Help us travel for Yoni's adoption

We first met Yoni (born Jayden Joseph) when he was only 19 days old.  He was a tiny little thing, trying to fight through the addiction to heroin that he was born with, and living in a world of bright lights and loud beeping sounds.  It still breaks our hearts to think about his first experiences in this world, but it is some solace to know that since we met him we have surrounded him with love and taught him that he is part of our family.

When he was about 8 months old, and we were moving to Michigan, we made the decision to start calling him by the name we will give him after adoption, Jonathan Jay (Yoni). Not many may know, but Jonathan is the name of Gabe's older brother, who died shortly after birth.  Jay is the middle name of Bethany's dad, Leon, who Yoni has had a strong connection with.

It's hard to believe that that little baby is now our 3 1/2 year old, and that the day of his adoption is finally set and approaching fast. As Yoni's legal case is still in New Mexico his adoption hearing is set for early April in Albuquerque, NM. We feel like it is incredibly important to be at the hearing, for Yoni to experience it, and for all of us to mark this official permanence in our family.

However, plane tickets are expensive, as you all know, so we are reaching out to friends and family to ask for help in paying for this trip. This feels a bit strange to both of us, but we feel like this trip is not an option or vacation for us, this is something we need to do as part of who our family is. When he is older, we want Yoni to know that we were there to mark this moment in his and our lives.