#### It's a boy!!! That's right, friends! Bill and I will be welcoming our son into the world in June. To say we are excited and giddy and over the moon is an understatement.
We met our birth mother (virtually) about three weeks ago and we have really valued getting to know her. She is kind, witty, SO incredibly thoughtful, and beautiful! We are blessed beyond measure that out of a sea of couples wanting to adopt, she chose us. We're headed down south to meet both her and her family in a few days and we are puuuuumped to get to meet them all!
So now we need your help.
As we shared in our original post here, this process is WICKED expensive. Any money you donate through this site is 100% tax deductible, you can donate anonymously if you want, and you can rest assured knowing that every penny can only be used to pay for adoption expenses.
If donating online isn't your thing, but you want to be a part of our village, hop on over to our Target baby registry. We have a LOT to get ready in a few short weeks.
Thank you for considering being a part of this journey with us. We know that we will share our devotion and unconditional love as fathers towards our little one from the moment we first meet and hold him. We just need a little help from our friends and family to make this dream we have had for so long finally come true
Much love -
Archie & Bill
#RebelandArchStarBecomeDads
Original AdoptTogether post:
Thank you for taking a few minutes and reading our AdoptTogether profile. For those we
may not know, the ginger above is Archie and the brunette is Bill and, yes, that is baby Bill and baby Archie on either side.
We are very excited to share our journey through the adoption process. Our goal is to be "matched" with an expectant birth mother and bring home a little one of our own, but, we need your help. We need to begin to build the village that will support our family. 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 they grow up.
Why Adoption?
The answer to this question is easy: We've always known that we wanted to have a family of our own but when you grow up knowing that you're gay, you never really know if it will ever happen for you. For both of us, knowing that we have the capacity to share love and provide a fulfilling life for a little one that is likely coming to us from a difficult circumstance, is both humbling and a huge honor. Adoption for us was never an "if" it was definitely always a "when".
What many of you may not know is that Archie is adopted. Archie absolutely credits the life he has today because at 22 months old, his parents chose him to be a part of their family, and we are both determined to give that gift to a child of our own.
Without so many of you in our lives we would absolutely not be the men we are today. You have been our people, our village and now we hope you will be a part of the village that will give that same experience to our child.
Our Adoption Journey
In April of 2017, we contracted with an amazing company based in Atlanta that provides adoption support and guidance for those hoping to adopt. They supported us as we created our first adoption profile book, taught us the ins and outs of the adoption process, and guided us as we worked to complete the all-important Home Study.
On November 20, 2017, we crossed the first of many finish lines in the adoption process: we received our completed and approved Home Study paperwork! Once a home study has been completed a profile book can be started that will be shown to birthmothers in the hopes of forming a "match". We're now working with our adoption consultant and a very highly respected adoption law firm in Florida as they help search for the perfect match for us.
Why are we attempting to raise financial support?
As you may or may not know, the adoption process is long, tedious, extremely expensive and an emotional rollercoaster. Domestic adoptions can easily cost $40,000 or more, and that's before the first diaper, onesie or bottle has been purchased.
What we are asking is not only emotional support, but also help with the cost of making our dream come true. Please know that any and all financial support we receive will go directly to offset the cost of our adoption. Your help would go towards adoption agency fees, legal fees for both us and the birth mother, counseling for the birth mother post-placement, our placement fees, finalization fees, a new birth certificate, travel to and from the birth mother's state - the list of adoption related expenses goes on and on. Sure, we could take out an enormous loan or max out every credit card that we have, but raising a baby takes a village, and we want you to be a part of our village.
For everyone that chooses to become a part of our village, we would like to collect a photo and a short note from you that will be placed in an "Adoption Journey" book which will one day be shared with our little one. We want them to know how much love surrounded them before they even came home with us.
Why use AdoptTogether and not GoFundMe or PayPal?
The reasons we chose this crowdfunding site are really all about you:
AdoptTogether is a project of Hoping Hearts Foundation Inc, an IRS approved 501c3 organization meaning all donations are 100% tax-deductible.
Unlike other crowdsourcing sites, you can rest assured that all monies you donate can only be used for our adoption related expenses. We will apply for a grant from money donated to our campaign that we will then use to continue our adoption journey.
Donors that have access to Corporate Matching Gift programs can have their donation matched since AdoptTogether is an IRS approved 501c3 organization.
