Amazed...Anticipating...Anxiously Awaiting

For two years, we have been working and waiting for our children in Ethiopia - children we do not know, have never seen but to whom we know the Lord will lead us.  The first of three big days in international adoption are "referral day", the day the anxiously waiting family finally receives a phone call and email with the details and pictures of the child they have been matched with.  The second big day is the "pass court day" when the parents travel to (in our case) Ethiopia,and appear before the courts to formally and officially adopt their child.  Most families pass court on the first go-round, but sometimes more information is needed on the child to be adopted before the adoption can be granted.  The third and last day, often the most exciting and emotional, is the "Gotcha day!!"  On this day, the family has passed medical, received their child's Visa, and may now bring their child home from Ethiopia.   

On Friday I spoke with our case worker at the adoption agency about different financial concerns I had as well as questioned her about referrals given during Ethiopia's rainy season (Aug. 8-late Sept) when the adoption courts are closed.  She informed me that referrals are still received, approved, and given to families during that time but a Court Date cannot be made until after the courts reopen near the end of September.  So, once again concerned about the money, I replied, Okay, well that gives us a month or two before we will receive a referral to raise the money we need to accept it.  To my shock and delight she replied tentatively.. or a few days. (!?!?)  What?!?!  So after a little prodding on my part, she told me that the agency was about to receive more referrals to give out but she couldn't say anything officially to me until the children's files had been approved and released for referral.  But...she said...I will be calling you on Monday!  She did tell me that she didn't want to say too much and get my hopes up, but that it looked very much like a referral was coming our way.  

So, in true Lauren fashion,  I absolutely got my hopes up.  Come on, seriously, what did she expect! We have taken some drastic measures to be able to find the almost $14,000 we need to accept the referral, but by the grace of our most loving Father in Heaven, we were able to manage to gather all but about $500 of the total sum needed.  We also had some wonderful friends and family who were able to help us by contributing to our adoption fund.  I am so humbled and amazed by the goodness of God and the wisdom in his timing.  He has blessed us beyond measure to be able to build our eternal family through adoption.  We are so deeply grateful for our wonderful friends and family who have loved and supported us throughout the wait.  We still have a long journey ahead of us, but we have faith that the Lord will continue to help us bring our children home.  

Long story short?  Stay tuned...we might have some great news to share tomorrow!!  ...But don't get your hopes up!  :o)   

We're Number 1!! We're Number 1!!

Wahooo!!  After more than 19 months of waiting, we are FINALLY #1 in line!!  Well, at least we are first in line for a sibling group or twins, and first for a boy in our age range.  We are, however, fourth in line for a girl.  Isn't that amazing?  We could potentially receive a referral for a child or a sibling group in the next month or two!!  We are so thrilled, but we also have a lot of work to do.

If we receive a referral for twins or siblings, we will be required to wire the agency $13,860 in order to accept the referral and start the process to appear before the Ethiopian courts to formally adopt our children.  Here's the thing...our total adoption expenses will be over $35,000 and we can't do it alone.  I know our Father in Heaven will help us bring our children home, but we need your help too.  

See the link at the right to 100 Good Wishes...it links to our page where family, friends, and other well-wishers can send our children a good wish and make a small donation via Paypal to help us bring them home.  We are also applying for adoption grants and squeezing our budget to continue to put in as much of our own money as possible.  Thank You in advance for your loving support of our family and our children. 

If you are interested in the breakdown of adoption costs, there is a new tab at the top of our blog entitled Adoption Expenses, which will show you the first page of the financial agreement we signed with our adoption agency. 

One GIANT leap of faith

Matthew and I have always been filled with the desire to build our family through the gift of adoption.  In February 2010 we began investigating the process of adopting domestically and internationally...costs, time frames, process, etc.  We decided we would pursue international adoption in the beautiful country of Ethiopia!

We have now officially been in the process with our agency, Children's House International, for two years.  For the last 19 months we have been awaiting a referral.  A referral is a packet of information on a child that meets your adoption specifications for the child you would like to adopt.  A few days ago we increased our age range...yesterday we made a HUGE change. (In my opinion anyway).  After conferencing as a couple - via Skype messaging mind you - and after prayer and fasting we decided to change our child preferences to be as follows:

A girl OR boy between the ages of newborn and 2 1/2 years old, can be HIV+ and can also have minor correctable defects.  We are also approved and happy to accept a sibling boy or girl up to the age of 4.

What is so big about that you may very well wonder.  Well, we have been expecting to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia for the past two years ...and perhaps we still will, but we felt like we needed to open ourselves up a little bit to allow the Lord to help us find the child intended for our family.  I must say, I am still very excited about this change even though it was a difficult one to make.  A referral could be right around the corner!!  Which of course means <gulp> we need to have at least $9500 ready in order to accept the referral, or more than that if we receive a referral for siblings.  I know God can work miracles, and we are about to need a big one.  

Fund Raising

Just a note up front...this topic is very embarrasing for me because I don't like asking people for help, especially with something I feel like we should be able to do on our own. As I said in a previous post, we did pay off our debt and save up just over $10,000 for the adoption. Unfortunately, adoption costs for Ethiopia are around $27,000. We took out a loan to cover the rest (hopefully my husband doesn't mind me sharing this...) but I am starting to think it will be more feasible to try and raise the funds so we can pay off the loan. I hate debt!

Now, I realize it may seem like I am a walking contradiction considering we just bought a house. So I am going to lay out the details in order to bring more clarity to our financial situation. I am a veteran, so I qualify for the VA home loan which means we don't make a down payment, don't pay mortgage insurance, and we aren't paying closing costs. So basically, we are using the Basic Housing Allowance alotted to us by the Army to go towards a home instead of rent. Look at it this way...instead of paying $52,800 in rent over the next four years, we will be putting it towards our first home. That's right! We finally bought our first home after 7 years of marriage. Hooray!

Anyway, the point of this post is to let my family and friends know that we are going to start doing some fundraising to help get rid of our adoption debt. I need some help with ideas though...like I said, I get embarrassed by asking for help and I am not very good at thinking up effective fundraising ideas. I have researched what some other adopting families have done and mostly I have seen adoption t-shirt sales. What do you think...is that a good idea?? The picture above shows fabric outlines of Africa with the heart over the country of Ethiopia. I was thinking about using a cute stitch to sew then onto t-shirts or shoulder bags or something. I also thought about making a template to spray paint Africa onto shirts or allowing the boys to use fabric paint and paint Africa on. At the very least I need to make shirts for myself and my fam. Gotta represent!

Below is a breakdown of our adoption expenses as it was given to us by our agency:

Home Study - $1500

Home Study Update - $800

Application Fee - $600

CHI Agency Fees - $7000

Ethiopia Program Fee - $9000

Post Adoption Report - $500

Adoption Education - $120

USCIS Filing Fee/Fingerprints - $860

Passports - $194

Ethiopia Visas - $130

Document Authentication - $250

Round-trip Airfare (2 Adults, 2 trips) - $7200

Child's one-way Airfare - approx. $800

In-country transportation costs - $420

Medical for Child's visa - $80

1st Trip in Country (guide, food, lodging) - $800-2700

2nd Trip in Country (guide, food, lodging) - $1350-2700

Child's US Visa - $400

Okay, so I was waaayyyyy off. The low-end of those numbers is a grand total of $32,000. The high end is $35,250. We are looking to adopt one child but if she has a sibling we have also been approved for a second child. If we do end up adopting two children, our total expenses will be approximately $39,280 - $42,530. Annnnnnd, that is why I have decided to try and do some fundraising. Have any good ideas?? PLEASE!! Send them my way!