Campaign Story

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a mother. My family always joked that I wanted a baby even when I was a baby. I was always the girl at parties holding the babies. In fact, my husband, Kessler, recently used the presence of strollers at a church gathering to narrow down where I would be. I am drawn to children. Maybe that’s why I married Kessler. I saw him interact with children and fell in love right there. When we met he told me of his struggle with childhood Leukemia. The repercussions of that diagnosis and treatment are still impacting his body today, so we need help to conceive children of our own. When we first talked about having children we both wanted a big family; read 5 children. But now we would be happy with one that is ours to love and care for.

Before considering IVF, Kessler and I sought out having children through foster to adoption. Over the course of two years we had a total of 6 children go through our home. Fostering other people’s children was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. To fall in love with a child that is not yours, and ultimately have the best decision for them be removal from your life and family. We learned so much as foster parents. Coping skills, effective arguing skills, and even better ways to teach a teenager to make dinner. Over those two years we parented every childhood stage from infancy to teenager, and even special needs children.

When I was young I decided that I wanted to be a pediatrician. That way I could hold a baby every day for the rest of my life. When that didn’t work out as planned I found myself drawn to the psychology field and the difficulties that children go through during their formative growing years. I have molded that degree into a career as a nanny, teaching young children’s minds and bodies to interact with the world and people around them. Nannying has given me so many insights into parenting that I hadn’t had before. Ways to communicate, teach, and even learn from a child in the purest form. In my years as a nanny my heart has grown immeasurably in size. Every child that has entered my life has grown my wisdom and knowledge of what it means to be a parent. Being able to take those skills and actually parent a child that is my own will be the most rewarding thing I will ever do in my life.

Kessler and I grew up in families that knew financial struggle. We have worked extremely hard to make sure that our family will not know those struggles. We are at a point with our finances that we are able to provide for us as a couple and have some savings if an emergency happens, but we do not have access to the amount of money that IVF would need. We are asking that you consider us as candidates for your grant since we have worked hard to give a child a good life. Even to the point of choosing already born children who need loving families to support them. Grants and donations are now the only way we will be able to have a child of our own.