Dan & Emily's Adoption Journey

Our hearts are so, so full.  People showed up in ENORMOUS ways for our adoption fundraising garage sale. Not only did over 30 families donate items out the WAZOO for our sale, but God orchestrated the details so beautifully. We must've met 15 adoptive families who came to share their stories with us, provide their contact information, offer advice, and donate to our cause without purchasing anything.  Our worlds collided as we met people who knew others in our village. We had just enough tables, just enough room, just enough sunshine (except for being rained out Sunday, but more to come there...). God provided, you guys. We had just enough. Additionally, through items sold and generous donations, we made just enough to cover the phase of the adoption we're in (home study). Friends even had their own garage sales and sent us the proceeds! We had friends and family pitch in to make this the success it was, and we're forever grateful - from our moms and Dan's grandma takin

Time is FLYING. I can't believe so much has gotten done in such a short amount of time!  The latest: We had our first home study last week, which was emotionally exhausting but beautiful. We really love our assigned case-workers so far and are looking forward to continuing this process with them.  Our doggos were excited the first few minutes, then laid down by the table and treated us to their snores during the interview. 😄 My individual interview is on Friday, and Dan's is next week. Then we'll reconvene for more discussion and a safety audit. After weeks of planning and preparing the house, our fire inspection was completed yesterday. I'm excited to share that we passed! We are now 100% complete on all of our paperwork including releases, medical info, financial info, testing, audits, background checks, etc. It feels so  good to see that completion in our adoption portal. You are a generous lot. I can't even describe the emotions we've felt with all of the l

  Sweet friends, Time is moving so quickly! We just scheduled our first home study. August 4th will be here before we know it! They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to help build families through adoption! We have been so moved at the outpouring of love, prayers, and support as we navigate this journey. We've even been asked how people can help, so we're posting a few ways below!  1. Prayer There's so much to pray for. Please join us in praying for birth parents who have to make such enormous, selfless decisions. Pray for healthy pregnancies with strong pre-natal care. Pray for God to help us discern his will and direction for this process so that everything we do glorifies him. For our families as they journey alongside us. For comfort and peace in a potentially heartbreaking process. For us to be matched with the child God chooses for us. For strength and diligence.  Multi-cultural support.  Hope and comfort. Minimal grief/hardships. Financ

    It's taken a long time to get to this point. We've always felt called to adopt, but we thought that would be part  of our story (not the  story). However, God leads us, and we follow. And we're so, SO excited to share that we've begun our adoption journey. This will be a long, arduous, exhaustive, exciting, hopeful, scary, emotional roller coaster process. There are many steps involved and there are no guarantees.  The purpose of this blog is to keep people who want to follow along with us updated. We know there are a lot of questions and will do our best to answer them. We plan to be certified to foster. Then, we hope to first adopt an infant through private placement, followed by fostering-to-adopt a sibling group or two in a few years. We also know that God's plan might differ from this, so we await his instruction! Once we complete our home study process, we intend to take a brief hiatus to save money and allow me to recover from surgery that is planned in M