Our adoption: help us raise $20,000 in 20 Days!

 

October 1, 2015

Dear Family and Friends:

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter.  As many of you know, we have begun the journey of adding another child to our family through adoption.  God placed adoption on our hearts from the very beginning of our relationship when we knew Laura may not be able to conceive.  Furthermore, we have long resonated with the truth that God adopted us into His family and we want to adopt a child into ours.  God blessed us abundantly with James, but with Laura's high-risk pregnancy, our desire to adopt was confirmed.

We prayed for months about which adoption route to take.  Through the encouragement of friends, we have chosen to do a private closed adoption through an attorney in Florida.  We would be glad to discuss why we chose Florida over Colorado with anyone interested, but we want to keep this letter as brief as possible as to not bore anyone :).

 We need to raise $25,750 for our adoption.  We want to be transparent about where every dollar is going, so please see the attached financial breakdown.  We would love for you to partner with us financially in giving a child a home.  This letter marks the beginning of our fundraising campaign "$20,000 in 20 Days", which will hopefully raise the majority of our funds.  Our goal is to get 1,000 people to donate $20 a piece in 20 days (October 1-20)!!!  Here's how you can get involved:

 
1. Donate $20 online at www.youcaring.com/anotherlittlestrebeck or mail a check made out to C. Wesley and Laura Strebeck to 4431 O'Brien Drive Loveland, CO 80528.  Please write "adoption" in the memo line.  Feel like you could donate more than $20?  Consider donating $20 for each person in your household.

2. If you are on Facebook, please add your friends to our "$20,000 in 20 Days" event. If you do so, please contact them via phone, text, or Facebook messenger to point them to the event.  Also, feel free to forward our fundraising e-mail or talk to your friends in person (postcards available to hand out upon request).

3. PRAY PRAY PRAY! Please pray for the three of us, our future baby and his/her biological parents, and our adoption attorney.

4.  Raising a child takes a village!  We hope you will be part of that village when our baby arrives.

Again, thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  We would love to discuss any and all questions that you have via phone or in person.  Please feel free to reach out to us.

 

With love and gratitude,

Wes, Laura, and James Strebeck

 

 

Wes: 303-656-5512, w.strebeck@gmail.com

Laura: 970-749-6932, laura.strebeck@gmail.com


________________________________________________________________________

Adoption: Financial Breakdown

Attorney fees: $10,000

Biological mother support: $8,500

Home study: $2,000

Interstate Compact for Child Placement (ICPC) forms: $2,000

Plane tickets for Wes, Laura, & James to Florida when the baby is born: $1,000

Hotel for three weeks in Florida: $1,500

Rental car for three weeks in Florida: $750

Grand total: $25,750

***In the event that we fundraise over $25,750,
the overage will be put into a savings account for our adopted baby.***

A Twinkle In My Eye

So here is the crazy thing about adoption.  We are still (at least) a year or two from being matched with a baby.  It is likely that our baby has not even been conceived yet.  That means I think about a baby everyday that does not yet exist.

For now, sweet little baby, you are a twinkle in my eye.

PS- James keeps asking for a girl baby (and we are not specifying).  "Want girl baby, want girl baby, Mommy."

Kindness and Encouragement

Today I went to Wells Fargo to open a savings account for our adoption.  The banker was very kind and asked a lot about our journey.  Very little of our conversation was about the financial aspect of our adoption,  but he did ask how we planned to raise the money.  I told him about our upcoming $20,000 in 20 days campaign (we are shooting for September or October).  He asked me to let him know when we start the campaign and to give him a handout with our story on it.  He wants to share it at their staff meeting and ask the 20 bank employees to each donate $20.

I was floored.  And in tears.  His kindness encouraged me today and reminded me why we plan to do this campaign.  It is so tangible.

I love the photo below.  To me, each balloon symbolizes the encouragement of one person.  When those balloons all come together, there is great power and something great can really take flight!

Adoption Update

Hi friends.

Many of you have been so kind to ask for updates about our adoption.  I realize that it has been ages since I posted anything on the blog.

We are still on a wait list with Lutheran Family Services. We put ourselves on the wait list in December and the average wait to begin the active process is around a year, give or take.  Once we are part of the active process, we will do a six-month home study, create a profile, and then we will be part of a pool of 10-12 families that biologial mothers can choose from.  

