Goans to Adopt a Baby!
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for coming to our page. Our names are Christian & Cari Goans. We are 32 years old and live in the Denver area. We've been happily married since August of 2014 and are dog-parents to the most adorable 11-year-old Yorkie named Bella. I (Cari) am a nurse in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Taking care of sick or premature babies has been a passion of mine for the past nine years! I love jigsaw puzzles, cooking, audiobooks and spending time with friends and family. Christian is a psychologist at the VA who loves skiing, podcasts, and video games. Together, we love to go hiking, go snowshoeing, and snuggle up on the couch to watch Netflix at the end of a long day. We are on a journey to grow our family through domestic infant adoption and want you to know a little bit about us and our story that has led us here today!
Our journey to adoption began in early June 2013 in Dallas, Texas. We were coming back from our (very successful) second date and I was telling Christian how going to Guatemala on a mission trip and loving on the children at a local orphanage had changed me and how God made it clear to me that I was going to adopt. Christian had excitedly agreed that he too felt this calling on his life. We looked at each other with wide eyes, trying to contain our excitement about this new person we were getting to know with similar hopes. Not much was said after that (considering it was only our second date...) and that was that. Later, through the engagement and newlywed phase we had talked about children a bit more. Our original plan, since I had a desire to experience pregnancy and carry a child, was to have our own biological child first while I was still young, and then adopt our second child.
Fast forward to January 2017. We had been married for 2.5 years by then and were finally ready - if anyone is truly ever “ready” - to add a child to our family. Being the planners that we are, we excitedly began trying to conceive. I remember the anticipation at the end of every month, hoping and praying for a positive test. It was an exciting and fun time. As the months went by with no luck, the waiting became harder and harder, but we continued to persist, trying to trust in God's perfect timing for our family. Months continued to pass on end without a positive test in sight. Two days before my 30th birthday, in September of 2017, I found myself in the Emergency Room with a ruptured ovarian cyst. I was referred to my OBGYN for follow up treatment and eventually given a referral to a reproductive endocrinologist, also known as a fertility specialist.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” - Proverbs 3:5-6
We were excited to seek the help of a fertility specialist and finally get some help and answers. Over the next few months, I endured extensive and invasive testing and labs, which eventually led to a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). It was disheartening – over a year of trying only to find out that I have a condition that is the number one cause of infertility in women. I was the “1” in the statistic that 1 in 8 women suffer from infertility. I had to battle to not feel alone, isolated, or “less than” as a woman. I had to remind myself that my worth did not come from the ability to carry a child, but rather that my worth came through Jesus' death on the cross for my sins so that I could be a child of God.
In April of 2018, after consultation with our doctor and lots of prayers, we decided to try a fertility treatment known as Intrauterine Insemination, or “IUI”, combined with a powerful medication called Clomid. With our hearts full of hope, we completed the first round of IUI and entered into a two week wait to find out if we were pregnant. The test was negative. The disappointment was deep, but we tried to stay positive and looked forward to the next month to try again. The only problem was – we were running out of time. We were moving to Denver, Colorado the following month. In May, we were back in the doctor's office for one last IUI. It was our last chance at conception before we moved, and we were trusting that God can do the impossible. We prayed and prayed during those two weeks we waited for the results, but the test was negative yet again. We struggled to trust God while our grief and the pain were very present.
After we moved to Denver in June of 2018 and got settled into our new life and jobs, we began to discuss our options again. Colorado does not require infertility coverage, so we were looking at paying full fee out of pocket for further treatment. Given that IUI didn't work, our options were either in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or adoption. Both carried a similar cost, and we decided that we would rather use our resources to pursue adoption. We have both felt a strong desire to “care for the orphans” as commanded in James 1:27. We have both been adopted into God's family as His children through our faith in Jesus Christ and want our family to reflect God's family.
“Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - James 1:27
We took an 8 month break from this emotionally-complex process before moving on with the next step. We took the time to plug into a new church, establish friendships, and build community in our new city. When we were ready, in February of 2019, I researched the various adoption agencies in the greater Denver area. Though I knew a lot about Texas adoptions, I felt lost when it came to where to start in Colorado. Our pastor's wife put us in touch with another couple from our church who had adopted in Colorado twice and were in the process of fostering now. They graciously agreed to meet with us and walk us through their experiences and answer questions. The agency that they had recommended was called Hope's Promise . I was most drawn to this agency during my research, so we took this as confirmation from the Holy Spirit. Hope's Promise does an amazing job in caring for the birth mothers throughout pregnancy, through the adoption process, then offers free counseling for life. In March of 2019 we attended an informational meeting at the agency where we had an opportunity to ask questions, and in April 2019 we submitted our application. Two weeks later, in May 2019, we were formally accepted into the Infant Domestic Adoption Program ! We are SO excited and humbled to be on this new journey.
The process to adopt is difficult and extensive. There will be paperwork upon paperwork upon paperwork. We will be subjected to an intense and invasive home study that will take months to complete - all for the safety of the child that will one day be entrusted to us. Then we will wait, and wait, and wait until a birth mother chooses us to care for her child. In fact, the average wait time at Hope's Promise is 18-24 months, though it could be much shorter or longer. We take comfort in knowing that God is in charge even in the wait. We know this process is hard to understand, and yet we want to be as transparent and open about it as we can and invite you into our story. Click here to see where we are in the process.
This is the part where we humbly ask for your help. Adoption is very costly and we do not currently have the ability to fund it ourselves while being able to provide a home for our child. Our agency suggests setting aside $29,580 for total adoption costs. It is therefore our goal is to raise $29,580 in the next six months. In every effort to be 100% transparent, here is the agencies list of fees and what the money goes toward. We have put in $8,000 from our savings into the fund, and will continue to save our own money as we can. If you want to partner with us in this ministry of adoption monetarily, we would be forever grateful. All donations will go into a separate savings account and directly fund the adoption. To make it easy as possible, it was suggested to us that we start this GoFundMe page. We did a lot of research between the various crowdfunding websites – and settled on GoFundMe because they only take out a 3% charge from each transaction rather than a 5% transaction like most dedicated adoption crowdfunding sites. That being said, we welcome offline donations as well to make your money go farther. Any and every donation helps! We will update the status bar with every donation and provide frequent updates on where we are in the process over the next several months.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please understand that we do not want anyone to feel obligated to give. What we want most is to share our experience and to de-mystify the adoption process. We cannot do this without the support of our family and friends that make up our community. We love each of you deeply and we can’t wait to share the rest of this amazing journey ahead with you!
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40
Love,
Christian & Cari Goans

Our journey to adoption began in early June 2013 in Dallas, Texas. We were coming back from our (very successful) second date and I was telling Christian how going to Guatemala on a mission trip and loving on the children at a local orphanage had changed me and how God made it clear to me that I was going to adopt. Christian had excitedly agreed that he too felt this calling on his life. We looked at each other with wide eyes, trying to contain our excitement about this new person we were getting to know with similar hopes. Not much was said after that (considering it was only our second date...) and that was that. Later, through the engagement and newlywed phase we had talked about children a bit more. Our original plan, since I had a desire to experience pregnancy and carry a child, was to have our own biological child first while I was still young, and then adopt our second child.
Fast forward to January 2017. We had been married for 2.5 years by then and were finally ready - if anyone is truly ever “ready” - to add a child to our family. Being the planners that we are, we excitedly began trying to conceive. I remember the anticipation at the end of every month, hoping and praying for a positive test. It was an exciting and fun time. As the months went by with no luck, the waiting became harder and harder, but we continued to persist, trying to trust in God's perfect timing for our family. Months continued to pass on end without a positive test in sight. Two days before my 30th birthday, in September of 2017, I found myself in the Emergency Room with a ruptured ovarian cyst. I was referred to my OBGYN for follow up treatment and eventually given a referral to a reproductive endocrinologist, also known as a fertility specialist.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” - Proverbs 3:5-6
We were excited to seek the help of a fertility specialist and finally get some help and answers. Over the next few months, I endured extensive and invasive testing and labs, which eventually led to a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). It was disheartening – over a year of trying only to find out that I have a condition that is the number one cause of infertility in women. I was the “1” in the statistic that 1 in 8 women suffer from infertility. I had to battle to not feel alone, isolated, or “less than” as a woman. I had to remind myself that my worth did not come from the ability to carry a child, but rather that my worth came through Jesus' death on the cross for my sins so that I could be a child of God.
