Hey Friends! So much has happened since the last post and we are so excited to share it with you.
The first exciting thing that has happened is we have officially completed our home study (the first major step and probably the most tedious part of this process.) It came in the mail on Thursday! Yay! The past couple of months have been very busy and filled with lots of paperwork, appointments, education on different special needs/ disorders and home visits. We are thankful that the home study is over and so excited for what this means for us and the next steps to come.
The next thing that has recently happened and probably the most exciting news so far is that we have officially been registered on CARA’s (Central Adoption Resource Authority) database in India. So, we are now registered in India as a waiting family and are waiting for initial approval from India giving us permission to go forward with an adoption. Our agency said that wait times right now for approval are ranging from 10-20 weeks. But, we could also see it not take that long. Right now, it’s all up to India as far as processing times and how fast or slow things go. During this time of waiting we will spend our time applying for grants, raising funds and also researching which hospital we are planning to use once we get a referral for a child. Once we get a potential match (referral) we will go to that hospital with the referral/medical file and get advice on treatment, correction, what the condition will look like long term etc. Once we go forward and say yes to a file we will then make steps to bring them home! We are now so much closer to being matched with our precious child and we cannot wait.
Thank you so much everyone for all of your continued support through finances, encouragement and prayer. We absolutely could not do this without you. The phrase “It takes a village” is so true and we are so thankful and grateful for how the Lord has provided this for us.
Financially we have been blown away by the Lords goodness and provision for us. Our adoption cost is around $35,000 total. We have been able to raise close to $8000 so far. A really cool story of how God has provided actually unfolded this week. We found out a couple of weeks ago that after the home study was complete that we would need to apply for immigration. We found out that the cost for that was going to be around $1000. Well, just a week prior to finding this out, we had paid our next agency fee which had pretty much wiped our account clean except for about $10. Which by the way we have had just enough every single time! So, we finished the home study and knew that we needed to raise about $1000 in a week’s time. So, we prayed, “Lord we do not have $1000 but we know that you do. Please provide for us.” We have been planning for a fundraising dinner and silent auction for a while and the tickets for it had been ordered but were not supposed to be coming for another week. Well, they came several days early so we were able to go ahead and start selling those right away (praise the Lord) and the Lord started building the account again. Friday morning, so the end of the week that we needed to raise the money by, I went and deposited the money from ticket sells in the bank and I got the receipt and the account had exactly $700. So, we needed $300 more. So, I prayed again. We were so close. Right after I left the bank I headed to pick up my nephew who I keep some and his dad, my brother in law, came in and handed me some money. He began to tell me that he did a painting job and they paid him double what he had told them…want to guess?! They had paid him $600 and he had said $300. So, he gave us the extra that was exactly $300. God is so faithful. Let me just add here that if the Lord has placed a desire in you to adopt or do anything where you have to raise funds or depend completely on Him because you absolutely do not have it and it is going to require total faith, do it. He is faithful and trustworthy to provide every step of the way if He has called you to it.
Some ways you can be praying for us and supporting us are:
We have a fundraising event, dinner and silent auction coming up on Saturday November 16th at 6pm. Tickets are still on sale if you would like to come. We’d love to have you! Pray that this event would raise a good amount for our upcoming adoption costs. Pray also for hearts to be encouraged there and that people who do not know him would hear the good news!
Continue to pray for our girls and family as we prepare for the transition to come. They are getting so excited! Just the other day, as Annistyn was watching a Daniel Tiger episode where Daniel Tiger’s mom had a baby, she said, “We are going to have a baby too. But, our baby isn’t in mommy’s belly but it’s in India mommy’s belly.” They totally get it. So please pray for their little hearts to be ready for the changes to come.
Pray for our Child in India. It’s such a crazy thought to think that our baby has already been born and is somewhere over in India right now. I’m sure they are born and I often think about what they are like, what their care is like, and what hardships they may be facing right now without us. Pray for our child to have healthy attachments there and nanny’s that love on them and kiss on them. Pray for their health and safety too.
Lastly, please pray that things in India would go smoothly and our prayer (Lord willing) is that we will be able to bring our child home in a year or less. But we are also trusting the Lords timing.
I know this post is so long. There was just so much to share this time! Haha.
Thanks so much for first reading all of this if you have, for praying along with us, for supporting us financially and through encouragement too. We are so, so, so thankful!