The Griffis family story is one of unwavering love, deep grief, and overwhelming hope. It’s the kind of story that takes you through valleys of heartbreak and peaks of unimaginable joy, all while holding onto faith and a commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.
Our journey began on November 11, 2011, when our first son, Ethan Alexzander, entered our lives, followed by our second son, Tyler Avery, born on August 9, 2016. Both brought us immeasurable joy, but it was the losses between their births that truly shaped our family’s path.
In 2013, we experienced the first loss of our beloved Kamalani on May 24th. The following year, Daniella Belle left our hearts broken on April 11, 2014. Then, in 2015, we lost Baby G on October 31st. These losses were devastating, but they set the stage for my calling to become a stillbirthday doula. I knew I had to help other mothers through their grief—walking them through the journey of loss, providing them with a safe space to mourn, heal, and find hope again. I realized during these losses the amount of passiveness of family and lack of honoring our sweet babies. We had to go through all of this on our own. I had no information except… flush… and thank God it was early.
Through these painful experiences, our rainbow baby, Tyler, arrived and filled our lives with laughter and celebration. But the heartache wasn’t over. We went on to face more devastating losses, with seven more pregnancies ending in loss, including one that took our baby boy, Prosper Jireh, at three months old, whom we had adopted. The grief continued, but so did our determination to honor every life lost and to keep moving forward.
We welcomed these beautiful souls into our hearts to meet again one day :
• Lucky, on March 17, 2021
• Skittle, on July 24, 2021
• Madelyn Hope, on March 5, 2022
• Our twin Baby Bears, on October 31, 2022
• Prosper Jireh, on November 9, 2022
• Evan Asher, on July 28, 2024
Lucky’s story
With Lucky it was a missed miscarriage so I was so sick with HG when we heard… there is no heartbeat. I waited to deliver naturally.
Skittle’s story
We lost our sweet baby while on vacation after announcing to family where I lost in the airport.
Madelyn’s story
What we thought was our miracle, made it out of first trimester, everything was perfect, a sweet baby girl and then!!!! Went in second trimester with no heart beat shattered, nursery done, bows and pink everywhere!!
Our twins
Baby bears we were soo shocked when she said there is two!!! It runs in the family. Unfortunately we watched one pass away on the ultrasound weeks later and then started to loose the other.
Prosper
We adopted a sweet baby boy who unfortunately was terminal but we gave him all the love in his final months.
And Evan Asher was due 2/8/2025 which we lost in the first trimester as well.
Through it all, we clung to hope, knowing that our story wasn’t finished yet.
Our journey, however, was not without unexpected turns. In the midst of the grief, we began to open our hearts to the possibility of adoption. We decided to step into foster care to love on Jesus’s children and reunify them with their families. We did 2 years of safe families, before licensing with embrace families.
And it was through this that we received the greatest blessing—our son, Elijah Thomas, born June 27, 2023. Elijah entered our lives at 3 days old, and while we had hoped for reunification with his biological family, God had other plans, and he became part of our forever family. We were thrilled to submit our adoption paperwork for Elijah and he will be a Griffis on April 11th 2025 at 21 months old.
Adoption doesn’t erase the pain of our past losses, and Elijah is not a replacement for the children we’ve lost. It’s important for us to acknowledge that grief is a constant companion. Each of our children’s memories remains sacred, and there is no replacing their significance. However, Elijah’s presence has filled a void we didn’t know was there, and his love has helped heal parts of our hearts that were once broken. While it doesn’t come with heartache of a family being broken.. he’s a rainbow. A lot of people see adoption as a way to “have a baby”. For us we stepped into this for Kingdom work… to grow our community earthly family for His glory and story and heaven! There is and will always be trauma and a story we will share with him openly as all of our children’s stories based on their age/circumstances and with biblical counseling. We celebrate though all Gods done in this story and His reminder of His promises with the symbol of a rainbow
The journey did not end there. We welcomed two more beautiful children into our lives:
• baby girl born September 26, 2024, and
• Ezra Asher, born February 8, 2025, Elijah’s full brother. We will be adopting him this year
This chapter in our lives is not just about the children we’ve welcomed, but the path we’ve walked together as a family. There have been countless moments of grief, joy, tears, and triumph. There have been shots, tests, heartbreaks, and battles with infertility. There’s been hyperemesis, second-trimester loss, the heartbreak of finding out there was no heartbeat, genetic testing, IUI, and so much more. And yet, through it all, we’ve continued to walk in faith, knowing that our purpose is far greater than our pain.
Through this journey we have found ways for us to share our story and support other families navigating the difficult terrain of infertility, miscarriage, loss, and adoption. We want others to know they are not alone. We are committed to finding our rainbows, no matter how many storms we’ve weathered, and we hope our story can offer hope to others on a similar journey.
Find out more about Project Finding Your Rainbow.
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