Our excitement can't be contained anymore..
We are ADOPTING! Gah! We really can't believe we just typed out those words!
We are beyond grateful, humbled, and over-the-moon excited about this new chapter in our lives. Currently, we are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. We just hit the ground running and started the paperwork process. We can't wait for that moment until our baby is in our arms.
After 10 years of infertility, countless doctor visits in two states (including Mayo, UC Davis, and Barrows), blood draws, treatments, tears, tests and more tests, God graciously made it clear that adoption was going to be our story of starting a family. We found out in 2015 that Dame has unexplained male factor infertility. This news changed our lives and we have accepted that this cross God has given us has a special purpose. Our infertility doesn't take away from the beauty of starting our family, it just adds to it. We feel so blessed as we watch God's plan unfold, and words can’t describe how our community has showered us with love, support, and prayers.
As part of our adoption process, we have started a giving page. It may surprise you to hear that domestic adoption costs can easily total $40,000 - $50,000. These fees include the Home Study, Agency Fees, Expectant/Birth Parent Care, Legal Fees and Post placement fees. This is why we have set a goal of $30,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents.
We have decided to do a multi-agency approach. Meaning we will be working with multiple agencies at once with the hope of being placed faster. This also means that we will be viewing birth Mom profiles within the next month and financially hope to say yes to any opportunities.
We hope that, by your generous support, you will come beside us and see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he or she grows up.
"For this child did I pray, and the Lord hath granted me my petition, which I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27
If you have any questions about our adoption journey, please ask away! If you are struggling with infertility, and need a friend to speak with, please do you not feel alone -we are here for you. We understand the hardships and want to be there for others. Please email us at [email protected].
Donations made through this website are tax deductible.
With Grateful Hearts,
Damien and Rita Crane
We know it's been a very hot minute since we have updated you all on our adoption. To be honest, not much has changed since our last update, but we still want to share where we are in this season of waiting. We have had so many of you reach out to us asking, how it's going?... are we matched again yet?... we really appreciate each and everyone of you, we are so grateful you care!
As many of you know, we experienced a disruptive placement in August of last year. Since being a waiting family again, it feels like a different climate compared to last year's volume in situations. That being said, we are taking this time to remind ourselves that there is purpose in this season of waiting -even if we don't understand or see the full picture. Also we remind ourselves that this season is so temporary and once we are holding our baby, this long waiting period will all disappear and was worth every second of our wait. We know our baby is out there, we know our birth family is out there, we pray for them every single day.
We are hoping to expand to work with one more agency in Texas to cast a wider net. There's a waiting list right now for out-of-state families, So please keep us in our prayers that we get in sooner than later. Texas also requires additional clearance checks for their state, so we might be active for a few more months with them, but we've read and heard so many great things about this agency that we think it will be worth it!
We will keep you updated as soon as anything changes! Thank you for your prayers and support, they are appreciated more than you'll ever know!
I've been wanting to give you all the latest update with our adoption journey...
As many of you know, we had a disruptive placement back in August. We had 72 hours to to wait before the birth parents would sign and relinquish their parental rights. Within that 72 hours, it was a complete rollercoaster ride if they would place or parent. In the end, they decided to parent. We can't tell you very many details -just to respect their privacy. To sum it up, they made the decision for their daughter to parent. It was a very hurtful and confusing decision. But nonetheless, they made it and strongly felt that they made the right decision for their child.
So where are we now...
Well fast forward two months and we have presented to another situation but were not matched. Even though we weren't matched, it did give us a lot of hope getting back on that horse. But the last eight weeks haven't been a breeze, we have grieved the loss of the dream of having a baby. At times it feels like we have taken three steps closer and ten steps back towards starting a family. We are trying to dig deeper in our faith. Not ask ourselves, why is this happening to us, but rather what can we learn from this situation.
Where do we go from here...
Things have slowed down tremendously on the adoption front. So we wait. We wait for God's perfect timing. We wait to see more situations. We wait to see his plan and story unfold. And in that waiting, we trust and ask ourselves what more can we learn during this waiting period.
We couldn't have done this without the prayers and support. From all of the messages, calls, texts, prayers, donations, love and visits. It all means the world to us.
We will definitely keep you all posted as we learn anything new. We love you and thank you again for everything.
Damien and Rita
