We have our Homestudy draft!!!!!! THIS IS HUGE! Now we have to edit it and send it back to be finalized. Once that is done we send it to USCIS for approval get finger printed one more time (sigh) AND wait for our approval. Once approved we send all of this to our little boy's country!!! This may seem like we aren't that close BUT WE ARE!!
We recently added a thermometer to our blog to show everyone where we are financially and what we have paid/raised so far. I talked to some other adopting families and they said to be as transparent and detailed as possible so I am going to break down the cost and where we are. I know this may not interest some of you so hang with me, there is more to read at the bottom.
Cost Breakdown:
$8500 Facilitation Fee
$350 Apostille Fee (Part of this has been paid)
$135 Adopted Child Medical
$325 Visa
$500 Passport for Child
$800 Travel to America (Child)
$2500 Plan Tickets adults
$500 In country travel Fees
$4200 In Country Living/other plane tickets
If you are still reading, thank you! I did that for two reasons: we want to be completely open with where the funds we are trying to raise are going AND I want people who may be interested in adopting to have an idea of what the money side looks like. When you see plane tickets and living expenses please understand this is not a vacation that we are asking for help with, this is a rescue mission. Yes, we will probably enjoy exploring the country and culture of our son, however our purpose and our heart is all about him and bringing him home.
We have had a few successful fundraisers and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped us get this far. We have a few more things up our sleeves but will wait just a little while to launch those. For those of you who are curious Trivia Night raised....$842!!! We were thrilled! All glory to God! How incredibly he provides! It was such a fun night with some AMAZING people! I also had a stranger, who is now a friend, reach out to me and offer to fundraise for us until we leave. WOW! I was speechless! She runs gatheringfamily.org you should check it out!
The other day I was feeling really discouraged as we were waiting for our homestudy draft and received another "you need to hurry" email (there is nothing that makes you feel more helpless, trust me). As I did math over and over again I was overwhelmed, BUT God is awesome and he shows up! He shows up in having me teach my youth group a lesson on trusting him, a lesson on staying out of the boat and a lesson on him working things out for our good. I just laugh as I study to teach things things and realize they are for me as much as anyone. He shows up in complete strangers committing to help us raise money and making new friends, he shows up ALL THE TIME! How dare I doubt ever, but I do, I am sad to say, I do. When that happens I take a deep breath and remind myself to stay out of the boat and to trust harder. Whatever you are going through I just want to encourage you to stay strong and to keep climbing out of the boat and trying again, he will always be there to reach out when we start to sink. He has our best interest in mind always even when we don't understand.
Thank you for your support and encouragement as we are getting ever so close to meeting our little boy. Please pray that these mountains continue to move and that God continues to show us the way on this wild journey.
Oh and one more picture of our boy!
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