Hello dear friends and family,
Steps and I have a life update, though maybe not the one we once hoped we'd be making. After a three year journey marked by many challenges, including infertility, we've arrived at the next part of our story: we are holding hope. What does "holding hope" mean? It means we haven't arrived at the family we've dreamed of yet, but we're choosing to hold onto hope in the waiting, trusting that God is writing a story bigger than the one we would have written for ourselves.
For us, that looks like pursuing embryo donation, sometimes called embryo adoption. For those who haven't encountered this before: families who have completed their own fertility journeys and have remaining frozen embryos can choose to donate them to other hopeful parents. Those embryos are then transferred into the receiving mother's womb, giving them a chance at life, and giving families like ours the chance to carry and give birth to a child.
We've just confirmed with our Christian fertility doctor that Stephanie's womb is viable and safe for this process. If the Lord provides, one family's embryos would be transferred into her womb, giving us the chance to carry and bring new life into the wider Glover and Beck family. That open door comes with a real cost: close to $5,000 per embryo transfer between pre-testing, the transfer, and follow-up monitoring. This is our chance to bring another image bearer into the world. That cost is simply the medical cost of the transfer itself, not an agency or adoption fee.
Here's how we're inviting you journey with us:
- Pray with us, first and foremost, over this open door the Lord has highlighted for our family. Pray for the family on the other side of this adoption. Pray for God's wisdom, leading and discernment for us both.
- Help us connect. What we're really hoping for is to walk alongside a family who is praying for a family like ours: people of faith who want to see their embryos loved and raised in the love of the Lord. We'd love for that connection to happen organically, through our own community, rather than through a formal agency. If you know anyone the Lord might be nudging toward embryo adoption, we'd love to hear from you. If that's not how the Lord leads, we'll look into organizations like Snowflake Embryo Adoption, though that process can take longer and comes with an additional $10,000 in adoption costs.
- Support us financially, if it's on your heart. Please follow the link below. In many ways you are partnering with bigger plans the Lord has for us through unique spaces, giving a home to an image bearer that otherwise could be one of millions of frozen embryos in the world today.
That gift starts on someone else's side of the story first, and we don't take it lightly. These are families who've already walked their own long road, and at the embryonic level, they're holding what they know to be a microscopic life, one with real potential and a future. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27, ESV). We believe that truth holds even at this earliest, smallest stage: every embryo is already an image bearer, already known and loved by God. We're praying even now for the family on the other side of this, before we know who they are, for peace as they decide and for the chance to honor what they entrust to us.
That's the family we're now praying to find. There are more than a million frozen embryos in storage across the country right now, and every one represents a family's hope.
Whatever part you play, know it's in keeping with the heart behind this hope. We are reminded of the image of Jesus and the little children: "Let the little children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God... And he took them in his arms and blessed them" (Mark 10:14, 16, ESV). That's what we're asking the Lord to do here too: not just add to our family, but welcome a child the way Christ himself welcomed children, with open arms and a blessing.
Thank you for loving us well and for holding this hope alongside us. We'll keep you close as this story unfolds.
With hope and love,
Tim & Steps Glover
Resources on embryo adoption:
- Focus on the Family, "Adoption Basics: Embryos and Other Decisions": https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life/adoption-basics-embryos-and-other-decisions/
- The Gospel Coalition, "What Christians Should Know About Embryo Adoption": https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-christians-should-know-about-embryo-adoption/
- John Piper, "Should Pro-Lifers Embrace Embryo Adoption?": https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/should-pro-lifers-embrace-embryo-adoption
- Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program (Nightlight Christian Adoptions): https://nightlight.org/snowflakes-embryo-adoption-donation/
- National Embryo Donation Center: https://www.embryodonation.org
