One of our favorite things about going public has been hearing other people's experiences with adoption. We've had birth moms reach out and share their stories of placing a child for adoption, we've had adoptive parents share their experiences and we've had adopted children share their stories - it's all been such a wonderful encouragement. Obviously we've been treasuring our story in our hearts for many months but as we've shared it with the world, the reward from hearing from others has been glorious!
We've just completed the paperwork required to sign on with another adoption agency. This will be our fifth agency, the idea being that the more agencies we are registered with, the more opportunity we have to be matched with a child. Each agency has their own requirements (and sometimes areas of speciality) and it's a time consuming process to gather all the paper work so we've been praying about who to apply with and felt led to move forward with this new agency.
In other news, Lifesong for Adoption notified us that we have been approved to use their fundraising tools. This means that U.S. taxpayers can now receive tax-deductible receipts for their donation to our adoption fund. It also means that U.S. taxpayers who work for an employer with a program that matches charitable donations can effectively double their donation! And finally, 100% of the donations given via Lifesong for Adoption go straight to our adoption fund - no credit card or bank fees deducted!
We'd love your prayers for a successful match with the right birth mom and for our fund raising efforts. We've had fun praying with our kids for this new child and the birth mom and we'd eagerly covet your prayers too.