And we could not be more excited about it.
Bayli and I have been praying and praying, asking God how He would desire for us to grow our family. It led us to this point, the point where we would adopt a child from our local area and give Easton and Payton a brand new sibling to love. We walk into this process knowing it can be long, difficult and confusing but trusting that it will also be worth 10x the pain it might cause!
We're using a small, local agency called "Christian Adoptive Services," that focuses on placing children into open adoptions with birth families and adoptive families from the Minnesota and North Dakota area. They provide care and work closely with birth mothers, providing counselling when necessary and financial assistance when that applies as well.
Which brings us to the cost. Much like going through pregnancy/birth for your own child, adoption can be expensive, but insurance wont help with this! The total fees amount to about $20,000 + travel fees (we'll have to travel to the child and a couple of classes in Fargo, ND). Which is why this website exists! To help adopting families find ways to make their dream of adopting more affordable - through tax deductible donations.
The whole adoption will cost around $20,000 includes paperwork for the state, a "home-study" to make sure our home is safe, help for the birth mother and more. If you'd like an actual breakdown, I'd love to share it with you! We're hoping to raise $10,000 of that money because MN offers a tax credit for adoptive families and Bayli has started nannying to try and help us bring this new baby home as well!
We're already in adoption process, our application has been approved and our first class with CAS is paid for and is happening at the end of September, which will officially begin the home study process and is a big step towards bringing our next child home!
Thank you,
Michael, Bayli, Easton and Payton
