an update

Well. Things sure got quiet around here, but for a very good reason, this I promise you. Evan and I have decided to begin our adoption journey! It's something that's obviously been on our hearts for many years but only a serious conversation for the past few months. Evan went out of town and into the mountains without any phone service this past summer and I stayed home and didn't sleep because that's what I do when I'm alone. So, I didn't sleep and instead I researched everything adoption and pre-applied to a bunch of different agencies and was pre-approved through a couple. We narrowed it down to our top two agencies and finally picked an agency a few weeks ago. They're a Christian organization and the director of intake has e-mailed me at least once a week with such encouragement and kindness and I couldn't help but choose them.

The cost of an adoption is around $40,000 give or take $5 grand PLUS outside expenses like airfair and the paperwork once your child is home, etc. It's crazy and we know it but we're not going to let that number that seems so huge (and at times, unattainable) get in the way of bringing home a baby to our forever family. My adoptive mama friend told me to break everything up into smaller, more manageable chunks. My new BFF, the director of intake, told me that before we fully submit our application, that we should have six to ten thousand dollars ready to go so we're not slowed down by not having the money ready to go. There are lots of loans and grants and help but we're hoping to fundraise most of it through t-shirts, a YouCaring page, prints and now some embroidery hoops! We have lots of friends who have offered to sell products for us as well or donate a portion of the proceeds of their business to us and we are so thankful and blessed to have such generous supporters. We know that it will take a village and we know that adoption is big on so many people's hearts, even those that haven't been called to adopt themselves.

So, you can follow along on that journey at our new adoption blog where I've got links to everything and Evan and I will update that frequently so you can always know where in the process we are. We're so excited to finally begin this journey and over the past week since we've announced it, we've raised a couple thousand dollars (Evan would know the exact amount but I'm still in awe of the $1,000 check we got from one of our dear friends BEFORE we even announced!) and God has been moving. We covet your prayers and love to talk about this. So, questions, comments, anything, please shoot us an e-mail at youandusforever[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks for being a part of our story. It's gonna be a good one.