Hello friends and family!
Thank you so much for clicking the link to hear about our story and heart for adoption! Adoption has been on our hearts since our first year of marriage. We were driving down to Florida to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday and we began to dream about what we wanted our family to look like someday (first year of marriage though, we weren't in a rush!) While we had always been hopeful to have biological kids if able, we found ourselves eager and stirred by the idea of having a family with biological, adopted and foster kiddos. We were drawn to this unique picture of a family because of the love and grace we'd experienced through God's overwhelming kindness towards us. God is a loving father who sacrificed his own perfect son, Jesus, to bring us, strangers, into relationship with Him.
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God..." -Ephesians 2:19
We felt the Holy Spirit tug at our hearts and knew adoption would eventually become apart of our story. Here as 2021 is coming to a close we have completed our paperwork, homestudy visits, trainings, medical requirements, MORE PAPERWORK, and have finally gone "active" with our consulting firm. On average we will receive 2-5 cases a week of mothers all across the U.S. hoping to make an adoption plan. Our job is to read through their stories and decide who we would like to show our profile book to. At that point, this expecting mother receives a handful of books and chooses the family she most connects with. What we love about this process is that it gives these mothers OPTIONS. So many of them have hopes and dreams for these sweet children and deserve to make a choice that honors what is most important to them.
While our main focus with adoption all these years has been on helping a child in need, this process has actually given us hearts for these brave birth moms who are choosing life for their babies, despite the personal cost to them. This is not only an opportunity to welcome a baby into our family, but also to love and care for the birth mom throughout her pregnancy and hopefully form a lifelong relationship with her. Beyond that, we know the Lord has a lot to teach us in this process, we are not doing this to "save" a child, but to obey God's calling on our lives with the hope our family can grow up with different backgrounds, calling each other "brother" and "sister", and celebrating the differences. We are eager meet this little one the Lord lets us become a family to!
So now that you've heard a bit about our hearts behind adoption, we would love to invite you to become apart of this journey through your prayers, encouragement, and if the Lord leads you, financial investment. Adoption is incredibly expensive, especially when adopting from another state and caring for the mother's housing, counseling, and other basic needs. It is incredibly hard for us to ask for people's money, but we know we cannot do this alone and trust that God will move His people to provide for this birth mom and allow us to welcome this child into our lives.
We have also been blessed to receive TWO matching grants; one from Lifesong and another from We Care for Orphans for a total of $9,000. This means that once we've raised $9,000 on our own, these incredible organizations will MATCH that amount, doubling your efforts. We are humbled and grateful to be considered for this.
Friends and family, will you join us in prayer and donations as we care for the mother we match with and anticipate bringing our precious baby home?
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 “Clark 09864”, 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