ADOPTION FUNDING

Adoption of IAN AND JOVIE in 2014

It was a struggle to get to the place where we were comfortable with adoption fundraising, and we are still not to that place, honestly. When we started this process in November we had in mind to bring home a little brother or sister for Mae... we did not foresee that we would be bringing home BOTH. It is incredibly humbling to know that you fall short and that you have to rely on others. When we felt like God was calling us to bring home two this trip, we went to our friends' house, Jim and Lyn. They have adopted three children from China and we not only see them as friends that share our same passion, but also as incredibly wise (: Jim told Cody, "When you are in over your head, it doesn't matter how deep the water is." 

We anticipated $28,000 to adopt one child. Adoption is not only very costly, but you have this amount of money due in a very short period of time. So even with that amount, we'd have been selling things and getting a little creative for where we would have come up short. With two children, we knew we'd be far from doing this without help. I think this was especially hard for Cody, to not know if we could get there and to just trust God. You see Cody's a "take care of business" kind of guy, but we knew that no matter how much we did alone, we would not reach the goal of now $43,000 for both our babies. I think in a way I was excited by the adventure. (:

So we got fundraising:

We sold t-shirts—$1259 
Had handmade items for sale on a Goodsie site—$809
My mom and I sold our handmade items at a Craft Fair—$523
Had 2 garage sales (almost every item was donated) #1—$900
Garage sale #2—$640
Online auction of donated items—$721
And without even asking, we received donations of $2,310
We were awarded a grant from Promise686. They would match every dollar donated, up to $6,000.
Donations received to promise686 on our behalf—$15,978.00
promise686 matching fund—6,000.00  

TOTAL=$29,140

 **We are almost there! Please see the breakdown of everything below.

Adoption Expenses:

• Application Fee—$100     Paid
•  1st Program Fee—$2,600     Paid
• Fingerprinting—$890     Paid
• Dossier Prep—$650     Paid
• 2nd Program Fee—$2,100     Paid
• CCCWA Fee—$1,275     Paid
• Waiting Child Fee—$1,875     Paid
• CCCWA-WCA—$125     Paid
• US Homeland Security Fee—$720     Paid
• 3rd Program Fee—$2,600
• Visa—$420
• Airfare—$9,600
• China Travel—$5,600
• Adoption Registration(2)—$1,600
• Child's Passport (2)—$300
• Orphanage Fee (2)—$11,000
• Food (2)—$1200
• Child's Physical/Photo (2)—$160
• Child US Entry Visa (2)—$690

TOTAL FEES DUE= $43,505

- Total Out of Pocket Paid to Date: $10,335
- Total Cash on Hand Remaining: $5,000

SUBTOTAL OF FEES REMAINING = $28,170

- Fundraising Items Sold: $4,852  
- Donations Received: $12,255
- Promise 686 Grant: $6,000

 

**We now have all the money needed to fund our adoption!! This is so HUGE!

Can I just share with you that raising money is rough, to say the least. It's exhausting, and it's been a full-time job between it and all the mounds of paperwork. (But it's a little fun, though, too... I can't tell you how much fun it was to check my email and see something sold or watch people bidding on our auction.) God has taught us so much! I have a new appreciation for others that are in this place! When we are able to, our mission will certainly be helping other families financially to adopt.

There is nothing more tremendous than seeing the outpouring of people willing to come alongside us. It is incredibly powerful to have people, especially strangers, moved to donate their money to help our children.  One day I hope this really sinks in to the hearts of Ian and Jovie.  They were brought home by an outpouring of love from people all over this planet.  I have no idea how to even begin to describe the impact of this as their mother.  Thank you for loving our children and believing in our family!!!