We have BIG news… We are adopting a child!
In a whirlwind of events, we are preparing to welcome a beautiful baby boy into our home in less than a month! We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to prepare for this life-changing event.
As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption-related costs can easily total $50,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $40,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents.
We knew funding this adoption in such a short period of time would be immensely challenging, but we also believe whole-heartedly that God has aligned our every step down this path. In that same faith, we are believing that God will align us with individuals that desire to contribute to our adoption journey.
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he grows up.
Asa Sutton Rayne Preston made his appearance on January 15, 2024 at 12:34pm. He was 5lbs 12oz and 19.5 inches long with a head full of jet black hair! Rich and I were able to be there for the birth, and I even cut the umbilical cord. Watching our son being born has to be the most beautiful and extraordinary experience I have ever had in my entire life. After a couple of days in the hospital, we were able to take our son home and began our journey as Mom and Dad.
Asa is indeed perfectly and wonderfully made by God... we see it in his every detail. We are absolutely in love and also absolutely exhausted! The last three weeks have been filled with feedings, diapers, boogers, spit-up, cries, tiny smiles, wandering eyes, coos and grunts, and sleepless nights... and we wouldn't change it for the world. Asa is hitting milestones and melting hearts. We are just smitten.
We want to say thank you from the very bottom of our hearts for your support in making our long-time dream come true. We have a ways to go, but so far we have been able to make our payments to keep the adoption process moving forward. For those of you not familiar with the process, upon leaving the hospital, we were made Asa's "legal guardians" until the adoption is finalized, which is a lengthier process. Our first petition to the court will be in April, and then we will have another court date after that to finalize the adoption.
We will keep everyone posted on our journal with updates, stories, and all the cute pictures you can possibly stand! We love you all, and we are so thankful to have such an amazing support system around us.
Marisa, Rich, & Baby Asa
We wanted to give everyone an update on baby Asa. Our sweet bio mama is scheduled to be induced TODAY (Monday 1/15/24) at 4pm. The doctor said since she is a first-time mother, and she is only about 1cm dilated, it could take some time for her to actually go into labor. He said we could be meeting our baby boy as early as Tuesday morning or as late as Thursday... but we are so ready to meet him!
Please keep baby Asa in your prayers. He is growth-restricted for unknown reasons, which is why they are inducing bio mama at 38 weeks. All the things that they can test for have come back normal, but they said there are many unknowns until the baby is born. His weight is not too concerning - last week he weighed 5lbs 5oz. However, his abdominal measurements are in the bottom 4th percentile. The doctor said it could just be genetics, since bio mama is very small. But we know that he is perfectly and wonderfully made by God, so we are not worried. We just want our baby and our bio mama to have the best birthing experience.
Thank you to everyone who is involved in our journey in some way. We cherish the support that we have around us. We will continue to update all of you as we continue on our journey!
