After watching the movie we started to pray. If it were Sandy’s choice we would have signed up to adopt the next day, but I (Tyler) did not have peace about pursuing adoption right away. We went to God’s Word looking for wisdom, sought counsel from amazing spiritual mentors on how to proceed, and that God would direct our steps to be a voice for the unborn and their mama. We watched Unplanned in March and by August had signed up for the introductory class.

After going through the preliminary classes with an adoption service, we agreed to move forward with a domestic infant adoption. We knew going into this process that the cost for adoption was roughly $34,000.00 and that was not including attorney fees, out of state expenses, clearances, etc. I remember looking at Sandy and saying we had nowhere near $34k in the bank to pay for this adoption! “BUT God, You asked us to be obedient, so we are stepping out in complete faith.”

As we worked through the classes, training, and endless books we felt the Lord continuing to give us peace each step of the way. We began doing fundraisers, saving every penny we could, and sharing our journey with those in and out of our community. In doing so we had an overwhelming amount of support come from our family, friends, and our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. As each bill was due, the Lord continued to provide right down to the dollar. There were several times where Sandy and I looked at one another and just smiled because God just continued to provide right before our eyes. We call these our God stories, because they are 100% from Him and He gets all the glory.

One of these amazing partners was Mrs. Christy with Plead 4 The Privilege. We had heard about her ministry and how she was coming alongside families who are adopting and helping them raise the money they needed. We started our puzzle fundraiser and within 35 days we had a completed puzzle and raised over $13,000.00. This was unbelievable as it was the money needed to complete what we owed to our adoption agency and had additional funds ready to go towards what money would be owed upon future placement. Little did we know just how soon we would be placed.

I remember it like it was yesterday, we got a call from our case worker saying they had a birth mom from out of state who was expecting a little boy and was due in 3 weeks. The birth mom was working with an agency in her state and wanted to partner with ours to give the birth mom more families to choose from. We got this call on August the 3rd and we had till Thursday August 5th to give our decision on an out of state adoption. After prayer and fasting, we again came back to the Lord who had asked us to be obedient and to give our worries to Him. “Our hearts and hands are open to whatever You bring us to and through!” We said yes!

On August 8th, we were standing in the kitchen, when Sandy’s phone rang and it was our social worker. We had been chosen!! A wave of emotions overwhelmed us as we could not wrap our minds around what we were just told. We dropped to our knees and began praying. “Here we go, Lord. All for Your glory.” At that point we went into full out nesting mode and got ready to be parents again!

Less than 2 weeks later, we got the call our son had been born, and he will be discharged in 2 days. We got to meet birth mama and sit with her for over 5 hours that day, and we are forever changed. She is so strong and beautiful. And we praise her for choosing life for her son, in the midst of unimaginable circumstances. Holding our son for the first time that day, I remember feeling that proud feeling of being a dad again. I held that little boy and connected with him in that moment in a way I cannot explain. We praise God for the beauty in the brokenness. All of these emotions are still so hard to process and voice. That’s why all we can say is even in the pain and brokenness, God, You are good.

We remained away from home, out of state, for 2 weeks until the appropriate paperwork was signed and approved to bring our son home. We went through a very deep valley in those 2 weeks, and praise God for our village and the body of Christ surrounding us with prayer and financial support. God is faithful. So many friends sending us money for supper, coffee, gas, hotel expenses, groceries...it was humbling and powerful.

Additional costs were added to our total amount because of our adoption becoming an interstate adoption. We now owed almost $10,000 more. Because of everything our community had already done, we both agreed that we were not going to do anymore fundraising, or share about our incurring expenses. God knew the need and we were going to continue trusting. Mrs. Christy reached out to us in October, checking on us (which she did almost every week) and asked how we were doing financially. We shared with her our expenses, and she did a financial drive over Thanksgiving, Thanks+Giving=Change. She was able to raise a considerable amount from business owners who matched individual gifts. Mrs. Christy asked us for a current statement in December and had peace about a certain number. When we sent her our statement it was $21 lower than the number God had given her peace about. Wow!!!! Jehovah Jireh – God WILL provide. And He did. He does!

We are waiting for the court to assign a hearing date to finalize our adoption. We have an open adoption, which means we have a relationship with birth mama and it is beautiful. Praise God!

Mrs. Christy is a cornerstone in our adoption journey, and we thank God for her obedience to His calling, and coming alongside adoption families to help relieve the financial costs.