10/23/2026
🧡 Kayla🧡
"My husband and I were married in 2018. We fell in love with a non-traditional engagement ring featuring an aquamarine stone, the birthstone of March. Never would I have expected that month to carry such heavy and important meaning for our family.
After two years of trying to get pregnant, we decided in February 2020 to take a foster care and adoption class through Foster Adopt Minnesota. We knew we were ready to open our home to children in whatever way God had planned for us. We became licensed foster parents with the intention of adopting children already in the foster care system who were looking for permanency.
In early July 2020, we found out we were pregnant. We quietly shared the news with a few close friends, scheduled appointments, and began imagining life with a baby. We talked about which room would become the nursery and whether we should get on a daycare waitlist. Then, on July 25, the cramping and bleeding began. I sat in the bathroom crying, knowing what it meant. Our ultrasound confirmed the miscarriage. It was over before it felt like it had truly begun.
We decided to continue pursuing adoption while participating in counseling to help us process the grief of losing our baby and prepare ourselves to welcome a child into our home.
Over the next two years, we met with countless social workers, searching for the right fit for both us and the children. In the spring of 2022, we accepted a placement and signed an adoption agreement for a wonderful three-year-old boy. We were introduced as mommy and daddy and brought him home. On the day of our first visit with his social workers, we learned a family member had stepped forward requesting guardianship. The adoption process was disrupted. We were happy he would be with his birth family, but also heartbroken to feel like we were losing another child. We went from mom and dad to an empty house in a matter of hours.
In March 2023, a social worker and Guardian Ad Litem approached us about fostering a past student of mine. They didn't know our story or that we had been licensed for years. After prayerful consideration, we accepted the placement of an eight-year-old boy, who moved in the following month. We didn't know how long he would be with us, but we were open to adoption if that became a need.
In March 2025, we officially adopted our son, making our family forever. He was our rainbow, a reminder that through heartache, pain, and trauma, we can still find joy and love.
We looked forward to summer as an official family of three. We were content and had no plans to pursue biological children. We simply wanted to continue fostering and remain open to adoption if a child needed us.
Then, in July 2025, I took a pregnancy test almost as a joke. I was crabby, my PMS seemed to be lasting forever, and after countless negative tests over six years, I expected another one. Instead, I saw a positive result. The tears I shed as I told my husband weren't from excitement; they were from fear.
My doctor made room for me that afternoon. My bloodwork showed high HCG levels, and a second draw two days later showed they were increasing as they should. Four days later, my levels were even higher than they had been with my first pregnancy. This was really happening!
My hope began to grow, but then the bleeding started. My son and I were in the Cities for an appointment. While he swam in the pool, I cheered him on, wondering if his new sibling would be gone before he even knew about them. We went to the Mall of America, and I rode rides I wouldn't have if I had truly believed I could hold on to this baby.
When we got home, I had another blood test, expecting my levels to have dropped. Instead, they had quadrupled, and the bleeding stopped shortly after.
Throughout the pregnancy, I constantly expected bad news. Because I had an anterior placenta, feeling movement was difficult until later in pregnancy. We even bought a Doppler because I needed reassurance that there was still a heartbeat and that our baby boy was growing. The joy of carrying this little life was always mixed with the fear that he would be ripped away from our family. That anxiety followed me through the entire pregnancy.
But on March 30, 2026, we welcomed our sweet boy. We had received our double rainbow.
God is so good. March is the month we welcome spring, when God reminds us of new beginnings through the plants and animals around us. March 2021 was the expected due date of our first baby. In March 2022, we said yes to our first adoption placement. In March 2023, we said yes again. In March 2025, our son took our last name, making our family official. And in March 2026, we welcomed our newest member.
A month that once represented heartbreak has become a reminder of God's faithfulness, new beginnings, and the beautiful ways love can grow a family."
