October Adoption Updat
A lot has occurred within the last few months! We had some hiccups with a big miscommunication in late August/early September, but thankfully our adoption agent and social worker helped us figure things out with the South American adoption committee. So the GOOD NEWS is our dossier was APPROVED and FILED in September!! YAY! We are SO excited and so thankful!!
As I was reading through our specific prayer requests from my last blog post, I was just AMAZED at how the Lord has abundantly blessed our (and your) requests!!
Not gonna lie—this has not been an easy process! We’ve had MULTIPLE hiccups and roadblocks since we began. Almost like Satan the enemy was out to stop these plans, just like he’s tried to destroy other things in ours and others’ lives in the past few years. Spiritual warfare for sure!
But here’s the good part—literally for EVERY hiccup or roadblock that satan created, the Lord was right behind him with deliverance and a blessing and assurance reminding us that He wants these kids in our home to grow up with love and learning about Him, to grow His Kingdom, and reach Heaven one day! ❤️ We are deeply humbled that the Lord has called us to this and more surrendering to His purpose and faith to trust His plan!
We have received $10 to $2,000 donations from donors and we are deeply grateful for every. single. dollar. Every dollar matters to give these kids a new life and love! So many have given from sacrificial hearts and we are so, so humbled!
We have been awarded several grants within the last 3 months! I’ll share those below…
1) In August, we received a $2,000 grant from our adoption agency!
2) In August, we were awarded a $7,000 matching grant from LifeSong for Orphans! This means that when we raise $7,000 in funds then LifeSong will match the $7,000 for a total of $14,000!! This would cover the remainder of our immediate expenses (remainder of referral fee, extra child fee, and Tyler and Jess’ visas, etc)!!😁🙌HUGE answer to prayers!!! This grant was from direct, tax-deductible donation to LifeSong and also through Gobena Coffee fundraiser. 50% of everything purchased went towards our adoption! On top of that, LifeSong will match the other 50% towards the matching grant!! Now, that 50% becomes 100%, meaning ALL that you spend on this site will go towards our adoption (up to our grant amount of $7,000)! We love sharing about Fair-Trade businesses, plus supporting many countries around the world! Since we are adopting from South America, we love that several coffee varieties come from there! We loved the story of how Gobena Coffee began, and their mission to help orphans! You can check out their mission story here: https://my.gobena.org/about/gobena/
LifeSong for Orphans also had post-adoption grants for any special needs, therapies, etc. that the adopted children may need, so that is really good and we plan to apply for these grants if needed.
3) In September, a $10,000 grant from ShowHope!! This was the last grant we were waiting to hear from! This means we received grants from all the ones we applied for! We are so deeply grateful!
4) In October, a surprise memorial grant of $7,000—we were nominated by our adoption agency’s president to receive the Oliver Even memorial grant.
When we received word of this, I was bawling crying with disbelief, gratitude, and grief. I could barely read the words of Oliver’s story. Wow. What a deep gift of love to offer someone else during their family’s time of grief! I feel like a small part of the emotion of gratitude as when a parent feels like when their child received a donated organ and has a new chance to live because another child didn’t live. 😭❤️ “Tyler” and “Jess” will have a chance of a better life because of Oliver’s story and his family and friends’ financial sacrifices. It’s taken us a few days to process this selfless gift plus the subtle connections we have with this family. Please pray for this family especially as the holidays are coming up and the grief will be there in a new way for their family. 🙏❤️
God has abundantly blessed us in the financial portion of this adoption journey! It is just a reminder when God calls any of us to any ministry or a purpose or mission He wants us to do, then He will always provide for it!! 🙌❤️
We still have to verify with our adoption agent but it is looking like all our expenses will be covered provided all of the grants are awarded as promised! ❤️🙌🙏 Thank you, Lord!
We received an email from the president of our adoption agency:
Dear William and Ansley,
I wanted to let you know that we nominated you to receive a grant from another family.
From Gregory and Cheryl Even Family
We're making this donation in honor of our adopted son Oliver, who passed away this May following complications from heart surgery. Many friends and family donated to Oliver's Go Fund Me page so that another family could achieve their goal of adding to their family through adoption. Oliver was adopted in a sibling group with his sister Brianna, so we’re excited to hear you are adopting a brother/sister sibling group also. We would love to get a picture of your newly enlarged family so that we can share it with all the people who donated. Praying for God's support and wisdom as you adapt to having two more children in the home!
Donation $7,000
Read Oliver's story here:
OLIVER'S STORY: When Oliver was born, he survived open heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart and a constricted aorta. During the first four years of his life, he lived in four foster homes before he and his older sister came to live with our family in June of 2014. At that time he had multiple mental and physical health issues, which were slowly resolved over the following three years. We were blessed to adopt both Oliver and his sister, with the adoption being finalized in June of 2017.
Oliver was full of life and joy. His favorite movie was Free Willy and all its sequels, which he watched over and over again. At one point, he even wanted to become a marine biologist and work with orcas. His favorite music group was BTS and his favorite song was "Dynamite." He loved to dance to hip-hop music and played Just Dance with his sister on the X-Box. He earned a blue belt in Karate at Chozen Martial Arts Academy, and always kept the classes very lively. He was delighted to have nerf wars with his older brother and his brother's friends. He also enjoyed splashing with his friends in the creek near our house.
Oliver was extremely curious and very bright. He did internet research and found arcane unless facts. For example, when we visited Hawaii, he let us know that more people died of falling coconuts than from shark attacks. He was a star pupil in Sunday School and always knew all the answers. He loved STEM and attended a STEM summer camp several years in a row. He had a phenomenal memory for actors and movies and could even tell us about movies he hadn't yet seen.
Oliver loved food and during COVID, he always wanted to know the meal plan for the day. Even if he had just eaten, he wanted to know what was for the next meal. He was an early riser on weekends and would wake up his sister long before she wanted to get up. He didn't like thunderstorms and would sneak into his sister's room to sleep next to her. His socks never matched because he would lose one of his socks somewhere in the house. Oliver always said hello when someone came into a room or came to check on how you were doing. Recently, Oliver shared that he wanted to become a teacher. Since school was very difficult for him because of his ADHD, he felt he could help other children who struggle in school. Oliver went to Children's Hospital on May 5th to put in a stent to enlarge the aorta, where it was constricted. Unfortunately, there were complications and Oliver went to be with Jesus on May 6, 2021. Although his life was short, he impacted so many people with his sense of humor and joy for life.
To say we are beyond grateful and overwhelmed with gratitude at how the Lord and many others, including a grieving family across the country, have shown up for our kiddos is an understatement!
The latest quick update on our case from our adoption agent is that the South American adoption committee is waiting on one more updated document to be able to issue the official referral, but it’s coming!! So we wait, and pray, and wait some more. :) We are trusting God’s perfect timing for all of us in this journey!
