Meet YoSeb

Adoption? Not really anything we ever seriously considered. Until one day, after some postpartum health issues, we decided to give ourselves one year to think and pray about whether we would further grow our family. I reconnected with an old college friend who was pursuing international adoption. Seemingly coincidentally, I met other adoptive parents. We got very excited and began researching the possibility. “Lord, is this what you would have us to do?” We heard the call, got our answer, and here we are, in the process of adopting a baby boy from South Korea.

We are a community-focused family living outside of Austin, Texas. Kyle is an active husband and father, a missional church pastor and community leader. Erika is stay at home mom to our two girls, ministry partner, and private tutor. We have two daughters, Kylie, a bright and active first grader, and Kathryn, a spunky and caring three year old. With open arms, we are welcoming another into our family.

As you probably know, adoption can be costly. Between fees for our home study, adoption agency, paperwork, Korean foster care, and travel, our adoption will cost approximately $30,000.

Much sooner than expected, we received a referral for our child. Our son is named YoSeb, Korean for Joseph. He was born on August 6, 2010 in Incheon, South Korea. He is healthy and we cannot wait to see him for the first time!

With the referral coming so quickly, we have quite the challenge ahead of us: gather $19,000 in 30 days. We have been actively working this past week on getting the ball rolling here, including applying for several grants, an interest free loan, soliciting support from friends and family, and exploring fund raising opportunities including t-shirts, a garage sale, a raffle, and a movie showing. More details on these coming soon!

Here’s how you can help:
- Make a tax-deductible donation on YoSeb’s behalf to the Resonate Community Adoption Fund. Donations can be made via Google Checkout on our blog (kylesears.blogspot.com). Checks can be sent to:

Resonate Community Adoption Fund
PO Box 861
Hutto, TX 78634

- Share this letter on your Facebook page. We need your help in spreading the word about YoSeb and the funds needed to get him to his forever family!

- Come up with and execute your own fundraising idea. We have a friend hosting a garage sale, donating a mural, and many others have mentioned ideas! Use the gifts and talents that God has blessed you with to bless this baby!

Some may consider adoption to be the greatest gift someone could give to an orphan. We feel differently. Bringing an orphan into our home will bless us beyond measure. Our stories are already intertwined, with greater stories waiting to be told. The chapter of beginnings has thus far been full of hope and anticipation of the arrival of Joseph into our lives. We would love for you to become part of this story too.

Shift

It has been a while since we've updated the blog, mostly because there hasn't been that much to tell.  After our home study, everything just seemed to slow down.  Little hiccups here and there with bits of our application confirmed what we had heard:  adoption is a process of "hurry up...wait...hurry up...wait..."

About a month ago, an email from our agency went out, informing parents that the Korea program was in need of families.  At our position in the process, there was little to lose in making the switch.  Our perspective changed - perhaps all of these delays were a means by which God would connect us with the child he meant for us to have.  After reviewing all of the details about what to expect with Korea (which is much different than India), we decided to make the change.

Two weeks ago, we got a call from our agency.  Everything had been approved for us to enter the Korea program.  And, WE HAD A REFERRAL!  We had anticipated things would move quickly, but not that quickly!

We have a beautiful almost-7 month old boy waiting for us in Korea.  We hope to see him before Christmas.  We also have a substantial need to raise money for our next set of fees.  Right now we're about $10,000 short.

We'll have more information about our little baby boy and how you can help bring him home.  In the meantime, I'm prepping everything I need to make his room heroic.