Kim Schams, R.N.      
Director  

Kim@pregnancyoutreach.org
       
                         
     To know how Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach, inc. came into existence, it is helpful to know a little about me. I have been married since 1983. My husband, Scott, and I have two darling little boys and have lived in College Station since 1995. I am a registered nurse and I worked primarily with adult heart patients before my children were born.      

     When we got married, I was in the middle of nursing school and Scott was beginning medical school. Being a young, married couple with no income, we did not want to start a family for a while, so we were very careful about using birth control. (Okay...too much information...but it is important to the story!) Once we were through with our education we were ready to begin a family, but no babies came. We chose not to seek medical treatment for infertility. We decided we would rather adopt a baby.  

     At the time we lived in a small town in Southwest Texas. We had some friends from our church call us one night in great distress to say that their daughter was pregnant. She was a freshman in college. The did not know we were thinking of adopting a baby; they were just calling for advice. Scott discussed the medical needs Erin (pseudonym) would have and then we talked about the options she was considering. She was trying to sort through the options of parenting versus adoption. We referred them to a social worker at an adoption agency to guide them. We told them we had spent time with this agency because we were thinking of adopting a baby. We knew they would not pressure Erin one way or the other, but they would just help her think it all out. You can probably guess where this story is going….she decided on adoption. When we heard her decision, I said to her mother, “If she would like that baby to go to someone she knows, we would love to adopt him!” Well, she started crying and said, “That’s what we’ve been praying for, but we didn’t want to say anything!” We adopted that sweet little baby boy born October of 1992.

     Our second child, Benjamin, came along in a similar set of circumstances. His birthmother, Aimee, used to baby sit for my brother’s children in San Antonio. When she told my brother she was pregnant, my brother told Aimee about us and asked if she was interested in meeting us. He grilled hamburgers in his backyard a few weeks later and we met with Aimee and her family for the afternoon. She called us several days later and said she wanted to place her baby for adoption with us. Benjamin was born August of 1995. We maintain contact with both birthmothers and their families. We send pictures and get together as often as we can.

     The boys know that they grew in Erin’s or Aimee’s tummy and when they came out, we adopted them and they became our little boys. The type of relationships we have with our son’s birthmothers is known as open adoption.   It all sounds so simple when you put it down on paper, but what is difficult to convey is the extreme emotions that surround the whole process. As joyous and happy as it is to adopt a child through open adoption, there is an equal amount of pain experienced by the birthmothers and their families.               

     In the Fall of 1997, Scott and I were wanting to adopt third baby. A friend of a friend suggested we call an agency in Oklahoma that she knew about. We made that call and found it to be a most unusual and interesting agency. Actually it was a Christian ministry to pregnant girls. Adoption services were added as a benefit to the girls they were serving. A few days after that phone call, there was a story in the local newspaper stating that Planned Parenthood was planning to build an abortion clinic in Bryan. That bit of information, coupled with the previous phone call stirred me up like few things have stirred me before. I knew that I wanted to form an organization like the one in Oklahoma to help girls choose life for their babies and give them a true helping hand during their pregnancies.
                                                                           
     You see, when I think of abortion, I think of my boys, J.T. and Ben. If their birthmothers had chosen abortion, I would have never had the chance to hold, feed, rock, sing, chase, tickle, or tackle my two little wild ones. My heart aches at that thought. I know there are hundreds of other couples with empty arms who would give anything to adopt a baby.

     My husband and I have both been Christians since we were teenagers and it is clear to us that we are all valued by God from the time we were conceived. The Bible says in Psalms 139, “My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”        

     So in the Fall of 1997, the idea was conceived to begin a ministry or outreach program to pregnant girls. I know that pregnant girls face hundreds of issues that cannot be solved by only advising them against abortion. Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach (APO) was formed to help girls choose life for their babies. Some will choose to parent their babies, some will choose adoption. (To learn more about our services go to the Services page of the APO web site.) We know that many have had previous abortions and many will choose abortion in the future. It is not our desire to condemn those girls, rather we want to show them how to get help and healing from the problems of past abortions and show them how they can have a great relationship with Jesus Christ. (Visit the Hope for my Future page of the APO web site.)   As part of our service to pregnant women, we have added adoption services for those who feel adoption is the best choice for their baby. We feel that Open Adoption serves the children well and has proven to be a wonderful experience for the Schams’ household.

     As for me, I have a great time getting to know the girls through this organization. Our family attends Grace Bible Church in College Station and we have been active in working with college students there. When Scott and I were in college at Baylor University (Sic ‘em Bears) some families from our church in Waco took us under their wings and made a huge impact upon our lives. We have always enjoyed helping college kids the way that we were helped. We all make mistakes along the way and those of us at Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach want to be available to help young girls and their boyfriends overcome those mistakes.

     When I am not working with young women, you can probably find me wrestling with my boys or working on some new project around the house. I love working in the yard. I have built brick sidewalks and new flower beds and a pond. I am also an animal lover. Many people who enter our house feel they are coming to the Schams’ zoo…so beware!

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