Mike and Paul Adopt

We are beyond excited to become parents to our future child. Both of us have had our own individual dreams of being a father, but we really started to see this dream evolve and take shape as we got more serious in our relationship. We've started sifting through the puzzle pieces of making that dream a reality and are closing in on the path forward. 

We know, without any doubt, that we will grow our family and we can see our home evolving around this new center of our lives. Even if we raise zero funds from additional outside support, we WILL make this happen.

This is something we've saved and prepared for our entire lives, but the simple fact of the matter is that adoption is very expensive. Not being ones to turn to others for support very often we typically find ourselves being very private and handling all hurdles (financial and otherwise) as a duo. But we're realizing now that we're going to need to turn to our people to help make this puzzle complete.

We turned to Paul's Aunt to try to gain some ideas for how to most effectively family/friend-raise and she gave us the idea of creating the puzzle. By turning to our friends and family for support they were truly helping us to put the puzzle together and make our dream come true. So for every $10 funded we'll write the name of the donor(s) on the back of a puzzle piece. Once the puzzle is complete we will have hit our goal. We'll frame this image in double sided glass so that the names and image will be visible. This puzzle will hang in the nursery and will be a part of our family for the rest of our child's life. To help tell the story of their entry into our family and all of the community that helped bring them home.

We explained to our fantastic photographer friends that we wanted an image that showed how excited we were to build this future together. With just a few snaps they captured the image that we will use as our puzzle and our memento of this journey:

Together we will fill those tiny empty shoes!

We're hoping to source some funds to help us with the cost. Beginning to end the whole process is likely to end up around $45,000. The remainder will come from what the two of us have saved for and likely some low/no interest loans.

All funds received will go directly to adoption expenses including:
-Agency Fees
-Legal Fees
-Marketing Fees
-Home Study Fees
-Background Checks/FBI Screenings
-Travel Expenses to and from the location of birth (we'll likely need to stay in state around 2 weeks post birth as well)
-Medical Expenses for baby and birth-mother

This is a gift that is impossible to put a price tag on as you'll be helping us to meet the child that will be in our/your lives forever. We understand that not everyone is in a position to give. (We haven't been for a while as we've been saving for this ourselves!) Any and all support throughout this process will mean everything to us. 

Other ways we could use support aside from financial:
-Share this cause and help us spread the word. People may be willing to help from outside of this network if they've had their lives touched by adoption in some way.
-Like our Facebook page  to grow our outreach efforts. 
-Encourage your network to like our page.
-Send us words of encouragement throughout. We are likely to have some tough days and setbacks along the way. You never know when a simple message may be exactly what we need.
-Good vibes/energy/prayer. We'll take it all right now!
-Any additional advice you may have for ways you've successfully raised funds in the past.

Thank you so much for reading our story and considering any donation of time/money to help us make this reality. We love you all so much.