We wanted to give you an update on our little family — we're adopting again! We have been approved to pursue domestic infant adoption, and we are trusting the Lord’s timing in bringing another baby into our family.
If our first adoption taught us anything, it’s how little control we have and how much we can trust in our great Jesus. He knows who our next child will be, He knows what our relationship will look like with another birth family, and He knows exactly what we’ll need to get us through this process a second time.
Our family has been so incredibly blessed through adoption, and we can’t imagine a better story than the one the Lord has written for us.
How does domestic infant adoption work?
Since we already had an agency who completed our homestudy for Colton’s adoption, we only had to update it instead of going through the entire process again. Last year we had signed up with multiple adoption agencies which can sometimes cut down on the wait time to adopt. As of right now, we are only signed up with the local agency we adopted through last year.
Our next step is to wait. We are waiting on opportunities for our family profile book (an "about us" book) to be presented to expectant moms who are making an adoption plan for their baby. If an expectant mom chooses us, we will be "matched" and will eagerly await the baby's birth! Depending on how far along the expectant mom is in her pregnancy, the wait could be a few months, a few weeks, or a few days (like with Colton).
So why are we telling you this?
We need all the prayer we can get. Adoption is a long, hard, and beautiful road filled with both deep brokenness and immense joy. We’ve learned a lot about adoption and parenting in the last couple of years, but we always have much more to discover! We are humbly asking the Lord to lead and guide and grow us on this journey.
We would love it if you would pray about these things:
1. That Jesus would be near to us and give us immense wisdom and discernment as we move forward in working with our adoption agency, reviewing expectant mother cases, and in presenting our profile book to expectant moms.
2. That Jesus would be protecting and embracing the future expectant mother we match with and the baby she is carrying. And if she does not know the Lord, that the care she receives and our interactions with her would be a light and reflection of the Gospel.
3. If the Lord is calling you to join our adoption team financially.
Because of the significant costs of adoption, we will need to fundraise once again in order to bring our next baby home. The average cost of a domestic adoption today is $40,000-$50,000. That's no small number. You may be wondering (as we also did) why adoption costs so much. Where is all that money going? It goes toward paying to work with an adoption agency, adoption lawyers and their legal fees, state fees for adoption, and care for the expectant mother, which could include paying for her medical costs, housing, groceries, transportation, etc. This number doesn't include the cost of our home study updates, travel/housing for when it's time to go get our baby and bring them home, or the adoption finalization. Would you pray alongside us as we trust the Lord to provide for us in this process?
You may remember the puzzle fundraiser we did for Colton’s adoption! The finished puzzle hangs in his room and is a daily reminder of the Lord’s provision for us and His great love for Colton. We absolutely cherish it!
We’re excited to be doing a puzzle for our next baby as well, and we’ll send info about it soon if you feel led to partner with us via that fundraiser.
We can’t tell you how much we have appreciated your support. Thank you for encouraging us and cheering us on as we grow our family. We continue to pray that our story honors the Lord and brings Him glory!
We love you all,
Shane + Megan + Colton
P.S. We’d greatly appreciate your help in spreading the word of our adoption by sharing the content we will post on Facebook and Instagram!
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