We have BIG news!
We are adopting a child!
Seven years ago, after having our second biological child, Sam, we knew we were finished having biological children for medical reasons. At the time, we assumed that our family was complete. However, soon after, I began to feel a tug on my heart from the Lord that there was supposed to be a third child in our family and that he was calling us to add to our family through adoption. It truly didn't seem possible for us though. We were in a small home with our two children sharing a room and we had financial burdens and debt that were a huge barrier. Also, Russ was not feeling the tug as much as I was and when I mentioned adoption he had a lot of reservations. Can we handle three children? Can we afford three children? How can we pay for an adoption? Good practical questions to ask. Real concerns.
A few more years passed and during those years, we had the privilege of watching several of our friends and people from our church family experience the beauty of adoption and add amazing children to their families. As a psychotherapist, I have also had the wonderful experience of counseling adoptive children, mothers, and families. My heart continued to be more and more open to adoption and the calling harder to ignore. Also, starting at an early age, our daughter, Carly, has consistently stated that our family is not big enough and has asked "when are we having another baby?" One word to her regarding adoption and she was in. It seemed she intuitively knew something about the future of our family. We continued to talk and dream about adoption and Russ began feeling the tug on his heart as well. In 2018, we were finally able to pay off a big portion of our debt and buy a larger home with four bedrooms. Yes, one empty bedroom waiting to be occupied. It seemed we were closer to our dream of adoption.
After continuing to talk with several people from our church about their adoption experiences, we began seriously praying for wisdom and clarity regarding our particular calling to partcipate with God in His love and care for orphans. In praying, both Russ and I felt confirmation in the call to adopt. We then decided to take a big step and meet with an adoption agency to discuss our options. We decided on Domestic Infant Adoption and are currently in the Home Study part of the process.
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 $35,000 or more. We have diligently looked at our budget and make cuts necessary to save what we can monthly toward our adoption. But this will not be near enough to cover the total cost. This is why we have set a goal of $20,000 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 he/she grows up.
