Hello Family and Friends,

Last night Ethan and I had our first orientation meeting (via Zoom) with our agency, and it was a huge success!

First here is some more information about the organization we choose: Greater Hope. They are located in Wyoming Michigan. They helo families throughout the whole state of Michigan and create a family atmosphere for all their adoptive families and birth families. They are licensed with the state and will provide all the services we need to complete our home study, legal fees, and paperwork. Some of these services include monthly support groups during the adoption process, counseling sessions and support groups for post-adoption ( for the rest of our lives), and access to experienced lawyers and social workers. Greater Hopes agency runs open adoptions where the adoptive family and the birth family know each other. We get to decide with the birth family how much of a relationship we want to have. ( That will be decided once we are matched, but Ethan and I are in agreement we want to know the birth family)  Ethan and I really like Greater Hope and we feel at home there. Everyone we have spoken to has been so nice, inviting, and helpful and we are excited to become a part of the Great Hope family. 

With that we would like to share a few things we learned at our orientation last night:

1. Finacial information: 

Total cost for our adoption= $26,000  This includes the following service fees
$3,900 for our home study and application- Due at time of summiting application
$300 monthly fee to the agency
We have rounded up to $30000 because of extra fees for fingerprinting and court documents and travel expenses for the agency staff members. 

Therefore the total cost is about $5000 cheaper than we were originally planning. There will be little to no birth mother costs because Greater Hope encourages us to have a relationship with our child's birth family but not to give them any financial assistance. the agency helps the family get the helo they need. It is easier for us to build a positive relationship with a birth family when there is no money exchanged between us. 

2. We also learned a little bit more about the process.

Specifically, we learned that it takes 89 days to complete our home study. It can, and probably will take longer because Coivid is making things like background checks and fingerprinting take up to 5 months...ugh. But the agency tries their best to work with us and get it done within the state law of 89 days. We then get to work with a consultant to create a family profile book to keep at the agency for prospective families to look at. We will also create an online profile at the greater Hopes website for birth families to view. Then the waiting game begins as we check in to make sure our paperwork stays up to date and we wait for a phone call that says we have been matched. Right now in the state of Michigan, the average waiting period is 2 years...A little longer than we wanted. But we know the timing is in God's hands and all we can do is put the work in a rust God. 

After a year if we are not matched yet we will have to renew our home study ( a much easier process the second time) and will continue to wait. While we are waiting we are going to fundraise and raise the rest of our $30,000 goal, finish our basement to move the daycare to the basement, and make room for our second bedroom to be turned into a nursery. 

ok, I think that is for now. Here are a few specific things topray about.

1. Saturday the 16th we are having or first big fundraiser! We are holding a dump our yard/ fill our trailer pop can drive. If you have any pop cans you do not want to return please consider donating them to our adoption. All the money we make from pop cans is going directly to our home study cost/ application. If you can not make it to our home on the 16th and have pop cans to donate please send us an email, private message on Facebook, phone call, or text and we will come and pick them up. If you can make it to our home we will be selling cupcakes, coffee, and treats in our front yard and collecting donations. Please consider stopping by, we would love to see you!

We have set a goal to raise $2,000 in the month of October and with items, we have sold, our own savings, cash donations, and donations here to our blog we are almost there! We need about $900 more dollars to reach our goal. Ethan asked me ( Val) what I want for my birthday next month, I said $3,900 to put in our adoption application! We don't know if we will have the money needed by November 12 but we do know that we have an awesome God. He has overwhelmed us with what he has provided in just a short month and trust he will continue. Please continue to pray for God's provision during this journey.

2. Continue to pray for the process and for us to make wise decisions for our family. Our next orientation meeting is on October 28th! 

Thank you all for your prayers, financial support, and emotional support. We appreciate and love all of you! God Bless,

Love Ethan and Valerie