We're adopting!!

Some of you may already know we are adopting, but a lot of you don't. So bare with me while I update!

   When Tony and I were first married, adoption always came up in our conversations. We both felt this deep desire to adopt. After Aerianna & Chloe were born, we had 2 miscarriages and a tubal pregnancy. Honestly, another pregnancy seemed daunting to me. We talked about adoption and wondered if this was the right time. But a year later, our 3rd child, Malachi was born. Talk about a miracle! I remember the conversation that was a turning point in our decision to adopt. I was starting to clean out Malachi's closet when he was 4 months old. I asked Tony what I should do with all these clothes that didn't fit anymore. We also had bins full of girls clothes in our crawl space. We agreed we would indeed adopt a boy, and was prayerful that God would open those doors when the time was right.

   Fast forward 6 months, right before Malachi's first birthday. We started researching adoption and what it would look like for our family. We reached out to multiple people, asking as many questions as we could. We spent hours on the computer researching adoption agencies, and different countries. A couple months later, we felt that every door was closing. Every country we looked into was either closed to adoption, or was mild to severe special needs only, for the age we wanted. We looked at domestic adoptions and found that we would likely be in the pool for a very long time because we already had 3 children of our own. I raised the question of mild special needs to Tony, and he shut down every conversation. People that know my past, starting in 8th grade, know that I've always had a heart for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

   After a couple of months of praying and waiting for direction, we had some of the most divine appointments happen. At Summer Adventure Week (SAW) through a local church in Missoula, a good friend came up to me and asked if I had seen her sister in law. After a few times of her asking, I finally answered with "no, why?". Her answer gives me chills, knowing what I know now. My friend said she just felt like we should meet. The last day of SAW, right before walking out of the church, I finally was able to meet my friend's sister in law, Kristin. We met her family, including their youngest son who was adopted from China with cleft lip/palate. I fought back tears the whole conversation.  I have no words to describe all the emotions that were racing trough me. After Tony and I got in the car to leave, you could almost hear a needle drop from the silence between us. Not minutes went by before we both agreed that this was the route intended for us. Shortly after we confirmed an agency (CCAI) for China, we researched all the conditions on the medical checklist from CCAI. We had so many questions, we decided we needed to talk to our pediatrician for some answers. I'm so thankful our friend listened to the Holy Spirit to have us meet her sister in law.

    Before meeting with our pediatrician, we met with a couple of different friends. One, a PA-C (Physician Assistant), who happened to be involved with the Palate Team here in Missoula. Come to find out we knew every Doctor on the Palate Team. It was an amazing feeling. We felt God was opening doors. Once we sat down with our pediatrician, we got her up to speed on our plans and that we were stuck medically. We didn’t want to close a door to a child because of our lack of knowledge on the medical side. We wanted to go through all of the terms and get information from our pediatrician’s experience so we knew what it would look like for our family. After an hour of talking, our pediatrician said we didn’t need to look any further. She said that it was very clear God opened this door to cleft lip/palate, and we were meant for it. This was music to our ears!! Sometimes it takes speaking things out and someone just listening to wrap it up for you.

   At this time we had everything we needed to begin. We had our adoption agency lined up with the application in hand. We knew the home study agency we were going through and had their application ready to send. We knew we wanted a boy, 0-18 months, with cleft lip/palate, from China. We also knew that the adoption process for us was going to take 11-15 months from start to travel, depending on how fast we got our home study completed. The only thing we needed to start, was money. This adoption, home study included was going to cost us $30,000+ and there was no way we could come up with that money in 15 months. No way! We had money in the kid’s accounts and a little bit of money in savings, but not much. We researched different avenues with financing, and grants, but nothing would come close to what we needed-so we decided to wait. We asked everyone we knew who adopted, how they funded their adoption, and not one person could give us a clear answer. They all would mention how God provided, and it just all was paid for in the end. I was too melancholy to go into it blinded, so we sat it out. One day after we left church Tony approached me and was adamant about starting the process and not waiting any longer. He said God was dealing with this heart and nudged him to trust Him and believe that everything was going to be taken care of. This wasn’t our plan, this was His, and He would see it through till the end. Soon after, Tony came across a quote that he printed off and put in our kitchen to remind us every day. It reads “It doesn’t matter whether you’re short of money, people, energy, or time; what God invites you to do will always be greater than the resources you start with. Living with the hand of God upon you means that at times you will be asked to act in spite of the evidence…and then watch the evidence change”. – Dr. Bruce Wilkinson

   So with limited funds and full trust in God, we started our process  in the beginning of November, 2014. Our first confirmation that we were doing the right thing was shortly after beginning the paperwork. We were given a check for the amount of $2300 from some incredible people. Little did they know, this was exactly what we needed to start our adoption. The exact amount! There was no explanation on why they picked that amount to gift to us. It was a blessing to see God at work.

   We have a lot of updating to do and things to type about, but this is getting long! So I will fast forward to where we are at now and what we are working on at the moment.

Where are we now?

   We are currently waiting for some final documents to be completed so we can send in our Dossier to our agency who then will translate it to Chinese. Once this is done and China gives us our Log In Date (LID), we can get matched at any time. Once we are matched and receive a Letter for our specific child, we will then travel to China for 14-18 days and take our son home. We should be traveling no sooner than 8 months, but that is subject to change every day.

   We have some amazing, supportive family and friends, and we are so thankful for every one of them! Some close friends of ours Rick & Jocelyn Hoaglin have put on a fundraiser for us to help fund our adoption. Rick is competing in a Triathlon ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ in San Francisco in June, and is running this race for our adoption. He has partnered up with a nonprofit organization here in Missoula called Love Has Come (LHC). All donations made during this fundraiser will be tax deductible and be sent directly to our adoption agency for qualified adoption expenses. This is an amazing opportunity for us to help bring our son home and also for friends and family to be a part of our adoption story. We feel blessed in all aspects of this fundraiser. We are grateful for any donation and are humbled by the Hoaglin’s heart and support behind us. Here is the flyer they put together for our adoption:

Above all, we ask for your prayers and support. This road is not easy and there are a lot of unknowns ahead for us and our family. Without your encouragement and prayers, we wouldn’t be able to do this. We invite you all to be a part of this journey with us. We are excited for everyone to get a glimpse of what adoption has done for our family. Check back soon for more updates! Thank you!

If you wish to donate to the fundraiser, Click on the link below to open up and print the flyer in a PDF file. 

Fundraiser Flyer Link