Twelve years ago, the Lord brought a little girl into our family that has changed us forever.

Just days before our wedding in 2014, we received word that Josh's toddler cousin Esperanza needed a new home. Josh’s parents (her biological uncle and aunt) stepped forward, and we spent our honeymoon helping bring her home to their house. By 2016, we were able to move next-door to them as full-time missionaries—not only to serve Mexico for Christ, but also to support his parents as they raised her. We have been together through many seasons of grief and joy with Esperanza as part of the family.

As if losing her first parents weren't hard enough, Esperanza also lost her second set of parents, first Angelica in 2017 and then Jesus in 2021. Since then, Josh, Anne, and Jack have lived with her and become her new family. It hasn't always been easy, but we have been brought through the gritty, faithful work of healing by God's grace.

And now we are facing a hard deadline. Because Esperanza has been in legal limbo for so long, she has never been able to get a passport or cross the border to the US, which has cut her off from loved ones that are distant. In order to guarantee her right to travel, she must have a finalized Mexican adoption order before she turns sixteen (in 2028). 

We are awaiting a judge's final order to have legal custody. When it is signed, the door to full adoption and international freedom will be open, but getting through it requires many more steps in three main phases: 1) qualifying as adoptive parents, 2) filing and finishing the adoption case in Mexico, 3) filing and finishing the adoption recognition and visa permission in the US.

We can't do it alone! Each of those steps represents a substantial investment of time and money. We can give the time, but we need help with the money.

Our financial goals are twofold: to maintain steady monthly support so our income is stable and to raise an additional $27,000 above that to fund the gauntlet of legal fees, home studies, psychological evaluations, background checks, certified translations, and mandatory travel expenses that are before us.

If you are in a position to donate toward either of those goals, you are an answer to prayer for us! The adoption fund donations can be given here at Give Send Go. To support us monthly, you can give a tax deductible donation to Angel Forge Ministries, and the information to do that (as well as information about our ministry) is found here: angelforge.org  [Note: Adoption donations are not tax-deductible, but donations to the ministry are.]

Above all, we need our friends to stand in the gap with us in prayer. Money alone cannot untangle the bureaucracy ahead; we need God's intervention for speed and favor in the courts and clarity and stamina for us to do everything and do it right.

Thank you for standing with us, praying for us, and investing in not just Esperanza's future, but into the Kingdom of God, where she is already an irreplaceable part of His family— forever.

Love,

Josh, Anne, Esperanza, and Jack

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Here are some of the categories we need money for.

💰 Funds Will Go Toward

1. Lawyer Fees & Operational Advances 
2. Certified Translation
3. USCIS Government & Consular Processing Fees
4. Local Evaluations & State Costs 
5. Ciudad Juárez Consular Travel
6. Reliable Family Vehicle 
7. Total Campaign Target: $27,000 

Part of the travel cost is replacing our dying 2007 minivan with a newer, more reliable SUV-type car that can handle our back roads and many trips back and forth to the city.