A candid personal essay about a life shaped by solitude, a powerful reunion with a childhood love decades later, and the quiet disappointment that led to the most meaningful decision of all: becoming a single father through surrogacy. A story about missed chances, acceptance, and one love that ultimately made room for another—Sara.
A Few Words Before We Begin
My name is Yaniv. I’m a single father, 52 years old, to a baby girl named Sara, born through a long and complex surrogacy journey that lasted about four years. This blog is about fatherhood, loneliness, small mistakes, and big moments —and about trying to figure out, as I go, how to be a better… Continue reading A Few Words Before We Begin
Sara the Patriot | A Newborn, a TV Show, and My First Night as a Father
A first night as a father in an Israeli maternity ward turns into an unexpected moment of reflection, humor, and parenting irony—when a newborn baby seems oddly drawn to a late-night political TV show.
A Bad Role Model | The Fear of Passing My Loneliness to My Daughter
A single father confronts the fear of being a bad role model, questioning how his life choices may shape his daughter’s future in a single-parent home.
A Parent Is Not Yet Born: When Trusting a Doctor Hurts Your Child
A father reflects on an impossible parenting dilemma: trusting medical professionals while listening to his instincts when his infant daughter suffers unnecessary pain. A personal story about doubt, responsibility, and the courage to seek a second opinion — and to speak up for a child who cannot.
My Promised Land: The Four-Year Journey to Sara
A deeply personal account of a single father’s four-year journey toward parenthood through surrogacy. A story of faith, doubt, bureaucracy, emotional collapse, and perseverance — culminating in birth, healing, and arrival at a long-awaited promised land.
Sara Verstappen, the GOAT: Should My Daughter Have a Sibling?
A single father reflects on surrogacy, money, guilt, and the fear of loneliness—questioning whether giving an only child a sibling truly secures her future.
The Scariest Day of My Life: When My Newborn Stopped Responding
A personal account of the scariest day of my life as a new father, when my ten-day-old daughter became unresponsive. A story of fear, emergency care, and parental anxiety.
A Mother’s Tenderness: The Night My Daughter Wouldn’t Eat for Me
A deeply personal essay about single fatherhood, jealousy, and the quiet pain of realizing the limits of what a father can offer. Through one difficult evening with a three-month-old daughter, the story explores absence, tenderness, and the complex bond between a father, a grandmother, and a child when there is no mother in the picture.
The Original Sara and the Crown Princess: Why I Named My Daughter After My Mother
A deeply personal essay about single fatherhood, the enduring bond between a son and his mother, and the quiet transfer of love from one generation to the next with the birth of a daughter. Through surrogacy, family closeness, and shared daily life, this story explores motherhood, identity, and the moment a man realizes he is no longer just a son—but a father.
Sara and Me 