Hello!
About a year and a half ago our family of 5 began visiting an orphanage in Mexico, and it has been life-altering! The unlikely and VERY EXCITING result of those trips is that our family has decided together to adopt a group of 4 siblings! Yes, we are hoping to almost double our family in one go!
We are so excited and have been doing everything we can to make this dream a reality for the past year. We have completed everything required on the United States side and are beginning the Mexico side of the adoption!
As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption-related expenses can easily total $40,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $40,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms, and/or prevents adoptive families from making that life-changing difference for their potential adoptive children. As we have already grown to love the sibling group we hope to make a part of our family, we are seeking your support in helping us make our dream a reality!
It is our hope that by warmly inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community and support network we hope to build around our future children as they become a part of our family. They are each unique, fun, beautiful individuals with SO MUCH potential. Your contribution will literally change the trajectory of their lives in a dramatic and positive way!
We sincerely thank you for playing a part in contributing to the success of our growing family's dream!
Yesterday I received some important news, but it wasn't great news. It has become a critical time in our adoption.
You may or may not yet know that our international adoption (of a sibling group in Mexico who we have been developing relationships with for 20 months now) is progressing! After much work and more than 9 months, we were pre-approved in the United States, and then our big file of paperwork (dossier) that I worked on for more than 6 months was received in Mexico at the federal level in July, and then quickly approved! It was sent on to the state level in August, which is where it will either be approved or denied. If it/we are approved, the adoption will continue until it is hopefully finalized and the children are pronounced legally a part of our family. On the other hand, if it is/we are denied, the adoption process will cease and we will not be allowed to adopt the children we sincerely intend to make a part of our family.
So yesterday I got an email from our adoption agent informing us that the lawyer in Mexico who works with our adoption agency was finally able to talk with one of the state DIF lawyers in Mexico about our case. This DIF lawyer has a lot of say over what happens with the kids we intend to adopt, and unfortunately that conversation did not go well. Apparently DIF is not pleased that we are trying to adopt children we already know, as that is not how adoptions are usually done, unless you are relatives. We were also informed that DIF (who has control over the kids we love) says we may have no further contact with the children until they (DIF) grant us permission. This is painful, as we have been so blessed to be able to visit them so frequently, but of course we are willing to follow the rules they have given us.
The next step in our adoption is for a DIF lawyer (possibly the same one who was not pleased) to review our big file and either approve us/invite us for a supervised visit with the kids, or turn us down. We know and love the kids, and mentally and emotionally already consider them a part of our family.
THIS IS A CRITICAL POINT OF THE ADOPTION. DIF's actions and decisions will drastically affect our family from here on out -- either we will be denied, or we will be able to continue with the adoption.
That's why I'm requesting your prayers/entreaties/positive vibes right now. Specifically: we are hoping and praying that DIF will: (1) look at our case, (2) approve us, and (3) invite us for a supervised visit. Will you please join us in this hope/entreaty/prayer? I believe that when a group of people intentionally join together in prayer/entreaty/positive vibes for a specific purpose that miracles happen!
I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this, and to care about what is so very important to our family/future family.
With love and gratitude,
Robin Thurgood
TODAY IS A BIG DAY!!! Our Dossier was received, reviewed and approved by our adoption agency, and today it will be shipped to Mexico City! The past 9 months were overwhelmingly full of paperwork and tasks, more than 70 different requirements, including: gathering what seemed like endless documents, doing all the tasks associated with each one of them, going through 18 hours of pre-adoption education, education about our adoptive children's country, so many appointments, psychological evaluations, medical screenings for us and our children, hiring an attorney, starting a home study at the beginning of December, 4 different background checks, reading reading and more reading, learning what apostille means and paying to have it done for 25 documents, learning how to create affidavits, and paying for all of this and the fees associated with the different tasks and documents, etc, etc, etc. And during all of this, by several miracles we were able to visit them at the orphanage where they live 8 times! Suffice it to say it has been a whirlwind of learning and an overwhelming, if costly, adventure. And we made it through!
Words can't sufficiently describe the weight that has been lifted off my shoulders, knowing we have made it this far!!! *Lonnnnnng sigh of relief*
Even though we have watched our savings account continuously diminish, we are so grateful we have been so blessed by God to be able to pay for everything that has been required so far. The next fee due (today, actually) is definitely the largest fee we have encountered: $8,100 to be exact. We would sincerely appreciate your contribution in helping us raise this amount of money to help us cover this fee! Had we known about crowdfunding adoptions earlier in the game we would have started this campaign much earlier, but since we just recently learned about it, it's better to start now than never!
As ours is a special case adoption, because we already know the kids we intend to adopt and have developed relationships with them, I wish I could post photos of them and their adorable faces, and tell you about each one of them, how special and precious they each are, and some of the many, many miracles that have accompanied us on this beautiful journey with them. But since I don't know how much we can say at this point, I will refrain from posting it publicly (but if you know me personally and are interested, please feel free to reach out and ask. I would absolutely love to share the story we have been so blessed to experience!). We miss them on holidays, when we have fun together as a family, and I miss them at night when I hug my kids goodnight, and all the time, really. Rhett is SO excited to finally have the brothers he's wished for his whole life, and Ruby and Rylee adore their little sister. Suffice it to say that we know them well, we love them, and in our hearts we already consider them members of our family. We can't wait to bring them home!!
We thank you sincerely for caring about our family's dream to adopt this sibling group from an orphanage in Mexico, and sincerely ask for your support as we continue on this long and expensive, yet incredibly rewarding journey.
With gratitude and love,
Robin
Exciting news!
Our Dossier (or the large packet of legal documents about our family that will be sent to Mexico) was received at the adoption agency just today! We've been diligently working on these 27 documents and tasks since December 6th, and we finally got them completed, apostilled (or made legal in another country by the Secretary of State), and shipped off to Colorado 2 days ago. I'm so grateful for reliable shipping! This has been a time-consuming, expensive, and complex effort for our family, but it's also been a magical time of unbelievable miracles! Despite the challenges, I wouldn't change how it's gone, because we've learned and grown so much! But it is such a relief to be on THIS side of the Dossier packet! And another plus, our adoption agent told us we are about halfway through the adoption process! Yippee for progress!!
