Bringing Baby Home

“The cost of adoption should never stand in the way of giving a child a family.”

—Julie Gumm

Dear Friends and Family,

This is the start of your sweet little story, the part where your page meets mine.  No matter where your tale takes you, tomorrow our story will always read love…

I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you that Tim and I have been trying to add a member to our family for several years now.  After undergoing several tense years of trying…and succeeding…and failing to maintain a pregnancy, we were finally blessed with a beautiful miracle, our daughter Molly.  She was, and is, the shining star that we reached for and we are forever blessed by God to be her parents.  Sadly, our journey with infertility did not end with her birth and we subsequently lost two pregnancies, the final one in February of 2012.  It was then that God decided that our journey of pain and loss would come to an end…and the journey toward our adoption would begin.

After attending several information sessions of adoption agencies in the Western New York area, we finally selected an agency out of Rochester to work with, Bethany Christian Services (www.bethany.org). 

Working with our social worker has been a wonderful part of our journey.  It was really important to us to have a personal connection in this process so as not to seem as if we were simply “buying a baby,” but rather building a family.  After several months of filling out huge amounts of paperwork, traveling to Rochester for interviews, and taking online courses on the adoption process, we were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we had done all that we could in the process of finding our adopted child and we started turning our attention to the end result…finding the money that it will take to bring him/her home.

In December 2010 we were proud graduates of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, a course designed to rid the American public of unnecessary financial debt.  Within two years, after paying our last car payment, we were able to claim that we were debt free (with the exception of our mortgage).  This was a huge accomplishment for us, not just to be rid of the burden of debt, but also to truly understand, and apply God’s purpose for us as a family, not letting money dictate our happiness.

But herein lies our biggest question that we asked ourselves when considering adoption:  “God knows about our commitment to live debt free.  So why would He ask us to adopt and then make debt part of that process?”  To date, we have incurred $10,869 toward applicable fees related to the adoption and, through it all; God has provided just what we needed.  When our adoption becomes finalized, we will be expected to owe the agency another $12,400 (not including legal fees or interstate fees*).  We have trusted God completely in this journey, not only in choosing adoption for our family, but with the agency selection, and providing the funds that we have spent thus far.

We have several fundraising goals to help us with the remaining costs associated with the adoption including, but not limited to:  direct sales, a garage sale, a photography event, karaoke, dinner and a silent auction.  We trust that God will provide the funds needed to complete this adoption and one way may be through people like you.  We are asking friends and loved ones, if you are able, to help defer the cost of the adoption by making a donation at our adoption blog:  Love Grows In the Heart (http://lovegrowsintheheart.blogspot.com/).  Take a moment to visit our blog; you can make a donation right now with a credit card or pay pal account.  With every donation that we receive, that name will be written on the back of a puzzle piece.  When the puzzle is complete, we will send you a photo of the completed puzzle as a keepsake. 

“You are not raising money to add a child to your family;

you are raising money to give a child a family.”—Adopt Without Debt

We cannot wait to bring our child home, to hold him/her in our arms, and always provide a hand for them to hold as they grow. No words can capture the true joy and excitement we feel as we anticipate the blessing of his/her presence in our home.

If you are unable to donate to our adoption, please know that we understand.  We hope that you will continue to pray for our family’s journey.  Please contact us if you have any questions, need alternative methods of contribution, or would just like to chat. We would absolutely love to hear from each and every one of you!

Thank you for taking the time to let us share our journey with you.

Sincerely,

Tim & Erin

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,                               you did for Me.” – Matthew 25:40