Hopeful Adoptive Family: Galbraith Family Spotlight

How did you meet your spouse? How long did you both date before you decided to get married? How long have you been married?
Troy and I met at a summer dance. He had just graduated from high school and I was heading into my senior year. We hit it off right away and started dating. We dated for a year. I graduated from high school and went off to college. Troy went to Africa and served a two year mission for our church. We wrote letters for those two years. After Troy returned home in September, we started dating again, we were engaged in December and married the following May. We have been happily married for almost twelve years now! 

What was the first thing you really came to appreciate about your spouse and why was that quality/characteristic important to you [if the ladies of the couple are answering this, then grab your husband's and have them answer it for you as well ;) ]?
Rachel on Troy: Troy was quiet and kind. He just wanted me to be happy and that was all that mattered to him. I loved that if I was upset about something he would just hold me and tell me everything would be okay- he never offered advice on how to “fix” it and I appreciated that. Troy on Rachel: She was outgoing and fun. She was always nice to everybody and everybody liked her. She has a way of making people feel comfortable right away. 


Do you have any current family traditions that you celebrate as a family? If so, how did these traditions begin? 
We have so many traditions: we get together with Troy’s family for almost every holiday. The family loves to dance and so we set up the Wii on a projector and everybody dances to the Just Dance game or the Michael Jackson game. Everybody dances- the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, and all the kids. It is so fun! 


If you currently have children, how many children do you have right? Are they biological? Are they adopted?
We have four biological children. Our oldest two are girls, and our youngest two are boys. We always wanted a large family and had to stop after four for some medical reasons, but we are excited to continue growing our family through the miracle of adoption! 

If not already explained, how did you come to the decision to adopt? 
I have always planned on adopting, ever since I was a little girl. Troy and I discussed it while we were dating and both agreed that it was something we felt drawn to. Then we began having our biological children and the idea of adoption was put on hold. After our fourth child was born, there were complications and the doctors had to tie my tubes. Another pregnancy could be life-threatening. While we sat in the hospital with our new baby son, we started talking about adoption. We had always known it would be part of our lives, and we were excited that the opportunity had just presented itself! 


How has your experience in the world of adoption mirrored or changed your expectation of adoption? 
I have always seen adoption as a miracle, but since we have taken the leap for ourselves, I have come to realize how really miraculous it is. I have done my best to see adoption from the perspective of a birth-mother. To see how truly self-less a birth-mother has to be, humbles me to tears. I respect those women so much. 


How do you define open adoption? What is open adoption to you? 
We believe that a child should know his/her biological parents. It is important in establishing his/her place in the world and in our family. Open adoption to us means that we would get to know the child’s birth-mother and hopefully become friends (well, more like family.) We feel like we would be gaining two members of our family- the baby and the birth-mother. Of course we would only be as open as the birth-mother is comfortable with, but we hope that would include pictures, phone calls, visits, etc. 


What would your ideal relationship with "your" birth-mother be, pre-placement? (Would you like to attend Dr. appointments with her, have her to Sunday dinners, get together on a monthly basis for a movie, & etc?  How involved would you, ideally, like to be involved, & etc.) 
Our ideal relationship pre-placement would be to meet up for lunches, attend doctor’s appointments with her, talk on the phone, and be open about the entire process. We would like our kids to be comfortable around her, and vice-versa since she will be a big part of our lives from here on out. 


If you have yet to adopt, how do you anticipate building a relationship with the birth-mother? How important do you perceive the relationship between you and birth-mother to be throughout the entire process that is adoption (pre-placement, placement, post-placement)?
We anticipate building a relationship with the birth-mother with lots of talking and visiting. We want her to know us and to feel comfortable about her decision to place her baby with our family. She is making the biggest sacrifice anyone could ever make and we want her to know, without a doubt, that she is placing her baby with a family that she feels good about. 


For any young woman considering placing her child for adoption, and who is reading this right now, what do you want to say to her?
We would like her to know that we pray for her every single day. We know that the decision to place is not an easy one and we respect her for considering all her options. We want her to know that the future is bright. 


Do you have a blog that you would like to share with those reading this today? If so, what is the address of your blog?
www.ourcircleisntcomplete.blogspot.com