Katie Page called Birmingham, AL home up until her mid-thirties. Her divorce had been particularly difficult on her. Upon reflection, Katie began to realize that she felt dissatisfied with her life. But still feeling young and vibrant, she knew she still had many options available.
Katie knew that a drastic change was necessary. The dissatisfaction with her current situation was becoming unbearable. The feeling of unhappiness was becoming too much and she knew that was not how she wanted to feel for the rest of the life. She knew that in order to shake this feeling she would have to wipe the slate clean and begin anew if she wanted to truly chase her dreams. Leaving behind all of her friends in Alabama, Katie decided to pick everything up and move away.
After receiving a job offer that sounded like a great opportunity to start fresh, she decided to relocate. Excited and hopeful, Katie left Alabama and moved to Denver, CO in search of her new path and life. However, Colorado proved to be a large cultural change in comparison to Alabama. She started her new job in commercial construction. With a new job title at a brand-new company, Katie felt excited about her new life.
Her excitement was obvious to others, and for the first time in a while she felt optimistic about her life. She decided to buy a new project home, which she planned to spend her free time fixing up by herself. Even during her first viewing of the house, Katie had a vision for it. Unfortunately, the only way she could make that dream come true was if she decided to do the renovations herself—even then though Katie knew that her new four-bedroom home was meant for more people than just herself. Little did she know what that would mean for her future…
She knew that the renovations would require some extra cash, but to Katie this was a good thing. Wanting to focus on herself and her home, the savings she had would be put directly into the house. This would ensure her focus and keep her occupied. This also meant that she would have to live in the big home by herself as she worked on fixing it. The size and silence made it abundantly clear that something was definitely missing in her life. Thinking that her dream of having a big family ended when she divorced, she began to realize that the desire was not going away.
Katie had many options open to her. Even though she felt unsure about her abilities to renovate her new home by herself, she continued to work hard and focus on improving her situation. Even with the joy of seeing the improvements, she still didn’t feel the sense of fulfillment she longed for.
Katie thought changing her surroundings, her job, and buying a new home would provide a new outlook on life—and it did to a degree. However, it reinforced her longing for a family of her own. Knowing that she had fertility hurdles to jump over, she began to consider fostering children.
As her new large home began to take shape, she decided to follow through with her idea of adoption. Having always loved kids, the thought of it providing a new purpose was too much to pass up. Motherhood was always in her mind.
After talking with some members of the church she had joined when she moved to Denver, she heard about a group that hosted a fostering seminar. The idea of helping kids in need immediately gave Katie a sense of purpose. The seminar for fostering children was exactly what she had been looking for. Katie’s mind was now set that this was the direction that she wanted to take her life. Even though the challenge was big, she was determined to meet it head on.
In 2015 she filled out her foster application, which she knew would be a major change to her life. Little did she know she was inevitably altering her life course even more than she had originally anticipated when she left her Alabama home in search of her calling.
Even though she was going to be a single parent to a foster child, the thoughts and feelings that she would get every time she thought about it assured her that this was the right choice. Finding her way through parenthood would be no easy task, but she was confident that she would love every minute of it.
Soon after Katie submitted her application and went through screenings, she began to receive foster opportunities. Most of the cases she saw were not just children without parents, but also ones who had been through some sort of trauma in their life. Knowing this made Katie even more determined to help.
In 2016 she fostered four children and found herself eager to adopt a child of her own. Even though she found joy and excitement fostering, it had always felt like it was just for a short time. Growing attached to the kids and then watching them go to another family was satisfying and heartbreaking at the same time.
Katie had almost made up her mind to become a permanent parent when fate gave her exactly what she was looking for. Not long after talking with a caseworker about her wanting to adopt a child, the phone rang about a child who had been left behind by his biological mother at a hospital close to her.
The little boy, only four days old, was the perfect chance for her to become the mother she had always wanted to be. Not missing a beat, Katie told the caseworker that she wanted him and to not look any further for a family for him. Unfortunately, the case worker couldn’t guarantee anything, so now Katie had to wait for the final decision.
