Hello!
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. Preparing to raise that family has been the basis of every major decision we have made together as a couple. Two years ago, just weeks before our wedding, we learned that we are unable to biologically have children together. Around the same time, Erin’s father died unexpectedly. These stunning turn of events rocked our world, to say the very least; it also dramatically changed the vision we had for our future family. From the early days of our relationship, we both knew that we wanted children together. We have always felt fortunate to live near our families, and we couldn’t wait to see how our loved ones, especially our parents, would bond with our children and help them to grow.
Our shared goal is to take life as a great adventure, riding together through the ups and downs, and learning along the way. So when our path took this sharp curve, we did a lot of soul searching and explored all of the available options for raising children. Adoption spoke to both our hearts and our minds, and in October of 2019 we dove head-first into the process. We have already begun to feel how this experience is changing us for the better. Currently we are "live" in the adoption process, waiting for a birth mother to choose us. We can’t wait to welcome the child we will love and nurture!
It may surprise you to hear that adoption related costs can easily total up to $55,000 or more. This is why we need your help! Over the 3 1/2 years that we have pursued adoption, we’ve learned that the process demands a great many resources, emotional as well as financial. The adoption budget includes fees such as medical and legal expenses, as well as the support and education fee, administrative fee, counseling fees and more. As part of our adoption process, we have started this crowdfunding campaign. We need your help to bridge the gap and bring our future baby home.
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.
It's my pleasure to introduce you all to the newest member of the Thompson family, Zoella Joy and what a joy she is! She came into the world on the most perfect day, my dad's birthday. A day that used to bring sadness now shines with a sparkle of new life and happiness as our family grew not only by one but by a handful as we were welcomed into the beautiful family of our birth mom. Our birth mom is just as incredible in person as she was throughout this journey as we bonded through texts. We spent a little over two weeks in Minnesota with our birth mom and her family connecting and growing our bond while we waited for ICPC (legal paperwork to travel home). This time was both magical and heart wrenching. It was an experience like no other. We all kept saying how lucky Zoella was to have so many people in her life that love her. We also said how lucky we all were to be part of Zoella's journey. She is going to do, say and see incredible things. We look forward to being there every step of the way.
The outpouring of love and support throughout this entire journey, as well as during this time as we settle in at home in Maine has been tremendous. Thank you to all of the prayers, positive thoughts, well wishes, hugs, smiles, listening ears along the way and of course the generous donations you all made. It has been a tremendous help to Troy and I. Your generosity and support have allow Troy and I the chance to ease some of the financial and mental stress that this process brings. From the bottom of our hearts thank you. We look forward to celebrating all with you very soon. I see a big party happening in the future, when the weather is warmer, that you're all invited to.
We've been CHOSEN!!!!! by the most incredible birth mom for us. We feel like we've won the "adoption lottery"! (But really there's no lottery.) The matched experience has left us feeling beyond blessed and grateful that the stars aligned bringing us all together.
Our match story:
At the end of March we received a phone call that a potential birth mom, early in her adoption journey - eight weeks, wanted to chat with us. This zoom meeting was not an official match offer but a get to know you session for the mom. Meetings like these are done in hopes of helping the birth mother's with their incredibly hard decision.
The stakes were high. This was the moment we'd been waiting for for three and a half years. We prayed she'd LOVE us. We prayed she'd see the value in the life we could provide for her baby. We prayed our dreams would come true.
From the beginning of the zoom meeting things clicked so naturally. We were really fortunate to chat with both the birth mom and dad. For Troy and I this was our most nerve racking "first date" either of us had EVER been on! It ended with laughter and smiles. The following evening we were presented with an official match offer. There was no time to think, we had 48 hours to get all the required documents in to formally except the offer before we'd be passed over. Anxiety set in! I can only begin to relate this to what characters in action movies must feel like.
Fast forward to now, we have grown close to our birth mom. Daily texts are exchanged working towards building an incredible connection for our open adoption. She had the idea of getting bond bracelets so she could signal, through a vibration, when the baby is kicking. I will always cherish her thoughtfulness with this gesture since I will never have the opportunity to feel this myself. After the adoption we'll be able to signal to her that we are talking to the baby about her and she'll be able to send her love to the baby through the bracelet's vibrations.
We can't stress enough how grateful we are for this incredibly remarkable women. She's making our dreams come true and is becoming an integral forever part of our family. We call ourselves M&Ms for the beloved states we come from. From Minnesota all the way to Maine this baby will be LOVED!
Next steps:
We still need your help! We are still continuing to fundraise for the last leg of our long adoption journey. Our journey will be sending us to the great state of Minnesota, where we will have to stay up to TWO WEEKS as legal paperwork is completed before coming home with a baby. Fundraising efforts will help us pay adoption costs, such as agency and attorney fees. It will also help us offset the cost we'll be paying for the one way airfare (we won't know when she is going into labor or when we'll be allow to return), rental car, airbnb and food expenses. As many of you have experienced before, traveling is expensive and this trip will be costly for us since we cannot plan for it like you would a vacation. To top it all off, Troy will not be bringing in any income while we're gone since being self employed. Any donation you can make would be amazing. Also any recommendations on gear for traveling with a newborn or where to stay in Minnesota would be welcomed.
From the beginning, Troy and I have been overwhelmed with gratitude as we watched the love, support and donations pour into our adoption fundraiser. Our family and community network is remarkable. We highly encourage you to KEEP SPREADING THE WORD of our adoption journey and fundraising.
Please consider taking action and donating to help us in the last leg of our journey.
We are immensely grateful for this supportive community.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
Erin & Troy
We're currently still awaiting a birth mother to choose us. Our placement agency assures us we are receiving great exposure each month to potential birth mothers. Fingers crossed she finds us soon.
While we wait we have been completing all the necessary requirements, like background checks, financial disclosures, etc. to have our home study renewed again. We're almost done with this process and will not have to revisit it again for another year. Let's hope we don't have to. We continue to keep the dream of creating a family alive in our hearts and know it will happen soon. Thank you all for your love and support.
