We have BIG news!
We are adopting a child from India!
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that international adoption related costs can easily total up to $35,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $40,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents through all these legal fees.
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as they grow up. We know that our child will be loved by the friends and family here in our community and we couldn't be happier to raise our child here in Enid!
We will keep everyone updated as we move along this journey as well as being transparent as to where the finances go. Also your donations will be tax deductible and we appreciate all of your help as we move forward! We are trusting God in this whole process and we know he put this on our hearts for a reason. He is guiding us along the way and we appreciate all of your prayers as well.
For those wanting to know the adoption agency, we are in the India program with America World Adoption! http://awaa.org They have been wonderful with us and we are very excited to be partnering with them!
Hello everyone! It seemed like the right time to send out another update on our adoption journey!
For those of you who have been following along with our journey, we thank you so much for continuing to follow along! For those just joining our journey, thanks for stopping by and welcome!
Back in June of 2021 we announced with the world that we were beginning the process of adopting from India! We knew it was gonna be a super long journey and we were ready to begin and do whatever it takes. Since that announcement , we have been working diligently to raise funds and partner with others in the community to reach the financial demand that an adoption takes. Your outpouring and kindness has been overwhelming! Things were going amazing, until we hit a little snag on the journey.
At the end of December, 2021, I lost my job and Lauren was still a full-time student getting ready to graduate and we no longer had any money coming in. Which, to an adoption agency and a country you are trying to adopt from, that does not look great. We were in the middle of what is called the "home study" process at the time. It's the part of the adoption process where your background get's vetted, your job history and monthly income get combed through, your neighbors and family get interviewed by the adoption agency and so much more! Luckily we were still at the beginning stage of the home study process and I called the case-workers assigned to us and explained our financial change to them that had occurred. They were nothing but kind with us and suggested we just put everything on hold before we got too deep into the vetting and paperwork. So we really had no choice but to hit pause. Which felt so horrible! It's already a 2-3 year long process and we are so ready to meet our wonderful child and now we had to add more time to it?! As painful as it was, we knew we had to and it was the right thing to do at the moment. We took that time to begin the search for new jobs and come up with a plan. Now let's fast forward...
Lauren graduated from NWOSU and is currently working full time as a counselor with Youth and Family Services here in Enid, and I am currently a full time Special-Ed Teaching Assistant at Garfield Elementary! Which means we were able to reach out to the adoption agency we are working with (America World Adoption) and pick back up on the adoption journey! So the plan is back in motion and we are full steam ahead once again! We just wanted to give you all the update to be transparent with where we are with the journey. All your donations and gifts have been safe in an adoption account at our bank here in Enid and also through this fundraising site. So we still have our adoption nest egg to continue to pay all the legal fees and expenses for now of what we can.
We will continue to look for ways to fundraise and partner with others in our community. So be on the lookout for that! We appreciate each and every one of you and we cant wait to share in the joy of our child!
With Love, Corey and Lauren
