So Much Can Change in a Year

It's incredible how much can change in a year. I think back to this time of year last year, and I am amazed. This time last year I was seeing four different doctors for three different reasons. How our family would grow was quite uncertain. Adoption was in the back of my mind, but didn't seem like a possibility for the near future. My how quickly things can change. Especially when God has a plan!

The fall season is here once again. This year we are waiting for approval from the US to adopt and then we will send our request (and lots of paperwork) to Uganda. Our family will soon be growing! The only doctors visits any of us have had is to ensure that we are in good health and that we will be able to parent an adopted child.  What a difference a year can make. 

A lot of people have been asking for updates on our adoption. I just love that so many are interested in our adoption journey and how everything is going. It means so much to us that people are interested! Things are moving along. Sometimes it seems slow, but progress is being made!  

John and I had more fingerprints taken, this time in Denver. Don't ask me why we needed more fingerprints done and why we had to go to Denver this time. It is somewhat of a joke in international adoption. It's pretty much the exact same thing we had to do for the homestudy, just in Denver and much much more expensive! Oh well, just another hoop to jump through I guess.

Currently we are working on preparing our dossier. The dossier is a a whole bunch of official papers that we send to the Ugandan government. It includes copies of our homestudy, birth certificates, our marriage license, passports, letters from our doctors, letters of reference, proof of employment, photos of our home and family, and our approval from the US government to adopt. Everything must be notarized as well. 

The next fee is $3000 to send the dossier. Once we send in the dossier, we will be told what number we are on the list. Then we wait for a referral for a child! We will not have another fee until we accept a referral. It can take months or possibly a year plus to receive a referral. I can't imagine how excited we will be to finally have a picture of our son or daughter!

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our friends and family, we have what we need to send in our dossier! What a blessing. We had a garage sale in September. Our friends donated a lot of great items and we were able to raise $760 dollars! Just a couple of weeks ago our sweet friends asked that donations be made towards our adoption in lieu of gifts for their daughter's birthday. The Hill's raised $200 dollars (thank you everyone who donated!!) which turned out to be right about what we needed to order certified copies of birth certificates/marriage license etc!! Praise God!

Here is another break down of the fiances:

Donations: $9170

Fundraisers (coffee, hats, garage sale): $977

Total raised: $10,147

Out of pocket: $5819

Adoption cost is estimated at $27,000+

Only about $11,000 more to go! All the glory to God!

Again, thank you to our family and friends. This adoption WOULD NOT 

be possible without your generosity. Words can not express what 

your support means to us!

Adoption Update and Generosity

When we first began this journey, we truly had no idea how the finances would work. I felt God was saying that He could take care of the money. John and I decided to step out in faith. Not all the money is due at once, the fees are paid at different times. We decided to save and raise funds in order to pay for our adoption. We knew God could provide and are excited to to see His faithfulness in action.

Some incredible things have happened in the last month. God has provided through some very, very generous donations. Donations that have left us speechless. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would receive such generous donations to our adoption fund. It has taken me days to write "thank you's" to these people because I keep tearing up as I write.

It is humbling that our friends and family care so much and want to help.  It is inspiring that there are people around us that are this generous. It is also encouraging, and confirms that what we are doing is truly the will of God. He will fund what he favors. Wow.

I believe we will learn so much in this process; lessons that will carry into other areas of our lives.  God is not only teaching us that he can provide, but also inspiring us to be more generous.  John and I see that there are areas in which we can grow. I think being more generous with what God has given us is one of them.

We still have a ways to go. There are some big fees ahead. However, it feels more in reach. We are staring to feel like the financial side of adoption can happen. We currently have all the money we need to pay the next fee that is due! Amazing!

God has blessed John and I with such incredible friends and family. The love and support we have seen already is so wonderful.  I am so glad we will bring our little home to such a great community of family and friends. 

To our dear family and friends: There is no way we could do this without all of you! Thank you so much!

