Dear Friends & Supporters,
We are beginning the process of domestic infant adoption and would love your support in this process. Since Chris was adopted (as an infant from India), we know firsthand the positive impact adoption can have on a child’s life, and have always had it in mind for part of our family building process. We persevered through the adventure that was getting married during the global pandemic and have been trying to start our family for the last couple of years. As we have navigated through infertility issues this past year, the conversation about adopting someday for a second kid shifted to the idea of building our family through adoption now. And since we have not been able to have a baby of our own, at this point in time we strongly desire the experience of raising an infant to experience all those early milestones with them.
If you know Deborah, you know she has always had a heart for kids. She can often be found making silly faces at and entertaining whatever child is in the room and has long dreamed of the day she would have a child of her own. If you know Chris, you know he has been elementary school teacher for almost a decade and is ready to upgrade from uncle status to dad.
It may surprise you that the average cost of domestic infant adoption in the United States can range from 50K to 80K. It certainly was a surprise to us! It is for this reason that we are asking our family, friends, faith community and supporters to consider donating to help ease the financial burden we never anticipated would be involved in building our family.
The fees which adoption agencies collect are so high because they cover:
You can play an integral part in helping us realize our dreams of becoming parents and enable us to provide a loving home for a child in need. We have chosen to use this specific crowdfunding platform so that any donations you choose to make are tax deductible. (You can also give to the foundation via check or charitable giving platform.)
Your love, support, and prayers mean more to us than you know.
Love,
Deborah & Chris
October 2024 Edit: The projected budget for our adoption is higher, since it is a California match, than we were initially prepared for. So we have raised the fundraising threshold.
It's been a bit of emotional roller coaster the last couple of weeks. After hearing nothing from our agency for the first couple of months of our profile being live, we got contacted about two different scenarios that were beyond the parameters of what we would feel comfortable with in terms of medical needs and opportunity budget. We were actually planning to write an update to you all about that and ask for your continued prayers as we wait, but then this week had an exciting twist!
Since Chris has the week off from teaching, we used some hotel points for a getaway to the Central Coast. With spotty reception, we missed a call from our agency on Tuesday until it was too late to call back (they're in Kansas City area.)
When we called back Wednesday morning, we learned there was a birth mom in California(!!!) who was interested in talking to us. We were in shock since we have been assuming this whole time that we will likely have to travel to another state to build our family. The agency arranged for a call for us and the birth mother for Thursday morning and we tried to not get our hopes up too much as we went about our day on Wednesday.
This morning we had a lovely, almost hour long getting to know you chat with the birth mom. We thought the conversation went well, that we were able to be genuine in our responses, and were hopeful that the mom felt a sense of connection as well. We were absolutely floored when we got a phone call less than 30 minutes later from the agency letting us know that the birth mom would like to move forward! There's been a lot of "Is this real?" and happy tears today.
We are still a bit in shock and there is still a long road ahead -- birth mom could change her mind before the due date early next year, California allows a long window of revocation even after birth, and there are several months between placement and adoption finalization.
Conventional wisdom would be to hold this information, and all the hope and excitement it is stirring, a little closer to our chest for a while. But you all have been so supportive and instrumental in making this journey possible, we wanted to share the exciting news with you now! And for those of you have been praying, please keep praying for the road ahead!
Our Adoptive Family Profile is live! You can view our whole family profile that birth parents will see at https://tinyurl.com/woo-miller-profile
We invite your prayers for our profile making it way the to the right birth parent and for us as we enter the very strange waiting period of not knowing when we will get a call and what state it might be from!
Our activation agreement is signed, notarized, and on it's way to the agency, which means our adoptive family profile should be able to go live by the end of next week! Towards the tail end of my COVID fog, I sorted through the hand me downs and things we have collected so far. The registries linked below show the things we anticipate needing, when we still don't know exact age or gender. (For example I apparently have a bunch of sleepwear for a 0-3 month old but no short sleeved body suits!)
There are some things that would be helpful to have soon, given needing to live out of state the first few weeks, like a travel washing set for bottles, bags for stroller and car seat, and the babylist sample boxes.
If you have any of the things listed as a hand me down, let us know and we will take off the list!
Babylist: www.babylist.com/list/baby-woo-miller
Amazon (which made me put an expected arrival date, but we really have no idea!): https://www.amazon.com/baby-reg/deborah-woo-miller-december-2024-campbell/2864NEDC5R3XF?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_0NPFGN0DP4JZWNJBQ5DT
And, if you're a recent parent and have a better suggestion than some of the items listed, I welcome the advice! :)
Been meaning to post this update for a while but we have been down with Covid.
Last week, we received and approved the draft of the print version of our profile. So the agency now has everything they need, information-wise to display us as a hopeful adoptive family. There are a few contracts we need to review, sign, and get notarized, which getting Covid has delayed. Once the agency receives those documents (hard copy we have to mail) and the funds we requested transferred from this fundraising page, we can become an active family.
Once everything is live, we will share the links here. It's a bit surreal after all these months of preparing that it's almost go time for Baby Woo-Miller!
We are part way through our summer Midwest trip and were surprised and delighted to get a notification that a draft of our adoptive family video profile was ready for review! I thought there might be nothing stranger than recording interview clips and B roll footage of our life, but it turns out watching a draft video is even stranger! They collected so much from us that wasn't included in the video, so it was interesting to listen and watch and try to get a feel for if our life is represented well or if we had feedback of what was missing to paint the mot accurate picture of our daily lives. One step closer to going live, eek!
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
Matched by Tom and Judy Tsao
