Thankful for All the Little Things

We know our heavenly Father had these and many other details all planned out for us.

Here are some thanksgiving highlights:

-He is healthy and growing. He is 5lbs 1oz.

-Met him Three years to the day from when we sent in our profile book

-We had no sicknesses when we were matched

-Van tires had a slow leak and tire place fixed the morning we left

-Adoption match fees came in about $1,000 less than expected so we used those for our first trip expenses

-Traveling mercies for February

-Nurses and doctors at hospital in NICU

-Health and protection for Baby

-Jan 19 Kate was sick but she recovered quickly before our match

-Aunt and Uncle helped watch E on first Friday there

-Church in Boise, we had several connections

-Ronald McDonald House: free to stay, 1 block from hospital

-Good weather in February so we could travel easily across the state

-the first month he shared a room with another baby who required the best nurses so Pilgrim was getting the best of the best care

-He is in the 50 percentile in growth

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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...

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...

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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