Bill and Martha Robinson

Updates

• Update 2

  We Matched!!

  March 17, 2025
  Y’all! I have tried and tried to sit down to write this so many times, but the disbelief + sense of awe just overwhelms me! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but WE MATCHED! Translation: A sweet expectant mom has chosen us to adopt + parent her baby, and our gratitude is endless. We got the news a few weeks ago and have been rejoicing and processing ever since we received the call. God is so good and His kindness is abundant. This news has knocked us down to our knees in the best way; we are offering praise and... Read morefeeling SO thankful for this good, good news. As we’ve shared with our families and friends, we have gotten lots of questions, so I thought it might be helpful to answer a few of those here. When is mom due and what is she having? She is due April 7th with a baby BOY! She will most likely have him earlier, we are just waiting on insurance to get the c-section on the calendar. She actually lives in Bill’s hometown (such a fun, unexpected detail in this), so we will drive down there with the kids a few days before delivery. We’ll get to spend some time with mom and get settled in before the big day. Why is mom placing this baby for adoption? This is a question we won’t be answering out of respect for her + baby boy. We can say that she is incredibly brave, selfless, and someone we deeply respect. We got to meet her over zoom before she made her decision and we instantly felt such a strong connection. She’s incredible and we look forward to getting to know her better in the days ahead. How does the naming process work? Who gets to decide that? This can vary quite a bit in the adoption world, but with our case specifically, we have been given full naming rights. And yes, we think we know the name, but no, we won’t be sharing until we bring him home. Only a few weeks to go until then, though! Have you told the kids yet? We have not told the kids yet, but we will soon. Lucy asks often about the baby we’ll adopt, so we know she’ll be excited. However, patience is not our kids’ strong suit, so we don’t want to have to make them wait *too* long. This piece is hard to talk about, but also, since nothing is official until two days after he’s born, we also want to limit how long our kids have to get their hopes up. We know they’re resilient, but we also want to be wise in when/how we talk about all of this. What do you need? When I first started getting asked this a few weeks ago, I just drew a blank! How on earth do you begin to prepare for a baby in six weeks? Even though we have been trying to grow our family for years, I never let myself work on preparing the nursery or looking through baby items simply as a measure of protecting my heart. As I’ve had some time to process and as friends have helped remind me what babies actually need, it’s slowly been coming together. We have set up a small registry for the last few baby items we need / haven’t kept or been able to reuse since Benji was born three years ago. I’ll link that here: https://my.babylist.com/baby-martha-robinson We are also in the home stretch of our fundraising efforts and only need about $5,000 to reach our goal. If you feel led to give towards our adoption or share with those in your community, we would truly be so blessed by that. We have already made the first payment (50% of total) at the time we were matched, and the remainder will be due once we bring baby boy home in a couple of weeks. You can donate through this site or venmo us (@bill-robinson-3). This adoption process has been truly transformative in so many ways and I plan to write a separate post all about that. But, l will say it has been life-changing to be on the receiving end of such care, generosity, and support like I have been since starting this journey last fall. The ways our community has held + rallied around us has been a gift I will never forget. It has been a talking point around our dinner table more nights than not, and we have just been so moved by how well our people love us + this baby on the way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• Update 1

  Happy New Year!

  January 15, 2025
  Hi friends! First off, we are SO unbelievably grateful for the support we have received so far. Adoption is beautiful yet challenging, and we know we could not walk this road alone. We have been fielding lots of questions lately, so we thought it might be helpful to post a little update here. There are a few different parts of the process keeping us busy these days. First off, we are applying to a couple more agencies in hopes of casting a wider net, so to speak. Applications can be a little tedious at times: lots of paperwork, background checks,... Read morefees ranging from $300-$1000, and sometimes required online training courses. The agencies we've applied to are thoroughly vetted by our consultant (and us, ha), so we feel confident they care for all parties really well. Secondly, we are fundraising! Adoption is very expensive. The funds cover legal fees, counseling, agency fees, home study costs, and other expenses related to the birth mom's unique situation. Again - we cannot do this alone and we truly feel SO blessed by all the support you've shown us already. If you feel led, would you consider sharing our story/website with others? Maybe family members, home group, or anyone you feel may have a pull towards adoption. We are brainstorming a few other ways to raise support, so stay tuned, but ultimately we trust in the Lord's provision + sovereignty. He will make a way! Lastly, we are actually starting to receive and consider 'situations' - aka profiles of expectant moms from agencies (!!!). We've gotten a lot of questions about how this part works, so I'll try to break it down a little bit. When a mom decides to make an adoption plan, she will begin working with an agency. After thorough interviews, that agency then shares her profile with families to consider whether or not they want to "present" aka show her their profile book. This way, if a family is selected, they have already committed and there is no risk of the expectant mother being disappointing by a change of plans. The mom usually takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to make her decision, and then the adoptive family is notified they've been matched. We cannot WAIT for that phone call! So, when people ask us, "When will you bring home baby?", the honest answer is, we don't know! We are trying to wait well and handle this part of process we as much wisdom as we can. Love y'all and SO very thankful for each you!