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 to hear 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. By partnering with Adopt Together, your donation is tax deductable.
We are also seeking grants and will have other fundraisers through this process. We are excited to be partnering with Christian Family Services of the Midwest and are in the paperwork phase of the process.
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.
Every Blessing,
Jacob and Daisy Burgan
Anthony'a adoption day is officially Monday, November 4th, 2024! We got the news this morning. We are so excited to learn about this. There was some red tape, but we finally were able to break through and get things settled. Looking forward to planning the festivities. You are welcome to join us at the courthouse for this special occasion. Please reach out to me for more details if you would like to be there.
On this 46th birthday God has given me the gift of family. What a good gift 🥹
On August 23rd, Jake and I began the official process of adopting Anthony. We have been in meetings and filling out paperwork since. Every box has to be checked and every due diligence done.
On Thursday, September 12 we asked Anthony if we could be his parents.
He said yes ☺️
The next day he had to sign this adoption decree at the lawyers office. Because he is over 14 he had to consent.
It has been an emotional ride since then. It has been a very sobering time for me personally. I have been pondering many things in my heart as they have been happening and coming together.
To long, believe and pray and trust God to build my family and then submit to him in faith as he does it his way has been a way of surrender, expectation, joy and at times tinged with grief.
As we begin to look at the dates we learned something interesting. Jake and I signed our initial adoption paperwork to initiate our domestic private adoption home study on September 4, 2019. Anthony came into fostercare 42 days later. He has been looking for a family for as long as we have officially been looking for a child. 🥹😭
While there is joy, there is sadness. His family will never be the same again. He carries this and we carry it with him, and some days it is heavier than others.
This is his story and our story, we share it because you are a group of vetted family and friends. We ask that you not post anything about this publicly until the adoption is final. We should have had an official date a week ago, but they hit a snag, and we are waiting for it to get worked out. We hope to announce as soon as we know. Keep us in prayer especially that the exhaustion would fully lift so that I can be prepared for the next leg of this journey of mothering. Thank you for your continued support.
Much love ,
The Burgans
Hi Friends,
You have been amazing encouragers, givers and prayer partners through all that the last five years has brought our way. From a connection to a birth mom who then went to a for-profit agency and priced us out of an adoption. To a teen from fostercare with very high needs, more than we could meet, who is now on track for permanency with a friend of our family. To now where we are in the final steps of permanency with our Teen, Anthony, and are three months into a placement with a toddler. This journey has been nothing like what we have expected. God has honored the "yes" in our hearts. The money gifted remains for adoption related expenses. I have recently made a request to cover my physical that was needed for our every 2 years licensure with Children's Division. I use Christian Healthcare Ministries for insurance, and physicals are not covered. Jake's was covered by the VA. When more adoption related expenses come, we will apply for grants from the fund. Until then the funding remains. If there comes a time where it is not utilized for our adoption expenses, we have the choice to donate to another's adoption or to donate to the Adopt Together family. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the founders a few weeks back and was amazed by the beauty of their story, and how they were lead to start this amazing resource. Thank you again, and we can't wait to fill you in on our details as the become available.
Hi Friends,
Two weeks ago our world was turned upside down when I got the call to come pick this little guy up from the hospital. He is 15 months old and will be staying with us for quite some time. The last two weeks have been a time of acclimation, doctor's visits, and working on attachment to help calm this little one's nervous system. Anthony our other foster son is quite excited to have him with us.
Tonight we attended a foster parent appreciation dinner hosted by my friend Tammy Woirhaye executive director of the Foster Adopt Shop in Henry County, MO. She started this out of her basement 14 years ago to help foster parents to care for kids who often come with just the clothes on their backs, and sometimes can stay for only days before moving on the kinship placements. This nonprofit bridges the gap for some of the most vulnerable in the area that we live. I agreed to be on her advisory board lending knowledge from my OT background and nonprofit background.
The beauty of the honor shown touched mine and Jake's hearts tremendously. It is a joy and honor to parent these children that God has sent to us.
The funds in this account remain as we have incurred no adoption related expenses. We are process with both of these children and ask for continued prayer.
Burgan Family Christmas Letter
2023 – Learning, Growing through challenges, Unexpected blessings
God sets the lonely in families Ps.68.6a
What a year ! We celebrated 13 years of ministry here in Missouri and 17 years of marriage in June. Our remodeling business continues, along with Gilead Homestead and the Victory Garden Collective. We have continued as to foster and help restore broken children, one at a time. We continue on at our local congregation where I serve in music ministry and Jake ushers.
Jake continues to mentor men who are going through difficulties in life, and we started a foster parent meet up for our local area last year that continues on. We even got to go to the beach with a dear friend and her family around our birthdays.
The verse in red highlights our heart as we continue in our foster care journey. We have learned that older children bring more history with them than the younger ones. It is a mutual process with all involved. A process where we learned our limitations, and learned that our kiddo Ashley needed more help than we could offer. She is now with a friend we met 13 years ago who can give her what we could not. While there was sadness in the transition, Jake and I now get to have an uncle and aunt role in her life. It is beautiful to watch her continue to grow and flourish. So that leads to Anthony, the teen you see in the picture. He came to be with us at the end of July and things are going well. It’s a really fun story, and if you want to have a zoom coffee date or hang out with us sometime we would love to tell you more. The last three months have been full of all that fostering brings, we are just now getting to a “cruising altitude,” and that’s a good time.
Remodeling slowed down to only a few projects this year outside of the homestead. We were featured by Goshen Farm and Garden’s Youtube channel back in July. It was an exciting opportunity to share about what God has been doing here as we partner with him to build a more sustainable lifestyle. Jake’s handy work was put on display. I shared about my group, The Victory Garden Collective where I network with, and mentor gardeners. I focus on traditional gardening and homesteading skills for the backyard gardener, helping them make the most of their space on a dime. We put in a small greenhouse that was so helpful in sprouting many of our own starts this year. We were also able to do some vertical gardening towers that you can learn more about in the youtube videos. We were gifted hydroponic equipment and hope to get it working in 2024.
https://youtu.be/a1iFSnGQnW4?feature=shared,https://youtu.be/oM0tTGDcSL4?feature=shared
This year we added two heritage breed/wild turkey crosses, and are raising freedom ranger meat birds for the first time. We are continuing with our egg layers as well. Our bunnies are down to six New Zealand’s with plans to add a new line soon. Let’s not forget our faithful duck who remains…so entertaining. We were able to purchase fencing and will install it in the new year. This will help us to add more animals and deal with the predator pressure of the Ozark Highlands. A small price to pay for the all the other benefits we reap from the wild beauty and peace here. Our lives are full, our hearts are full, and are hands are open to receive what God has for us in 2024.
Love, Jake and Daisy
P.S. The money continues to stay in this account until it is needed for adoption or adoption related expenses. Even with fostercare there can be adoption related expenses that are not covered. Our journey has looked nothing like we thought and we have had many blocks, hinderances and delays when it has come to infant adoption. We are still open to and desiring of this, but God is sending us teens with special needs, and we have opened our heart and home to this call. Thank you for believing in us and supporting us.
