Hi everyone! We have some big news to share…WE'RE ADOPTING!
Many of you know we have been struggling to start a family of our own since we got married almost 5 years ago, and this year we felt the Lord calling us to pursue adoption as a way to grow our family. We are just starting to share this BIG announcement, and we've been overwhelmed by the encouragement we've received thus far, including gracious offers to help offset the financial obligations associated with the process. In hopes of making the process a bit easier, we've created this crowdfunding page as a way for friends and family to donate toward our journey. (Bonus: We decided on this platform because it is an IRS-recognized 501c3, so all donations are fully tax-deductible!) We will also be able to post updates on this page so you can follow along on our journey.
To give a little context to the costs, we've already saved and allocated $7,500 to date and that is just home study, document preparation costs, and our partnership with a faith-based adoption consulting agency that will walk through this journey with us and guide the many confusing and unknown stages ahead. Because we decided early on that we want to remain open to a variety of scenarios, including ages newborn to 5 years old, and instances of siblings, much of this journey is still unknown, but we do know that it will be costly. Our consulting agency has quoted us an estimated $50,000 to complete our adoption, which may surprise you as it did us! Since this was not part of our original plan to grow our family, this is an overwhelming aspect to consider but we are confident that God has always been planning for this for us and we are looking forward to seeing how this will all work out in His perfect timing! We're hoping that fundraising will help get us there faster so that we can begin presenting our family to potential cases and hopefully bring our child(ren) home within the next year.
We know that God has already chosen the child(ren) meant for our family. We continue praying for guidance and clarity at every turn, as well as for all members of the biological family as they navigate this process as well. 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/she grows up as you have been a part of ours!
With love and gratitude, Dan and Jessica
We are excited to announce that after five months of working diligently on paperwork for our home study (and all that is required to go active to be matched) we are approved! We got our report later on Friday and after a few corrections are made, we’ll be able to send in all our paperwork later this week. Then everything gets reviewed for 5-10 days and we’ll soon be active.
We’ll keep you posted as things progress there, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this picture Dan got of the northern lights in August (right in our driveway!). It is a reminder for me that you can search your whole life for something, and know it’s there, but in God’s perfect timing and plan, He reveals something so beautiful that only He could create and it’s beyond our wildest dreams!! We can’t wait to continue sharing in the journey with you all!!
We are so excited to share that next Weds, July 17th, we'll have our first official interview for our home study and then a few weeks later, the home visit will take place. We can't believe how much work it was to get through all the paperwork, and now we just need to put a few finishing touches on getting the house ready for a home visit and we should be on our way to "Active" status. That means that potential birth moms would be able to review and select us to parent their child. We also need to make our profile/bio book that will be shared with potential birth moms.
Those are the two biggest things we need prayer for right now and we can't wait to share more with you soon!
Thanks again for all your support, encouragement, and prayers!
Jessica and Dan
A is for Application!
We are so excited to share that we’ve completed round 1 of our paperwork for the consulting agency that will represent us and we’re on to the Home Study for the next round! Some days it feels like it goes incredibly fast, and others it’s just a waiting game but it’s been a wild experience already! We’re so encouraged by all the stories we’ve heard from others and the encouragement that has been shared. We are beyond blessed to have raised the first portion of what we need and we are blown away by how amazing that feeling is! It’s scary to commit to something with so many unknowns but we trust that God’s got this and we will keep taking one step forward at a time!
For those who have donated, don’t forget to check with your employer if you have a matching donation program. Every little bit helps!
Stay tuned…the journey continues!
