April 2025: We are so excited to announce that in one month we will be on a plane heading to Eastern Europe to meet our THREE BOYS. We will meet them May 7th and spend about 6-7 weeks in-country with them before we all head home as a family of five!
Our boys are 6, 7, and 8 years old. There are many details that we have to keep private for the time being (such as their names and the country they live in). They do not know they are being adopted yet, but they will be told in a few weeks, and at that time they will be given a book we made to help explain who we are and their new home.
These brothers are the three siblings that we have been specifically pursuing since our most recent post in October. We moved in early December and we feel so blessed and settled in our new home. The house, neighborhood, and friends in Park Circle have been exactly what we were looking for. We have already felt so provided for, and the delivery drivers are well-acquainted with our home thanks to the generosity of our village.
This has been an incredible journey for the past 2+ years. We aren’t able to succinctly describe all God has done as He has led us, directed our path, opened doors, and blessed us beyond what we could ask or imagine.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Our journey really only begins in May. We have received so much love, help, and encouragement from family, close friends, and even complete strangers. We know that we will continue to lean on others as we embark on this adventure.
We hope to one day spend time remembering and sharing more details of this 2+ year journey. Our greatest hope is that our lives and the lives of our children would point others to the hope we have in Christ. He who was faithful then is still faithful now and forever.
Give us this day our daily bread. Amen!
– Reese & Brittany
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Original Post, April 2023:
We have had hearts for adoption long before we met.
We prayed for adoption and even began saving for adoption when we were engaged and preparing for marriage. When Brittany was in occupational therapy school, she completed her capstone project with the Medical University of South Carolina’s International Adoption Clinic, creating resources for adoptive parents. During this time, we began meeting with Lifeline Children’s Services and officially started our own adoption journey. We both felt that God was calling us to make adoption our Plan A for how to begin our family. When discussing country options with Lifeline, they told us about the North Macedonia program they were launching. They needed families who were flexible, open to a wide range of possibilities, and willing to enter a program with fewer certainties. They are the only US agency approved for adoption from North Macedonia, and we became one of the few families in this program.
We are hoping to adopt one child or a sibling set of two children, between the ages of 0 and 6 years, with mild or moderate special needs.
The estimated cost for our international adoption ranges from $44,000 for one child to $70,000 for two children. This includes foreign program fees, agency fees, travel expenses, visas, etc. We are blessed to have been awarded a matching grant of $5,600, which will match donations on this platform up to that amount.
We don’t intend to go through this alone, and we are asking for prayer, support, encouragement, and counsel, especially from our close friends and family. We are also asking for financial gifts. We know that there are many ways that our friends and family (and even strangers!) can join us as we communicate to our child(ren) that they are loved and cared for. We are grateful for all of the ways you may support and care for us and our child(ren) on the journey ahead. They will no longer be orphans when they are adopted into our family, just as we have received adoption into God’s family through Jesus’s death and resurrection. We believe that our child(ren) are on the other side of the world even at this moment, and we pray for them and those caring for them until they make their way to us. Please join us in whatever capacity you feel called, knowing that we are deeply grateful for your support and friendship.
With love,
Reese and Brittany
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7
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 “Randall 10886”, 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
