Our adoption journey has been long, and has had many twists and turns along the way.
We initially set out in 2022 to pursue a private adoption. We went through the home study and got approved in 2023 for infant placement. We raised funds and secured a finances to make sure that we could adopt an infant without having to worry about the cost – we discussed the details and high cost of private adoption in previous posts. We prepared a nursery and all the things we’d need to welcome a baby into our home. And then the adoption consultancy we were working with went through major changes in staffing and how they interacted with clients. This change left us in a position where we felt we needed to part ways with that agency at the end of 2023 and work with a local adoption agency in 2024.
During this transition, we prayed and sought direction on how to grow our family. We started by considering doing private adoption through the new agency. Then, we considered adopting a waiting child in the foster care system. And then in the Spring of 2024, God put it on our hearts to adopt a sibling group (ages birth to 8 years old). Not just one or two, but up to four. On top of that, we still feel led to pursue private infant adoption. That’s a big change from our original path, but God knows what He’s doing!
Because of the change in direction, we had to undergo a new home study in 2024 and take different training in preparation for older children. Our home saw some big changes too! We converted my (Hannah’s) office into a bedroom, we integrated play spaces into other areas of our home, and came up with ideas for how we could make more space in our home in the future.
While we wait for an infant match and a sibling group match, we are providing Respite Care for other foster families. This helps us practice the parenting skills we're learning in our classes, get used to the chaos of having kids in the house, and make some adjustments to our home and routines to accommodate kiddos.
Our hearts are open and willing, and we are looking forward to what God has planned for us! Your prayers and generous financial support have made growing our family to this extent possible. This has been a long journey, and it may take a bit longer still. But we are so blessed to have you with us!
Yesterday, while taking a walk with a friend who is going through the home study process to become a foster parent, I received the call from our agency that we are now Foster Family Approved! Our license will allow us to foster-to-adopt a sibling group of up to 4 kids. It's a huge milestone that we've been waiting on for several months. I don't think the reality has sunk in quite yet!
Our next steps are to provide respite care to other foster families who need a break of any kind over the next several months -- from needing to take a weekend trip out of state for a wedding/funeral, to a more extended break to rejuvenate and provide their best selves to their foster kids. We are doing this so that we can gain parenting experience before bringing a sibling group in full-time. Plus, it will help us get to know other kids in the system. We may end up providing respite care to a group who needs a permanent placement, but their current foster family isn't in a position to adopt them.
Please pray with us as we move into this next phase of our adoption journey!
(Background confetti photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash)
Our adoption journey sure has branched out in 2024! To make room for the updated story on our landing page, I'm archiving our original family story from 2022. Follow this blog to learn about what we've been up to since our previous posting!
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[Original family story from 2022]
In case you haven’t heard… we are expanding our family through adoption!
We want to welcome a child (or more than one!) into our home and share our lives with them.
We invite you to become part of our adoption process by praying for us, our future child or children, and the birth mother who has to make the difficult decision to give up her child. If you wish to support us in a physical way, we have set up this crowdfunding campaign to help offset fees throughout the adoption process.
As part of the adoption process, we learned there are BIG expenses. For the adoption alone, it is about $50,000 (USD). Before we get to the point of adopting, we must go through a rigorous approval process to ensure that the birth parent is placing her child in a safe home environment with conscientious parents.
We want you to be part of this community as our child learns and grows. It means so much to us, and will mean so much to them when they are older, to know you helped bring them to us. Please join us as we prayerfully, and with great intention, seek to grow our family and our community.
With much love,
Phil and Hannah
If you haven't heard from us lately, it's for good reason! The last several weeks have been very busy for us with adoption preparations! We only have two more documents to submit for our home study, and we finish our last two Pre-Service Training sessions this week. We start our individual interviews with our home inspection worker on Thursday this week, and we're wrapping up the last few house details for the home inspection (like putting a lock on Phil's office door, and posting emergency phone numbers on the fridge). We've also been setting up our spare room and my office as bedrooms for the kiddos. It's all getting very real, friends!
Thank you all, as always, for your support as we go through this process! We are grateful to have you in our lives. We think of you every time we use the things you've given us or use these raised funds to help pay for various inspections and fees in the process.
With love,
Hannah and Phil
(Photo credit: Braden Collum on Unsplash)
Hello loved ones!
Though we haven’t posted since December, a lot has been going on! We needed to switch some plans around in the new year, and we needed to let the dust settle before posting again.
Because of some complications we experienced with the adoption consultancy we were previously working with, we decided to disconnect from them and work directly with a local adoption agency. We are now signed up with a local adoption agency, and have begun the home study process with them (we had to start another home study due to a number of our previous home study’s documents expiring). We are excited to see where God will take us with this new approach. It’s been good to go through all the work last year so that now we know what to expect in this process now. Our current goal is to get our new home study completed as quickly as possible.
Prayer requests:
Continued patience through this process.
Focus for me (Hannah) as I complete all the paperwork we need to do (neither of us loves paperwork!).
For God’s guidance and reassurance through our decision-making process.
Thanks to the Lord:
For all the funds given in the past year!
For all the work God is doing behind the scenes.
For all of you - your love and support given to us.
Looking ahead to where God is leading,
Hannah and Phil
(Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash)
A Psalm of David.
Psalm 23: 1-6
The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, and my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.
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The past two months have been heavy for us. Each of us experienced a parent in the hospital with severe health issues. They are both out of the hospital and recovering, by the grace of God, but are experiencing a long road back to full health. We also experienced setbacks in the adoption process: quite a few of our adoption clearances expired due to the long process of gathering those papers and clearances on top of living life. I was starting to become very discouraged about that, about finances, about family health, about time. But I’ve been encouraged by others to wait on the Lord. His timing is perfect, and He takes our imperfections into account for His timing too.
In other news, the $2000 Matching Challenge is complete! Thank you to the anonymous gifter who set the challenge and matched your $2000 in gifts to make it a total of $4000! We appreciate every single gift our adoption fund receives because we know that God provided for you, and He will use it for good to grow our family and our community.
You may have also noticed a significant gift given recently. We can only thank and praise God for what He has done to bless the gifter, and for what that gift will do for our family. Because of this gift, we are now at 72% of our fundraising goal!
So, even though we’ve gone through a season of setbacks, we have so much to be thankful for. Thank YOU for your prayers, words of encouragement, and for your investments in our family. Our cup truly runneth over from God’s riches and God’s strength.
Please join us for a moment of praise and thanks to God!
1 Chronicles 29:11-13
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.
With love and gratitude,
Hannah and Phil
(Photo credit: Jon Tyson via Unsplash.com)
Matched by Anonymous
Matched by Anonymous
Matched by Anonymous
