This summer we decided to start the process of adopting a baby! We always talked about adopting a kid later on in life when our kids were around middle school aged but we decided to up the timeline. We are so excited to become parents to a little one who needs the love and care we can provide.

Soon we will be posting more details about fundraising soon and I (Jourdan) plan on blogging about the experience. I've noticed there aren't many African Americans who 1. Talk about infertility issues and 2. Talk about adoption at all. For some reason, adoption within the black community is so hush-hush which is so sad because there are more African American children that need homes than any other ethnicity.

• "What are you looking for?"
• We want to adopt a healthy, African American child (preferably in the United States) between newborn and 1 years old. We're open to both genders and twins!'

• "When will you get the baby?"
• We're in the very early stages of the process. We're still looking into agencies and attorneys but need to get the money together for all of the fees associated. There are a lot of fees haha! We are hoping to have a baby in the house by the end of 2018 [Fingers crossed] 

• "Who's baby is it?"
• We don't know yet. If we go through an agency they will show our adoption profile to expectant or current mothers and she will decide if she wants to meet us to talk about placing the child(ren). If we are approached by a mother who would like to place her child(ren) directly we would discuss it. We would like to avoid going through an agency if possible but we will gather the money towards it just in case. If we are able to do the adoption privately with just an attorney the additional funds with go towards anything the child(ren) may need.

• "How much is it?"
• Private adoption with an attorney is around $5-$10k
• Adoption through an agency is around $30k
• We have to pay for things like background checks, criminal checks, fingerprinting, parenting classes, baby proofing, child abuse and neglect clearances, medical records/clearance letters from our doctor to prove we're in a physical & mental condition fit to raise a child and a ton of other things. 😓  

• "Why don't you just have your own baby?"
• Long story short. After 4 doctors, spending who knows what on co-pays, tests, exams, ultrasounds, countless vials of blood and many many tears later we were told that natural conception is close to impossible and we will have to do IVF in order to have our own genetic child.  As many of you know we moved to the Orlando area from Houston in November 2015, left the biggest medical center in the US and moved to an area with about 5 reproductive specialists. Since they monopolize the market they can charge whatever they want and waitlists to get in for consultations and appointments are usually months out. (An appointment just to talk to the doctor runs $250-$350 a pop) So between that and the fact that there is only about a 30% change the procedure will work we don't want to risk the money here, we would rather do it at a facility in Houston where there are more options. IVF is al a very invasive, mentally and physically taxing thing to do and I need to be somewhere where I have support. If the doctors decide one day to pull me into surgery for the egg retrieval and Solomon is stuck in a meeting I need to be able to call a family member to come get me. (Yes, this is still the short version) So we will adopt now and try IVF in a few years when we're back in Houston.

We will keep you guys updated on this journey through here and most likely YouTube videos as well. Thank you to all the friends and family who are so supportive of us making the effort to change a child's life. If you or anyone you know anyone planning to place your child for adoption reach out to us.