Lucky for Katie, she didn’t have to wait long. Trying to keep her anticipation in check, she answered the phone when she saw the caseworker calling her. Later that day Katie walked out of the hospital with her new son cradled to her chest. Although she had once fostered a child barely over the age of 12 months, she had never taken care of a newborn before. The boy needed her love and care after being left at the hospital at just four days old. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the worst part…
His physicians also found that the baby boy had been exposed to illegal substances while still in the womb. Fortunately, he was not showing any signs of withdrawal yet. Even more fortunate was that after most testing it was determined he would not suffer any long-term side effects. With the tough start to life, Katie became even more determined to shower her little boy with love. It was time for a new beginning for both of them! He became Katie’s primary focus.
Even though he was born four days previously, he had still not yet been given a name. The search for the perfect name began and Katie was determined to find it. After days of searching for the perfect fit, she finally decided on her favorite…
Katie fell in love with Grayson right away. She felt an immediate bond that had no real explanation other than what some might call fate. She had always wanted to be a mother and she was not going to let this chance to be a great one pass her by.
Knowing that this was her true calling, Katie dove right in without any restraint. She was determined to raise Grayson as her own flesh and blood. She had fostered children who had been through trauma before, but none had stayed for an extended period of time. But she was excited about the opportunity to be a mother to this little boy. All that was left was to find his biological mother…
The caseworker looked all over for the baby boy’s biological parents, but were unable to uncover their whereabouts. They put ads in papers, posted on Facebook, but still got no reply from anyone, and no one came looking for the boy at the hospital where they left him.
Even though Katie made up her mind to make Grayson her son early on in his stay with her, it would take another 11 months before she was be able to have the title of mother for Grayson. The excitement was uncontainable, and she was overjoyed with the news.
While Katie knew that she wanted a big family, she had thought it best to hold off until he was a little older. With all of the space in their new home, however, she knew that someday she would get to put it all to good use. But she was still heavily focused on her baby boy. Happy to be the center of Katie’s love and attention, Grayson was beginning to show improvements.
Shortly after the adoption was completed, Katie received a random phone call. Unbeknownst to them, this phone call would be a changing point in the little family’s lives forever.
The caller told Katie that there was another newborn at the same hospital who had also been abandoned by her mother and was in desperate need of a good home. Katie was also informed that the baby girl was named Hannah. Deep down Katie knew she wanted to help this girl.
Unfortunately, Hannah had also been exposed to illegal substances while in utero, which would mean she would need much of the same kind of attention and care that Grayson needed. Although that meant that Katie was a perfect candidate as she had previous experience, she was still heavily focused on her growing baby boy.
Talking through the situation with the case worker, she began to feel as if she had been in this situation before. Something kept telling her that she was the perfect candidate to help this little girl, but in the back of her mind she knew that it would take away some of the attention and focus from Grayson.
Conflicted about what to do, Katie debated with herself over and over again. However, the desire to help won over, and within hours of the decision Hannah was able to meet Katie and Grayson for the first time.
After welcoming Hannah into their home, Katie noticed something odd about some of the paperwork that came home with the new baby girl. The name of the mother written on the paperwork was the same name that she had seen on Grayson’s! After noticing the similarities, she began to look for other similarities.
That’s when she noticed that not only were the names the same, but the birthdates were similar as well! The wheels began to turn inside of Katie’s head. Was this a coincidence?
Hannah also had similar medical conditions due to contact with illegal substances during the pregnancy, just like Grayson. The stories of these two children began to look more and more similar. Even though the little girl and little boy looked nothing alike, Katie had a hunch that the two were more connected than anyone even knew.
Grayson is part African American with curly hair and a caramel skin tone. On the other hand, Hannah has a snow-white skin tone with straight strawberry blonde hair. The two looked very different physically, but there seemed to be too much of a similarity that Katie could not ignore...
Because Grayson’s mother’s surname was different from Hannah’s mother’s surname, it was tough to make the case, especially because the birthdays for the mothers were different as well. Only by one day though. This unshakeable feeling led Katie to begin to look into the birth parents herself.
