Backstory

This is the story of our family and our journey to find the missing member(s). Those of you that know us are probably wondering, who’s missing? You know Brian (Da), April (the Momma), Kira (the pilot), and Kelsey (math genius/party waiting to happen)… so who’s missing? There’s obviously a story here, so let’s begin.

April and I have been married for almost 23 years and have two smart, beautiful, talented and all-around great girls. We’ve had our trials and have been tested seemingly beyond measure, but through it all God has seen us through. His faithfulness and grace are more than enough, and we continually have the opportunity to live-out our faith in everyday life. We are blessed indeed.

One of the ongoing story lines of our life is that we regret not having more children. We’ve loved every minute of raising our girls, and have always wished for a bigger family, but we made the mistake of thinking we were “done” after the birth of our second daughter, Kelsey.

We thought we were done, and like many couples I went to the doctor for the "snip-snip." He asked “are you sure?” and we thought we were. Little did we know the heartache and emptiness that would grow in our hearts as we realized our mistake over the years to come.

Many years later, we heard of a doctor in Los Angeles that specialized in vasectomy reversals, and had great success helping men become fertile again. It was an expensive long shot, but one we were willing to take for the hope of having more children. After the intensive micro-surgery and painful recovery, we tried and tried, but alas we had joined the world of couples struggling with infertility and hope seemed dim.

Through it all we never lost the feeling that our family was incomplete – we trusted God to let us know when and how more kids would come into our lives. We volunteered, we coached, we taught, we cared for others, and we loved. We knew our hearts had room for more, but we also knew God had a plan that is better than ours.

Then, through God’s perfect grace and providence, He reminded us that He loves us all, and that perhaps our missing Swerd was waiting to be adopted!

I believe it was the great philosopher Horton who once said, “I believe in you all.
 A person's a person, no matter how small!
 And you very small persons will not have to die, if you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and try!"

Thanks to the internet, we heard her voice all the way from Eastern Europe.