Here is a little break down of where we are at with the finances of our adoption:

Donations: $6,980

Fundraisers (coffee, hats): $85

Total raised: $7065

Out of pocket: $5819

Adoption cost is estimated at $27,000

Only $14,100 left to go! We are nearing the half way point! YAY!  Praise the Lord!

Next fee due is $3000. It is for the dossier which is a massive collection of documentation that is sent to the Ugandan government.  The fee will be due in a month or two.

I plan to begin applying for grants and doing some more fundraising soon. Once our homestudy is approved by the state we can begin applying for grants.  It's a lot of work but very exciting too. We have some neat things in mind for fundraisers! A lot of our friends have already offered to help us out with fundraising. Check back soon for more details about these.  We are so excited about all that God is doing!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ~Eph 3:20-21

Adoption takes a village

A dear friend and I were talking yesterday and she said that she really believes that adoption is a community effort. I couldn't agree more. Raising kids in general is not easy, and it takes a village. Adoption is a journey; such a massive undertaking. It really does take a community. Both to bring these kids home and to raise them.

As soon as John and I made the decision to adopt, we knew we would need help. First off, the support of our family and friends. We need our family and friends behind us on the journey and we will continue to need them long after our child is home. 

The very next thing that was glaringly obvious was the expense.  We simply do not have the finances available to pay all of the adoption fees.  Adoption is incredibly expensive. We are estimating that our adoption from Uganda will cost $25,000-$30,000.  There are application fees, homestudy fees, agency fees, orphanage fees and legal fees just to name a few.

Despite the expense, we still feel that we are being called to adopt. The money couldn't be the reason we said no to a child without parents. So we made the decision to step out in faith and ask God to provide the finances. It continues to be a decision each day. It's scary. We have no idea how this will work out. It's uncomfortable. Somehow I suspect this is exactly where we are supposed to be. I believe God is teaching us how fully we can trust him and that He is the Great Provider.

Our hope through this process is that others will see that adoption is doable. It is so common to hear, "I would love to adopt, but I don't have the money." Our prayer is that through our story, other families will see that adoption is within reach. There are an estimated 163,000,000 orphans in the world. I believe especially as followers of Christ we can come together and provide these kids with loving families.

Thankfully we are already experiencing some incredibly encouraging things. Our family and friends are excited. They want to help us. Some by praying, others by offering to help us fund raise, and others by donating products. We have only just started and people want to help! Already, we are amazed at the avenues available to fund an adoption. There are companies that offer opportunities to help perspective adoptive parents raise funds. We plan to apply for as many grants as we can. After our adoption is finalized, we may qualify for a tax credit. All of this gives us so much hope that it can happen!

So, how can you help? Pray for us! Pray for our child and for the adoption process. Ask us about our adoption. We are so excited and love to talk about our adoption journey. Have any good ideas for fundraising? Let's here them! Spread the word about our adoption, tell people about this blog. Please pray and consider donating to our adoption fund. We truly appreciate any help we can get to bring our little boy or girl home!

I will also post information on the support page above. Any fundraisers we do will be posted on the support page as well. 

          

Progress update

We are still at the beginning of our adoption journey. Currently, we are working to complete our home study. This involves gathering a lot of documents (birth certificates, tax returns, proof of insurance), getting physical exams, completing classes and meeting with a social worker. The home study is to prepare us for adoption and it's challenges, and to ensure that we are prepared to adopt a child.

Most of our documents are turned in. Our fingerprints have been taken (the first ones we'll need anyway) and our child abuse clearance. All three of us have had our physical exams. John and I attended our CORE adoption class and now we only need a few more hours of education. We have a social worker and have been meeting with her the last two weeks. Our last home study meeting should be this week! 

In case it wasn't clear from my last post, we have chosen a country! After much prayer and consideration we have decided on Uganda! We are very excited and would appreciate lots of prayer!

:)

Love it!