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| Photo Credit: Misha Seger |
Dear Family and Friends,
It is with huge smiles that we send this letter to you! As many of you may already know, God has given us a desire to provide a “forever” family to a child through the process of adoption. We love adoption because God loves adoption! He has adopted us into His family, making us His children forever through Christ’s saving work (1 John 3:1). And for us, adoption is just one way that we can spread His love and reflect it to a birthmom and a child in need.
We’ve been walking down this path for a while and after a number of twists and turns, the Lord has led us to pursue adopting a baby (or twins/siblings) domestically. We’ve completed our homestudy and the next step is for us to apply to agencies and lawyers’ offices. Then, we will wait to be matched with a birthmom and hope to bring a new baby home within the next year (maybe as soon as this summer)!
Adoption is really exciting, but it’s also really expensive. Homestudy costs, legal fees, adoption agency fees (which include the cost for social workers to help the birthmom through this time), and travel expenses will likely total around $30,000. To date, we still need about $20,000-which sounds crazy, except that we have God who has a heart for the fatherless, and who often uses crazy ways to provide.
In fact, we’re writing to let you know about one way that God has just provided for us. We were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc., a non-profit private operating foundation. Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption. All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount. All donations are tax-deductible.
Here’s what that means: if you donate funds to Hand in Hand, with our name on the envelope,
- they will pass along those funds to help cover the costs of our adoption;
- they will send you a receipt for your tax-deductible contribution;
- plus they will match up to a total of $3,000 given between now and May 18
A couple clarifications: anything donated after May 18 (even if our name is on the envelope) will not go to us for our adoption but will go to the general fund of Hand in Hand. Second, any funds given before May 18, even after the $3000 match is reached, will go to our adoption expenses. We're praying that God uses this grant to help us with the rest of our needed funds.
So if you would like to give through this way at this time, your gift can be doubled and will also be tax deductible. You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website, www.handinhandadopt.org. If you have further questions about the Hand in Hand matching grant program please feel free to contact us (alreadyloveyou at gmail dot com). You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have. They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.
If you’re receiving this letter, we know that you’ve expressed a desire at some point along the way to support our adoption (whether financially, or through prayer, or through your personal encouragement). We don’t want you to feel obligated at all to give, but we wanted to make you aware of this opportunity. Thank you so much for wanting to be a part of the process of bringing our new baby home!
If you do desire to give, please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by May 18 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself).
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Josh & Katie Fenska
18318 Mimosa Court
Gardner, KS 66030
With grateful hearts,
Josh & Katie
(You can read more about the grant here.)
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