In April of 2018, after consultation with our doctor and lots of prayers, we decided to try a fertility treatment known as Intrauterine Insemination, or “IUI”, combined with a powerful medication called Clomid. With our hearts full of hope, we completed the first round of IUI and entered into a two week wait to find out if we were pregnant. The test was negative. The disappointment was deep, but we tried to stay positive and looked forward to the next month to try again. The only problem was – we were running out of time. We were moving to Denver, Colorado the following month. In May, we were back in the doctor's office for one last IUI. It was our last chance at conception before we moved, and we were trusting that God can do the impossible. We prayed and prayed during those two weeks we waited for the results, but the test was negative yet again. We struggled to trust God while our grief and the pain were very present.
After we moved to Denver in June of 2018 and got settled into our new life and jobs, we began to discuss our options again. Colorado does not require infertility coverage, so we were looking at paying full fee out of pocket for further treatment. Given that IUI didn't work, our options were either in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or adoption. Both carried a similar cost, and we decided that we would rather use our resources to pursue adoption. We have both felt a strong desire to “care for the orphans” as commanded in James 1:27. We have both been adopted into God's family as His children through our faith in Jesus Christ and want our family to reflect God's family.
“Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - James 1:27
We took an 8 month break from this emotionally-complex process before moving on with the next step. We took the time to plug into a new church, establish friendships, and build community in our new city. When we were ready, in February of 2019, I researched the various adoption agencies in the greater Denver area. Though I knew a lot about Texas adoptions, I felt lost when it came to where to start in Colorado. Our pastor's wife put us in touch with another couple from our church who had adopted in Colorado twice and were in the process of fostering now. They graciously agreed to meet with us and walk us through their experiences and answer questions. The agency that they had recommended was called Hope's Promise . I was most drawn to this agency during my research, so we took this as confirmation from the Holy Spirit. Hope's Promise does an amazing job in caring for the birth mothers throughout pregnancy, through the adoption process, then offers free counseling for life. In March of 2019 we attended an informational meeting at the agency where we had an opportunity to ask questions, and in April 2019 we submitted our application. Two weeks later, in May 2019, we were formally accepted into the Infant Domestic Adoption Program ! We are SO excited and humbled to be on this new journey.
The process to adopt is difficult and extensive. There will be paperwork upon paperwork upon paperwork. We will be subjected to an intense and invasive home study that will take months to complete - all for the safety of the child that will one day be entrusted to us. Then we will wait, and wait, and wait until a birth mother chooses us to care for her child. In fact, the average wait time at Hope's Promise is 18-24 months, though it could be much shorter or longer. We take comfort in knowing that God is in charge even in the wait. We know this process is hard to understand, and yet we want to be as transparent and open about it as we can and invite you into our story. Click here to see where we are in the process.
This is the part where we humbly ask for your help. Adoption is very costly and we do not currently have the ability to fund it ourselves while being able to provide a home for our child. Our agency suggests setting aside $29,580 for total adoption costs. It is therefore our goal is to raise $29,580 in the next six months. In every effort to be 100% transparent, here is the agencies list of fees and what the money goes toward. We have put in $8,000 from our savings into the fund, and will continue to save our own money as we can. If you want to partner with us in this ministry of adoption monetarily, we would be forever grateful. All donations will go into a separate savings account and directly fund the adoption. To make it easy as possible, it was suggested to us that we start this GoFundMe page. We did a lot of research between the various crowdfunding websites – and settled on GoFundMe because they only take out a 3% charge from each transaction rather than a 5% transaction like most dedicated adoption crowdfunding sites. That being said, we welcome offline donations as well to make your money go farther. Any and every donation helps! We will update the status bar with every donation and provide frequent updates on where we are in the process over the next several months.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please understand that we do not want anyone to feel obligated to give. What we want most is to share our experience and to de-mystify the adoption process. We cannot do this without the support of our family and friends that make up our community. We love each of you deeply and we can’t wait to share the rest of this amazing journey ahead with you!
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40
Love,
Christian & Cari Goans
Organizer
Cari Goans
Organizer
Denver, CO