We have BIG news!
We are adopting!
Beth and I (Tyler) have always dreamt of being parents. It’s in our DNA. It’s difficult to imagine our lives any other way.
At age 15, a realization that she wanted to adopt hit Beth like a lightning bolt. She received visions of sitting at a dinner table as a mother with kids that didn’t look like her, and she felt God’s calling, though she didn’t know when or how to follow.
At age 14, I was in a children’s care center in Ethiopia, chasing my soon-to-be adopted sister around in circles as she panted and giggled in delight. I held other orphaned toddlers in my arms while they slept. Some had been matched. Some hadn’t. A seed was planted then; I just didn’t know when it would grow.
The story continued as Beth and I were married in 2022. We knew we wanted to have kids, but we didn’t know what it would look like. Resolution hit us two years later when it seemed God was clearly shepherding us away from parenting biologically and opening an unmistakable door to adopting.
And here we are – Beth and I are adopting! We feel led and are excited to adopt an infant domestically. We have clarity that while we do want to adopt, this is not a “Plan B” to having children. We are not “settling.” The child God is calling into our lives is not irregular, is not secondary, is not an afterthought. If He is pleased to make us parents, then the strength with which we will love our child will be totally indistinguishable from any treatment or view we would have over a biological child. We are at rest and rejoice at the thought that, while we make lousy saviors, here is still a chance to choose and love someone that so desperately wants and needs it. We leap at the chance to SEE our child – to look at them with our own eyes but also make abundantly clear that they are recognized, understood, accepted, and embraced. To love someone is to be for their flourishing at all costs, and we wait eagerly to bless a little someone with the same resolve.
What can you do to help? What we’ve found so far is that your excitement and encouragement matter so much! Your rejoicing makes us rejoice even more. But we would ask you to take a bolder step of support by helping us financially! The average cost of domestic adoption ranges from $30,000 to $60,000. We are trusting God with how he will provide, but one of if not the biggest way we know he provides is through our community.
Stay tuned as we make our way through this journey! Pray for us and the new member of our family, and give generously or however you feel led. We are thankful for you!
“Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn’t grow under my heart, but in it.” Fleur Conkling Heyliger
