“If you have a heart for adoption, don’t let fear stand in the way.” — Doug Chapman
We have BIG news! The Lord, in his surprising sovereign plan, is leading us to adopt a child! Surprised? So are we. :-)
Adoption has always been a conversation in our house. In fact, Sarah even told Braden the night they were engaged of her desire to adopt. Ephesians 1:4-6 states, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Jesus has given us the perfect example to follow by grafting us into HIS family. It's a beautiful, glorious, and mysterious gift that we owe everything and nothing for. We live eternally grateful for this and it leads us to want to adopt ourselves.
We began seriously conversing about adopting right after Levi was born - but Braden still felt like he didn't have faith for the astronomical cost as well as several other fears. So, for the moment, we just decided to sincerely bring the matter to the Lord asking him to remove our doubts and fears or lead us to being content that we can support others in adoption. Then things started to get a little crazy. God brought people into our lives who began discussing adoption with us, there were divine coincidences that kept bringing the topic up again and again. Also, one night we prayed to give Braden a dream about adoption if that was what he wanted us to do. And you know what? He did.
Within a month of that dream, we received an email from a friend. This email stated that there was a crisis pregnancy center in Michigan that desperately needed families for their list of potential matches for adoption for the women coming through the center. They only had 7 families, many of which were "selective" (meaning they would not take babies of specific races, genders, ect). They were worried they would have to begin sending birth mothers away because they wouldn't have a family to match them with. The email was a call to the pro-life community to step up and take these precious gifts we say we want to come into this world no matter what. There was an instant change in Braden - we knew right away, the Lord had been preparing us to except this step of faith. So we signed up. There were 2 more matches and the center that week and it was down to only 5 families. We knew we made the right decision.
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.
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.
