Hello All, (P.S- this is a long update, thank you for reading it all!)

We have exciting news:

We are halfway through our home study!

If everything stays on track, we will have our home study finalized around Thanksgiving. This feels like a huge hug from God; after a long wait to get to the home study, it’s a gift for it to move faster than we thought it would. Usually, a home study takes around 3-6 months, meaning the earliest we would have been approved was the end of December. But, because our social workers caseload is lighter right now, she is able to move a bit faster. We feel a simultaneous “Yay!” and “Whoa! Here we go!”

Each home study meeting is about 3 hours long and consists of going over paperwork, updates on the process, setting expectations, reviewing or assigning educational material, reviewing mental and physical health reports, and in depth interviews with both of us. Our social worker uses all of this information and puts everything together for a final assessment.

You may be asking: “Why does it take all of that? Why is that necessary? Why such a long process?” We have heard these questions often, and it is understandable why those questions are asked. Yes, there is a lot that goes into it. And while we could go into why every single step is important, what our response has been is this:

We are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that we and our home are fit to receive a child.

By having all the necessary information, a birth family can feel empowered to make that choice for their child, and have trust and confidence in who they have chosen to adopt their child. Every bit of effort we put into this process is worth it, and we are thankful that we are able to open our home to a child.

That mindset, continuous prayer, and the knowledge that God knows exactly who both the child and birth family are that we will connect with, has resulted in this process feeling peaceful.

We are so thankful for your prayers and encouragement during the last year and a half of waiting. Without you, this would not feel as peaceful as it has.

If you would like to pray for us, here are a few specific things to pray for:

  • Peace and focus during the home study meetings
  • Discernment for us as we write our profile, design our book (for birth families to see who we are) and get ready to give our information to expectant mothers
  • Discernment, strength, and focus for our social worker as she writes our home study and walks us through this process
  • Peace, strength, and wisdom to expectant mothers making the decision to either parent or make a plan for adoption

We are also incredibly thankful for your generous financial donations through this process. We are happy to share that we only have $4,000 more to go before we have raised/saved all of the money needed for our agency fees!

Because of that, we are officially closing down our “GoFundMe” page. If you would still like to provide a monetary gift, please reach out to us at [email protected], or send us a text and we can provide you the info for either mailing a check, or donating via Venmo.

If you are interested in helping us fill our nursery, you can find our registry here. We request that only items linked on our registry are purchased so your gift doesn’t go to waste. We don’t know a lot about our child: the gender, when they will arrive, if they will be preemie or 3 months old, etc. Therefore, the registry is really the basics, as well as some books (several of which are adoption focused) to help fill our little one’s library.

We know that there may be expenses beyond the agency fees that could show up, such as birth mother expenses or travel expenses (in the case that we adopt a child from outside of Minnesota). However, we don’t know if or when these costs might come, nor do we know how much they would be if they do. We will continue to save in the case these expenses are needed, and we will continue applying for grants as well.

We are grateful for our village, and if you’re reading this that includes you. Without you all, we wouldn’t be able to walk this road of adoption. Your emotional, spiritual, and financial support has made this all possible.

Thank you all so much!
Bethany and Phil