(Editor's note: November is National Adoption Awareness Month. While all adoption-related issues are important, this article is about a couple eagerly waiting to adopt a baby, and two sisters who were adopted as newborns.)

Josh and Savannah Christensen of Mountain Home want to have children. However, after eight years of marriage, they've never been able to get pregnant.

“A couple years ago we learned we couldn't have children,” said Savannah Christensen. “Then I became an aunt. My husband and I are both the oldest in our families and we thought we'd be parents first.”

The Christensens had been married for six years when they decided to consult a doctor about their situation. Prior to knowing the results of their medical tests, Josh Christensen had an experience that made him realize adoption was their answer.

“I was driving home from work one night,” Josh Christensen said. “We had done some tests, but we didn't have our lab results back yet, so we didn't know if we could get pregnant or not. A Hallmark radio commercial talked about how they have cards for special occasions, and how a woman found a card for her friend who had just adopted. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we need to adopt.'”

Christensen — who's never heard the commercial since — didn't share his feelings with his wife right away. When they received the test results, Savannah Christensen was the one to say “we need to adopt.” Her husband confirmed his wife's thoughts and told her about hearing the message.

“He is very passionate about adoption,” Savannah Christensen said. “It's tough to try for so many years and not be able to get pregnant. Sometimes you feel like ... everyone is pregnant, everyone is having baby showers and you just feel so left out.”

The first thing the Christensens did was choose the adoption agency they wanted to use.

“We are going through our church, which is Latter-day Saints Family Services,” Savannah Christensen said. “Their fees are a little lower, but their wait is a little bit longer. They actually encourage you to find your own birth mother. That's why we have those pass-along cards.”

The pass-along card is similar to a business card with a photo of the Christensens on one side and their contact information on the other. The card states that they're “looking for our little one” and includes their e-mail address, adoption blog, and profile information. They hand them out in an effort to spread the word that they are interested in an open adoption.

The young couple is asking people interested in their situation to visit their adoption blog at www.joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com or e-mail them at little1_4us@yahoo.com.

“Adoption used to be that the young mother gave birth to her child, they took it away and she never saw it again,” Savannah Christensen said. “In the last few years, adoption has taken a big turn and they're now very open. You meet your birth mom and you have a great relationship. It's always based upon what is best for the baby.”

Open adoption is one option that the birthmothers of Stephanie (Taylor) Carter and her sister Sharon (Taylor) Allen did not have two decades ago.

Carter and her sister, who both have different birth parents, were adopted by Bill and Chris Taylor, of Roosevelt. While they love their parents, they are interested in knowing some aspects of their birthparents' lives. They've registered on several on line adoptee search sites, but so far without result. They don’t want a long-term relationship with their birthparents, but are curious about what they look like and the circumstances surrounding the reasons they were given up for adoption.

“I don't want her to be my mother,” Allen said, becoming emotional about the possibility of finding her birthmother. “Stephanie and I have great parents and they have fulfilled me in that sort of way.

“I want to thank her for loving me enough to give me to someone else that she knew would love me and take care of me and give me the life that I deserve,” she continued. “I feel that these mothers that give their baby up for adoption, I feel like they love them more because it's such a selfless act of love.”

The bond that ties the two Taylor sisters together became even stronger after their mother gave birth to their brother nine years ago.

“Our mom and dad had a baby. I remember feeling, 'I wonder if mom and dad are going to love this baby more because it is theirs?' That was never the case.’”

In fact, their mother would correct people who would make a comment about their son being “their first baby,” said Allen.

“My mom would get mad and say, 'No Sharon was my first baby, Stephanie was my second baby, and this is my third. It doesn't matter that Steph and Sharon came from somewhere else, they're still mine.’”

Chris Taylor said that extended family members don't even realize that the girls were adopted because it is a non-issue.

The Christensens are like thousands of couples waiting to adopt and Allen and Carter are two of thousands of children who were adopted. The bond that unifies them all is that adoption is about love.

For more information about any aspect of adoption, visit the Web site www.adoption.com.