Oliver and Hudson have a family! We have PA! Huge Thanks to Brooke!

This was the post I wrote on the AdvocateWC yahoo group on October 23, 2012, the day we received PA for the boys. It has a couple of minor edits.  They were known on the yahoo group as Oliver and Hudson.  We are planning to choose our own names for them.


Over a year ago we first saw the boys pictures. We were in the process for our adorable daughter, Alyssa. As a family we prayed for the boys and jokingly thought of names for them. The whole time we wondered why no one was choosing them. When it came out they were in an excellent facility we were sure they would find a home but still they waited. Why?

As we approached travel for our daughter in April, 2012 we said if the boys were available when we came home we were going to try to bring them home ourselves. My mom was a twin and I had always dreamed of having twins of my own. Never thought they would be boys but through years of teaching preschool I taught 4 sets of twins, some boys, some girls and I loved them all.

We came home the end of April and the boys still waited. Alyssa was doing great so we felt adopting the boys was a real possibility. First post placement visit we talked to our social worker and she burst our bubble. She wasn't willing to do an update until the end of July. After that we started getting cold feet, what if she was right, all the doubts seeped into our minds. Finally at the end of June we decided we had to make a final decision. The boys' fates were in our hands or so we thought. We had an international doctor review their files, we got an update, and we prayed. First week of July we decided they were ours and we needed to stop dragging our feet and do what we felt led to do. We went to lock their files.  They were gone... no longer on the shared list. Where did they go? They were they the week before.  The agency we had planned to use did some research and said they had been sent to an agency in Holland(which oddly happens to be my middle name, my mom's maiden name) and had a family. We were heartbroken and really felt like the door was closed. We blew it! After a month or so I threw away all the pictures of them I had around the house, it hurt too much to see their faces every day. We moved on but never forgot about them.

Fast forward to September 26, I was shocked to open FB and see a message from Brooke. The boys were back on the shared list. We were being given a second chance. They were indeed our boys! 

We were delighted to receive PA for the boys today! They are our sons and will be coming home to 3 big brothers(20,16,13) and 3 big sisters(10,7,3). We have no idea what we will name them. We are open to suggestions! 

Thank you so much, Brooke! The boys are coming to our family because of you! Your encouragement, kind messages, etc. have meant the world to me. 

Kristen