Sam & Jess Vanderlinden

are adopting a child from United States of America

After 2+ years of waiting, we have finally been matched with a sweet birth mom in Arizona. We just found out that she will be born within the next 2 weeks, so we will be flying to Arizona to get her and staying until everything is legally sorted out between the 2 states. With the turnaround time being SO quick, we are not able to apply for many loans and grants, so we are needing some help to make sure we can cover all of the costs in a short time.

Things we have already paid out of pocket: Adoption Consultation + Profile Creation, Birth Mom Attorney, Our Attorney, Birth Mom Fees, Home Study + Update totaling about $25,000.

We will be paying for last minute travel within the next 2 weeks + potential hotel/Airbnb stay near the hospital our sweet buddy is going to be born at, food, rental car, etc.

We are SO grateful for MN Paid Leave, but we will have loss of income as they are behind on processing, and it will not cover all of our income when it does kick in.

We will also need to pay finalization court filing fees, post adoption supervision fees, and for background checks in the next couple months.

*This is not including all the money we paid the first agency that did not work out. *

The last thing we want to do is begin parenthood completely financially depleted. This quick turnaround is something we were told to be prepared for, but we could not in our wildest dreams have expected to sign with an agency in January and be chosen in March after a 2 year wait. We are grateful and frazzled!

We so appreciate your support of us as we quickly become parents after a really rough 2 years of waiting! -Jess and Sam

Adoption Status

Completing Paperwork

Adoption Agency

Purl Adoption Advisory

Updates

  • Update 3

    She's here!

    April 14, 2026

    Our sweet girl, Nella, arrived on April 7th! We got to hold her for the first time on the 9th (both sobbed) and officially became her guardians on the 10th. We are together but still in Arizona staying in Ronald McDonald housing which is such a blessing! Our peanut is so tough, and we have a few follow ups on Thursday before we can get the go-ahead to fly home. Hoping to land in Minnesota on Friday.

    Thank you all so much for making this stressful process less stressful by ensuring we have the funds we need to make last minute flight arrangements, stay in hotels, rent a car, feed me with all my allergies, and buy a couple coffees, as well as the expenses to come with finalization. There are no words that will ever suffice, but THANK YOU! I can't publicly post pictures due to the adoption process, but she is SO cute!

    (If you live in Esko, Grandma Joyce can show you pictures!)

    -The Exhausted and Grateful Vanderlinden Crew (Jess, Sam, & Nella Jo)

  • Update 2

    Still waiting!

    January 13, 2025

    We have been fully ready to go for about 6 months. Being done with paperwork has been a relief, but it ushered in a new part of adopting… Waiting! We had one birth mom who showed interest in us who happened to live just a few minutes away from us. Unfortunately, we never heard back from her, and we hope she is ok! It was hard to let go of that one.

    I knew it would happen, but since I have been officially done with school (beginning of December), it is getting harder for me to wait! But we will keep hoping for a call saying we are going to be parents. Thank you for your continued support as we wait. Your support gives us hope that this process will lead to us being parents. We are ready!

    Thank you so much!!
    Jess & Sam

  • Update 1

    THANK YOU!

    March 29, 2024

    It has been a busy 3 months over here as I worked through my most strenuous quarter of school. But a huge bright light has been that we were FULLY funded by all of you for our $7,000 goal for our adoption. Thank you does not even begin to feel like enough, but that's really all we can offer. Your money was sent directly to Everlasting Adoption from Adopt Together to go toward our agency fees, which puts us so close to being through this tough first stage. We have also been chipping away at our home study paperwork, and we will be sending that in within a couple days! We are just tying up a few loose ends and are so excited to have all of those details out of our minds.

    Thank you for supporting our family. Thank you for giving us hope and joy in this exhausting process/season. There isn't any new, fun news to share yet, but our hope is that we will get through the rest of the home study process fairly quickly and can be matched with a brave mama and baby within the next few months. But we also hold that that is not a guarantee. We will wait as long as it takes!

    Thank you again. I did raise the fundraising goal because we have had some people asking how they can still help and support. There are so many more expenses for us that we will be paying out of pocket, so the support means so much more than we can express. THANK YOU!

    With gratitude,
    The Vanderlindens

$17,180 raised of $12,000 goal
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Donations 63

  • Anonymous gave an undisclosed amount
    Congrats on your little one!
  • The Fidelity Charitable on behalf of Aaron and Chelsey Berstler Giving Fund gave $3,500
  • Anonymous gave $30
    So excited for your family! I appreciate your hearts to follow God's leading. May the Lord bless this special newborn season and all the adventures ahead! Much love.
  • terry hauger gave $800
  • Nikki, OP, & kids gave an undisclosed amount
    Love you 3!! 🩷
  • Grace iverson gave $350
    💜
  • Paul & Linda Emanuelson gave an undisclosed amount
  • Becca & Sam Simataa gave an undisclosed amount
    So happy for your growing family!
  • Andrew & Katelyn Blaufuss gave an undisclosed amount
    Pumped for you guys in this exciting time!
  • Eri & Ana Meynard gave $100
    I’m so happy for you guys and will be praying for you, the baby, and the mom. Sending you guys so much love! <3