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We are thrilled to share our BIG news with you!
We are adopting a child!
This is decision that has been years in the making. It started when Amy was in a high school geography class and her teacher announced that the next day a friend of hers would be bringing a special surprise to class. Amy correctly guessed that the surprise was a baby who had been adopted recently. This interaction planted a seed which lay dormant for many years.
The seed continued to grow after Amy moved to Charlotte, before she and Stacey were married. Over the years Amy has been in Charlotte, she's gotten to know multiple families at her church who have adopted one or more children, both domestically and internationally. After we got married, adoption was talked of as a possibility one day in the future but was put on the back burner until late last year when Stacey decided the time had come.
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life into our home. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption related costs can easily total up to $40,000 or more. Our particular adoption is estimated to cost $37,000-46,000. We realize this is quite a large sum of money. Roughly a quarter of our adoption costs will be for airfare for Stacey and Amy. Kyrgyzstan is unusual in that it requires three trips to complete the adoption, and it is not the easiest or cheapest place to fly into. The high cost of our adoption is why we have set a goal of at least half the cost to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents.
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 she grows up.
If you've made it this far in the post, I'm sure you're curious about the details of our adoption. We are planning to adopt a female from the country of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. The country is mountainous and beautiful. It borders China and Kazakhstan. Our daughter will likely be close to the age of 5. We are eager to welcome her into our family!
Why Kyrgyzstan? The very short answer is that Kyrgyzstan is not completely unknown to Amy. She spent one summer in Mongolia while in college. Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are similar in terms of geography, food, culture, and traditional lifestyle. Amy also spent more than two years in Estonia, which, like Kyrgyzstan, is a former Soviet republic and therefore has aspects that are familiar to Amy. Stacey has visited Estonia with Amy and was very interested in the country's 20th century history. That visit, and his rich experience in the military, has given him a desire for international adoption. We can see how the Lord has been preparing both of us to step out in faith to embrace the country of Kyrgyzstan.
We welcome your questions and are happy to share more details with you. I will keep this page updated as there is information to report.
Please pray for our daughter and for us!
Psalm 27:14 (ESV)
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
