Our story begins almost 12 years ago in a small town in North Carolina. My sister set me up on blind date with her boyfriend's college roommate and to be honest I wasn't all that excited to meet this stranger. Then the most beautiful boy I had ever seen walked through the door, and I was a goner. Aaron Tant changed my life that night, because that was the night we started our forever.
Ever since Aaron and I began planning our future together more than a decade ago, we knew that adoption would one day be a part of that future. Over the past 10 years of marriage, God blessed us with 2 beautiful children, Elias who is 8 and Sophia who is 6. I am thankful beyond words for my children, but the pregnancies and labors took a toll on my body, so we made a decision to have my tubes tied. This was not a decision we came to lightly and one that we approached with much prayer and conversation, but in the end, we knew it was the right decision for our family, and especially for my body. Part of the reason we were at peace with our decision is because we knew that we wanted to grow our family through adoption-we still wanted more kids, just not through pregnancy.
It has been incredible to see adoption in real life through so many people we know. Many of our personal friends, including the pastor who married us, have inspired us with their adoption stories. We have watched as my sister and her husband adopted their first son out of foster care. Then later my parents adopted my youngest sister after she spent many years in the system. Adoption has become our normal to the point that our kids ask regularly when we are going to adopt. Our extended family has grown through adoption and now we believe it is our time.
About a year and a half ago we started the process to adopt through foster care. We attended all the classes in Louisville, we knew the child we wanted to adopt, and we had two pieces of paperwork left to turn in, when everything changed. The birth parent for this particular child came back into the picture and possible reunification began. It was also at this time that God called us to a church in Floyds Knobs, Indiana and we knew that we wanted to live in the community where we attended church. So we stopped the foster care process in Kentucky and moved to Indiana. But over the past couple of months, God has put adoption back on our hearts.
We want to be in a position for our answer to always be "yes" when it comes to adoption. Recently Aaron and I sat down with someone with Orphan Care Alliance, an amazing organization that provides support to families pursuing adoption and those who have already adopted, to discuss our options for pursuing adoption. After much prayer and conversation, we came to the conclusion that the right path to adoption for our core four is to pursue private adoption.
The first step in private adoption is the application and private home study. Our desire is to start this process as soon as possible, however we must pay the application fee, home study fee, and mileage up front. We are going to be going through America World Adoption Agency to get our home study completed and the first amount we need to raise is the $3000 to cover the upfront cost of the home study. There will be other costs as we continue down this path, but there are also many amazing programs out there like adoption reimbursement through Aaron's job, tax credits, and organizations like Lifeline and Show Hope that provide 0% interest loans and matching grants to help offset the cost of adoption, but we cannot apply for any of these assistance programs until our home study is completed. So as you can see, home study is our first step for many reasons.
So how can you be a part of our adoption journey? First, pray for us. Pray that the birth parents of our future child will know how amazingly brave they are to choose life and to choose adoption. Pray for our future child, whoever he or she might be, because we already love him or her. Pray for our core four as we go through the home study process and as we "hurry up and wait" until the right time we meet the child who God intends to join our family.
Second, we ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us as we start this journey towards adoption and donating using our YouCaring page. You can also participate in our fundraisers as they come along. We will be You get updates on our journey and information about upcoming fundraisers here or on our Facebook Page, The Tants Go Adopting
"A father of the fatherless and protector of the widows is God in his holy habitation." Psalm 68:5
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
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