I am so happy to share our story with you. I was just telling my husband that I wish everyone considering adoption knew how different it is now compared to the old stereotypes I had in my mind.

My first piece of advice is...don't try to do it w/o Step Ahead. It is overwhelming enough. Having them keep us organized, guiding us through it, kept my sanity intact. Teri Heidemann is a super hero to my husband and I. We always knew, and still do, that whatever happens with the adoption she will be there to say 'It's OK, here's what we need to do".

Our adoption is almost final now. We are just waiting on a court date in NC. We first spoke with Teri last April. She came to our home and explained how things worked. By May we had found a way to fund the adoption and called Teri back to get started. She told us everything we needed to do & how to do it. We started our home study in July and had the official home study report by August 1st. While we were going through our home study process I was also working on our family profile (Teri showed us examples of these and gave us a guide as to what to include). So, by the time our home study was finished our profile was ready to go out to potential birth moms. We were very lucky. We got a call around the middle of August about a birth mom and sent our profile to her on a Monday. By Thursday of that week we had a match. The birth mom had selected us!

From there things seemed to go very fast. In September we took a trip to Ohio to visit our birth mom, meet her other children and go with her to the ultrasound. We found out together that we were having a baby boy! Her due date was 1/1/07, but Nathan wanted to get here a little quicker. We got the call to get there on December 6th and we were holding him by December 7th. We got there in time to be with the birth mom during his birth! Nathan left the hospital with us and we were home in time for his first Christmas.

A year ago I thought it could take years and years to have the family we dreamed of, but with Teri's help, one year later we are getting our son's first portraits done and are not able to walk through our house w/o stepping on a toy!

I wish you all the luck in the world and hope that by this time next year you are covered in drool : ) If you have any questions I am here!

Good luck -
Laura Greene

We met Diane Hogan at an Adoption Expo in Charlotte, NC. We were going through infertility treatments at the time but wanted to begin our research into adoption. When we went into the Expo, it was so confusing and overwhelming that I needed to leave after a short time. When my husband and I walked back in the door, Diane greeted us with a very warm, "You look overwhelmed. How can I help?" It was exactly what we needed. What we gained most from Diane and the ASA team was their experience. Every consultant is an adoptive mother, birthmother or adoptee and they have traveled this tough road ahead of you. That is worth its weight in gold should you have problems along the way. We experienced a very difficult failed adoption and Diane held our hands every step of the way. We would have been totally lost without her and her experience. - Leanne, North Carolina

When asked if ASA met our expectations, we answered . . . . ASA did exactly what they said they would do. They found our child within 12 months of signing with them. To be specific, six months after we signed with ASA and three months after we completed all our paperwork we took placement of our daughter. ASA has the inside track on many adoption agencies. Quite often, these cases open last minute and there is a limited amount of time for you to respond. So don't be shocked when it happens! - Jason and Beth, Texas

We cannot thank Diane enough for all the guidance and advice that you gave us during our entire adoption process. Everything went so smoothly and a lot of that had to do with Diane and her coaching. We are so happy and feel so blessed to have this beautiful baby! We look forward to meeting you in person so that we can give you a big hug!! Thanks again and again and again. - Tom and Londa, Kansas

We have nothing but great things to say about A Step Ahead Adoption Services. We really debated about whether we needed them or whether we could do it on our own. Now, looking back, there is no way we would have our beautiful little baby in such a short amount of time (7 months) if we had not hired ASA. They were helpful in so many ways: (1) Helping us get organized and moving (2) Recommending agencies (3) Presenting adoption cases to us and keeping us updated on cases when the agencies were too busy to call us (4) Supporting us through a failed adoption by providing us with names of others who had experienced failed adoptions and (5) Supporting us through placement and helped us jump over the "bumps in the road". We cannot say enough. We often say that hiring A Step Ahead was the best money we spent. We told Diane and crew that we really felt by the end of the process, they did not charge nearly enough for all the services they provided. We truly believe we got a bargain! - Adam and Teresa, South Carolina

We were introduced to ASA in October 2003. At that time we had an adopted son who was 3 years old and we had been waiting for two years to add to our family. After several long conversations with Diane Hogan, we were excited to join ASA. Immediately, we were surprised by the amount of communication with Diane--such a big change of pace! We could not believe the attention we received. It was comforting knowing how hard she was working on our behalf. The knowledge and emotional support Diane was able to share gave us the assurance we desperately needed. On March 20, 2004, we received an immediate placement call from an agency not associated with ASA. Due to the relationship we had developed with Diane, we phoned her right away and she guided us through the 24-hour decision and we know have a beautiful baby girl. Diane was certainly an instrument of love and compassion. We were blessed to have found Diane and the ASA team. Thank you all for making this a wonderful journey. - Jim and Gina, Florida