Greetings Friends & Family

As some of you may know, for the last two years Lenski has stepped away from doing full-time ministry in order to pursue a Masters degree at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. It’s been a long hard road and the end is in sight. He will be graduating in May with a Masters degree in Intercultural Ministries. We are very excited about what the future holds and he is already pursuing ministry leads that we hope will begin in May or June.

While this is exciting and no doubt will change our lives, it is not the most anticipated event about to happen to us. We have begun the process to adopt a child from Russia. Yes, Lenski’s name will finally make sense. It is because of this new development that we are writing.

Lenski and I have been dreaming of growing our family for a while now. We always knew that adoption would be part of that and now it seems that the time has come to start. In looking at adoption possibilities we were surprised to see how many options there were. After taking some time to pray about it, we feel very certain that Russia is the route we need to take.

With that goal ahead of us we are faced with numerous fees and expenses that naturally come in the adoption process. While we do have savings that we plan to use, the total cost for this adoption will be around $40,000. I may be good with money but that’s a little beyond my reach and our savings will not cover it. As we have spoken with friends who have adopted and the agency we are going through, both have told us that we should ask friends and family for help. It may seem like an unusual request but it’s no more unusual than the commercials you see on TV asking you to give to orphans in foreign countries. Instead of just helping them while they are somewhere else we are asking for your help to partner with us in changing their life permanently. There are many ways you can help. There is a list on the left side of this page to help you get started. This is a huge undertaking and we need help in so many ways. At the bottom of this post you will find our list of fees that we have and we would love for you to pray over them. If you would consider being part of this life-changing event or have any questions you’d like to ask please contact us via phone or e-mail. We look forward to hearing from you.

Lenski - lenski76@gmail.com / 616-821-2042

Tanya - savedfromwaste@yahoo.com / 616-821-2778

Fees

Due with Formal application - $3,900

30 days after Formal application submission (home study) - $1,685

During home study (pre-adoption education & psychological evaluation) - $230-$2,000

Fingerprinting & USCIS (immigration) - $805

During our dossier preparation (notary / authentication) - $60-$1,200

Upon submission of our dossier - $7,705

Visa's - $1,200-1,500

During our first trip to Russia (we have to take 2-3) - $1,500

Once we've accepted a referral (the referral of a particular child in the orphanage) - $15,570

During our second trip to Russia - $2,050 - $3,910

Travel expenses - unknown at this time but could be around $5,000 and up