Friday, September 23, 2011

The Plain Facts

Ok, so we're back to waiting to hear about Baby I, we'll call him, in FL. Remember, he's 19 months old and in foster care, waiting for his forever family. Today the people in charge of him (there are many) will have a meeting and put the four families in a list of whom they would most likely place him with. They could throw some families out all together as well. Hopefully, we will hear something today or tomorrow. We have a photo of this little guy and he is CUTE! He has some issues he has to work through, based on the fact that he didn't get medical care as a developing preemie, but nothing major as long as his therapies are successful.

Also, there are three situations in TX we can be shown for. They will each cost $19,000 which is a number that we're comfortable with, but wouldn't be able to use one of our grants for, so we would still need to come up with an extra $7,000. We could take out a loan and survive that, but the interest rates are high (8-15%) so we will continue applying for grants/no interest loans and hopefully squeeze in one more fundraiser.

We did receive a wonderful gift yesterday of $5,000. I feel like we are a non-profit organization when I talk about adoption funds, so forgive me if I am too revealing in all this. I just wish to encourage all you who are praying and those who may someday wish to adopt.

Here's where we stand right now financially...most adoptions that we've seen will end up costing about $20,000...we've seen three that were $10,000 or under, so that's always a possibility. However, there are also travel costs to consider, post placement fees (anywhere from $900-$2,000) and finalization costs (up to $10,000 in some cases.) So what I'm saying is, any amount that we raise is helpful and even when we reach our "goal" there will most likely be more needed.

The Breakdown of what we have now:GGAM Matching Grant $4774 (we need $113 for this grant to be fully matched)
MICAH fund matching grant $0 (they will match up to $2000)
$1300 in savings (gift money)
$7,000 if/when we need it, from generous family:)
This leaves a need for the MICAH grant to be matched, and once that is accomplished, a $7,000 deficit till we reach just over $20,000.


Still waiting to here from Show Hope and Kaitlyn's Fund granting agencies, mailing in an application tomorrow for a no-interest, low payment adoption loan from ABBA fund (this would be a huge blessing to get!!) And will be applying to Elijah's Truth next week...I can only do one application at a time, or I start losing important documents and my mind.


Ways you can help:1. Pray that we would be awarded the right grants or loans. Pray that our baby would come home before Christmas!!! Pray that our hearts, minds, bodies and souls would be ready to love and nurture this child no matter what needs he/she may have.
2. If you feel led, give by clicking the donate button to the right. Even if we end up doing a low cost ($10,000 or under) adoption, we will still need help for airfare, hotel stay(s) (while we wait to take baby home), car rental, post placement fees and finalization (the legal part to becoming the child's parents.)
3. Ideas for a benefit or fundraiser that could give a final boost to what we've raised so far.
4. Letting us talk to you about our adoption. Our hearts are full, so whenever there's something you want to know, or if you just feel nice enough to have us talk your leg off, just ask!!

While I feel that our need is pretty great at this point, there are thousands of other adoptive couples out there needing the same financial help. I would encourage you to consider adoption, but if you can't help in that way, to give to those who want to. There are some wonderful ways to give, and if you don't know anyone personally, consider giving to a granting agency! Some great ones are God's Grace Adoption Ministry, MICAH fund, Elijah's Truth and the ABBA fund. There are many, many more. What is the sacrifice when you consider what you are doing for one or many precious, helpless, children?

No comments:

Post a Comment