Shipley Family Adoption

 We are Michael and Nicolette Shipley. We are an active duty military family who are pursuing domestic newborn adoption. We are so thankful you have visited our gofundme page. If you haven't had a chance to check out our adoption website, we'd love for you to visit that, too! You can learn more about our story and read our adoption updates. 

shipleyadoption.wordpress.com 

Here's a little bit of how we got here...
In April of 2021 we experienced an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured. Nicolette was rushed to emergency surgery and we began the long road of grief and recovery. As we walked through our grief we continued to talk about adoption. Maybe this is the time? Maybe this loss is directing us to our next step. We prayed and prayed. We sought wise counsel from those around us and in October and November of 2021 we really started to plan for adoption. We went to adoption info meetings and setup a meeting with a perspective agency to work with. The Lord was preparing our hearts.

In December 2021 we met with a fertility doctor to see if everything was functioning properly. And, come to find out, things aren’t as simple as they used to be. There’s a high probability that Nicolette's remaining Fallopian tube was damaged during the trauma of our ruptured ectopic and subsequent surgery. Or it's always had an issue and we just never knew until it was the only fallopian tube left. Which means that our only path to biological children involves lots of medical assistance with no guarantee of any of it actually working. We knew that rounds of hormones and shots was not the route for us. It was further confirmation of what the Lord had solidified in our hearts in the months leading up to this appointment. Adoption is the path for us.

We don't have all of the answers yet. We're still waiting on some test results. But, we know that no matter what those tests say, adoption is the right choice for us. This is something we've always desired to do. It's never been a last resort or a plan B. We are really excited to finally start this process and to share it with you! 

Here's are adoption 5Ws (who, what, when, where, why (and how))

Who: We are pursuing newborn adoption.

What (agency): We are planning to work with Faithful Adoption Consultants. They will be the liason between us and the agencies that potential biological moms have chosen to partner with.

When: We will go “active” when we’ve finished all of our paperwork (which takes about 3 months), completed our home study and have raised half of our financial goal. Most families within the FAC family are matched within 6-9 months of going active.

Where: We are pursuing domestic adoption, which means we will be adopting within the United States.

Why: We believe that God has asked each believer to take care of the widows and orphans in their affliction (James 1:27). Each person meets this need in the best way that they can. Whether that’s volunteering your time/vocational abilities, fostering, donating, adopting etc. We also believe that we have been graciously adopted into God’s family; chosen before time began to be grafted into his family tree (Ephesians 1:5). What a beautiful way for our family to live out the gospel by adopting a baby of our own!

How: We will be fundraising, applying for grants and saving in order to be able to fund this adoption. In total we will need to raise between $50,000 and $60,000. Yes, you read that correctly. Adoption is a complex process that involves healthcare costs, court costs, social worker fees, lawyer fees, travel expenses and so much more. Is it a big number? Absolutely. Is this still totally worth it? Absolutely. We will be raising this amount in phases. Our first phase goal is $15,000.