by Ashley Bronander
I know, I know. I’ll start this the way I start every entry: I know it’s been a while. Sorry for not posting lately. There. That’s out of the way.
The main reason I wanted to start this blog/website, was to document our adoption journey. Make notes and updates about the processes we go through. What new things we’re waiting on. The latest updates. Etc.
We haven’t begun the actual processes yet, but that doesn’t mean our journey hasn’t begun. I feel like we’ve already learned so much and we haven’t even technically started. For example, I’ve learned how much we’re loved. How much we’re prayed for. How much people care about us. It’s been such a fun lesson to learn, too.
Our current journey (saving money) is well on it’s way. We’re up to $18,050 in our adoption fund. The amount we need is around $28,000. This means, we only need $9,950 in order to begin the home study and adoption process. Now, I never in my 32 years of living ever thought I’d utter the words, “We only need $9,950.” However, when we’ve got the amount we do in our adoption fund account, the remaining amount doesn’t seem so steep. We’re well above the halfway mark and hope to have the rest saved up by June.
I honestly don’t know how I’ll ever thank everyone who’s donated. Whether it be a lot or just dollars, every little bit helps and I’m so overwhelmed by the support we’ve received. We’ve gotten several donations from people we don’t even know! That seriously just blows my mind. “Thank you” seems so inadequate, but we really are so, so thankful. We definitely wouldn’t be able to do this without all of the support.
Let’s see… what else is new? Aaron and I have been working on getting healthier! This was one of the goals/tasks to work on while saving money. Every year at work, we get a biometrics screening done. They take our blood and run tests on all of our cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. Aaron and I both printed out last year’s results versus this years, and we are definitely improving on all categories and we’ve only been doing Keto for a few months. I’m excited to see how much better it’ll be next year. I’m proud of us! We’re excited for the weather to get nicer so we can find hiking trails around our area. If you know of any good trails in the Fort Worth area, let us know!
Our Smokey is still as cute and adorable as ever. I know some people won’t get this, but he’ll always be our first “child.” He’s a sweet little guy, even if his favorite past times include stealing socks and coming to a dead stop right in front of me when I’m not paying attention causing me to almost trip over him. Maybe he has a 6th sense about the adoption and he’s simply preparing me a little bit for motherhood. (Disclaimer: I know “raising” a dog is not as simple as raising a human!!)
I think this is all of the updates I have for now. Please continue to pray for us for the next several months (and longer, if you’d like!). We’re excited to see what’s next in our journey!
Adding a Bronander 