wife in residency family",  "a husband in development family", a child of divorce family, recovering "religious kids" who love Jesus not pomp and circumstance family, a "make our friends family" kind of family.... we are all of these...who just followed the call to adopt.  Just normal, regular people trying to live lives for others and make a difference... who are you?

Email us always: nataliehenderson21@yahoo.com or jthenderson17@yahoo.com

Tedi's Referral Picture....

and why we keep spreading the word

The same boy this week