We have BIG news!
We are adopting! It's so fun to be able to talk about as this has been in our hopes and prayers for many years and is finally happening.
We are over the moon and doing all that we can to prepare well to grow our family in the way that the Lord prepares. We have applied for a sibling group and that can range from 1-4 children. As part of this journey, we want to invite others to partner with us to help this dream come to fruition. You might be surprised to know that most international adoptions cost over $30,000. We are trusting the Lord to help this happen. After our homestudy is approved there are many scholarships and grants that we can apply for to help with our goals but until that point, we are estimating about $10,000 of expenses past our savings. We are hoping to relieve some of the financial stress so that we can be well prepared to welcome a child(ren) into our home.
We hope that you will feel invited into this process with us and understand that it takes a whole community to love and raise children well. To demonstrate this further, we will put the names of those people who donate on the back of a puzzle piece (surprise image) to display in our home and for our future children to know who all helped them join our family.
Good morning, evening, or whatever time zone this finds you in.
This update finds us so close to reaching half of our goal!
On Friday, we will receive a lovely caseworker from America who will help us complete our homestudy with an in-person visit and interview. We are so excited to meet her and show our new home as well as gain insight to things we may need to adapt before we receive children.
We are able to split some of the travel costs with another family also doing their homestudy (PRAISE GOD!) but it is still quite expensive so if you think to share our story with others in your circles or churches, we're always so grateful.
If you think of us during America's Friday and Saturday morning, please say a prayer for safe travels and peace for all involved. We feel God over this entire process and know that He will be with us then also.
We pray for you all often.
Love,
The Cooleys
Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!
We hope that you're ushering in the New Year with family and friends abundantly.
We are so grateful that our community has rallied to help us be able to cover our home study costs. We are closer and closer to our goal everyday.
If you would please take a moment to pray or send good wishes our way this month as we prepare for a case worker to visit our home here in Asia at the end of the month we would be so grateful.
Shortly after that visit, a large chunk of costs will be due so we are praying for the Lord to continue to give us financial favor during a time that is difficult for many.
Our money is the Lord's and I pray that we can be good stewards of it.
Much love always,
The Cooleys
Happy Thanksgiving!
This year we are so so thankful for YOU.
Our lives are often fraught with stress and busyness that today was such a lovely reminder of how much we have to be thankful for.
The Lord has brought us on this path to grow our family and while there are moments of difficulty, it has been a sweet renewal of our reliance on the Lord.
We are over 40% of our total goal which feels unreal. We are so thankful that this dream feels like it's coming to fruition. God is moving and working always.
As you spend today eating turkey and hopefully surrounded by friends or family, would you keep us in your heart and share our story? Adoption is something all believers can relate to and our desire to have our own children with us for Thanksgiving in years to come is a strong one. If you feel lead to share the link to our story or share about our journey to complete this puzzle with those you love, we would add it to the long list of things to be thankful for this year.
As always we love you all,
The Cooleys
374 pieces of the puzzle. It is wild to us that the Lord is working so boldly in our community.
We finished our home study education this week and got our home visit scheduled for the end of January.
We are so grateful for our agency that is so informed and desires for us to be as prepared as possible.
If you would be so kind as to share our facebook post or a link to this site and invite people to sponsor a $10 puzzle piece this holiday season to help us reach our goal, we would be forever grateful.
Praying for you always,
The Cooleys
Happy Adoption Month!
We are almost 1/3 of the way through what we're hoping to raise! Incredible.
We have done 3 interviews in the last couple of weeks with only one more until we receive a visitor overseas for our home visit.
Thank you for your prayers during this process. We are feeling encouraged and sustained by the Lord's goodness during this time.
If you would please consider sharing this website with your church, co workers, or friends and family we would be so incredibly grateful and we know that only through community will this adoption happen and thrive.
Oodles of love,
The Cooleys
