It was two years ago when Rick and Caroline Wiersma made the decision to start a family.
"We just really loved the idea of adoption and we both wanted to pursue adoption," says Caroline Wiersma.
The couple worked with Bethany Christian Services on the adoption process.
"We learned about open adoption, that's what we were really attracted to because that involved not only a child but the child's mother being actively involved," says Rick Wiersma.
That mother turned out to be Morgan Wittenbach.
"There was a lot of worry about what I was going to do because I wasn't in the best relationship with her biological father," says Wittenbach.
But that worry went away when Morgan learned about the Wiersma's.
"I read through their book and loved everything about them," says Wittenbach.
Then on April 27, Lana Anne Wiersma was born. Caroline admits the experience was an emotional roller coaster.
"To watch Morgan strap her baby girl into our car seat, put her in our car and watch us drive away with her was an emotion that I have never experienced in my life," says Wiersma.
But that initial sting has softened as Morgan now plays a role in Lana's life and all three parents celebrate the holidays together.
"I'm thankful and blessed to have them in my life, I cannot imagine my life without them," says Wittenbach.
"I think that a lot of people don't tend to pursue openness to the extent that we do because they'e scared—they're scared of their child loving a different parent more than they love them, they're scared of their child being confused. But if we lived our whole life not doing things that we're scared of imagine how much beauty there wouldn't be in the world," says Wiersma.
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