Taking the matter to her caseworker, she relayed all of the information she found and pleaded her case that Hannah and Grayson were brother and sister through their mother. According to the case worker, this was highly unlikely. Maybe it was all just a coincidence. Or maybe not.
After taking the matter into her own hands, she started to look for Hannah’s birth mother. Figuring it would be easier to find her mother than Grayson’s, she started there. After a couple of months, her hard work finally paid off and she found Hannah’s birth mother.
Meeting the biological mother of her daughter was a nerve-racking experience for Katie. Once she met her, there was an overwhelming feeling inside Katie that said this woman was without a doubt also the mother of her son.
Even though Katie was convinced that this woman gave birth to her daughter and her son, she had to be very casual and collected so as to not miss any signs that might show that this woman was not in fact the mother of both of her children. However, during the conversation with the biological parent, Katie began to get some information that justified all of her previous conclusions.
She told Katie she also had a son she gave up without filing any paperwork. This was exactly the confirmation Katie had been looking and somehow instinctively knew.
Eager to learn more, Katie continued to probe into the woman’s life and found out that she had more children, including another little boy. After the meeting with the biological mother, Katie immediately told her case worker everything she had been told. Eventually, the last name of the biological mother was confirmed and matched with a relative of Hannah.
With the puzzle finally beginning to fit, they had one more test to do in order to confirm Katie’s suspicions. The results of the DNA test were exactly what she expected and confirmed once and for all that Grayson and Hannah were in fact siblings by their birth mother.
Situations like this typically lead to siblings never seeing each other again. In this situation, it is most likely that Grayson and Hannah would have never of known that the other even existed. It’s incredible that these two were able to be connected like this, and Katie was overjoyed to have found an opportunity to keep Grayson and Hannah together as brother and sister.
After confirming that the two were in fact siblings by blood, Katie knew she needed to act fast in order to keep these two together. Fate had found a way for them to be together, so she wanted to make sure it stayed that way. It also helped that Katie had already fallen in love with the precious baby girl, but she wasn’t the only one. Grayson was thrilled to have a little sister around with him. Katie decided to do the logical next step and start the paper work to legal make Hannah her own.
With both of her little ones in tow, Katie attended her court hearing in December of 2018 to try to get Hannah as her legal daughter instead of her foster daughter. As of 2019, Hannah, Grayson and Katie were one big family!
And Grayson and Hannah were an incredible pair. Grayson became the stereotypical the protective big brother of his little sister. Katie had never really imagined that this would be her life when she first started her journey into foster care. Fate had found a way.
When Katie left her home in Alabama to venture out onto a new path, she never expected that she would adopt a son. Then to adopt his biological sister? The odds of this were so slim that this type of life never crossed her mind. How could life get any better? Katie was a fantastic mother for her two children. To be a mother seemed to be her calling in life. She had always enjoyed children, teaching, playing, nurturing. Having two of her own was a dream come true, but this was not all that fate had planned for her.
A phone call came shortly after the hearing from the caseworkers with new news. With Hannah only being thirteen months old, Katie wasn’t sure what this phone call could mean for her and her new family. The anticipation was more than she could handle.
The case worker told Katie that there had been a new development having to do with Grayson and Hannah’s biological mother. Struck with fear that the mother might want to take her children back, she started to panic. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and then began to ask the case worker questions about the situation. Of all the thoughts that she had been thinking, the news that she was about to get had not once crossed her mind.
The adoption agency was calling to inform her that the birth mother of her two amazing children had in fact given birth again! This time to another baby boy. Katie had never intended to become a mother of three, but the idea of leaving the little one was incredibly sad for Katie.
This also meant that Hannah and Grayson had another little brother who was also looking for a new home! But as much as Katie wanted to be able to provide for the new baby boy, she wasn’t sure that she would be able to properly give it the attention it needed because she had two of her own already.
