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Some of you know that we have had a desire to adopt a child into our family. We are excited to announce that this dream of ours is closer to becoming a reality. We are currently working with ABBA Adoption in Benton, Arkansas. We have completed our file and are currently waiting for a referral. We will get “chosen” by a birth mom after she looks through our portfolio/photo album. If all goes as planned, we should have a baby by the end of the year.
The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for
them is astounding…there are over 147 million orphans worldwide. Hearing that number was just one of the many
reasons we felt called to do something and this verse kept coming to mind:
We have a sign in our home that reads "Faith is when you close your eyes and open your heart.” This has become our motto. We decided to open our hearts and home and become a foster family. We had no idea how much this was going to change our lives. Our family has included two sweet babies. We were blessed with the opportunity to take care of them and love them. We are extremely thankful for the time that we had with each of them. Both of these little ones were instrumental in getting our family to where we are now. We were reminded what unconditional love was, our hearts were opened to what God has planned next and because of these precious babies, our lives are better.
Like with everything else, being a foster family had its ‘ups and downs’. So while we experienced so much joy and happiness, we also went thru a great deal of pain and sorrow after losing both of them. After Baby J left, we realized that while we were grateful for the opportunity to foster, it was time for our family to take the next step. We were finally ready to head down the next path of this journey and bring a baby to our home, this time FOREVER.
We may never be able to explain why we want to adopt and this may never make sense to some of you. The financial burden of adding another child to an already large family doesn’t make much sense on paper but our hearts are saying otherwise. A lot of amazing things simply would not take place if risk wasn’t involved sometimes. The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is finding the finances to make this happen. Adding another child to our family is not only a blessing to our family, it is a blessing to the world. Please help us provide a forever home to a child that needs one.
Abba estimates our total cost for adoption fees, documents, attorney fees, travel costs, etc. to be $25,000—that’s certainly money we don’t have but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. We have also chosen to work with a local Christian organization (Lifesong) that supports adoptive families with the financial burden of adoption. Honestly, it is difficult (because of our pride) to make our needs known and ask for help, but we also know that we are blessed with an amazing network of family and friends that are extremely supportive. We appreciate your love and support and would like for you to consider helping us. There are two ways you can help:
1. Prayer—please pray God would tenderly care for the birth Mom and the baby that will be placed in our home. Also, pray for our patience, wisdom and for our hearts to be prepared.
2. Financial support—will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $20,000 in adoption expenses to bring our baby home? Every gift, large or small, helps.
If you are able to offer financial support, there are two ways to donate:
1. Send a check. Make a tax deductible check payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. Please write Blair #3249 in the memo section of the check & mail it in the enclosed envelope by Feb 26th (PO Box 40 Gridley IL 61744)
2. Online. Go to: Blair Adoption Donation #3249
Click on make a one-time donation, then adoption funding-family specific-followed by our ID #3249 and Blair
Lifesong is a trusted organization and 100% of all funds raised will do directly to our adoption fund.
Thank you for investing through prayer and finances. It will be an investment with an eternal return. We will keep you posted with updates and photos as this journey continues. Again, we thank you for your love and support. We appreciate that more than you know....
Sincerely,
Steve, Annetta, Elizabeth, Grace, Sam and Annie
Blair Adoption Donation #3249
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