*Update* We did it! Thank you so much! We have been so humbled by the response this invitation, and floored by the unexpected generosity. It means more than the value of the dollar to us! Thank you for the encouragement, support, and very practically the stress relief :)

Blessings!

Hi Friends,

We are Abby and Andrew, and God has been leading us on the journey of expanding our family through adoption.

In 2022 we welcomed M into our home. She came to us through a family relation, and though the adoption process was long, we were blessed that the public system paid for all the fees. M is a burst of life in our home. She is a social butterfly, gifted in hospitality, and the teachers in her school are already arguing about who gets her in their class next year (seriously :)).

In 2023, God surprised us with the opportunity to welcome another little life into our home, the wonderful little A. From the moment 5-month old baby A was put into Abby’s arms, with her beaming smile, she was our daughter. It quickly became clear that M and A were meant to be sisters (M was born to be an amazing big sister, and she's all A talks about.).

Welcoming A has been a different process than the first adoption, and while we sought help from the public system, we discovered they could not support us in the same way as before. Because the birth family believed we were right for A, and that she was right for us, they brought her directly to us. Her birth family was great to walk with us for over a year through the first stage of permanent placement: custody. And in 2024, the courts granted us the documents for custody/legal guardianship of A!

This meant we did not need special permissions to apply for documents, travel or get medical care. We had a lot of peace settle over the home when that paperwork went through!

The ball is now in our court to move onto the next stage to finalize this little girl’s place in our family: adoption.

The road to this point has been a long one, with lots of hoops to go through, but God has been faithful to provide us with great supports. There are very concrete realities in front us now, and we face them trusting God's provision. The custody process cost us about $1500 in legal fees (and that was after a TON of free help and legal advice from a friend--thank you!). That is just a fraction of the cost for the adoption legal fees, which we estimate will be around $15,000 CAD. (Even that number feels like a miracle though, as private adoptions in Canada can often run from $20-$30,000.)

Asking for money is tough, and uncomfortable, but we are learning to recognize that it is also inviting people, like you, into our story, the story of little A, and the stories of everyone she will impact in her life. When used well, our money can have a ripple effect of blessing in this world that goes so far beyond financial stability and really makes this place just a little more like Heaven.

With all that said, welcome to our story. If it will bring you joy, thank you for giving towards a wonderful little girl finding permanency with her forever family.

If you prefer to give another way or would like updates on the process, please feel free to use the contact button below and ask for our email.

If you are not in a place to support financially, we also dearly welcome your prayers. There are still a lot of unknowns in the legal process, so we are praying for favor with lawyers and judges, and knowing your prayers are coming in is truly a blessing to us as well.

In the adoption world, when a child is placed with their adoptive family it is often called their 'forever family'. The 'forever family' language also mirrors how God uses adoption as a metaphor for how He invites people out of brokenness and into belonging to His eternal family through Jesus. There is a lot of joy in welcoming these little lives into our family, and we imagine that is just the tiniest reflection of the joy God feels when people are adopted into His.

Thank you so much! :)

From Andrew, Abby, M & A