After some quick soul searching, Katie came to the conclusion that reuniting all of these children under one roof would be the best solution. Katie brought home the baby boy, whom she named Jackson, and began the adoption paperwork to add yet another member to the family! Like his older sister, he immediately melded into the family without any issues. Within a short few months, he had successfully found his place inside the home and hearts of his new family.
In June, Katie posted to Instagram about her upcoming court date for Jackson’s adoption. He was living in the house with the rest of the family, but she was ready for the potential uncertainty about his situation to be over with!
While the adoption process was still in progress, she was always conscious to keep the identity and privacy of her children hidden as much as possible. However, after the news about the incredible story of her newly built family came out, she was shoved into the media spot light. Jackson’s court date was still at the forefront on her mind, so making sure that the final decision came out in favor of her she would constantly keep baby Jackson’s face hide with various stickers.
Still in limbo on the verdict about Jackson’s adoption status, Katie and the kids lived together in the big house that Katie bought after deciding to leave her old life behind. Hannah, being two years old already, has grown into a ball of energy and loves playing with her dolls and clothes. Mimicking Katie, she tries to constantly take care of her brothers.
Katie felt so fortunate to have such a little helper wanting to do whatever she could to help her brothers. She was caring, loving and so smart that Katie couldn’t help but feel a very deep connection with her. She is always smiling and seems to be thriving and happy with her new family!
Grayson at the same time was three and had started preschool. Having so many people in the house already, it made perfect sense when Grayson transformed into a social butterfly. He had recently gotten glasses to help with his lazy eye, a potential impact of the exposure of illegal substances while in the womb.
Katie felt so fortunate to have found such a family. She continuously takes to social media to express her gratitude and feelings of joy and happiness with how things have turned out. Her messages are also that of positivity and gracefulness.
Even with all of the other things going on with her new life, it turns out Katie met someone special! She wrote a mysterious post about him: “While I can’t share his face as I vowed never to post him on social media so I could get him to take a photo with me, I can share how grateful I am for him.”
As it happened, Katie had met someone and she and the mysterious S.O. had been dating for a little over a year. Supporting her through the hecticness of fostering children, she was so grateful for his patience and understanding that he constantly showed her.
Supporting three children has been hard, but Katie has loved every second of it! With a full-time job, plus three kids, and not to mention the constant work that the new house required, Katie seemed to never stop. And all of these responsibilities didn’t stop her from creating her own small business; she created a blog called Wood and Grace, and also works as a consultant for Rodan and Fields.
It does begin to beg the question of when does Katie find time for her precious babies? It definitely isn’t easy, and she’s constantly juggling the work-life balance.
Her blog is filled with all of the things she’s learned and experienced during her foster care years and now as a parent. She’s very thankful, but not just for the now. Katie always makes sure to let everyone know that all of the things in her past lead her to where she is now, and she doesn't regret any of it!
One of the biggest suggestions that Katie has for foster or adoption parents is to be patient as slow communications and unexpected situations occur often.
She continues to be an activist on social media, expressing all of the benefits that fostering and adoption has had on her life. With all of the added media attention, she uses her platform to encourage people to think about if they could be the right fit as there are so many children out there who need good homes.
For example, Jackson’s adoption process is still in the works. Being able to think about the good she is doing and her love for him gives her strength to keep calm and keep moving forward! Knowing that she would be able to keep three siblings together warmed her heart.
Katie’s journey started when she decided that her life path needed a major change, so she decided to shake it up by moving somewhere and starting over from scratch. The good things keep happening for Katie and her family of four! (Not to forget the mysterious beau though.)
Good Housekeeping magazine offered to share her story after her adoption of Hannah and Grayson. Of course she wanted to use the opportunity to tell everyone how amazing of an experience it has been and how fortunate she has been with her beautiful children.
Parenting is something that no one can prepare you for. There are always going to be situations that no one has told you how to handle or that you haven’t even thought of! Lucky for Katie, being a mother was something that seemed to come naturally to her. She always knew she wanted a family, and this was the perfect opportunity to make one, but not just for herself. She was able to provide three beautiful children a home together where they would be loved and cared for!
