At BraveLove, we're dedicated to erasing the stigmas of adoption, and a big part of that involves sharing stories that honor birth mothers. Adoption impacts people forever. That's why we love to stay connected with those who have shared their stories with BraveLove over the years, like Paola.

Paola and her husband have been involved with BraveLove since nearly the beginning. They've attended BraveLove events and expressed interest in adopting one day. Fast forward a few years and their family has grown through adoption! So we're catching up and learning what Paola's life looks like these days.

How would you describe yourself today?

Small but mighty. My mom used to tell me that and it stuck with me.

When we started talking about adoption I immediately knew I wanted it to be International. What I didn’t realize at the time was how selfish my motives were in making that decision. You see, I was scared to “share” a child with another woman, and I was not interested in being part of such a messy situation.

God graciously changed my heart and showed me the beauty that is domestic adoption. He laid it heavily on my heart and I am so glad that He did… A passion for Birth Mom ministry was born in me, yet I had no idea just what God was doing. We prayed for our future Birth Mom with our two children and for each situation that we saw along the way. 

The story of adoption is born out of love. In honor of Valentine's Day we're sharing an adoption love story shared from the perspective of both an adoptive mom and birth mom. Meet Kimberly, an adoptive mom and find out how she and her husband's lives have been forever changed through the love of a birth mother...

On October 24th of last year, God wouldn't let me sleep. In the middle of the night, I was wide awake and literally compelled to go into our empty nursery and pray. 

That night, I sat in our third bedroom and prayed over our adoption. I prayed for our child and the birth family, and the story that God was writing. I stayed in that room for over 3 hours and filled 11 pages in my journal. This never happened again, and I didn't think much of it until nine months later.

When researching adoption before we officially started the process, I fell in love with the idea of having an open adoption.  I would spend hours reading and watching personal stories of what other family’s lives looked like with an open adoption.

While watching videos on YouTube about open adoption, I came across this one video that really caught my attention and illustrated to me what open adoption is about. It showed a birthmother handing over her newborn baby boy to his adoptive parents...

How did you and your husband come to the decision to adopt?

Both Shawn and I knew that we wanted to grow our family thru adoption. It was something that we quickly connected on. We also knew that we wanted to have a little girl someday and her name would be Olivia. Somehow we’ve always been pretty much in sync when it comes to the important things. We feel so blessed that God had that same plan for us and for our family.

How did you feel when you first met your child's birth mom?

Wow!  Meeting Ali was one of the most exciting and nerve-racking days of our lives. Mad thoughts and nervous energy were top contender emotions! We received “the call” from our caseworker Deasree on January 16th, 2013 with the amazing news that a birth mom named Ali wanted to meet us! It was such an adrenaline rush. Both Shawn and I were at work when Deasree got a hold of us. Needless to say, we couldn’t concentrate the remainder of that day. We were slated to meet Ali the following Monday, January 21st, 2013. Her sister Claire would be with her during our meeting. Even more nerve-racking. Would they both like us?

I have always wanted to be a father.  Even as a child I would think about what it would be like when, one day, I have a child of my own...

We are finishing the Extended Family Series today! We are sharing the story of Micah's adoption told by Kevin, his adoptive father. Find out how Kevin went from being closed to the option of adoption to experiencing a more open adoption then he ever could have imagined. Meet Kevin...

I thought of the things I would like to pass down to them, the experiences, the memories I would like to create with them, my faith, my fanboy level love of Superman. The one thing that never crossed my mind was adoption.  In all those dreams it was always assumed that the child would be of my flesh.  This is probably why it took me so long to come around to the idea of adoption. 

I never thought it would take nearly six years to build a family. Nor did I ever think I could love a child as much as I love our son, Micah...

In Part 1 of the Extended Family Series, we heard from Tiffany - birth mom to Micah. Then, in Part 2, we heard from Micah's birth father, Brian. Join us as we hear this same amazing story told through the eyes of Marissa, Micah's adoptive mother... 

After about a year or so of marriage, my husband and I decided it was time to start a family. After a year of no success, we sought the help of a fertility specialist. We were quickly told that both my husband and I had some serious infertility issues that were preventing me from becoming pregnant. So we went straight to In-Vitro Fertilization. After the first failed attempt, we tried again with no success. Finally we were told that it would be nearly impossible for us to conceive.