Our Journey to Become a Family of Four

Millie Foster Centreville, Alabama

Hi! We're the Foster Family!

In April 2018, God moved our hearts toward adoption to start our family. Our daughter, Kiaora, was born in September of that same year. However, we didn't know at the time that she was meant to be ours...

We went through all the paperwork and waiting for approvals and then matched with a precious baby boy, named Ravi, in May 2019. We were so excited to finally be parents! But our sweet little one passed unexpectedly that summer before he could come home.

It was after several months of grieving and processing and paperwork that we were able to begin trying to match again. Then finally, in October 2019, we matched with a beautiful, tiny girl from Bihar, our Kiaora.

The pandemic kept us apart for over a year before we could finally meet her in November 2020. Then, we ended up living in Bihar with her until we were able to finalize her adoption and come home on January 6, 2021.

Life with Kiaora has been so exciting and fulfilling-- we so love being her parents!

Now, we are in the process of adopting her brother or sister. God has taught us so much about love, loss, and parenting a child with unique challenges as well as abilities in the past 5 years. We can't wait to do life with another precious little!

We have started a mySTORY page for crowdfunding to help with adoption expenses. We have secured matching grants which total $8,000 through Lifesong for Orphans, so any amount given to our adoption through this page will be doubled until our goal is reached!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

 

Love,

The Fosters -- Kevin, Millie, and Kiaora

STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction)*. Your donations will be decreased by this amount. You may also send a check payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo line please write “Foster 10363”, to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 9, Gridley, IL 61744.

Lifesong has been blessed with partners who underwrite all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.

  • In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong for Orphans. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
  • Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. Individual donations of $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.
  • *3.5% fee for donations given with an American Express card
Read more
Raised to date by 1 person
 of  $30,000
29 days left

My Story

Hi! We're the Foster Family!

In April 2018, God moved our hearts toward adoption to start our family. Our daughter, Kiaora, was born in September of that same year. However, we didn't know at the time that she was meant to be ours...

We went through all the paperwork and waiting for approvals and then matched with a precious baby boy, named Ravi, in May 2019. We were so excited to finally be parents! But our sweet little one passed unexpectedly that summer before he could come home.

It was after several months of grieving and processing and paperwork that we were able to begin trying to match again. Then finally, in October 2019, we matched with a beautiful, tiny girl from Bihar, our Kiaora.

The pandemic kept us apart for over a year before we could finally meet her in November 2020. Then, we ended up living in Bihar with her until we were able to finalize her adoption and come home on January 6, 2021.

Life with Kiaora has been so exciting and fulfilling-- we so love being her parents!

Now, we are in the process of adopting her brother or sister. God has taught us so much about love, loss, and parenting a child with unique challenges as well as abilities in the past 5 years. We can't wait to do life with another precious little!

We have started a mySTORY page for crowdfunding to help with adoption expenses. We have secured matching grants which total $8,000 through Lifesong for Orphans, so any amount given to our adoption through this page will be doubled until our goal is reached!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

 

Love,

The Fosters -- Kevin, Millie, and Kiaora

STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction)*. Your donations will be decreased by this amount. You may also send a check payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo line please write “Foster 10363”, to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 9, Gridley, IL 61744.

Lifesong has been blessed with partners who underwrite all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.

  • In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong for Orphans. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
  • Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. Individual donations of $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.
  • *3.5% fee for donations given with an American Express card
Read more

Celebration for a New Phase

September 19, 2023

Today, (just over a week from Kiaora’s 5th birthday), we received an unexpected gift: our US approval to adopt! We had thought it would take longer!

So as of today, our adoption process officially moves into the matching phase! This means our next process goal is to be connected to a child who is awaiting adoption. This is so exciting — we are getting so close to finding out who Kiaora’s little sister or brother is! 

The tough part of our good news today is that we are told it may take 9-12 months for us to be matched… this is just due to other families having already been waiting to be matched and our matching team’s following the list of special needs children may have for which we are approved to adopt with. 

We are SO thankful for this big news! We are praising God for His kindness to us, and asking that our wait to match won’t be as long as projected. But in the meantime, we are very grateful for this season of K-4, physical therapy, fundraising, outdoor adventures, grant applications, ASL classes, and equal parts joy and attitude! 

We cannot thank all of you enough for your ongoing support and prayers! The One who called us is faithful, and He will do it!

 

Love,

The Fosters

Read More

A Milestone

September 9, 2023

Whew! It has been a busy week!

Kevin had a birthday and we have been wide open with school things for Kiaora and planning / enacting fundraisers. Side note — the bake sale today was a great success! We are thankful. 

We were also pleasantly surprised to be notified this week of pretty major milestone met for the adoption: CARA approval! This means India has approved us to adopt, which is fantastic! 

We are still waiting on approval from the US, and then we will be able to enter the matching phase of the process. 

Although this adoption process has so far been kind of a rollercoaster from the start, we are praising God today for His faithfulness through every hiccup and emotional moment… for bringing us good news this week… and for the love and community of the body of Christ around us who genuinely want to see another child join our family and come to know true love. To Him be the glory! 

 

Grace and Peace,

The Fosters

Read More

Joy in the Waiting

August 13, 2023

Having finished our home study in July, we jumped on the final paperwork to get us registered with CARA (India’s central authority on adoption) and USCIS (USA’s citizenship and immigration department). We will need approval from both of these entities in order to adopt from India. We are anticipating the wait for both of these approvals to be a few months. 

In the meantime, we are trying to take advantage of the lack of paperwork to work hard on fundraising– (another bake sale and also a yard sale are coming soon!) 

We have been so busy planning and getting Kiaora ready to go back to school, in fact, that we had almost totally forgotten what joy we find in “nesting!” Admittedly, the adoption hasn’t felt real yet… but when we were given bunk beds by a precious family member this weekend, it began to sink in. And we think it definitely became more real for Kiaora. She just loves babies and kids so much, we could tell the thought of there being an empty space in her room where someone else would be made her so happy. She signed “sister” and immediately grabbed a baby doll to put in the bed!

We are so thankful for sweet moments like that in the chaos of everyday life and all the striving for the boxes to be checked in the new adoption. Thanks so much to everyone who is praying for and supporting our growing family! We know God is working in the wait!

 

Love, 

The Fosters

Read More

Comments

$2,000

Hidden

Jun 17, 2023