OPEN ADOPTION, OPEN HEART: An Adoptive Father's Inspiring Journey by RUSSELL ELKINS

When Kathy approached me in participating in this blog tour, I jumped in, as my husband and I went through a similar situation with our then 15 year old daughter, who had been raped while on a cruise ship with her biological mother's parents.  That horrific event caused her to get pregnant, so we, as a family, went through a very stressful time.  Back then, there weren't as many open adoptions as there are now, but through LDS Social Services, Mary was able to choose from aprox 10 couples as parents to her daughter.  Before the adoption process took place, we tried pressing charges, but since this occured in International Waters, we couldn't do anything, though the room steward was deported. We tried contacting him, but to no avail, so we proceeded with adoption.  Through LDS Social Services, Mary was able to communicate with Lauren's mom over the next 18 years, though we didn't get pictures until she was 16.  The day we made contact with Lauren's mom was so exciting, as she found me on Google through my husband's patent and found my Forever Friends Book Nook Blog with my short bio with Mary's name and where she lived.  We are now FB Friends and she attends BYU-Provo.  She is now 22.
Now, Open Adoption, Open Heart is a very inspiring story, told from the father's perspective.  Russell delves into all aspects of adoption.  After going through difficulties with infertilty and the strss, both Russ and Jammie decide to go through the adopton process.  They filled out a profile sheet that would go online, so they had to just sit back and wait.  They finally hear from Brianna, a young 15 year old teenager from Mississippi who had come across their profile, liking what she saw.  At approx the same time, they are contacted by another woman, so they thnk of adopting both babies, but we hear no further on this. 
When Brianna backs off, Russ and Jammie are devastated, but her mother calls to say all will work out, as she changes her mind.  Brianna has problems with her ex-boyfriend wanting the baby, so with support from Brianna, her mother and other relatves, and from their lawyer, they had her fly to Idaho to have her baby to make things easier.  As things became somewhatdifficult, Russ and Jammie invited Brianna to live with them, then spend the week before and after the baby came to make it less stressful for them.  There was alot more chaos after Brianna and her mother leave for home, but everything turned out in the end.  They came to love brianna and brianna returned their love and feel grateful for the loving relationshp they have and that little Ira will be a part of Brianna's life for years to come.
When everyone in our family heard that our Mary was pregnant, her mom's parents and mine wanted her to have an abortion and her grandfather was a doctor.  That shocked us  and my parents feelings shocked us.  My MIL wanted Mary to keep her baby and when Bob's mom saw her the next morning while we were in Church, she told Mary she was throwing her baby in the trashcan.   When we were told this by Mary when we came in later, we were quite angry, as we told the nurses that Grandma wasn't allowed to see Mary without us being there.
I've always been in favor of adoption, as abortion is murder.  Our teenage girls have no clue as to what they are doing when they abort their babies.  There are so many couples that can't have children and the happiness and joy an adoption makes is so amazing.

I received my copy from Russell Elkins.

I give it 5 stars.

Publisher: Aloha Publishing 
Date Published: 2012

ISBN: 978-1-61206-034-7

120pp