NightLight Inc. Agency

James and Leah began trying to have a baby two years into their marriage. They soon discovered that due to Leah’s surgery at age 16 for a ruptured appendix, scar tissue was preventing the eggs from coming to the uterine tubes. More surgery was the answer and they rejoiced when they finally saw that positive pregnancy test. Their son was conceived traditionally and born nine months later.

As many parents do, Leah and James waited a few years before trying again. They needed more surgeries to remove scar tissue and sadly each attempt at conception was unsuccessful. Knowing their family was not complete they sought the next level in fertility technology and pursued IVF.

Leah responded almost too well to the hormones and the doctor finally decided to stop retrieving eggs after he’d removed 22. They transferred three embryos and two implanted. Leah and James were overjoyed to learn they were having twins! After a normally eventful pregnancy, two beautiful, healthy girls were born.

Years later, their family of five found themselves busy with their involvement at church, raising 4-H animals, traveling, sports, Civil War reenactments, band, swimming, dance, and caring for aging parents. James and Leah knew their family was complete and, after thoughtful consideration and much discussion, decided to place their remaining nine embryos for adoption through Snowflakes. Continue reading »

Thank you to all who were a part of our Nightlight Christian Adoptions’ Magical Moments Dinner & Auction on April 29th! From the joys of sharing a meal with old and new friends alike, to watching awesome adoptees like Toma & Nick wheel & deal those raffle tickets away, to being WOW-ed by special entertainer Omar Covarrubias, to the beautiful dancing of our Nightlight Children’s Ensemble and more… a Magical night was enjoyed by all! We are so grateful to the many who gave of their time, energy, and gifts to make this evening so memorable for Nightlight families and supporters. If you couldn’t make it to this special dinner, make sure to join us on July 14th for the annual summer picnic at Los Vaqueros Park in Placentia! RSVP with Kristen in the CA office at (714) 693-5437 or info@nightlight.org.

Three special leaders at Nightlight- Lisa Prather, Victory Allan, and Laura Godwin!

The reason for we celebrate- all of the attending Nightlight kids!

Catching up with beloved Nightlight supporters

Great job Nightlight Children's Ensemble

Last Saturday (April 21), Nightlight hosted our 4^th annual competitive 5K in Greenville, South Carolina. The race was held at the beautiful Furman University and participants were able to run around the lake on campus and take in the rest of the extraordinary venue.  We had around 160 runners in this year’s event.  Participants ranged in age from our youngest being only a few months old to our oldest who was in her 60’s.  The event was geared towards families, but also attracted local running competitors Bill O’Shields and Elliot Taylor.

This year’s event was a huge success.  Over and over again we have heard what a truly great time families and runners had during the race.  We have also heard numerous times that people cannot wait to participate next year!

We want to take the time to thank our amazing committee; who sacrificed months to plan and prepare for the day; Furman University, for a great location; and Go-Green Timing for helping us make this year’s event a hit.  We look forward to another great race next year and hope for an even bigger turnout!

For more event pictures, visit us on Facebook.

“Megan, I have a call for you…”

By the tone of the receptionist’s voice, I knew there was a problem. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Well, she wants to donate her embryos, but the family can’t afford the storage anymore. They won’t be able to donate if they can’t move them right away.”

I was too familiar with these calls. ‘The couple has been storing embryos ever since their IVF cycle, and now their kids are around four and six years old. They have decided not to have more children. It is no longer affordable to store these remaining embryos and they don’t plan to transfer them. Now they have just received the next storage bill.’
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The Snowflakes team at Nightlight® Christian Adoptions decided this was a problem which they could find a solution for. When opening a new storage facility was not the solution, they contacted Fairfax Cryobank in Austin, Texas. Several former Snowflake donor families had used it for storage and the staff at Fairfax Cryobank was easy to work with.

One conversation led to another and Fairfax Cryobank and Nightlight are now pleased to offer a low-cost storage option for donated embryos.

Families looking to donate their embryos can choose to move them out of their fertility clinic and over to Fairfax Cryobank for just slightly more than the cost of Fed Ex overnight shipping. The embryos will be safely transported to Fairfax Cryobank in Texas and stored for up to a year while their embryo donation is completed.

For the donor, the most difficult part of the process is completing the application and signing the Fairfax Cryobank storage agreement–the professionals in the Snowflake’s and Fairfax Cryobank programs take care of the rest.

Embryos are generally moved to Fairfax Cryobank a few weeks after the patient decides to donate them. The cost to the patient is just $350 and includes Fed Ex overnight shipping and one year of storage. The donor, working with Snowflakes, can be as involved in the selection of the adoptive family as they choose. Another benefit to the donor is the fact they can know the final outcome of their donation—was a baby born?

Fairfax Cryobank is a trusted service provider when it comes to storing embryos and the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program has repeatedly demonstrated their care for the donating family and their embryos as individual. Snowflakes services are child-centered and always keep the best interests of the children at the heart of their program.

Learn more about this exceptional storage solution for your remaining embryos.

The first child born through the process of Embryo Adoption was Hannah. Hannah and her parents share their amazing journey as they helped pioneer an entirely new way for people to build their families. The Strege family continues to advocate and support embryo adoption in their local community all the way to the White House.

Based on a visit to the CDC with an expert on HIV/AIDS, who also has a strong and personal interest in orphan care, I learned that one of the most striking facts that all of us who care about orphans should realize: Not only does AIDS create orphans, but orphans are the most likely group to become HIV infected.  For example, 60 % of street kids, ages 15-25 years old, in St. Petersburg and nearly 54% of kids in Kiev are HIV positive.  We already know that there is a higher rate of crime, drug use and prostitution among those who age-out of the orphanages—and these are the same risk factors that lead to HIV infection.  When we start to take care of the orphan crisis, we will also be positively impacting the HIV/AID crisis.

One area most impacted by AIDS is Africa, so when I read that some people are “concerned” about the rate of adoption among children fromAfricabecause people are “trafficking” in adoption, I am truly amazed. Does anyone really think that people are stealing babies and children to sell them for adoption? Are there not enough babies and children already orphaned by AIDS and other diseases inAfrica? Are children left at police stations or with elderly grandmothers who can barely care for them, not truly orphans? Why do these children not deserve a stable home? Is it truly illegal for a judge to rule that this child deserves a family and gives guardianship for a child to a family so that the family can legally adopt the child? Continue reading »

Over the last couple weeks, there has been an extraordinary amount of flooding in Cambodia. One site recently affected is the Children’s Relief Center (CRC), an organization that Nightlight has partnered with in the past for humanitarian efforts and adoption. The flooding has come into the first story of a wooden house that’s part of the orphanage complex. The structure is holding up well, but there will likely be expenses related to damages. If you’d like to donate to help cover these costs, go to our Donate page, click on “Donate Online” and then select “Cambodia Aid” from the drop-down.

CRC, October 12, 2011

CRC, October 12, 2011

(Nightlight has donated funds to the CRC to assist with purchasing food during this time of unusually severe flooding.)

Laura Beauvais-Godwin, director of Nightlight Christian Adoption’s South Carolina office and leader of the Carolina Christian Alliance for Orphans, is helping coordinate Finding Families: 2011 Adoption and Foster Care Conference, to be held October 25, 2011.

Presenters include representatives from USCIS, SC DSS, US Department of State, various South Carolina adoption agencies, and the ABBA Fund, as well as attorney Raymond Godwin and special guest Ryan Dobson, son of James Dobson.

This one-day conference in Taylors, SC, is sponsored by United States Senator Jim DeMint and Carolina Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Free registration and more details at the event page.