Baby Miller's Journey Home #babymilleradoption

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I was just a kid when I fell in love with the idea of adoption.

I remember when it happened. I was with my family at a week long summer church conference. A pastor and his wife who were attending were adopting a child from another country that same week. The precious baby was picked up at the airport and was brought to the church service that same night.

She was beautiful.

I remember seeing that woman proudly holding her new baby! I remember my mom explaining to me that the woman wanted a baby to love and that she was able to become the mom to a baby who needed a home and a loving family.

Ever since that moment, as a child, I have loved the thought of adopting a sweet baby.

I have loved the thought of loving children who need it most.

A special place was created in my heart that day. A place made specifically for children.

My whole life since then has been pretty much fueled by my passion for loving, teaching, and helping children.

As a pastor's daughter, I grew up with many opportunities to be involved in children's ministries. I began working in children's church when I was twelve. I was a puppeteer, a skit performer, a volunteer of anything that was needed at the time because I loved helping kids!

My children's ministry continued through my teen years. I began teaching my own Sunday school class at age sixteen while continuing working in children's church.

I tutored 4th graders in math during my senior year of high school.

I spent my summers working youth camps as part of the recreation staff until I was old enough to be a dorm counselor.

I loved every minute of all of it.

Kids are amazing. They have taught me as much as I have taught them.

And through all of that, there has been a constant, tugging thought in the back of my mind about adopting a baby one day.

In 2015, I married the sweetest man, Dakota Miller. He has been totally on board with the adoption plan! However, we knew we didn't want to have kids right away. I needed to finish my education degree! So we decided to wait until it felt like the right time.

The time came! I was working as a teacher's aide, nearly finished with all of my schooling. Dakota was doing great in his company.

We were set!

We could start a family! Finally, after loving on everyone else's kids, we were going to have one of our own!

We decided that we wanted to have a biological child first. I got pregnant right away, but the pregnancy ended in an early miscarriage. And then about eleven months later, I became pregnant again and ended up having a second miscarriage during the same week of the term as the first miscarriage . My doctor said that its fairly common to have two in a row.

But something just didn't feel right.

Shortly after, we found out that something really was not right. After a major medical ordeal involving undiagnosed symptoms, a surgery, hospital stay, tons of appointments with no answers, so many medical bills, and months of not knowing what to do, I finally ended up seeing a doctor who knew exactly what was wrong.

I was diagnosed with something called Chronic Epstein Bar Virus Disease. It is not very common and most doctors don't understand it. There is little research about it. It is not contagious. It is the same virus that causes mono. About 95% of people have the virus dormant in their system. But in my case, the virus woke up and is chronically active.

I am on daily medication to help with symptoms and I feel much better now! But, I will not be able to have a successful pregnancy while on these medicines.

I'm praying the Lord completely heals me!

I'm not afraid. My life is wonderful! I'm so thankful to have found the answer to what could have taken my life, but now can't because God led us to a diagnosis and treatment. The doctor says it could go dormant again. And I'm believing it will!

I don't believe in coincidences.

I believe God has had his hand in all of this.

I believe adoption is our calling.

I did get my degree, and in 2019, after working three years as a teacher's aide, I began my DREAM job as an elementary teacher in 1st grade! I will be turning thirty in January and Dakota is twenty-eight. We are more than ready to start a family, and so incredibly blessed to have found such an amazing, adoption agency!

Adoption is expensive. There is just no way around that. But, it is totally worth it.

The hardest thing about the cost is that the adoption fee is due all at once and we don't know exactly when that will be. We could be matched pretty quickly. We have heard and read that most people have a lot of success with raising funds for their adoption because so many people love to give to such a good cause. We figured GoFundMe was the easiest and most practical way to raise funds so we started this first. We are applying for grants and looking into adoption loans, and have some fun fundraising ideas also!

If you would like to help us bring our baby home, you can do any or all of these three things.

1. Pray - Help us pray that this process goes as smoothly as possible and according to God's will. We want what God wants.

2. Donate - A donation of any amount will be such a blessing to us. We could never thank you enough! This will help us give a baby a home debt free.

Your donation will help cover the following costs:

$2,500 - application and home study fees

We have already started the process

$37,000 - adoption fee

The full amount is due at the time we are

matched with a birth mother. This could

happen pretty quickly!

$ 1,800 - Attorney fee to finalize the adoption

$ 3,700 - This will go towards any doctor visits, etc. for the birth mother that we will need to cover.

3. Share - We need help getting the word out to others who may want to give to adoption or who may say a prayer for us. You can share our gofundme on your social media accounts or with specific people who may want to be involved.

Thank you, from the depths of our hearts for reading and sharing our story and for donating to help grow our family.

I don't know this baby yet, but I know its the baby that has been tugging on my heart since I was a child at that church service one summer.

We pray God richly blesses you, for being a blessing to us and our baby.

You are making a difference, beyond what you can imagine. And God is using you to set a child up for an amazing life full of potential, love, and joy.

We will be posting updates throughout this whole process! So keep checking in if you want to keep track!

We love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Dakota and Sarah Miller.

#babymilleradoption

Here are just a few pictures from our life. ❤

This is one of our favorite wedding pictures. :)