It’s been a long while since I’ve posted!  Lots has happened!  I’m back in VA with baby boy Aspen and I’m daily trying to quell the sibling rivalry, “Can I hold him next?  I only got 2 minutes and he held him for 5 minutes!  Why can’t I walk and hold him?  I want to give him the bottle!  Why can’t I hold him now? Let me burp him!”

Thankfully these are the arguments we have!  Everyone is smitten and he is a certain celebrity in this home!

We are so joyful and thankful he is here!  It’s been a long road… and it isn’t quite over!  Just tonight I posted an update to our GoFundMe page.  I’ve copied it here below as well.

Aspen is home and the adoption is well on it’s way to being finalized! 

Did you know that usually adoptions aren’t completely finalized until the baby is about 6 months of age? We still have an upcoming court date to appoint us as his legal guardians and not his temporary gardians. After that we then have three more social work visits to make sure we are caring for Aspen as we should and as is appropriate. That he is eating, gaining weight, has his doctor’s appointments, etc. So even though he is home with us and WELL loved by his adoptive family, there are still many more costs to come. 

While I was in California we had MANY legal issues and our lawyers had to put in many extra hours. We blew through the retainer fee for our VA lawyer that we had already paid and had another $2000 to pay this month. And she still has more work to do on our behalf. She even gave us a $1500 discount! We haven’t yet received the bill from the CA lawyer. 

Also, I was in California much longer than we had anticipated. During that time Brian didn’t work and neither did I, so an entire month with no income. That alone is about $3000 when we scrimp as much as possible. At this point we haven’t used any of the adoption donations for income loss, nor do we expect that. 

About a month ago I upped our Go Fund Me by $5000 because we could see things brewing even then and we knew a storm was coming. But God is greater than the storm and Jesus calms the waves! 

God has worked miracles in this adoption. We know God has this little one for our family and we are so honored and blessed to call him a Mintz! God made it abundantly clear to us that he wanted us to walk this path and we know and trust that God always provides. Even though we don’t have the funds to complete this adoption, we know that he will make a way. 

Thank you so much for walking this road with us! Aspen is home, but the adoption journey isn’t quite over yet. There were many bumps, but we don’t expect any more… but do we ever expect bumps in the road of life? I guess we should! But we have stories and stories of how God has worked in miraculous ways… ways we never could have anticipated! Ask us and we will be happy to tell all… but it will take a few days!!!!! 

All Photos in this post are taken by Bellani Art Photography . Thank you friends!