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Puzzle Pieces & Money DOUBLED

Aside Kirsten P.Leave a comment

We have been home study approved since the end of June. Once our home study was complete we began to see “cases” from our consultant company. Through July and August there were very few cases, we were able to take the time to look at our savings goals, review our preferences, and apply for a couple of grants that we had in our back pocket waiting for our completed home study.

We are now at the stage where we need around $10,000-$15,000 before we are able to present to expectant families. These fee will cover expectant mother expenses, legal fees, and agency fees.

The financial hurdle is one of the most known and common reasons families don’t pursue adoption. When we decided to pursue domestic adoption we didn’t have a timeline and we didn’t have a list of ways we could afford the astronomical costs. We decided that we were willing to sacrifice pieces of our budget in order to put more money towards the adoption.

We have been so blessed and grateful for all of the encouragement, support and prayer that we have received through this process already. One of the huge blessings has been our church. We were able to meet with an elder in the first couple of months to talk about the emotions, ethics, common struggles, and different options available to us. We were also able to apply for a grant through our church’s adoption fund. Last week on my birthday we finally receive word, after waiting for eight weeks, that we have receive a funds grant and also a matching grant. This means means that every donation given to our Lifesong fundraising page is double up to $4,000. This financial aid means we have jumped a large leap towards our goal to have $10,000-$15,000 ready to present to any case that we feel called to present to!

We have been so excited about this puzzle fundraiser! Because of our matching grant your donation in this fundraiser is DOUBLE!! So here is how this fundraiser works.

It works like this:

1. We have a 117 piece puzzle we’ve created to hang in Baby Pegram’s room.

2. Each piece is number 1-117. You choose your price! Puzzle piece 1 is $1 and piece 24 is $24. You get the picture. You can choose to buy 1, 2, 3, or 10! (There is no limit to how many you can buy). If your not sure about which pieces have been claimed shoot me a message.

3. For each piece you adopt, we will send you the piece or pieces and ask that you decorate your pieces with markers, pens, paint, whatever you choose. We want this baby to grow up knowing they have a community that is behind them supporting them who is unique as each of these puzzle pieces.

4. As we begin collecting pieces, we will start assembling the puzzle. Once it’s complete, we will display it in a double sided frame, so both sides can be viewed. It will hang in Baby Pegram’s room as a tangible reminder of all the people that helped make us a family.

5. If you’d like to purchase a puzzle piece, you can send your donation through our fundraising page for your donation to be doubled and count as a tax-deductible donation. Add a note with your name, your address (where to send the puzzle pieces) and your numbers (for the puzzle pieces). https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/…/pegram…/

Our goal with this Puzzle Fundraiser is to sell all 117 pieces which will raise $6,903 PLUS the $4,000 matching grant for a total of $10,903 towards our adoption!

This will make it so we can present to expectant families (which we hope will be the case by the end of the year). Once we are matched with a family we will be able to apply for grants and continue to save. We have been knee deep in paperwork….and it seems impossible some days thinking about finances, but God. I have said multiple times that the costs for this adoption can’t be accounted for in a spreadsheet, I can’t plan away these fees and costs.

We have disappointing days where we feel like we don’t see an end, and we have days filled with hope because we aren’t writing our story, this baby’s story, or their first family’s story, but He is and God has a plan! We are so excited for this fundraiser and thank you in advance for participating in our story and for your generosity!

We are thrilled to grow our family through the adoption process and we are overwhelmed by all the love and support we have had from many of you in this process. If you have questions about the fundraiser or the adoption process please give us a shout and we would love to talk to you about your questions!

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Orphan Care and the Community

Kirsten P.1 Comment

How caring for the orphan doesn’t have to mean adoption for every family.

I have known for a long time that my call to care for the orphan would include adoption. It was hard being 16 and wanting to adopt because I knew that I would have to wait… several years. When I turned 18 I stared exploring adoption as a single (and very young) woman. It was difficult to realize that the best course of action for both myself and a child would be to wait, wait until I was older and wait until I could offer a home, a mother, and a father.

What I learned at 18 was that I was in no way ready to adopt but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still care for the orphan. Orphan care can look like a lot of different things. It can look like welcoming a foster kid into your home, or it can be babysitting for a family with a foster child so they can have a break for a few hours. It can look like teaching a kid who grew up with out a present father how to change a tire or the oil and what biblical manhood looks like. It looks like inviting someone over for dinner whose mom has passed and showing them what family can look like. It can als looks like giving monthly to support a child who lives in another country. It can be supporting a families who live overseas and who are caring for orphans. Orphan care can be giving monetarily or helping fundraise for a family who is pursuing adoption.

The definition of an orphan is “one deprived of some protection or advantage” or “a child deprived by death of one or both parents” by the Merriam Webster dictionary. I think there is a reason why God commands us to care for the orphan rather than adopt the orphan. There are things that we are commanded to do in the bible that we cannot do as a single person, it requires the community of Christ to strive for the same thing together. I believe that this is how we should view adoption.

We believe that our number one purpose for living is to bring glory to God every day with our actions, our words, and our hearts. We can do this through marriage, through our family, through our work, and through ministry. We do not value orphan care above caring for the needy, seeking justice, caring for the widow, or spreading the gospel, but we do feel a strong calling that this is what God has for us. We believe that we will bring glory to God through this adoption and through discipling a child.

The whole purpose of this post is to explain our vision and to ask you to help us raise the funds for adoption. We don’t ask for your help in this way just because we need funds, we ask you to come along side us in this and fulfill your call to care for the orphan. You may not be in a season where you can adopt or you may not feel called to adoption but you know that you are called to care for the orphan. This is just one more way that you can advance God’s kingdom and bring glory to Him.

We are also going to ask that you pray for Dillon and I. What I mean by that is that you surround us in prayer over these next couple months and years. We have a God that commands angelic armies and we know that prayer is one the most powerful weapons against sin and brokenness. We are so excited to see how God will stir in the hearts of those around us and how the call to care for the orphan will grow in others. We are also excited to see how God will work in these coming month and want to thank you in advance for your love and generosity.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good … encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25