We are so excited to announce that we are working with Christian Adoption Services in Indian Trail to adopt a baby domestically!
We have both always wanted to adopt, and after a lot of time in prayer and discussion we truly feel that it is God’s design that we work with CAS on this incredible journey!
As of now, we are in the HomeStudy process, which will take a few months to complete. Once completed, we will officially be a waiting family!
With a domestic adoption, the costs can certainly seem daunting. We are stepping out in faith trusting that this is God’s plan for our family! If you feel so inclined as to donate, please know that your donation is so much more than that to us- you are a piece in a beautiful puzzle of how Michael and Lia become a family of three!
If you donate, please send us your full address so that we can send you a proper thank you!
THANK YOU! Your support, excitement, love and prayers mean the world to us!
Well, we have been meaning to post this update for about 4 weeks now, but our time is no longer our own... in the best way! On January 26th, we received a call that the baby from our 'failed adoption' was, and always will be, our son. He had been waiting for us in his own special way since his birthday on 1/1/23, and that was the call telling us that we could go pick him up and bring him home. Within four hours of that phone call, he was in our arms. Since then, we have been soaking up every minute spent with him. Our days look a lot different now, but we would not want it any other way.
We want to take a minute to thank each one of you for your prayers, encouragement, support and excitement in our journey. We could not be here without you, and your involvement means so much to us. Please know that we are praying for each of you, and we will never stop telling our son of the amazing people who helped to bring him home.
Until his adoption is finalized, which can take a few months, we cannot share his photo publicly (I am sorry for that!) but we PROMISE you, he is downright adorable and gets cuter every minute of every day.
To God be the glory, always!
When we first decided to share our adoption process, we did so with the goal of bringing honor and glory to God in all things- the good, the bad and everything in between.
On Monday, January 2nd we got “the call”- the call we’ve been waiting for. The one that is supposed to change our lives forever. We were told that there was a healthy baby boy born on New Years Day, and we were matched with him. We prayed about it, said “yes!” and could hardly wait for our placement day, which was slated to be today.
We packed the diaper bag, straightened up the house, organized the baby clothes, looked at each other and said “we’re going to pick up our son on Wednesday.”
Like so many other things in life, the adoption process can change on a dime, and for us, it did. Mid-day on Tuesday, we got another call that would change our lives. The birth mother who previously matched with us had changed her mind- she decided to parent her son.
This is what’s called a “failed adoption”. It is painful, hard, confusing, upsetting and an abrupt decline in the emotional rollercoaster that was our 24 hours post-phone-call. But we are choosing to not see this as a failure, and that is because “our God will never fail”. He knew this would happen. He knows that the best place for that baby boy is to be with his biological mother. He also has a reason and a plan in all of this for us, and for our future family, even if we can’t see it yet.
For now, we are back in the waiting game. We are praying and trusting that in His perfect timing, we will get a call that allows us to get in the car to meet our child. We know that this is not the end of our adoption story, and we also know that He takes what the enemy meant for evil, and turns it for good.
“Well, as the thunder rolls, I barely hear Your whisper through the rain, "I'm with you". As Your mercy falls
I'll raise my hands and praise the God who gives and takes away.”
To God be the glory, always.
We are so excited to share that we are FULLY FUNDED as of this morning! After receiving a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans (that has already been met due to a dear family friend of the Koehlers and a family member of Lia's) and a grant from Pure Gift of God, our adoption is completely funded!
We wanted to share this incredible news with our donors because we would not be where we are today without each of you. Your support, encouragement, prayer, donation, love, interest in our journey and excitement for us means more than we can ever say. We cannot wait until we are able to tell our child about each of you, and how instrumental you all were/are in bringing them home!
We love each of you and are now one HUGE step closer to THE update that we're all waiting for!
To Him be the glory, always!
Love the soon-to-be-three-Zalvins
Hello to all of our incredible donors! Please this post to learn how you can help to fund TEN different family’s adoptions, including ours, and potentially help us receive the remainder of our adoption fees IN TOTAL, making us FULLY FUNDED!
We have been accepted into Fund the Nations’ t-shirt sale campaign as one of ten finalist families in the hopes of fully funding one family’s adoption, and giving financial assistance to nine otheir families!
How it works:
Use this link (https://adoptwithftn.bigcartel.com/product/zalvin) to order as many sweatshirts and/or t-shirts as you would like. For each shirt sold, we get one vote for the Zalvin family! This campaign runs for ONE WEEK ONLY meaning we have 7 days to get as many votes for our family as we can!
If you aren’t able to purchase a shirt, PLEASE share this information on social media and with friends and family to help spread the news- we need all the help and support that we can get!
The coolest part of this campaign is that each shirt sold not only benefits and helps us, but also nine other families! That is TEN children getting to be placed in loving homes with their adoptive families all because of a t-shirt!!!
We realized that we haven’t posted an update in a little while, and even though we don’t have THE update to share, we did want to share a piece of what is continuing to keep us focused on God and His perfect plan in this process.
“Here is where I lay it down
Every burden, every crown
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
Every lie and every doubt
This is my surrender
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to”
This song is called “Make Room”, which is so fitting for this process. We have made a lot of physical room for this baby, and our families have too, but this song reminds us to constantly be making room in our minds and our hearts for God’s plan and His timing. This means even in the thickest moments of feeling like the waiting is hard (and it is!), we need to remind ourselves that He is in control and He knows best. He always does.
If we could ask for anything in this update, it would be prayers for patience.
Thank you for joining us on this journey!
To Him be the glory, always!
Love, Michael and Lia
