A great adventure

We have three biological children (Abi 16, Tia 14 and MJ 10) and a number of years ago, we felt the Lord begin to talk to us about adoption. This felt a little daunting given our age and stage in life (we thought we were done with babies and diapers!)

In early 2021 - in response to those words - we started working on everything that needs to be in place and this morning we went to court and our baby girl is now officially ours!

The ADOPTION journey

The diagram above shows the journey we’ve been on. By far the longest stage for us was “waiting for match”. Often times, there were adoption situations that were available, but we weren’t eligible for. For example, some situations asked that only non-religious families or families without biological children apply. After 16 months of waiting (and being rejected multiple times), we were finally matched with a birth mom in an incredible story full of twists and turns (that you can listen to below!)

And 6 months after bringing her home, today we went to court and our adoption is finalized - she’s ours forever!

Our adoption journey via podcast

We’ve told our adoption story on our podcast. From the genesis of the journey years ago, to dreams that we’ve had that started us on the process, to the ups and downs of stepping out in faith. Whether you are on your own adoptive journey or just need encouragement about walking with God, we think you’ll enjoy these episodes.

We couldn’t have done it without you!

We want to take a moment to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who've made it possible for us to adopt our daughter. Whether you have given, prayed for us, driven us to or from the airport, watched our kids or sent a note of encouragement, from the bottom of our hearts, we just want to say thank you!

We are overwhelmed, not with the birth of a new life, but by the depth of gratitude that we have to our community, both here and around the world. Thank you so much for investing in the Jones family. Thank you for helping us give this sweet little girl a sweet home to live in and we can't wait to share more of her with you.

We got home a few days ago from Utah where we flew over to adopt her. When we walked in our front door... we could barely move because of the gifts, surprises, boxes, furniture, clothing, food and diapers. Thank you for all of these gifts! We are blown away!

All of this is a testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of God and the kindness and genweosity of the body of Christ around the world. Thank you. We literally could not have done it without you. Thank you so very much. ❤️

The truth is adoption is expensive.

The typical cost of adoption in the US is somewhere between $60,000-$70,000. But that figure doesn’t include the real costs.

This journey has been a step of faith for our family. We have emptied our savings fund to get to this stage but we are still short significant amounts of money to complete the adoption process.

We believe that God makes provision for what he plans and we’d love to invite you to partner with us as we seek to finalize our adoption. But an important question we’ve asked is, “Where does all the money go?”

These are the big costs of adoption. Here’s a breakdown:

Matching & Placement Fees
These are the big fees that all agencies charge. The agency we work with cap their fees at $49,000. This money goes to the agency to pay for the living expenses of the brith moms, postpartum expenses, travel and case management fees.

Medical Fees
These are the estimated costs provided by the hospital for delivery of the baby. These fees must be paid before we can leave the hospital with the baby.

Travel Costs
We have to travel out of state in order to be present for the birth of the baby, but we also can not leave the state with child until all the legal paperwork has been signed and approved. Expect a 7-10 day stay out of state trip, so that’s flights, accommodation, rental car and food while away.

Legal Fees
That legal paperwork required to prove you have adopted a baby so you can return home? Well a lawyer has to draw those up and there’s court filing fees too!

But wait! There’s more!
Before you can even get to this stage, there's lots of "little" costs that add up that aren't reflected in this chart. For example, costs for the home study, your family profile, an adoption consultant, enrollment fees for each adoption agencies you sign on with, medical exams, background checks, post placement social work visits, etc.