Our Adoption Journey to Africa
Donation protected
Our Adoption Story:
Last year at this time, I (Amy) was preparing to visit the country of Uganda for a mission trip when my husband Bill said he thought we should look into adopting. I was in Uganda for 10 days and quickly fell in love with the country and the people. I saw first hand how hard the women work, and how little opportunity is available to them and how difficult their lives can be. They are such courageous, amazing women, I was blown away by their strength.
Today, our adoption is well underway! We are about 2 weeks away from finishing our home study which has been really the BIG hurdle. We are several months away from traveling to Uganda, but we are getting ready. We will only have a few weeks notice when it's time to go.
We have worked hard this last year, and in December we reached our fundraising goal through the sales of capes, homemade fairy doors (Amy made these), homemade light sabers (Bill made these) plus a crafting fundraiser in October with fairies and fairy doors and silent auctions. We have also been blessed by donations from friends, family and our church family.
Our family will need to travel to Uganda and stay there (per the Ugandan government’s rules) for 5-8 weeks as we go through the court process and getting to know Pickles. Our adoption will cost just approximately $29,000, not including the travel expenses to Uganda, which this fund will help.
A little background on us:
We have battled infertility in our 15 years of marriage, and our son, Liam, age 10, was an absolute miracle. My husband said he always had a feeling we would adopt down the road.
My sister and I are both adopted and Bill and I have walked with many friends through their adoptions. After much discussion and prayer in our family, we feel called to adopt from Uganda. Liam tells people how God has her picked out for us, and that he can't wait to teach her how to blow bubbles, fly kites but most of all, to be on his team for light saber battles.
It will be my honor to be Pickles’ mother and to let her know just how much she is loved and how God had a plan for us to be her forever family. It makes dealing with the infertility almost make sense. Maybe we were meant to go through the medications and tests to show us that we were meant to be a forever family to this little one.
Many Thanks!
We are so thankful for the amazing support system of friends, family and our faith family. We have taken them all along on this adventure with us. We have a blog where we can keep everyone up to date with our process (I really don’t want to forget a thing!) and we hope some day we can serve as mentors to other couples who are hoping to adopt, just as so many friends have mentored us.
Visit our blog to find out more at
www.PicklesPemberton.com
Last year at this time, I (Amy) was preparing to visit the country of Uganda for a mission trip when my husband Bill said he thought we should look into adopting. I was in Uganda for 10 days and quickly fell in love with the country and the people. I saw first hand how hard the women work, and how little opportunity is available to them and how difficult their lives can be. They are such courageous, amazing women, I was blown away by their strength.
Today, our adoption is well underway! We are about 2 weeks away from finishing our home study which has been really the BIG hurdle. We are several months away from traveling to Uganda, but we are getting ready. We will only have a few weeks notice when it's time to go.
We have worked hard this last year, and in December we reached our fundraising goal through the sales of capes, homemade fairy doors (Amy made these), homemade light sabers (Bill made these) plus a crafting fundraiser in October with fairies and fairy doors and silent auctions. We have also been blessed by donations from friends, family and our church family.
Our family will need to travel to Uganda and stay there (per the Ugandan government’s rules) for 5-8 weeks as we go through the court process and getting to know Pickles. Our adoption will cost just approximately $29,000, not including the travel expenses to Uganda, which this fund will help.
A little background on us:
We have battled infertility in our 15 years of marriage, and our son, Liam, age 10, was an absolute miracle. My husband said he always had a feeling we would adopt down the road.
My sister and I are both adopted and Bill and I have walked with many friends through their adoptions. After much discussion and prayer in our family, we feel called to adopt from Uganda. Liam tells people how God has her picked out for us, and that he can't wait to teach her how to blow bubbles, fly kites but most of all, to be on his team for light saber battles.
It will be my honor to be Pickles’ mother and to let her know just how much she is loved and how God had a plan for us to be her forever family. It makes dealing with the infertility almost make sense. Maybe we were meant to go through the medications and tests to show us that we were meant to be a forever family to this little one.
Many Thanks!
We are so thankful for the amazing support system of friends, family and our faith family. We have taken them all along on this adventure with us. We have a blog where we can keep everyone up to date with our process (I really don’t want to forget a thing!) and we hope some day we can serve as mentors to other couples who are hoping to adopt, just as so many friends have mentored us.
Visit our blog to find out more at
www.PicklesPemberton.com
Organizer
Amy Balzer-Pemberton
Organizer
Charter Township of Ypsilanti, MI
