As a labor and delivery nurse in a small town just outside Birmingham, Alabama, Jennifer worked with newborns and new moms on a daily basis.   She witnessed the joy that other couples experienced when they became parents for the first time and she wanted nothing more than to experience that same joy

with her husband Lee. After several failed fertility treatments, Jennifer and Lee began to think about the many children in the world in need of a good home and they decided they would make a small difference by becoming adoptive parents.  They were soon connected with a woman in Phoenix who was pregnant with twins and looking a loving home for her soon-to-be-born daughters.  

Many conversations took place over the next several months.  The birth mother trusted Jennifer and Lee would make great parents, and arrangements were made for the mother to fly to Alabama shortly before the due date of April 18th.  Everything was going smoothly until March 5th when Jennifer and Lee received a call from their lawyer who said, “You need to get on a flight to Phoenix.”  The mother had just gone into delivery, and less than an hour later Canzady and Presley were born.  

Jennifer and Lee arrived in Phoenix on March 6th excited to meet their newborn daughters for the first time.  They hadn’t even thought about the challenges they would face when they arrived.  Canzady and Presley were premature babies and wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital for weeks, maybe even months.  In addition, Jennifer and Lee didn’t know anyone in Phoenix and they had nowhere to stay.  

Not long after Jennifer and Lee arrived at the hospital they met with a social worker who referred them to the Ronald McDonald House.  They visited Canzady and Presley at the hospital every day anxiously waiting for them to gain enough strength for the journey home.  While reflecting on their stay Lee commented, “If the House wasn’t here we would have had to cough up a bunch of money to stay in a hotel.  We would have gone broke.”  Jennifer expressed her gratitude to the Ronald McDonald House donors by saying, “This is a very worthwhile cause because there are a lot of people here who are receiving help.  We are very thankful for this place we called home!”