First and foremost I must say that we are completely depending on God to provide for this cost. We certainly don't have a money tree out back. I've talked to many adoptive families and read tons of adoption blogs and the recurring theme I have seen over and over again is that God provides. In His way, in His time. It will take work and effort and commitment on our part, all of which we are willing and ready to give, but in the end we cannot do it in our own flesh. I don't know how He will do it for us, but He has asked us to do this and we will obey. He is already proving faithful.
The costs associated with adoption cover a wide variety of things. When we say $30K, that encompasses all of it. There are agency fees, home study fees, and travel expenses which make up a large portion of the cost. But there are lots of "little" costs too. So far we have paid a $250 application fee to apply to adopt; a lump sum agency fee of around $2600 to start our home study and adoption process; for background checks (some states are free) in all the states we each have lived in since we were 18; FBI fingerprinting ($100 for both of us - $50 each); and required online training modules for parents adopting children from orphanages ($195). Up ahead in the process, we will be requesting re-issued official birth certificates (Steve's from Canada will be another $100, mine from Illinois will be around $26); we will be fingerprinted and processed for immigration; will get or update passports; will send our dossier (pronounced DOSS-ee-ay) to China; will pay immigration fees for our child; will get visas for our travel, purchase plane tickets to bring our baby home....the list goes on and on and everything has an associated cost!!
Many organizations exist to help adoptive families offset these expenses with grants. We hope and pray that we can obtain grants to cover a large portion of our expenses. However, almost all grants require the submission of a completed home study with application, and getting to the point of a completed home study requires ballpark $5500!! (We have found and applied for 2 grants that only require a home study in process.)
We hope to complete our home study in the next month or so, which will mean our next agency fee of $2600 is due. Knowing that this is imminent, has prompted our first efforts at fundraising.
Our first fundraiser, "Chicken for China" involved inviting everyone we know to eat at a specific Chick-fil-a on a specific day and the restaurant gave us 20% of the pre-tax dollars we brought in. It was a simple, easy fundraiser that was great fun and involved almost zero work on our part. We raised over $500 which astounded the owner and staff of the restaurant. We had an amazing turnout and lots of fun!!
We also just wrapped up selling tubs of cookie dough. We will have some extras when the tubs arrive in a couple weeks if anyone is still interested! We raised around $400 with this endeavor. We have also received some donations from some generous friends, but even after all this, we are needing about another $1000 for our next payment.
We are working on plans for a large yardsale and hope that you will consider donating anything you would like to get rid of that we could sell!!
I don't know how He will do it, but I know God will provide. An old friend of mine who has adopted twice from Ethiopia likes to say "God funds what He favors." We will work our tails off and He will make up the difference! The same hands that fed 5,000 men from five small loaves and two small fish will multiply our efforts. He may use grants, fundraising projects, or donations from you to transform a life from "orphan" to treasured member of our forever family!!!
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