I have some pretty awesome news! I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated to the Deklyn Sawatzky Endowment Fund, we have reached our first initial goal of $10,000!! I can't believe it! In under 4 months we raised $10,000! $10,000 was our first goal because after there is that amount in the fund the interest created goes towards research for Hypophosphatsia! We will obviously continue to raise money. I want them to have as much money as possible for research but now at least we have made it to the point where the fund is making a difference! I feel so proud to be able to carry on my son's name through this fund. Its one of the only things I have left that is a piece of my son that is active and it makes me so happy to be able to carry this out. My goal is to see no child die from HPP, I'm sure that one day I will be able to hear about a child who was just like Deklyn and hear how he's doing so amazing and getting to do all the things that Deklyn didn't get to do. That will probably make me sad that Deklyn didn't get that chance... but he got more then most of the children who came before him! Some HPP kids only had that moment in their parents arms right after they were born and some I'm sure are lost in miscarriage.
I want to ask for prayer as we continue down the road of adoption. Prayer for peace and patience for us and also prayer for our child and the birth mother of that child. We are excited and can't wait to have a baby in our home but at the same time try not to be too excited because we have no idea how long it could take or if we will ever be picked. It's a very helpless feeling. We love being parents, and we can't wait to be able to act like parents again. I'm excited for our families... although we will never forget Deklyn and he will be a very real part of our lives forever, I think us having a child through adoption will bring a lot of healing to our whole family especially on my side. Deklyn was the only grand baby and nephew, and there is a very obvious void when we get together where as on my husband's side there are 2 very crazy and lovable grand babies that I feel helps the void of Deklyn not being their become just a bit more bare-able. I know everyone misses him like crazy and that won't stop, but I know as more kids join the family and the date of his death moves further behind us it will become easier and their will be less hard days for everyone. Of course I don't want a child for the reason of helping everyone to heal from Deklyn's death, I want a child because I love being a parent and for the exact same reason we decided to start a family when we had Deklyn.
A few weekends ago we went to a mandatory weekend long seminar for perspective adopt parents. I'll be completely honest, when we started this whole adoption process I was very upset. For us, getting pregnant was easy and adoption looked so hard. I was mad that we had to make the responsible choice for our family and decide not to get pregnant because of the risk of having more children like Deklyn and not wanting to put a child or our families through that again. I kept thinking, even if we did have another child like Deklyn of course I would love him/her... I would do everything I did for Deklyn again in a heartbeat... but I know if we went through that again we would have a lot of guilt and it would be that much harder watching that baby experience the things Deklyn had to experience knowing that we could have prevented it. Everyone has their own reasons for why they decide to have kids or not when knowing the risks and for us right now even though for me it has been a very hard decision we know that this is the choice we want for our family. I know quite a few families who have decided to have kids knowing the risks and I am not trying to say that they shouldn't have done that. This is just want feels right for us. For me deciding to adopt was a bit of a grieving process and I can't really say I'm done grieving but I am a thousand times more excited about it now then I was when we first started discussing it. There are so many things you have to do when you decide to adopt and it feels unfair... and I guess in some ways it is, but I've totally gotten over it. This is the path our family is taking to have children in our home and that is just the way it is.. being upset isn't going to change it and I have seriously come to the point where I am just so excited about it and can't wait to hear that a birth mom has picked us to be her baby's parents!
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Again I just want to thank all of you who have been supporting us with prayer and donating to Deklyn's Fund, it means so much to us! Thank you to all of you who continue to talk about Deklyn and tell us how much he has impacted you, it makes us so happy!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support! Sorry that I don't post to often anymore but I promise to keep you updated on Deklyn's Foundation and our whole adoption process.
I want to ask for prayer as we continue down the road of adoption. Prayer for peace and patience for us and also prayer for our child and the birth mother of that child. We are excited and can't wait to have a baby in our home but at the same time try not to be too excited because we have no idea how long it could take or if we will ever be picked. It's a very helpless feeling. We love being parents, and we can't wait to be able to act like parents again. I'm excited for our families... although we will never forget Deklyn and he will be a very real part of our lives forever, I think us having a child through adoption will bring a lot of healing to our whole family especially on my side. Deklyn was the only grand baby and nephew, and there is a very obvious void when we get together where as on my husband's side there are 2 very crazy and lovable grand babies that I feel helps the void of Deklyn not being their become just a bit more bare-able. I know everyone misses him like crazy and that won't stop, but I know as more kids join the family and the date of his death moves further behind us it will become easier and their will be less hard days for everyone. Of course I don't want a child for the reason of helping everyone to heal from Deklyn's death, I want a child because I love being a parent and for the exact same reason we decided to start a family when we had Deklyn.
A few weekends ago we went to a mandatory weekend long seminar for perspective adopt parents. I'll be completely honest, when we started this whole adoption process I was very upset. For us, getting pregnant was easy and adoption looked so hard. I was mad that we had to make the responsible choice for our family and decide not to get pregnant because of the risk of having more children like Deklyn and not wanting to put a child or our families through that again. I kept thinking, even if we did have another child like Deklyn of course I would love him/her... I would do everything I did for Deklyn again in a heartbeat... but I know if we went through that again we would have a lot of guilt and it would be that much harder watching that baby experience the things Deklyn had to experience knowing that we could have prevented it. Everyone has their own reasons for why they decide to have kids or not when knowing the risks and for us right now even though for me it has been a very hard decision we know that this is the choice we want for our family. I know quite a few families who have decided to have kids knowing the risks and I am not trying to say that they shouldn't have done that. This is just want feels right for us. For me deciding to adopt was a bit of a grieving process and I can't really say I'm done grieving but I am a thousand times more excited about it now then I was when we first started discussing it. There are so many things you have to do when you decide to adopt and it feels unfair... and I guess in some ways it is, but I've totally gotten over it. This is the path our family is taking to have children in our home and that is just the way it is.. being upset isn't going to change it and I have seriously come to the point where I am just so excited about it and can't wait to hear that a birth mom has picked us to be her baby's parents!
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Again I just want to thank all of you who have been supporting us with prayer and donating to Deklyn's Fund, it means so much to us! Thank you to all of you who continue to talk about Deklyn and tell us how much he has impacted you, it makes us so happy!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support! Sorry that I don't post to often anymore but I promise to keep you updated on Deklyn's Foundation and our whole adoption process.
