Matt and Emily have an amazing story. Almost exactly ten years ago, Emily walked in to find Matt unresponsive on their living room floor and their lives were forever changed. Matt had suffered from a major brain hemorrhage. After already dealing with infertility, they were sure their dream to have a family was dead. But Emily shares how God had different plans and how their family is living proof nothing is impossible for God...
We met in high school and have been together ever since. Our senses of humor drew us to each other and we easily grew into each other’s best friend. We dated throughout college and were married in July of 1998. Our marriage started out easy and happy, as we made our way in the grown up world. A few years later we struggled to start a family and hit our first bump in our road. We tried various fertility treatments and contemplated our options but were heartbroken at each failure. All our baby plans were put on hold, though, when we hit a major bump in our road. Matt suffered a life-altering brain hemorrhage in September of 2005. Completely unexpected and unpredicted, our lives were turned upside down. We spent the next few years focused on recovery and healing, assuming our dream to have a family was over.
Slowly, over time, we began to realize our dream wasn’t necessarily over. Our close friends had a baby, our Goddaughter, and she quickly became a very special child in our lives. We have always adored our niece and nephew and treasured the relationships we had with them, but they came along at a very different time in our life. This baby came when we started to open ourselves up to the idea of being parents again – despite all of the changes in our lives. She loved Matt unconditionally. His chair was a built in stroller in which she was perfectly content to sit. Her eyes lit up when he came into the room and she smiled at the sound of his voice. But the joy that filled his heart as she one day toddled across the room; arms open wide, to hug him made him realize something important. He could love and raise that child as his own – regardless of whether or not she was biologically ours, and despite his physical disabilities. We truly believe it was God working in our lives, showing us then a glimpse of how things could be for us. We decided to pursue fertility treatments once again – but after failed attempts and suffering a miscarriage we found ourselves questioning whether we wanted to be pregnant, or wanted to be parents. Our Goddaughter laid the foundation for us, and it wasn’t a difficult question to answer – of course we just wanted to be parents. And so, we set out on this new journey, in hopes that God would work together our lives and that of a birth family - in His perfect timing.
We hoped to be connected to an expectant mother who could see through to the core of who we are; faithful and committed. That she would see how deeply we desire to know the joys of parenthood despite the challenges we will face. And after months of waiting, we were finally matched! In August our son was born – four weeks early and things have been crazy and wonderful ever since! Being parents is more than we could have hoped for! We realize we are not typical adoptive parents - but we hope that others will see us and be encouraged - parents come in all shapes, sizes, abilities, and backgrounds!
In the months when we heard no after no – it was easy to become discouraged. To question whether or not this dream would ever come true. To wonder if we were pushing for something that just wasn’t meant to be. But now? Looking at this sweet baby, I have absolutely no doubt that he was meant to be. That our little family of three was meant to be. And that feels amazing. I am humbled. I am ashamed at myself for feeling doubtful. I am so incredibly grateful. I am overwhelmed with how much I love this baby already. I am just so glad we kept going – that we said yes – that we waited – and that God provided this amazing child.
To hear more about Matt and Emily and follow along on their journey of adoption and parenthood you can find more on their blog, Karwoski Life.
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