Greg and Lisa's Adoption Fundraiser

Story

Hello and thank you for visiting our adoption fundraiser! We're excited to share our story with you, and regardless of whether you are able to donate, we appreciate your support and prayers as we navigate this journey! We would also be grateful if you could click the yellow "Share" button and spread the word! We married in 2014 and have always wanted to raise a family in a Christian home. We started trying for kids in 2019, and soon realized that it might take us a little longer than we were expecting. We pursued some fertility treatments but without success. Adoption was always something that we had in mind for growing our family down the road, but God has led us to pursue it earlier than we expected! In 2023 we started the adoption process and have made a lot of progress. We recently completed the first major milestone, our Wisconsin home study, which grants us approval to bring an adopted child into our home. We are working with one of the oldest adoption agencies in the United States, Gladney Center for Adoption located in Fort Worth, Texas. Now that we are home study-approved, Gladney will begin presenting our profile to expectant mothers who want to place their children for adoption. Adoption brings many challenges: emotional, administrative, and simply waiting. It also comes with financial hurdles. Estimates vary, but generally adoptions in the US can range from $40,000 to $75,000. This pays for agency staff, legal fees, expenses to support the mother during her pregnancy, and travel. Our total agency fees will come to about $60,000. While this is a large number, we feel very confident about working with Gladney for several reasons. Gladney is one of the oldest and most well established agencies in the United States. They have been in operation since 1887 and place hundreds of children each year. Gladney provides certainty on our total expenses. Other agencies advertise lower upfront costs, but a significant portion of adoptions don't finalize, for example when the birthmother changes her mind. In many cases the adoptive parents would lose the money that they had spent up to that point (agency fees, financial support during the pregnancy, legal fees, etc). With Gladney we pay a one time fee, and no matter how long our process takes or number of potential matches we work through we will never pay more money. Gladney places special emphasis on its community of adoptive and birth parents. We had the privilege of attending a full day training in Texas where we met with successful adoptive parents and several birth mothers. They were able to share their incredible stories, and also expressed their gratitude for the ongoing support of the Gladney community. We both feel incredibly blessed in so many ways, especially with our many family members and friends. If you can contribute financially in any amount we greatly appreciate it! Whether you donate or not, we also would ask for continued prayers as we work toward building our family! Some additional details: The suggested tip to GoFundMe is totally optional! Some people noticed that when they click to donate that GoFundMe adds an additional tip by default. You can set this to $0, and it is totally not required. GoFundMe already takes a small percentage from each donation to fund their service.