Birth and Match Update: Pilgrim Sumpter

Feb 8 2022

We are pleased to introduce our son Pilgrim Richard Gardner Sumpter. God is good. Pilgrim was born January 19 at 8:33pm. He was born at 27 weeks. He was 2lbs 4oz and 14inches. He is now at 30 weeks or 3 weeks from birth. He is doing very well for being a premie. He has regained his birth weight and is going strong.

We have been working with our adoption agency for a little over three years. We met our son on Feb 4. Our caseworker told us that we had submitted our profile books to the agency on that very same day three years ago. It has been a long journey.

We decided on the name Pilgrim because our son has a journey in front of him still. We have all been on a journey and we now get to share our journey together.

Our son's full name means a wandering noble gardener. To wander as a pilgrim around in God's world is a blessing. We don't always know where God is leading us but He is a good father and He has prepared the journey and the destination for us. Bunyan's great Christian work reveals that truth in a profound way.

We pray that our son is a strong noble man who loves to tend and guard God's world. Even now at 2lbs Pilgrim is busy tending the small plot in front of him that God has assigned him: sleeping and eating. Keep at it, little man.

We are very thankful for all the support and prayers we have received over the last three years: from the pig raffle to toy story 2 movie night to the gofundme page raising money for our adoption. Pilgrims never walk alone in God's kingdom.

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Explaining Adoption Costs

An adoption in Idaho can vary in cost depending on the type (foster, etc) but with the agency we are using, the average cost is about $21,000 to $24,000. These funds go to our agency to cover their important work in the process. Here are the costs for our current adoption with descriptions for each part. Registration Fee ($250): This covers the paperwork to sign up. Training ($500): This covers the two days of training(~12 hours) that we received at the agency in Boise. Home study ($600): We are assigned a local case worker who comes and inspects our home to ensure that everything is safe: baby proofed, smoke alarms, etc. The caseworker also helps us compile all the documents the agency needs to approve our home study. The paperwork is about the size of a small book (~100 pages). The caseworker reads through and checks everything for us. Infant Waiting list ($4000): This is for the waiting list and for help compiling our profile book. The profile book is a description of...

An overview of the process

The adoption process is a series of checks and balances to provide a safety net for adoptive families, birth families and adoptees. It can be long, but it's necessary. Application - we applied to the agency in the Summer and filled out a short questionnaire. Infant Training - the training course that the agency provides is fantastic and worth every penny. The caseworkers who run it are the main caseworkers in the program. We'll be working with them later on in the process. They covered all the basics and answered any questions. Home study - this is a massive compiling of paperwork regarding personal history, family history, medical health and financial status, residence safety and other necessary information to assess the adoptive family's preparedness. As of November, we're finishing this stage of the process. Profile - this book is a short, 20 page collection of pictures and information about us and our life. It can contain info about how we met and o...

God's Surprising Grace

“His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.” (Lam 3:22-23) God’s grace is constant and steady. Every day holds a lot of common and ordinary graces that everyone shares: breath, life, food, clothes, sleep, work, and laughter. And then some days God offers us a large dose and it reminds us of how surprising all his gifts are. We don’t own any of our days or any of our breathes. They are all gifts and they all come unbidden. God is superabundant and he just gives. Kate and I have been waiting and praying for our adoption for over three years. It was a long wait. Life was busy and God was very kind to us, providing us with friends to pray for us and also giving us the funds for the adoption itself. We were very thankful for those things. Very regularly we would have people ask about our adoption and tell us they were praying for us. Those quick conversations were encouraging little reminders from God. It was a whirlwind when God matched us with Pilgrim. We found out about the ba...

Sumpter Family Adoption

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