Read all about Lance and Amanda here.
To our family and friends (our village),
Thank you so much for your willingness to support us on this adoption journey! We have SO appreciated and felt all the prayers, well wishes, and encouragement! Both Lance and I have always been very family-oriented and became a part of each other’s family very early on in our relationship. After getting married we knew we wanted to wait a couple of years to get to know each other better and travel before having children, but constantly dreamed of the family we would have one day. That dream included biological and adopted children, we thought we would have biological kids first and then adopt. We were so excited for this plan and thought we had it all figured out!
Most of our friends and family already know our journey to becoming a family was not at all what we thought it would be. We tried for years to conceive on our own before accepting we were struggling with infertility and seeking help from a fertility specialist. At the fertility clinic, we learned that there was no reason they could find for the infertility with Lance or I and tried to conceive with medical interventions. Still, we had no luck. Heartbroken, we took some time to take a break from everything and try to listen to where God was trying to lead us. We felt a strong nudge to pursue adoption first. After having some difficult conversations, we made the decision to adopt and jumped head first into all things adoption! We learned SO much from our adoption agency about the process and about the birth families. In March of 2020, we had completed our home study, were licensed by the state, and began waiting for a birth mom/family to choose us!
Well, in true God-ly fashion, He had different plans for our family. In July of 2020, we learned that I was pregnant with our greatest little blessing, Declan. What a shock that was! It took some time to process this change and shift gears (once again) of what our family would look like. Declan is the absolute light of our lives and truly a gift from God. Throughout our infertility struggles and adoption process, we told ourselves that God had the most perfect baby waiting for us, and Declan is definitely perfect for our family! We don’t know why God had us go through the difficult season of infertility or start the process of adoption when he did, but we know his plan is much bigger than our understanding and MUCH better than what we could plan. That being said, we do not know what our family will look like moving forward or when we will add on to it, only God knows that. What we do know is that we definitely want more children and adoption is definitely a part of our story!
So here we are…again! Making our way through this adoption journey with a lot of guidance from God, help from our agency, and support from our family and friends. As you can imagine taking this path comes with a significant cost. If you wish to support us financially in our endeavor, we truly appreciate it! We totally respect your decision in this, whatever it is.
Our adoption agency Christian Family Care, a 501(c) (3) organization, supports birth families and adoptive families through the adoption process and accepts donations that may be tax-deductible as charitable donations on federal taxes and can be directed to our adoption. For those living in Arizona, you can take advantage of the Arizona Foster Care Tax Credit. This is not a tax donation but may be eligible for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $526 (single person) or $1051 (couples filing together) which can also be directed to our adoption activity.
Again, we want to thank you for your support through conversations, prayer, and donations. This journey takes a village and we couldn’t be more blessed and appreciative of this village God has placed in our lives! We are so excited to share this journey with you as it unfolds!
Love,
Lance, Amanda, Declan, Lucy Lue, & Fitz
Required IRS notice: No goods or services were provided in exchange for this gift.
QFCO Code: 10024
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