It’s been a “rollercoaster” road to parenthood for Kaley and Jeremy Carling. But in the space of less than 24 hours, the pair who are unable to have children of their own, adopted four children aged two and under.
So they posted a photo and blurb on Reddit to share their exciting news with the world.
The Carling family with the judge. SOURCE: Reddit
Here’s what Kaley wrote to go with the photo:
*Last week my husband and I were finally able to make our family official! On Wednesday we finalized the adoption for our twins (private adoption); Thursday (my husband’s 30th birthday!!) we adopted our foster children that we have had for 14+ months. Four kids 2 and under is no joke, but our dreams were realized (times 4!) and we are so grateful and happy!
Our journey to get to this point has been anything but easy; health issues, infertility, failed adoptions, death. Heartbreak. And more heartbreak. Shit that is so crazy you couldn’t make it up. It seemed like it would never end. We are here to give hope to those in a similar situation to persevere, to push through. When you feel like giving up, don’t. It will all be worth it in the end…sleep deprivation and all.*
Kaley can’t have children because the medication she’s on to treat her lupus would harm or kill an unborn baby. So she and Jeremy have always planned to adopt.
And, as pointed out on Reddit, it wasn’t easy and early hopes were tragically dashed. At one stage, they had a surrogate mum they were working with. “I went to every doctor appointment with her,” said Kaley. “We were taking care of her and at times, her 2-year-old son. But then when the baby was born [in July] she changed her mind.”
In August they found out the mum was jailed for child sex trafficking and then as they were petitioning for custody of the baby and her older brother, little girl was murdered.
Around the same time, they started fostering sisters Haven and Indie, aged two and one, and then they were notified by a mum of nine-month-old twins Sunny and Weslie that she was relinquishing her rights to her daughters.
Over the space of less than 24 hours at the end of last month, the Carling family turned up at the local courthouse in Utah twice and formally adopted all four little girls.
Kaley is now a full-time stay-at-home mum – with four kids two and under it would be hard to work. And she was quite open on Reddit about the fact that while she and Jeremy are elated at the instant family, that it can be a slog.
“I did leave my job in order to be here for the kids until they enter school. So we now have half the income and 4 more mouths to feed..we are definitely stoked that the twins will be off of formula in 3 months, I am literally counting down the days,”
she said.
“We knew that it would be a major lifestyle change and that we would have to sacrifice a lot in order to make it work, it was a decision my husband I and made together in order to be there for our children that we fought so hard for.”
And she has a favourite time of the day with her adorable new family: “I love the bedtime routine, it’s my favourite (sic) part of the day. And not just because they are on their way to sleep.”
Best of luck to the Carlings.
