Sarah and I have begun our hopeful process of adopting a little girl from Russia to be Kyla’s sister and a part of our family. We have been thinking and praying for quite some time now and as of June 1, 2008 have officially begun our financial planning process. We have many money saving ideas and will be writing some grant applications as well as doing some creative fund raising.

The cost of international adoption is enormous so we are asking that you join us in our effort to share the love of Jesus by inviting an orphaned child into our home and life. If you are interested in supporting us financially please click on the donate button to the right and you will be directed to a secure PayPal page where you can enter whatever dollar amount you choose. We accept any donation amount from $1.00 to $20,000.00; however, a donation of $20,000.00 will require that you allow Sarah and I to take you out to Chipotle! If you desire a receipt or statement for tax savings purposes then please send an e-mail to tkeller@mvnu.edu so that we may make the appropriate arrangements.

<< UPDATE: January 26, 2010 >>

I confess. It is difficult reading back through our adoption updates and looking at the calendar. It has been some time since we officially decided to adopt. Patience is a difficult thing to maintain in a process that takes years. Part of our delay has been intentional. We wanted to be sure to invest time completely in Kyla while she was little. I know that we’ll be able to to fully invest in more than one child but timing was important for us. Now that Kyla is 2.5 years old (3 coming in June) we are more eager to complete the adoption process and welcome home a baby girl and sister for Kyla.

After much prayer and consideration we have essentially decided to not limit the location from where we adopt. We may adopt within the United States but we are also heavily looking into Haiti. With the understanding that there are now even more orphaned children from the earthquake we are hoping for an affordable cost and expedited time processing. Kyla prays daily for her future sister, or as she calls her, “stister.” Our PayPal donation system is still set-up and secure if you are interesting in contributing to the cost. The link is to the left.

Thank you for considering supporting us. Please pray for us and comment on this page including any helpful advice, links, resources, or experiencial knowledge.

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<< UPDATE: May 12.2009 >>

We continue to pursue, pray, and think about our adoption process. Since our most recent update some things have changed. The cost for adoption in Russia skyrocketed (at least through a few agencies). We have been considering initiating a domestic adoption first and then continuing with the much more expensive and time-intensive international adoption. A waiting period will allow us time to save more money especially when I transition from Oakwood Hall and have a different payment arrangement for greater saving.We’re staying home from a big vacation this summer in order to save as well. We’ll still be enjoying some days at the Columbus Zoo with Kyla using the pass that was gifted to us.

We have considered a number of different countries at this point including Columbia and Brazil. Two students at MVNU , Cody Snouffer and Ryan Walker, hosted a benefit concert called the Extended Melody Project to raise money for some projects at an orphanage in Brasil. We are going to be having some conversations about partnering with that orphanage.

As always, thank you for considering supporting us. Please pray for us and comment on this page including any helpful advice, links, resources, or experiencial knowledge.

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<< UPDATE: September 26.2008 >>

We would like to thank Erin Bowman for featuring our adoption process story in the MVNU student newspaper. We welcome any chance that we have to raise awareness of and support adoption. Since the summer time, the cost for adoption in Russia has increased DRAMATICALLY (35-40K). The wait period has increased resulting in a full 5-year process. We are now looking more intently on many other countries. Russia still could work out depending on how things continue to change. We are currently researching the countries of Haiti and Columbia. Kazahkstan, Ukraine, and Ethiopia are also options. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to consider our direction.

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<< UPDATE: September 11.2008 >>

We have been very encouraged by those of you who have been sharing excitement about our adoption. After continued research and some creative dreaming we are continuing to explore some unique and exciting ways to fund our adoption. Once our application for adoption is submitted and our home study is complete we will be pursuing a grant through Shaohannah’s Hope . We are still researching adoption agencies but are leaning toward Children’s Hope International . They have had much information to share with us.

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