Help us adopt our son’s genetic sibling.
After much prayer and coming to grips with our inability to conceive our own natural children, we were led by God to the blessing of adoption. In fact, it is through adoption that we enter into the family of God.
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:15-17
Now, just as we have been adopted in Christ, we in turn choose to act in the same spirit to grow our earthly family.
At the end of 2021, we adopted our son from Arizona as a newborn. We went through an agency and spent a good chunk of our life savings. We had an open adoption and remained in contact with our son’s birth mother. We had previously expressed to her that if she would find herself pregnant again and it is a difficult situation, that we would love for our son to have a sibling. Fast forward a year and a half, she contacts us and tells us that she is pregnant again and recalled what we had previously told her. To make a long story short, she wants us to adopt her child, however, instead of going through an agency, we decided to do a private adoption.
We consulted with lawyers and were told that we would be responsible for the birth mother's wellbeing throughout her pregnancy. This placed a great financial burden on our shoulders because the birth mother is currently houseless with no income. To compound the problem, we live in Hawaii which has a high cost of living and the expense of traveling to Arizona is very high. Financially supporting homes in both Hawaii and Arizona is financially draining, especially, for the upcoming eight month duration of the pregnancy.
As we sat down to calculate how much this adoption will cost from start to finish we realized it would cost $35,000+ not including our travel and lodging. If the Lord has placed it on your heart to contribute to our adoption, you have our greatest appreciation. If you are unable to contribute financially, we humbly ask for your prayers.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
May the Lord bless and keep you always,
The Sanchez Family
In less than a month our baby girl will be born! It has been a tough road and it is not over yet. Adoption costs continue to mount up. It has been quite difficult to raise the required funds. We still have not hit the half way mark, but it is understandable in this economy where everyone is being hit hard. We greatly appreciate all our family and friends who have donated financially and who continue to encourage us. We are thankful to Adopt Together for providing this space to crowdfund. And we are especially thankful to our birthmother for choosing us. In spite of all the difficulty we are pressing on and trusting God to see us through! It will all be worth it when we welcome baby girl into our family. To God be all the glory, honor, and praise! Amen!
Outside of Adopt Together and our ever continuing garage sales, we have begun to rent out our rattan peacock chairs. So far we have only had a single customer but we are optimistic that we will have more.
This week my mother-in-law had her surgery to excise her brain tumor. The surgery went smoothly. She spent five days in the hospital and is now recovering at home. My wife's sister flew in for the surgery and is staying in our home for the next several weeks. My mother-in-law's cousin flew in with her husband to assist during my mother-in-law's recovery as well. Needless to say we have a very full house, however, we are extremely blessed to be surrounded by family in our time of need. Please pray the the tumor biopsy come back negative for cancer.
Despite all the trials, my beautiful and strong wife and I are laying our hope in Christ and persevering. My wife found a YouTube video about a couple who raised money for their adoption by doing garage sales. She raised the idea to me and I was convinced. Garage sale it is! I hope you didn’t think we were just solely going to crowdsource. This is not in our nature. This is our adoption, and we are working day and night to raise money for it. We have looked around our home for things to sell. We have also solicited items from friends and family. Prayerfully, this will bring in much-needed funds.
After we arrived home from our trip to Phoenix, we all fell ill. My mother-in-law who lives with us got the worst of it. She went to the emergency room and tested positive for COVID. She was sent home with COVID medicine. A few days later her throat began to swell. This was very concerning because she already has breathing problems related to sleep apnea. She returned to the emergency room. The doctors performed a CT scan and diagnosed the swelled through as strep. Grimly, that was not the only thing that showed up on the CT scan. A tumor was discovered in her brain. We quickly acted to get her all the help needed, including a second opinion. Alas, the consensus is, that it must be removed. The operation is scheduled for the end of October.
When it rains it pours. Not only are we facing huge adoption paperwork, interviews, and costs; we must now face a brain tumor. This will be a difficult time for our household. I just got a new job with no time off built up so my wife will have to do double-duty to take care of both our son and her mother by herself. However, we have faith the Lord revealed this tumor for a reason--so that my mother-in-law will be around to enjoy her next grandchild. Please keep my mother-in-law and my wife both in your prayers. We are trusting in God that he will both help us afford this adoption and completely heal my mother-in-law.
