Many of you have asked us how you can help. Here are some ways that you can join us.
Prayer: This is the most important way that you can help us! The adoption process is long and at times, challenging. Your prayerful accompaniment would mean so much to us.
Sharing: Share our journey, and this page, with your family and friends.
Fundraising: Adoption can total over $50,000. While we are making great sacrifices to self-fund our adoption, we may need help meeting some of the financial obligations along the way. We are grateful for any gift you feel led to make. (Donations through our Adopt Together site are tax deductible, and can only be used for adoption related expenses with the oversight of "Adopt Together". You will receive a receipt for your records and year end taxes*.)
*Pure Charity and AdoptTogether (a project of Hoping Hearts Foundation Inc.), are both federally recognized 501(c)(3) U.S. charitable organizations. U.S. donations are tax deductible as allowed by IRS specifications.
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It is with great excitement that we share this update with you! Evan and I felt a tugging on our heart prior to my pregnancy with Nathaniel to adopt a child into our family. As we started looking into the process, I became pregnant which led us to wait on this for the moment. After losing Nathaniel, we have seen God’s provision and tender care for us in more ways than we can count. We know that He is our Good Shepherd even when our paths are not straight and our circumstances do not feel good. We know that He will always provide when we walk in obedience to His calling on our lives. We believe now that the Lord put this on our hearts before my pregnancy to further affirm for us that this is the path He had for our family. In the Bible, God calls us multiple times to care for the widows and orphans, and we are excited to step into that calling. We know that our decision will have a generational impact on a child who may not have had that opportunity otherwise.
Evan and I both felt the Lord’s leading to start the adoption process. We decided that we would continue to walk forward as long as we felt the Lord's peace, guidance, and provision. We applied to Lifetime Adoption, a highly known and established Christian adoption agency that works with families around the country. They have been working with families for over 35 years. They have a true passion for showing the love of Christ, not only by finding the child a Christian home but by continuing to provide counseling and support for the birth mother after the adoption. Our values and love for Christ so closely align with Lifetime’s mission, vision, and values. They receive over 400 applicants to become adoptive families per month yet can only accept ten. We could not believe that after our first initial interview, they had accepted us!
We were thrilled but took thirty days to fast and pray over this decision, this potential child, and seek the Lord further. After those thirty days, we felt the Lord telling us to continue. On May 26, we gave a deposit of $11,000 and signed a contract with Lifetime to start the process. An adoption is approximately $50,000 which encompasses support for the birth mother, legal and agency fees, a case study, and other medical expenses. We are trusting that the Lord will provide for us. He is faithful when we walk in obedience with Him. Evan and I shared with the adoption agency that we are open to many situations such as a sibling set, twins, or a single child. As you can imagine, this leaves us with many unknowns, yet we are confident that the Lord knows this child by name and has set this child apart for us.
Thank you for loving our family so well,
Evan & Rachel Vazquez
Hello to everyone & forgive me for the long overdue update.
First, Happy Father's Day! We had such a nice day celebrating both of our dads and Evan. We are so thankful for the fathers in our lives. Second, we are still waiting to be placed through the adoption agency. We have had many meetings with the agency, and they assured us that things are going well and are still on track. While this is definitely a longer process than we anticipated, we know and trust that God’s timing is perfect, and He is working in the birth mother’s life at this very moment and preparing her for the next step.
Isaiah 55:8-9 keeps coming to my mind. It says, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” While I don’t understand the timing and process, I am resting in the knowledge of Isaiah 55. His plan for our family is good! And we are waiting in expectation to see His next step for us.
Thank you for your continued support! We are so thankful for your financial generosity, prayers, kind words, and continued encouragement. We will keep this adoption fundraiser going as we have not yet met our financial goal. The rest of the financial costs will be in legal fees once we get a match. I will continue to update this page with any big changes. I also did make a Facebook adoption page to further share our profile. This page has been very encouraging as people all over the United States have been sharing and following along. Please follow along and share our Facebook page with any friends or family as you feel led.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559168819257&mibextid=LQQJ4d
We are trusting in the unchanging and never-ending Goodness of God,
Evan and Rachel Vazquez
Happy New Year everyone! As we reflect over 2023, we can't help but see the Lord’s faithfulness in every season. He has strengthened, upheld, & taught us so much over this past year. From celebrating James’s 3rd birthday to the challenge of celebrating Nathaniel’s 1st birthday in heaven, God has used so many people to show us His love and kindness. He continues to provide us with a sense of excitement and hope for an upcoming adoption. We are excited for the opportunity to adopt and allow God to use our family to change the course of this child’s life and impact future generations. We truly have seen that He is worthy of our song & praise in every season of our lives.
As we start into 2024, we are continuing to praise the Lord for who He is & all He has given us. While the waiting can be hard, we truly feel the peace that passes all understanding & know that we will be matched with a birth mother and child at the exact right time.
Please continue to pray with us & for us. First, that God will continue to provide the resources for attorney and post placement social worker costs. We will need to cover the cost of two adoption attorneys, ours and for the birth mother. Second, that God will provide our attorney with wisdom to efficiently tackle the complex legal challenges of an adoption in two different states. Third, that God would provide us with a place to stay once the baby is born since it can take between two to four weeks until all legal matters are resolved before we can bring the baby home. Lastly, God would bring the right birth mother and baby into our lives at the right time. That He would draw her to our profile and provide her with peace and confidence that we are the right family for her baby.
As we have said multiple times, we are so blown away by your generosity. You are instrumental in our adoption journey. Thank you for all your prayers and support as we continue with our adoption journey. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all.
Evan and Rachel Vazquez
Hello everyone. Evan and I just wanted to provide an update in our adoption journey. We are still waiting to be placed with a birth mother. We could be placed at any time. In the meantime, we found a Christian adoption attorney here in Pittsburgh we met with. This was such an answer to prayer. She was able to talk with us and provide more information for the legal end and even prayed for us at the end of our meeting! The estimated cost for legal fees are between $10,000-$15,000 depending on the location of the birth mother. Evan and I are resting in the Lord’s peace because we are truly seeing Him pave the way for this adoption.
Please continue to pray for us for this child who will come into our family, the birth parents, a smooth transition, and continued financial resources. We are so grateful to all of you who have donated towards our adoption journey. We know the Lord will place us with the right child at the right time. In the meantime, we are treasuring every day and resting in God’s perfect peace that surpasses our understanding.
Thank you for partnering with our family. We are so grateful to you. Merry Christmas!
Evan and Rachel Vazquez
I write today with so much excitement, gratitude, and humility. We submitted our payment in full to Lifetime Adoption Agency, and they will now begin showing our profile to birth moms. This means that we could get the phone call at any time that a birth mom would like to talk with us or has picked us! First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has partnered with us both financially and through prayer. We are in awe of your love, support, and sacrifice.
We are continuing to raise funds as the upcoming costs will include legal fees, potential financial support for birth mom, and travel/lodging costs for Evan and I as we travel to the location when matched. Evan and I will need to stay in the state where the baby was born for 7-10 business days prior to returning home in order to follow federal guidelines for adoptive parents. These additional costs total close to $20,000 with the majority being legal fees.
BUT GOD.. We know and trust that He is more than able, He is going before us and paving the way. Thank you for coming alongside as we grow our family. I will keep posting updates on this page. We love you all and are so grateful!
Home Study Approved (YAY!!)
Hello everyone, thank you for following along on our adoption journey. Evan and I truly stand in awe of how the Lord is leading us and opening doors for us in this process. As of this week, we are officially home study approved by the state to adopt!!! We were matched with an amazing social worker who will be with us through the entire process until the adoption is finalized. This was one of our bigger items to get done so we are so glad to officially be approved. We are now focusing on continuing to fund the adoption and making an online profile that will be shown to birth mothers. Our final payment is due within 4 months. Once we are fully financially funded, the agency will begin showing our profile to families. We will continue to update on this platform so follow along on our journey. Thank you so much to those of you who have already donated so sacrificially and are rallying behind us. There is power in the body of Christ.
We are continuing our fundraising through AdoptTogether (www.adopttogether.org/families/the-vazquezs) until our goal is met. This platform is 501c3 and fully tax deductible at year end, whether business or personal tax deductions can be claimed.
