WE ARE ADOPTING! After many years of praying and waiting, the time is NOW!
We are beyond excited to be adopting from South Africa through Holt International Adoption Agency. Our plan is to adopt a sibling set of 2 children. While there is still much unknown about the children we will call our own, we do know that this journey will be expensive. As shocking as it may be, the estimated cost of our adoption is $43,000-$73,000. This is why we have set a fundraising goal of $60,000 to ease the financial burden that adoption can cause.
As we are on this journey, we know that we are not alone. It is the community of family and friends surrounding us with love and support that help to make it all possible. Our deepest desire is that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as a valuable part of the community we hope to surround our children with as they join our family.
Thank you for considering joining us in this journey financially. Please know that your contribution, no matter the size, is deeply and sincerely appreciated!
On the very early morning of April 8th, we began our travels to South Africa to finally meet our precious boys. With about a week of time to settle in, do some touristing, venture on a quick safari, and finish our final preparations...we anxiously awaited the day we would meet them face to face.
On the afternoon of April 16th our whole lives and hearts changed forever! We met our sons face to face and the connection was almost instant. In everything that had been prepared for our timeline, we were continually blown away by how quickly the boys both felt safe with us, laughed with us, and ventured out to explore Cape Town with us. Every day we spent time together and were getting to know each other more and more. On Monday, April 22nd, the boys were ready to be with us and they transitioned into our care full time. After introducing them to our "new home" (for the next couple of months anyways), we started settling in to our new family of four right away. Reading books, completing puzzles, playing at the park, and eating lots of fun food...our family rhythm felt natural and easy.
On Friday, April 26th, we had our much anticipated court date with the local magistrate. This is the final step we have been waiting for to finalize and legalized the adoption. Meeting with our social worker, attorney, and magistrate, we took the official oath and are now the SUPER PROUD and HONORED parents of Brett and Don Carlo Orduña. While we still have several weeks in South Africa to process all final paperwork, order new birth certificates, and apply/complete passports and visas, we could not be any happier to see such a huge part of this journey come to fruition. We are feeling beyond beyond blessed and grateful for every single part of the process and how our loving Father God has carried us to this anointed position.
Please continue praying for us in the time we have still in South Africa and that we just continue to relish in each other's company more and more every day.
With love,
Daniel, Heather, Brett, and Don Carlo Orduña
We are BEYOND thrilled to announce that we have officially received our adoption court date, and are making plans to travel to South Africa to finally meet our boys! We will be traveling April 8th to begin settling into life in South Africa, with our court date set for April 26th.
We will spend about 10-12 weeks in South Africa as a family of four while we begin to get to know each other, process paperwork, and wait for our visa interview to receive the boys' visas and passports before traveling home.
Please continue to pray for us along this journey! Pray for our hearts to be prepared (even when you can't really be prepared) as we become parents, pray for our boys to feel loved and seen and known from our very first days together, and pray for an overwhelming sense of calm and peace in the midst of chaos and unpredictability in the coming months for us all!
With all our love,
Daniel and Heather
Hello friends and family!
It has been a long nine months since we posted an update! We have been waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for paperwork to process, official decisions to be made, and on God’s timing. We are so excited to share two HUGE updates.
First, the Lord has been our faithful provider and through each of you and many others we are overwhelmed by the financial support! We have surpassed our goal of $60,000 and the generosity continues to humble us. From the deepest parts of our hearts, we say THANK YOU! We quite literally could not afford the financial needs of this journey without you all.
Secondly, and even more exciting, we can now share the we have OFFICIALLY BEEN MATCHED! On Wednesday, November 22nd, we received an email from our case manager with the legal match referral from South Africa’s Central Authority. We have been matched with two sweet little boys (3 and 6 years old) who are already settling their way in to our hearts. We have been praying for these two little guys since June and every step of the way God has confirmed time and time again that these are our children!
Our next steps include finalizing our US immigration documents and upon approval waiting for our court date. We still have some months to go, but we rest in His timing and celebrate this big step forward.
In Love,
Daniel and Heather Orduna
Hello all! It has been another few months and it is time for another BIG update! We have completed all documents for our South Africa Dossier. Almost 50 documents later... notarizations...apostille certifications...all approvals and clearances complete...and we are done!
2 weeks ago, we had the opportunity to travel to Oregon to finalize the last two documents in person after delays and extended timelines of processing through mail. Coincidentally, our agency (Holt International) is located in Eugene, OR, and we had the pleasure of meeting our amazing case manager in person (pictured above), while also hand-delivering our dossier to her. Our visit with her was so special, blessed us beyond words, and we are still overflowing with gratitude for the time we had. Now, our family portfolio (with all documents) is being sent overseas for review by the South African adoption agency we partner with. The next steps for us are to sit and wait patiently to receive the call of a potential match.
Additionally, through the donations of this fundraising page and other gifts, we are now halfway to our financial goal. We have received a total of $35,000 in donations. We continue working to raise funds through this page, as well as having completed a couple grant applications.
Thank you all for continuing on this journey with us! We are excited to share the next update!
With love, Daniel and Heather Orduna
It has been a few months...and we are excited to post another big update! We have officially received final approval of our Home Study report, meaning we have been approved by the state of California to move forward with our adoption. This approval allows us to move forward in our adoption in multiple ways.
With this approved report, we are now able to move forward in applying for immigration approval from the US government. We were able to mail this application package this week, and now we will wait about 10-12 weeks to receive final approval.
In the meantime, we will continue to complete and notarize our dossier documents to complete our family portfolio for South Africa.
We will also continue our efforts for fundraising, while also applying for other grants and financial assistance for our adoption.
Finally, we want to express our deepest and sincerest gratitude for the many, many, many generous donations we have received so far. We are completely overwhelmed by the support of our community of family and friends supporting us through this journey. We feel at a loss for sufficient words to say thank you enough, and we continue to be overcome with emotions for how loved we feel by each and every donation that is helping us inch closer and closer to our dream. Through the donations of this fundraising page and additional gifts, we are almost halfway to our goal. We have received a total of $29,100 in donations.
