Book Description (Amazon):
The world of adoption has changed dramatically over the past twenty years.
No longer do biological parents have to say goodbye to their child forever. They
now have more options when deciding the type of adoption to pursue, such as open
adoption. Open adoption creates the opportunity for a special relationship
between the biological parents, the adoptive parents, and the child.
Open Adoption, Open Heart is an inspiring and true story, which takes
the reader deeper into the feelings and emotions experienced by adoptive
parents. As you read this incredible story, you will experience the joys,
difficulties, and amazing victories facing adoptive couples. Russell and his
wife, Jammie, invite you to share in their inspiring and heart warming
journey.About the Author:
Russell was born on Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C.,
in the fall of 1977. Along with his five siblings, he and his military
family moved around a lot, living in eight different houses by the
time he left for college at age 17. Although his family moved
away from Fallon, Nevada, just a few months after he moved out,
he still considers that little oasis in the desert to be his childhood
hometown.
Even after leaving home, Russell always stayed close to his
family. He shared an apartment with each of his three brothers
at different times during his college career. They formed a band
together back in the 1990s and still perform on a regular basis
under the name of the Invisible Swordsmen.
After nearly a decade of college and changing his major a few
times, Russell received his bachelor's degree in sociology from
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He later graduated from
Ameritech College where he learned the trade of being a dental
lab technician. Russell now owns and operates Elkins Dental Lab
located in Meridian, Idaho.
Russell has always been a family man at heart, looking forward
to the day when he could be a husband and a father. It took him
a little while, but eventually his eyes locked onto a beautiful
blonde, and he has never looked away. Russell and Jammie were
married in 2004. They had the same goals for their home and
didn't want to wait too long before starting their family. However,
filling their home quickly with children wasn't in the cards, and
they found themselves weighing their options to overcome problems
with infertility. Their lives changed dramatically the day they
decided to adopt.
Russell and Jammie have adopted two beautiful children, Ira
and Hazel, and have embraced their role as parents through open
adoption. Both are actively engaged in the adoption community by
communicating through social media, taking part in discussion
panels, and writing songs about adoption. Russell also writes a
weekly post for Adoption.com.
Excerpt:
Daren’s (biological dad) refusal to agree to adoption was the main factor in our hopes falling apart. Jammie (my wife) and I were sad and frustrated. It seemed clear to us, from what Brianna (biological mom) had told us, he had no intention of being a father. He never offered her any support with her pregnancy—emotionally or financially. The few times he would talk to her about the baby seemed to be only out of interest in rekindling their relationship. And worst of all, when she refused to get back together with him, he wrote nasty notes and sent them to her phone or e-mail. He spread ugly rumors about her. It wasn’t a good situation.
Brianna found herself painted into a corner. Naturally, we agreed with her about adoption since she still had a lot of things she wanted to accomplish before starting her family. She wanted to at least finish high school before becoming a mother. She wanted her children to have both a mother and a father. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was left with very few options, all of which were less desirable to her. With her job and everything else, Brianna’s mom wasn’t in a position where she could take care of an infant. Brianna was the youngest in her family, and all of her siblings had already moved out of the house. Daren’s refusal to agree to adoption seemed to leave her with no other options but to become a single teenage mother and drop out of school.
What a challenging situation to be in. Since keeping the baby was Brianna’s initial plan, we weren’t completely surprised when it came back to raising the child herself. Even though we weren’t completely surprised, we were still very disappointed. Brianna was too.
When we were first contacted by Brianna, the news spread like wildfire. Once things fizzled out, we found the unfortunate news didn’t spread very quickly. It seemed every person in our social circle wanted an update, and we were constantly telling people the bad news. We decided that next time, we’d probably be a little slower to tell everyone adoption-related news. We were back to the drawing board.
We were back to where we found ourselves as couple 851 out of 921 amazing profiles.
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