We have BIG news!
We are pursuing international adoption from South Africa!
We are hopeful and working hard to prepare to welcome a new member into our family. 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 $40,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $30,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents. Although this is a huge goal, we appreciate gifts of any size - $30 will cover the cost of ordering a document, and $100 will pay for one of our trainings. This is also a lengthy process - we could be waiting for a year or more before we travel to meet our new child (or children!), so if you can't give right now, check back later!
We also covet prayers during this time. Please see updates below, or reach out to us directly to join our prayer team.
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. Thank you!
Another Wednesday! We have so many irons in the fire, as they say. I think Andi, at last count, had 6 different lists in the house so that regardless of the room you are in, if & when something comes to mind you can jot it down! Jokingly I told her we need a list of lists so we don't forget a list!
Anyways, the Big news this week is that we were able to have a video call with T. It was completely last minute and we weren't prepared, but it was so great. She was very talkative and showed us around her home in SA, and we in turn showed her around our home. It looks like we might be able to have a call about once a week! So great!
We spent most of this past weekend working on home projects; prepping the girls room, building new shelves in the shed, clearing out the garage so both cars can be parked in it, etc.
We wrote an update letter. If you want a physical copy, just DM us and let us know. Church peoples should be getting one via the church's email. Most of it is covered here though.
Andi is feeling under the weather, so keep her in your prayers please and thank you!
Anyways, thanks all and we appreciate every one of you.
-Brad for the Hixson clan
p.s. - Wednesday updates will probably be what I can manage until we head out, so there you go.
Well, in the spirit of updating you all more frequently, here we go. We have tickets. We have rented an Airbnb in Joburg. We bought a new hardback suitcase. Andi finished the little Zebra stuffy she made for T and is furiously making her a blanket. We have mostly finished swapping the furniture between the girls room and the office/guest room (the girls will get the bigger room (sorry guests)). Andi circled the Sun one more time and we celebrated with style at Silverwood. Lots of goings on(s).
Rough Itinerary: We fly out way early Sept 25th, travel 27 hours, land in country the 26th, have 1 day to flip & orient ourselves, then we take custody of T on the 28th and have a transition week with her and then WHAM! October 5th!
-Brad
At long last, we have received our court date in Johannesburg, and we are now preparing to travel in late September! We are busy booking flights and accommodations, as well as retaining legal counsel to assist us in advocating for a speedy processing of documents after our court date so that we can get back home. The legal process in South Africa is very slow, and we anticipate being in country for 3+ months. All three of us will travel together, and it is sure to be a life-changing adventure! In the meantime, we are prepping our home and hearts for T and can't wait to meet her. This will be a costly trip, and we still appreciate any financial support that our loved ones feel led to give. Thank you!
Our court date application has finally been submitted to the South African courts, but we have now been told it may take 12 more weeks to receive a court date. We are praying our file is processed faster! We really hope to travel by the end of the summer. That is looking much less likely than it did at our last update, but we know with God all things are possible.
And in better news, Gift of Adoption has approved us for a $6,000 grant to help support our travel costs! We cannot update this page to show these funds have been brought in, but total support is over $20,000 now. Praise the Lord!
I'm not going to go into all the many details & updates since it's been a 2 year process now, I'm just going to jump right in. We received a referral in late October 2022 for a 7-year-old girl, "T," and we decided to proceed! A many-step bureaucratic process followed. We received our I-800 2 weeks ago, which allowed us to apply for the Article 5 (this allows the South African courts to set us a court date). We applied for the A5 2 days later and were told the usual 8-12 week wait for the A5 to get approved. We were approved in 5 days! We are now waiting for the SA courts to issue us a court date, which will determine when we are allowed to travel. The process is moving 2 months faster than we thought, so it's both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Prayer we can get everything done we need done prior to traveling. This is especially important as we will be in-country 3-4 months and Miss B will be traveling with us. We are working on housing there and our house here as well as working with The Oaks for B's schooling. Lastly, our first care package to T arrived 5/29 and contained letters and pics of us, which they will use to introduce her to us, and then we will hopefully have a video call with her soon! Lot's happening in a very short time! We promise to update on here more regularly.
