We are thrilled to share that we are adopting!
Before we were even married we talked a lot about what building our family would look like and as we thought about our future children, adoption was a part of the dream we held close to our hearts. We didn't know much about the practical steps toward adopting, so we slowly began to learn more and kept praying.
The more we prayed and learned the more convinced we became that adoption was for us. We sensed a deep assurance that we not only wanted to become parents, but that we wanted to grow our family through adoption. We want to be used in whatever way God sees fit in the life of an expectant mother/family, we want to be of service to the adoption community, we want our hearts to be shaped by God (who adopted us into His family) and, of course, we want to welcome a new, precious life into our home.
We are in the midst of the joyful blurr of officially stepping into adoption and are doing everything we can to be prepared for all that is to come on this journey. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. One significant surprise we encountered regarding finances is 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. In the US, 33% of couples consider adoption; however, 79% of the families are deterred by the high costs, and in the end only 2% adopt.
Our prayer is that by inviting you into this process, through prayer and/or a financial gift (both are deeply valuable to us!), you will experience the joy of being a part of the ministry and miracle of adoption. Our deepest desire is that you will be a part of the community that our child grows up loving (and being loved by), learning from, and making lifelong memories with. You mean so much to us and we are so thankful for your support.
UPDATE: We have increased our goal to $60,000 since our first match did not result in a successful placement. We are open to re-matching and are crowdfunding for the new match fees - thank you!
