Hello!! Many of you may already know that we have decided to pursue infant adoption as a way to grow our family. This is something we have long wanted to do but never felt the time was right, until now. William could not be more excited and he can't wait to have a baby in the house to love on! We have recently completed our home study and we are now officially approved to adopt! The home study is a several month-long process where a caseworker evaluates our relationships, our parenting, our finances, our backgrounds and our house and then approves us to adopt a child. Now that the home study is behind us, we get to move forward with raising and saving money to afford adoption. The average infant adoption costs $30-$40,000 with many situations costing more. Our aim is to raise $40,000, since that is what we anticipate our cost to be. Of course, we will do all we can to save out of our own budget, apply for any grants we may qualify for and look for ways to make extra income, too, but we need your help to reach our goal! We have already paid over $3500 just to get through the home study, state training, background checks, etc. In order to moved forward with agencies and become "active", we need to have a majority of that $40k ready to go. The sooner, the better! We know that not everyone is in a position to give financially and if that's you, we would really appreciate it if you would participate by sharing our story and fundraisers on social media and with your friends and family! We also ask that you pray for us during this time, as the adoption process is full of twists and turns and uncertainties. Please also pray for the expectant mother. Though we don't yet know who we will be matched with, we pray that she will feel God's love and our love for her and that she will feel supported in this very difficult decision she is faced with. Pray for a healthy baby and the wisdom to parent this new child. We are so excited to take it all on and are trusting God to lead us to the right expectant family at the right time. Sometimes the most seemingly unattainable goals are the very ones we need to show ourselves that we really are part of a larger community and we all need each other to change lives and make the world a better place. No one person can do it all alone. I'm so thankful that we don't have to! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your gifts, your prayers and your encouragement! We love you all!
