Tennessee Adoption Tour Oct 5-9

Tomorrow I am starting the weeklong Tennessee Adoption Tour

This is a tour to raise awareness for adoption in Tennessee. In many of the towns we stop in there are "Celebrations" which we will participate in. I am not exactly sure what to expect from this experience except that it will involve riding 434 miles in 5 days, from Johnson City to Chattanooga to Nashville.

I am riding in the tour because I am adopted and it is a cause I believe in. It is amazing how many people we all know who are touched by adoption. Adoption provides a wonderful opportunity for people who want to have children. It also gives the chance to child to experience the best that life has to offer.

Photo: My father, Mother, me, and my Grandma. You will not find a more loving family anywhere.

Adoption provided me the chance to be raised by my parents. It means a lot to me to have had the upbringing that I received. They have been married 46 years. They also adopted my sister from different birth parents. I have had the opportunity to get to know my birth mother, and it was the right thing for her to do at the time. She went on to have three more children after me (hi Casey, Jesse, and Mike!) She has been married 27 years.

Photo: This is a picture when my birth mother met my adoption parents, December 2008. From left: Birth mother Kim Laray Flaig, her husband Kelly, me, my fiance Susan, adoptive parents Nyleve and Fergus Taylor.