We are super excited to finally announce that we are adopting (Lord willing)!! We have a huge heart for adoption and have always wanted build our family through adoption. We believe adoption is a picture of the gospel because Christ adopts us into his family when we become believers! While we are SO excited for this next stage of life, we also want to acknowledge that all earthly adoption starts from loss and that should not be minimized.
We are doing everything we can to prepare to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. As apart of the adoption process, we have decided to start a crowdfunding campaign. Adoption related expenses for domestic adoption can easily total up to $50,000 or more. We have set a goal of $30,000 to help ease the financial burden. Please do not feel obligated to give financially, but if you feel led to support we greatly appreciate you. We hope by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our future child.
This page will also have updates as we go through this process!
We had an interrupted adoption.
When you research adoption, one thing you will see is that many hopeful adoptive parents will experience a failed or disrupted match/adoption. There is no statistic on how many times this happens, but it does happen somewhat often. We knew going into this process that this was a possibility.
We got an urgent situation sent to our email a few weeks ago, which we said “yes” to. The next evening we got the email that we were chosen. We were shocked and over the moon excited. We started gathering things and packing the next day since we would be traveling at any moment. A week goes by and then it gets close to 2 weeks, our hearts grow anxious. The thoughts “is something wrong” “what’s going on” fill our heads. And then we get a call from our case worker. She tells us there’s a red flag, we immediately think the worst. A day passes, more bad news. Finally we get a call and find out that our match has ended and they have many reasons to believe that it actually was an adoption scam.
We are heartbroken. We were so excited of the possibility of bringing this baby into our family. We will not be sharing specifics of the situation due to privacy and legal reasons. We ask that you be praying for us and our hearts moving forward.
We have not posted an adoption update in a while. Mostly because we don’t have have any exciting news to share and are in the mundane days of the waiting period.
We’ve only been waiting for almost 3 months and it feels long even though we know and expect that our wait could be much much longer. After months of completing mounds of paperwork for our home study, completing appointments, creating our profile and applying to adoption agencies it feels weird to sit and wait. We believe that God is sovereign over this wait and that His plan and timing are perfect. We know that we can trust He is doing something in these days that we expectantly wait even if we cannot see it now.
So what are we doing in this time of waiting? We are living our lives as normal! We are working, spending time with friends and family, doing things we enjoy, and just trying to be faithful to where and what God has us in this season. We are also taking time to be prayerful about the future and about our hopeful adoption. We are also spending time learning and researching parenting especially related to adoption. Our consultant, adoption agencies, and friends have recommended great resources to us about numerous adoption related topics. We will share a small chunk of the resources we are working through in our wait.
We ask you to please continue praying with and for us during this time!
- Patrick and Samantha
It’s been a month since we have been home study approved which is crazy to think how fast a month goes by! The process getting to this point has been much faster than we expected and what is normal. Our home study was competed in less than 2 months which is less time than the average 2-4 months that it normally takes.
We thought we would share about our process since it’s different than a route that is more common. A lot of people adopting choose to use an adoption agency that does their home study, profile book, matching, placement, etc. Basically it’s using one agency for everything or almost everything.
We are using an adoption consultant which is not the same as an adoption agency. They do not complete the Home study, matching, or placement. They do however give home study agency recommendations, agency recommendations, and immense amount of information and support to hopeful adoptive parents throughout the process. They scrutinize and assess adoption agencies they work with to make sure they are ethical. Consultants also receive situations from agencies that they share with their clients. Once we were Home study approved we became an “Active Waiting Family” with our consultants and we can also apply to other agencies that our consultant has suggested based upon our preferences.
So where are we at now? Right now we are active with our consultant and one other agency. We are in the process and hope to sign on with a few other agencies as well. We have started to receive and review situations. We then can choose if we want to present to a case or not.
So we are in the waiting. We don’t know how long we will be in this season, but we know God is sovereign over it all.
- Patrick and Samantha
Eek!!! We are home study approved!!! This means that we now can legally adopt!!! We are just so excited and feel so blessed!
The Home study Process:
The Home study process consisted of a lot paperwork!! We also had background checks, medical checks, fire inspection, etc. This took us just less than 2 months, but every agency is different time wise!
Our Next Steps:
Since we are home study approved we are active with a few adoption agencies through our consultants. We also can apply to additional agencies if we choose to. We now will start to receive situations that match our preferences and we can choose to present to the situation or not. So now we are just waiting to be matched with a situation which could be a short or long period of time!
Current Needs:
Please continue to pray for us in this process. Please pray for us that God would provide for us financially and in this process. Please pray for us as we start to review situations that we would have wisdom, discernment, and peace. And please continue to pray for all expectant mothers who are looking into adoption.
If you feel called to give financially, you also can do that through this link!
-Patrick and Samantha
Our profile book finally arrived today!!! We were so impatiently waiting for the delivery driver all morning! It feels like Christmas!
I ( Samantha) created a lot of the design for the book and boy oh boy was it a labor of love! Patrick and I spent so many hours crafting this book to show a sliver of who we are to those who will read it! A profile book is what expectant families look at if they are thinking of creating an adoption plan for their child. This book is so personal and many women will read these at extremely difficult points in their lives. Our hope was that it would be honoring to all expectant moms/ families who would read it.
We gathered so many pictures of ourselves, our friends, our family, our house, and the things that make us and our life unique. We shared stories from our lives and where we came from. We shared our values and where we hope our future leads! It was really fun creating this book!
We designed this book on free graphic design website and then had our consultant review and make some edits to our book! We then continued to make what seemed like never ending edits until we thought it was perfect! Then we got some copies printed from the printing site our consultant suggested! They turned out so amazing and so much better than we could have dreamed!!
We are getting so close to becoming an active, waiting family! Thank you all for your continued support and prayers, they mean the world to us!! And please continue to keep us in your prayers!
- Patrick and Samantha
