Example Situations

Recently we have heard of more and more situations of single mothers (sometimes teenagers,)sometimes older, that are just not in a situation to parent a child (or in many circumstances, another child). The expectant mom is often stretched beyond what she can already handle and God bless them for still choosing life! That being said, who will raise the baby? We have volunteered ourselves and pray that our God will connect us with the one in need. Someone out there is praying for the best situation and family to parent and raise her child. One reason we are sharing this journey with others is that often someone knows someone who is in this type of circumstance. If so, then you may be the one to join in God's plan in connecting us with this mother & child that we have been praying for...sometimes all it takes is sharing what we know and what we are going through with others. That is what we are doing with all of you. Now that that has been said, Let us share some of the recent situations we have been presented with and pray about; Last week we received a profile about a lady named "Ann" that is due next week. We would need to pay the $100 application fee via the attorney that has her case, then a $15,000.00 retainer fee to the attorney if "Ann" chose us to raise her baby girl. Right now there is NO ONE to adopt this baby and "Ann" is in a situation where she is unable to bring this baby home. It breaks our heart that the only thing standing between us going to Florida next week (when the baby is due), bringing her home, being her "forever family" and loving her as our own daughter is a lot of money. We are open to suggestions and ask that you please keep us in your prayers. A few weeks before there was a very similar situation, only the expectant mom was about to go to prison. We really wanted to apply to be the child's adoptive parents. Again, with these situations, as with ones through agencies, the cost will likely be $20-$40K. We know that is not too much for our God, but we need to be responsible and at least have the majority pledged and ready to go... We know that our child is out there and one day soon God will arrange the circumstances in such a way that we can bring our baby home. Previous situations that came to us; (there have been many, but for today we will just share a couple); **Misty went to get her hair done a year and a half ago. There was a hairdresser that said her niece had been born addicted to pain medicine a week ago and they were taking the baby from her. This was her sisters third or fourth child and each time was similar. (my heart breaks for these children!) Since she was going to lose custody and the aunt could not raise another child, the baby would go into foster care. She asked Misty if we could go pick up the baby before she is put into state care. It was complicated and would have happened immediately once Paul and Misty said yes, but it was too late. By the time she knew that we were willing the baby was already with a family and now her aunt (the hairdresser who is raising one of her niece's will not ever see her). Otherwise today we would be sharing about this beautiful toddler and how she came to be a part of our family. There have been several random situations like this where we were asked to adopt someone's relative or where we had a call about a baby or child that needed a home. Each time our hearts would leap and we would say "YES". This has been the journey of the past two years. It awakened our hearts to know that we desire to adopt a son or daughter. It brought us into the awareness of how many situations are going on every day where there is an expectant mom that's circumstances bring her to the place of choosing a life for her child that would be better than the one she is able to give. Life is hard and sometimes it is the most loving decision to choose a family to raise the baby. Such as when one is single and struggling, or struggling with a drug addiction, and the one that really affects us a lot is when the birth mom is about to go to prison. She is often already overwhelmed with other children, difficult circumstances and it gives her peace of mind to choose a family to raise her baby. That is where we come in. We have the heart to do it, the home and love to give the baby and are willing to say yes when all the parts come together. So far the timing was off or for some other reason it did not go through. Now we have the home study completed and everything in order to bring home a little one. The situations from one attorney are very expensive so even though we are longing to see God's plan unfold we do not want to do it to the point we are in debt. That would only add more stress to our new family. SO, that is where we are hoping and praying everyone else will come in. Each week we are emailed a situation from the attorney in Florida. There is a lot of risk involved and maybe those children need to go to a family that does have $20,000 in the bank already. If we feel "this is the one" and apply for a situation, we will need to raise the funds asap. As for today we are praying that it will happen in such a way as the other times we were asked and the cost of the "private adoption" would be less expensive. When we got a call about a five day old baby where the mother realized that it was too overwhelming and she could not do it. That is where we are here. If someone reading this knows of a crisis situation like that, please know our hearts and arms are wide open and ready to help and to love...