Thanks for your support of our adoption journey. We would love for you to join us in praying that God would give us wisdom, patience and perseverance as we go through the process to adopt our children! We appreciate the many people walking this adoption journey with us in prayer! ~Jon & Bethany

Adoption Timeline

Our Adoption Timeline
{in God's timing, not our own}

2009:  Felt God calling us to care for orphans through adoption after losing our first baby due to miscarriage @ 10 weeks

2010:
-Gave birth to our first biological son in March; planned to start the adoption process around his 1st birthday
- Raised over $1000 for Adoption fund @ our Adoption Yard Sale in the summer

2011
1/2011: Ready to "officially" start the adoption process after preparing our hearts for years!
1/6: Started gathering documents (certified birth & marriage certificates)
1/11: Talked to a couple adoption agencies, began praying about which one to use
1/13: Celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary
1/14: Contacted Adoption Assistance Home Study agency & started gathering documents for home study
1/21: Finished all of our Medical exams for home study
1/31: Mailed application to adoption agency CCI

2/1: first interviews with our Home Study worker, almost all paperwork ready
2/2: Found out we wouldn't be able to adopt 2 children, as planned; new plan: adopt 1 boy under 2
2/19: Held Adoption Fundraising Open House, where the Lord provided over $650 for our adoption!
2/22: Final Home Study meeting with our Home Study worker @ our home
2/28: Mailed our completed Agency Agreement and $1000 to our Adoption Agency

3/1: Celebrated our son's 1st birthday! Working on gathering dossier documents
3/6: Found out that MOWA is cutting 90% of adoptions in Ethiopia, began PRAYING that God would hear the cry of the orphans in Ethiopia!
3/7: Jon talked with our director about the possibility of being a "pilot family" for a new program with our adoption agency in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
3/10: Homestudy Approved & Finalized! Copy sent to our agency
3/12: Decided to be a "pilot family" for the DRC program after much prayer; Paid $100 to have Home Study changed; Got dossier for DRC together (in 2 days) & sent to CCI (our director was leaving on 3/16 & wanted to take our dossier with her)
3/16- 4/5- our director went to Africa, first Ethiopia, then the Demoratic Republic of Congo with our dossier in her hands!

4/1: Our Adoption Fundraising shirts came in!
4/7: Got a bill for the first part of our attorney fees for 2 referrals from the DRC. Our director said we may have referrals within the next month!
4/18: Paid the first part of our Attorney fees for the DRC ($3200)
4/19: Sent off our I600A to USCIS along with $890

5/10: Found out from Lifesong that we're approved for Both Hands project & $10,000 interest-free loan through our church's adoption fund

6/7: Received Referral for an adorable 6 month old boy! Rejoicing & waiting for girl to pass her medical!
6/26: Found out we may lose our referral for baby boy. PRAYING!
6/30: Final Hand in Hand Matching Grant-  $5,590 donated + $5,000 matched= $10,590 total! Praise the Lord!


7/6: Lost our referral for our 6 month old boy
7/9: Our Both Hands Project
7/14: Got official referral for 8 month old girl, Leseli Joyce

8/1: Sent care package to our agency for our baby girl, Leseli
8/23: Got a call from our agency at 5:00pm that our baby girl, Leseli had died 4 days earlier
8/31: Received a referral for a 5 month old baby boy (Baby R)

9/12: Got a call from our agency telling us that Baby R is in the hospital with a serious case of malaria & a stomach bug
... Praying without ceasing for Baby R & orphans worldwide!
9/16: Call from our agency telling us that Baby R is OUT of the hospital! PRAISING THE LORD!

10/4: Got an email from a kind lady in TN who we've never met telling us she wanted to donate 10% of her Noonday collection sales to our adoption! (Which ended up being an $80 donation!) So humbled & praising the Lord by the kindness of this stranger!

11/3: Received Baby R's abandonment decree

2012
1/6: We got approval for baby R's birth certificate (which we need in order to start adoption court)
1/17: Got a REFERRAL for a BABY GIRL! She is 2 months old!
1/20: Sent our child-specific documents off to DC to be authenticated
1/27: got baby girl's abandonment decree!

2/4: Celebrated Baby R's 1st birthday
2/6: Started getting all our pre-travel shots
2/13: sent care packages to our kids (they will be hand-delivered in March by our agency)
2/22: Started first phase of ADOPTION COURT for Baby R! (Should take a week or so)
2/25: our Kids size adoption shirts came in! Praising the Lord for providing financially for our adoption through these shirts!

3/1-3/8: our agency was in DRC visiting all the children (but we found out later that they weren't able to see Baby R)
3/5: PASSED ADOPTION COURT for baby R!

5/14: Adoption Deed issued for baby R
5/15: Passed consent court for baby girl

6/1: PASSED ADOPTION COURT for baby girl!
6/14: Received I-600 approval in the mail for baby R

7/3: were told by our agency that our son is missing
7/12: Adoption Deed for baby girl

8/10: Booked a flight to DRC departing Aug. 26 to file I-600 in-country for baby girl so we can care for her & ensure she is safe.
8/24: 2 days before Jon's flight to DRC we find out that baby girl is now missing too.

Currently: both children are legally ours & both are missing. Please pray for them & for justice for each orphan in the DRC & worldwide.

final update: Broke ties with agency. Did not bring either child home, but did find out what really happened.

Lilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers