Sometimes you just know things are meant to be. It’s not always easy to accept it’s meant to be, but that doesn’t make it less ordained. That’s how we feel about our journey to start our family. Our journey to get to this point in the process officially started 18 months ago, but really the story starts many years ago.

At age 14, Kristin participated in a summer ministry program focused on young children. She interacted with kids from all sorts of backgrounds and witnessed all sorts of needs. Even as a young tween, she felt her heart pulled in the direction of adoption. Little did that tween know that she would continue to work in the social services field in one capacity or another and have that desire grow more and more each year.

Being an “adoptive” parent is nothing new to us, however. When we got married we both vowed to each other that our home would be known as a place that was open to all who needed respite, support, entertaining, or just something away from their norm. We’ve been heavily involved with Big Brothers, Big Sisters for over 5 years now, and our little Paige has experienced that “adoptive” parent relationship, sometimes to her benefit, sometimes to her dismay! We asked her to share a little something with you about that journey, so without further ado, our soon to be high school graduate!

So here we are today, feeling tired, overwhelmed, and a little scared. After 18 months of failed fertility treatments, endless discussions, and a lot of research, we are wholeheartedly jumping into our adoption journey. If you are interested in learning more about our fertility journey we’ve been sharing that journey on Kristin’s blog: http://unpredictablebloomington.blogspot.com/

Our plan is to adopt domestically within our community. Community is a broad term, however, and could take us to neighboring states at the furthest. We are asking all of you for your support to help us get this process off the ground. We want to be completely transparent with you, as this is a hefty financial undertaking and we don’t take that lightly. The total cost for a domestic adoption will be around $30,000. We are asking for help in getting the initial costs covered. We will owe $3,000 for our home study and $7,300 for initial administrative costs. These two items help get us to the point of getting our profile in front of prospective birth moms, in the hopes that we will be matched with someone. We plan to apply for some additional financial aid, including grants to assist us with the total cost, as well as utilizing some employment adoption benefits.

We are so thankful for all the wonderful people in our lives and we do not ask for your assistance lightly. If you can help us with any form of support, we would greatly appreciate it. Even simple words of encouragement are appreciated!