God gave us great peace about this agency, so we are at ease with the wait...for the most part.  We know from a practical standpoint we are not ready (fundraising, paying off debt, moving into a different home).  In that regard, I am super thankful that this journey is slow.  But my heart aches for another child.  I yearn for breastfeeding (that may confuse some of you - I will post more info on this soon), skin to skin, and to watch James become a big brother.  As I celebrate along side many of my dear friends as they bring children into the world biologically, I wish we knew the time table for our adoption in the same way that my friends know the time table of their pregnancy.  I wish we had a "due date" (or a "due guess" as I like to call it).  But the Lord is preparing Wes and my hearts, and James' as well.  His timing is perfect, even when the control freak in me wishes he would jot his timeline down in my planner. 

Honestly, at this point, it still feels so surreal.  We both think that it will become more real when we begin fundraising in late summer/early fall.  We are planning on doing a campaign called "$20,000 in 20 days."  The goal is to get 1,000 people to donate $20 in the span of 20 days.  We will reach out to all of our contacts and we will also ask several of our close family and friends to reach out on our behalf.  A dear friend from Wildtree suggested that I also reach out to those in Wildtree that I have a friendship with to see if they will donate their commission from one party.

Want to know a secret? We both really do not like fundraising.  I raised money for missions trips for years and then we raised money for Wes' salary when he was on staff at Park Church.  We feel awkward entering that fundraising realm again.  But here is what we know:

- We feel confident that God has called us to private domestic infant adoption.

- The cost of that we will be around $23,000.

- We don't have a surplus of $23,000.

- With my student loans, it is not wise to take on more debt (an adoption loan).

- Thus, we must fundraise.

I know that people are excited to help us on this journey in many capacities, including financially.  Please pray that the Lord softens our heart to the process.

Recently, we were presented with another adoption option.  Our plan is to adopt in Colorado,  but a new friend has made us aware of a niche of babies in Flordia needing adopted.  In Colorado there is a wait for babies; in Florida, they are in need of more adoptive parents.  This may seem odd and the answer is multi-faceted.  In short, due to racial tension in Florida, it is more difficult to find a suitable placement for these precious babes.  Point of the story: adopting from Florida would likely be quicker.  However, we are staying on the slower Colorado track for now for the following reasons:

1. We have not fundraised yet.

2. We plan to move in with family or friends for 6-12 months starting this fall to pay off debt.

3. The Lord has not told us to reroute our plans.

If at some point the Lord makes clear to both of us to switch tracks and adopt from Florida through an attorney, we would pay Lutheran Family Services to complete our home study and then we would deal directly with an attorney in Florida (recommended by my friend).  Cost would be about the same.

So please pray that the Lord would give us both wisdom and discernment.  We aim to bring him glory and to do what is best for James and our future child.

We will keep you updated as our journey unfolds.

Love,

Wes and Laura

We were adopted

Ephesians 1:3-13

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Journey Begins

Many of you have asked for more details about our adoption.  We will have a lot of information to communicate regarding our growing family over the next couple of years, so we started this blog to keep everyone up to date.

First off, why adoption?  Wes and I first talked about adoption when we were dating.  Not knowing if I would be able to conceive, we planned to grow our family through adoption.  We agreed that even if I could conceive, we would have one and then adopt.  As most of you know, I had a high risk pregnancy with James.  To us, this was the Lord's confirmation that we would grow our family through adoption after James.

The big question was when to start the process, as it can be a lengthy one.  We prayed and prayed and waited for peace to move forward.  We did a lot of research on agencies before we moved forward with Lutheran Family Services.  This agency has three requirements: the couple must be married for two years or greater; the couple must have faith in God (no denomination requirements); and the couple must be okay with open adoption.

We are now #14 on a waiting list with LFS.  They do an average of 10-12 placements a year.  Generally about half of the waiting list moves forward with LFS when their number comes up.  Others have moved forward with another agency or have conceived.  Once our number comes up, we will began our home study.  Once we complete our home study, we will make a photo book that depicts our family and answers some standard questions.  These books are made available to the birth mothers help then pick a family for their baby.

Please pray for us as we attempt to wait patiently through this process.  We are so excited but have a long and tumultuous road ahead of us.  We will also spend 2015 raising $23,300.  You can view the cost break down here.  The cost breakdown is for $19,800.  We will also need to raise $2,000 in legal fees and $1,500 for the birth mother's care.  We will be raising money in multiple ways.  To start, we are set up to take direct donations on our YouCaring.com website.  Please click here or see the widget on main page of our blog.

Thanks so much for supporting us during this pivotal time.