Autumn & Tim's Adoption Fundraiser
Donation protected
Many of you were able to watch Tim and Autumn’s relationship since it began almost 10 years ago. The deployments, the duty stations, the trips, the time spent away, and the time spent together. In most ways their relationship is like many others however, There is a detail I would like to share with you that they have not made so public and is not so similar to others.
From Tim and Autumn:
“At the start there was always a question about whether or not we would be able to have children together but at the time we knew so little about it all. We spent so much time talking about the perfect family we would have… three kids, a dog or two, a house in the suburbs as we became more serious about starting our family we had to figure out if it was going to be possible and in the beginning, we had a lot of hope. The hope was the worst part! We spent hours, days even, just driving to different doctors or specialists. We would get bad news two or three times and then one doctor would say “well, there is a chance..” And right there, we would be full of hope. four more times we would get bad news and then with one “there is a chance” we would jump right back into it, full of hope. Isn’t that silly? To be told so many times “no” and with one “maybe” forget about all of the “no”s just because we wanted it so badly? It was only just before we left North Carolina for a new duty station did we finally accept a “traditional” family was not our path and we would have to start exploring other options. As we looked more into how we would finally get that family we both dreamed of and start to be filled with hope again, we would see the measures we would have to take just to START and with how dynamic our life was at the new duty assignment there was no way, and there goes our hope. When we came back to North Carolina things changed again our lives settled back down and we realized we would be more stable and more anchored here. Right back into starting our family, and right back into that silly hope. When we sat down with the adoption agency and finally got down to “brass tax”, we were blown away at what it was actually going to take to make our ultimate dream of having a family a reality. the term “a lot” doesn’t do justice to actual dollar amounts. A BARE MINIMUM of 40,000 dollars due incrementally over the course of roughly 18 months. More than most people spend on a car, due in a year and a half. Only for this investment there is no special loan with low interest rates. There is no collateral for the banks to invest in us and our future here. we took a long look into what was in front of us and this time, we are refusing to give up and refusing to lose our hope. We understand how difficult this is going to be, that’s just not what we are focused on, only that we will have our fairy tale in the end, too.”
The expression “it takes a village to raise a family” still reigns true today and in Tim and Autumn’s case, it is even more so. Your support will help them in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Whether it be a donation to their fund for adoption, sage advice from those that have lived it, sharing their story with those you are close to, or a simple prayer before dinner or bed. They are grateful for all of it and cannot wait for their own village to play a wonderful part in raising their family. Thank you so much for having taken the time to read and understand this chapter of their story.
From Tim and Autumn:
“At the start there was always a question about whether or not we would be able to have children together but at the time we knew so little about it all. We spent so much time talking about the perfect family we would have… three kids, a dog or two, a house in the suburbs as we became more serious about starting our family we had to figure out if it was going to be possible and in the beginning, we had a lot of hope. The hope was the worst part! We spent hours, days even, just driving to different doctors or specialists. We would get bad news two or three times and then one doctor would say “well, there is a chance..” And right there, we would be full of hope. four more times we would get bad news and then with one “there is a chance” we would jump right back into it, full of hope. Isn’t that silly? To be told so many times “no” and with one “maybe” forget about all of the “no”s just because we wanted it so badly? It was only just before we left North Carolina for a new duty station did we finally accept a “traditional” family was not our path and we would have to start exploring other options. As we looked more into how we would finally get that family we both dreamed of and start to be filled with hope again, we would see the measures we would have to take just to START and with how dynamic our life was at the new duty assignment there was no way, and there goes our hope. When we came back to North Carolina things changed again our lives settled back down and we realized we would be more stable and more anchored here. Right back into starting our family, and right back into that silly hope. When we sat down with the adoption agency and finally got down to “brass tax”, we were blown away at what it was actually going to take to make our ultimate dream of having a family a reality. the term “a lot” doesn’t do justice to actual dollar amounts. A BARE MINIMUM of 40,000 dollars due incrementally over the course of roughly 18 months. More than most people spend on a car, due in a year and a half. Only for this investment there is no special loan with low interest rates. There is no collateral for the banks to invest in us and our future here. we took a long look into what was in front of us and this time, we are refusing to give up and refusing to lose our hope. We understand how difficult this is going to be, that’s just not what we are focused on, only that we will have our fairy tale in the end, too.”
The expression “it takes a village to raise a family” still reigns true today and in Tim and Autumn’s case, it is even more so. Your support will help them in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Whether it be a donation to their fund for adoption, sage advice from those that have lived it, sharing their story with those you are close to, or a simple prayer before dinner or bed. They are grateful for all of it and cannot wait for their own village to play a wonderful part in raising their family. Thank you so much for having taken the time to read and understand this chapter of their story.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ashley Bidwell
Organizer
New Bern, NC
Autumn Leidecker
Beneficiary