God willing, we will soon have another member of the Mathoslah family!
As we considered adoption and spoke with other adoptive families, one of our questions was in regards to finances. How do families manage the seemingly insurmountable financial burden of near $60,000? (This cost covers things like home study, agency fees, paperwork, legal fees, care for birth mom, social work fees, etc. ) We were encouraged first and foremost to trust that what God has called us to, He will equip us for- both spiritually and practically. Stories were also shared about the incredible generosity of their communities, and we were encouraged to invite our community into this aspect of our journey as well.
We've said it before and will say it again- we have an incredible community of family, friends, and church. We are truly grateful for your encouragement, prayer, insight, and support. Thank you for considering a financial investment in bringing our child home.
A really fun part of this for us- Any donation will "purchase" you a piece of our puzzle. A puzzle that will have the names of each person who helped us bring our child home on each different piece. This puzzle will be framed and hung in our home, for us to regularly recall the faithfulness of God and kindness of His people as we love on our newest family member.
If you haven't yet, we encourage you to first read more about what has led us to adoption. You can do so here on our blog:
https://mathoslahadoption.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-has-led-us-here.html?m=1
PLEASE NOTE the donation platform is a bit confusing. If you choose to "donate anonymously", we will not be able to see your name either. Which if fine if that is your desire! However, if you are comfortable with us seeing your name, and you'd prefer to keep the amount private from the public, please choose "do not disclose amount publicly" rather than donating anonymously. we want to thank our people properly and get your name on our sweet babe's adoption puzzle. we love you!
All our love, Jon, Rachel, and Brooklyn
Hi beautiful friends and family! It is with so so much joy we share with you a HUGE step forward in our adoption journey- we have matched!!!!! What does "matched" mean? It means that an expecting mom, who has chosen an adoption plan for her baby, chose our family to be the adoptive family for her child! The caseworker we spoke with also shared with us what our birth mom "M" wrote down as to why she chose us. Let's just say... we were a puddle!
So what is next? Well... we spend the next 8 weeks preparing to fly down to Phoenix, AZ where our little one will be born. We spend the next 8 weeks praying over our birth mom, the little one in her womb, and asking God to prepare our hearts for what is next. Then, once we get the call the M is in labor, we will fly down to AZ and wait until we are cleared to take placement of our child. Something really important to note here- our birth mom is not legally bound by her decision to choose us as her adoptive family. This means, she is required to wait until 72hrs post-birth to sign away custody and make the adoption official and legally binding. She can change her mind and choose to parent anytime between now and those 72hrs after birth. So would you pray over that? That we would rest in God's will and that M would find peace and confidence in her final decision?
We'll share more as time passes, and we know that while this is not set in stone, our current reality is that come July- we will be a family of FOUR!!
Thank you all SOOO much for your investment, prayer, encouragement, and love this far.
Want to hear something else amazing? On a Monday night, a gift was donated that brought us to meeting our $50,000 crowdfunding goal. The following morning on a Tuesday, we got the call that we had been chosen. Continued affirmation that our God is, and alwasy has been, all over the details... we are in awe!
With so much love and gratitude,
Jon and Rachel
Hi everyone!
We just wanted to give you all an update that we are officially an active waiting family! We have been placed on a waiting family list with three infant adoption agencies. We are waiting to hear from a fourth agency about getting on their waiting family list as well. Two agencies are in Utah, and two agencies are in Florida. These agencies were recommended to us by our adoption consultant because they are successful, highly reputable, and legally and ethically sound. They are also located in states that are considered to be a bit more "adoption friendly" based on some different factors. We had also reached out to an Ohio adoption agency about getting on their waiting family list, and they actually discouraged us from doing so based on the lack of expecting mothers that had been choosing adoption in Ohio.
We have a few applications and emails out on grants we are hoping to be approved for to get us closer to that 57k we are seeing on fee schedules. Regardless of if we are approved for those grants or not, we are completely blown away by and so grateful for the way you have all provided for us. It is hard to put into words, and it has been an overwhelming wave of encouragement and affirmation for us. God has provided and we know He will continue to help us.
Anyway, the dust is definitely settling. We're feeling ourselves return to a sense of normalcy and less of a constant sense of urgency and expectancy. Our prayer is that we would learn in this time what God would have us learn in order to be most prepared to love this child in the way they need. We are seeking to savor our time with just Brooklyn, continuing to lead her and disciple her heart to love Jesus. She is going to be an incredible big sister one day, and we can't tell you how badly we want that for her. We are also enjoying getting to really dive into our ministries and church community. I feel that a silver lining of this long waiting for a second child has been that we have had a lot of opportunity to fully invest in our gifts and passions in our community and love those around us well like we feel God is calling us to.
A month from now.. or 18 months from now.. who knows?! Oh wait, our Creator does :) And that is our comfort. He sees us and He cares about what we care about.
Not having control is a funny thing. It sure does put you in your place...
Fingers crossed that our next update here will come soon and come with the news that we have been matched! I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it!
We love you all so much. Thank you for loving us and affirming us in our pursuit of our child by adoption.
Jon and Rachel
We wanted to share with you all a MAJOR update! Our home study that has taken the last 4 months to complete has been officially APPROVED! This means we can now formally submit to be "active" with domestic infant adoption programs, and expecting moms will be able to see our family as an option for her baby's home. Thank you, Jesus! We are fortunate to be working with Christian Adoption Consultants, a consulting team, who has provided us a list of 8 different reputable adoption agencies around the country. SO, our next step is to send off our applications, profile books (for expecting moms to get to know us), some fees, and a home study copy- then we wait!
We are so beyond grateful to those of you who have generously contributed to our cause. A few of our adoption agencies ask for proof of funds prior to applying, and we are so grateful to have such a chunk available already :) Our most recent fee schedules from these agencies have advised us that we are looking at estimate of 51-57k in total for our adoption. We have seen God's provision BIG and we do not doubt He will continue to carry us. Would you consider sharing our platform on your social media to help us continue to reach our goal?
All in all- THANK YOU. We know many of you have been asking for an update and we haven't had much to share as we've sat in the thick of the home study- but this brings us so much joy to share and we can't believe we are now one huge step closer to meeting our child.
Keep your eyes peeled for a blog update from Rachel soon- that will be the real gushy stuff!
https://mathoslahadoption.blogspot.com
All our love,
Jon, Rachel, and Brooklyn
