QUICK LINKS:

Our Latest Update!

Adoption Fundraising Page (To make a tax deductible donation)

Numbers for our Daughter (to purchase a number)

Adoption Updates Newsletter (To be the first to receive and updates of our journey)

Englerth Family Adoption

Our Newest Update: We are matched! (Read more here)

UPDATE:
We are a little over a year into our journey so far and for now, we wait. We are officially registered in Bulgaria and are waiting for a referral to be sent to us. It’s impossible to put a timeline on this part as there are so many factors. We could get matched in as little as a month or we could be waiting a year or longer. We are currently working to bulid our savings so we are prepared to pay our balance as soon as we are matched.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

We want to share some very exciting news: we will be adopting a child from Bulgaria! We’re sure that you will have some questions. We hope to answer several of them right here. If you have any others, please ask!

Why are we adopting? This is not a sudden decision. While we are finished having biological children, we have been discussing adoption since early in our marriage and very seriously for several months now. We feel after much prayer and petition that this is what God is calling us to. We have put a lot of thought and research into this decision, and now we ask for your support.

Why Bulgaria? We have discussed several different countries, as well as domestic adoption, but feel that Bulgaria is the right choice for us. We ultimately chose this country because God. I know, that seems silly. But we went into this with our own ideas of what we were going to do and were quickly reminded that this is not our idea. This is God’s idea. God closed doors on some countries and provided wisdom through his word and through the help of adoption counselors. After we decided on Bulgaria, we both felt such peace about our decision, and know it’s where our child is. We have given much thought to the fact that we’ll become a multicultural family. We’ve already decided that we’d like to preserve our child’s heritage as much as we can, and we will celebrate his/her Bulgarian culture as he/she grows. We hope you look forward to learning about it, too!

How did you choose your agency? We chose our adoption agency (All God’s Children International) after meeting with quite a few because we got a feeling after our first informational meeting with them that this is where God wants us. We continued to be affirmed in this decision by the love and care and guidance offered by their team.

How do the Englerth kids feel about this? I asked them to give me their thoughts today and this is what they said:
Jackson: “I am excited because I get to have another sibling to love and pray with and I’m excited to have lots of fun with them!”
Sawyer: “I am excited because if we have another brother or sister, I have someone else to play with!”
Isabel: “I will count and sing and I will hold him/her in my hands.” (Then she started singing “we won’t be quiet...we shout our your praise!)

How does the process work? The adoption process will take time. Right now we are completing approved by our agency and moving forward with orientation as well as preparing to start working on our homestudy. We will be meeting with a social worker who will complete a report on our family. After the homestudy is complete, our agency will send the package (called a dossier) to Bulgaria. After the dossier is sent to Bulgaria, we will wait to receive our referral, which will include information about our child and a photo. This part can take time and we will be praying fervently for our child in the meantime. After we’ve been matched, we’ll travel to Bulgaria to meet our child. The first trip is a bonding trip and will last 5-7 days. The second trip will be about 3-4 months later and last about 2 weeks. The timeline of the adoption process can always change, due to unforeseen circumstances in our country or in Bulgaria.

We know this news may come as a shock to some, but please know this is something our family has been praying for wisdom over for quite some time. We believe God is calling us to this and his ways are never wrong. We appreciate your support and understanding along the way, and we promise we’ll keep you updated!

Sign up for the newsletter below for updates or check back here for new posts!

How you can help

The biggest help you can be to us right now is by praying. Pray for wisdom for us through this process and for protection over our biological kids. Pray for God to provide all the funds we need and to allow the paperwork to get done in a timely fashion.

As far as fundraising goes, we are selling cheesecakes to our friends and family. I am so sorry to tease you with this as I am unable to make this a public fundraiser due to me being human and I am only capable of baking so many at a time.

If you'd like to donate directly, we do have a crowdfunding site that is open and available if you feel so called. This is a way to make a fully tax deductible donation! We are praying that God provides in ways only He can and we won't even have to rely on fundraising. We know that He is able!