We have BIG news - we are adopting a child!
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 that adoption related costs can easily total up to $35,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $25,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents.
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 he/she grows up.
Andrew arrived mid-august, and we traveled to Bozeman to pick him up. While we were excited about his arrival, actually having him here was an adjustment. You get all the training and do all the reading to prepare for your child's arrival, but leaving the airport with him is like walking out of the hospital with your newborn realizing that you were not given a user manual on the way out.
We had the opportunity to video chat with Andrew prior to his arrival, but we quickly learned that we had a lot to learn about our little man! The routine of going to bed, the method of getting him to eat or listen, the way we get out the door to go somewhere. These are all everyday life activities, but how to bring a new child into your regular family activities involves too many details to be aware of beforehand.
During the first few days, the chaperone who accompanied the kids from the Philippines stayed in our home. She was a great help with getting Andrew settled and also helping us better communicate. Andrew spoke English rather well, but he didn’t fully understand the communication barrier. After the chaperone left, Andrew became a little more comfortable, and we started to figure things out with him better.
Going to church, running a concession trailer, feeding ducks at the nearby pond, playing at the playground, going on rides at the fair, splashing around at the shore of Lake MacDonald, … we had a lot of fun with Andrew. It became evident that he is a good fit in our family. Andrew likes to play with cars, to be rocked to sleep, to eat oatmeal and bananas for breakfast, and to thoroughly look through picture books.
During Andrew’s visit, we filled out weekly reports about how the visit was going. We also sent photos of activities with Andrew so that the Philippines could see him interacting with us. To close out his stay with us, we met up with the other Filipino children and other host families at a park for playtime and lunch.
This week we sent our letter of intent to adopt Andrew. Because our paperwork has us ready for matching, need only wait for Philippines approval before we are officially matched with Andrew. Once we reach that stage, Andrew will be informed, and we’ll be able to communicate with him about adoption. During his visit, we were Uncle and Auntie—very hard to maintain when the girls call us Daddy and Mommy.
We are told that 2 to 4 months are expected before we hear back about being matched. Overall, we expect 6 to 9 months before we can travel to the Philippines to pick up Andrew. From now, it seems like a long wait! But this is a big step for us in the right direction. Excitement, anticipation, impatience are all feelings while we wait. We are grateful to our new adoption agency for getting us involved with the hosting program so that we could meet Andrew.
A few people have asked recently if there have been any adoption updates. We have generally been quiet because we have indeed had movement in the past several months. Most recently, we received approval for renewal of immigration paperwork—another one of our regular items to keep current. There was some hoop-jumping as we renewed papers while trying to move.
Yes, move! In April, we moved to a larger house with more land. We love our new home/town, and we are excited to have more space to raise our children. Honestly, we were ready to move years ago, but the Covid housing market made the plan of moving almost impossible. It also takes a lot of time and effort to move houses! From an adoption standpoint, we did have to update our address throughout paperwork. This wasn’t really all that difficult, but we did have to let all the right people and agencies know.
With the change of adoption agencies this spring, we were almost immediately introduced to the Summer of Hope hosting program with Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach. With the age parameters of our adoption papers, we were informed that a six-year-old boy named Andrew was on the list of the hosting program children.
After receiving Andrew‘s full background information, we began praying about the possibility of hosting him this summer. It was not long before we decided to move forward. Since that decision, we’ve been able to get to know Andrew better via pictures, more background info, and finally video chat. He sure is a cutie!
We have been very upfront with the Summer of Hope program with our intention of actively pursuing adopting Andrew. This desire only strengthened after we were able to video chat with him for over an hour. Andrew is unaware that we lost our hearts from the first moment he popped up on the video screen saying, “Hello Uncle Brian! Hello Auntie Liisa! I’m coming to stay with you in Montana!” We looked at each other after the call ended and tried to process all the emotions of knowing we had just talked to our son, God willing.
A couple weeks ago, the Philippines was hit with a “super typhoon,“ which flooded the capital city of Manila. Consequently, government buildings shut down and passport/visa processing went on hold. This ended up delaying Andrew‘s arrival that we had anticipated this week. We’ve heard that passports are now being approved, and we should be hearing about Andrew‘s updated travel plans soon.
This is an exciting step! If hosting goes smoothly, we will have first option of pursuing adoption of Andrew. At this point, he only knows that he is going on vacation to visit an American family for a few weeks. We will not be able to post any photos with his face due to guardianship rules, but we will post another update about how the hosting program is going. We’ve already met people in the area who know others who have been hosted through the Summer of Hope program. We are excited!
As to a financial update, we had to most recently pay out around $6,000 for immigration paperwork, home study update, and the hosting program. The expenses keep growing, and God keeps providing!
As you can imagine, with moving, hosting, and paperwork, we’ve had a lot to keep up with. Thank you to all who have supported us along the way. You are appreciated!
After much prayer and consideration, we have decided to change adoption agencies. Our home study organization also has a Philippines adoption program, and we have found them to be very helpful and responsive to our questions and options regarding the adoption process as a whole. To consolidate fees and to reduce the number of people handling our paper work, we are moving from our original adoption agency to go fully with the home study organization.
One positive aspect of this change is that we do not have to repay any of the fees that’s we’ve paid already. Our fee structure remains the same as we work more closely with our home study case workers. Another plus is that, our home study organization is local here in Montana! It's a big change for us, but we are excited to see and explore the new opportunities.
We are currently in the midst of updating all our paper work, including background checks, home study report, medical exams, and other notarization-worthy activities. To some extent, much of this process is familiar. However, the cost impact is not getting any easier. Just this week, we were notified of cost increases from our adoption agency and U.S. Immigration. With everything together that we know of, this year we are looking at adoption expenses totaling up to $7,620, as itemized below:
• Adoption Agency: $4,400
• US Immigration: $920
• Background Checks: $400
• Medical Exams: $700
• Home Study Update: $1,200
Patience is a hard thing, especially when it involves more money coming out of our pockets and with no light at the end of the tunnel. We have been made aware of agency shortages in the Philippines due to Covid impacts, and we are assured that these conditions have improved. At the same time, the average duration of international adoptions has increased from 2-3 years to 3-5 years.
Please pray for us as the process and the waiting continues. Each month we are reviewing special home finding lists, which include children who have been ready for adoption for longer periods of time. We have inquired 4 times regarding available children, but nothing has worked out yet.
If you feel drawn to financially support our journey, you can donate via our adoption page here at Adopt Together, or you can send money to us directly. We greatly appreciate those who have supported us so far, whether in money, in prayer, both, or even in simple encouragements. We look forward to the day when we can bring our child(ren) home!
This week we met another couple here in Montana that is also adopting from the Philippines! They stopped by our food trailer at a local fair and saw our adoption cards on the front counter. "We're adopting from the Philippines too!" they exclaimed. We were able to share experiences, frustrations, and joys about the whole adoption process.
They are about a year farther along than we are, and they have been matched with a child for about a year. Covid had introduced some delays, and Philippines agency changes have caused some uncertainties. It was a real blessing to cross paths with another adoptive family going through the exact same process that we are.
As we begin another home study this year, we are thankful for the peace and assurance God gives us in this journey. Thank you to all our cheerleaders and friends for your support. With all of you, we are not alone. Onward we go!
