Why We Talk About Money

Can we be honest with you?  (as if we haven't been thus far)

If you'll remember from the very first post of this blog, we mentioned that the main reason we didn't think we were going to adopt again was money.  Adoption costs have gone up considerably.  For both Corban and Tobiah's adoption we had the money going into the adoption or knew we'd have it as we went.  That is not the case with this journey.

So as I talked to a friend of mine about this, it became quickly apparent that he didn't understand what that meant.  He said at one point, "If you don't mind me asking what's this going to actually cost?"  When I told him he couldn't believe it.  He said, "I was thinking it was going to be 5 or 6 thousand dollars total."  I wish.  In reality, we're looking at many times that.

These fees come in bursts.  Our next burst should be this fall when the paperwork we're working on now is complete.  That fee will be around 7-8 thousand dollars.  That's not the end....that's just the next fee that we have to pay.  That's not our travel fees (we have to both fly to Ethiopia twice).  That's not our fee when we're finally placed with our child (that's another LARGE chunk).  That's not embassy fees, fingerprinting fees, or visa fees.

So on one hand we're stoked to see God do a miracle right before our very eyes.  We're not worried.  We're anticipating.

At the same time we're trying to be diligent.  We're trying to be calculating in how to fundraise. 

I had another conversation with a different friend who asked how we can be adopting if we can't feed another child.  That's not the problem.  If you could magically drop a child into our home, we have plenty of room, we have every ability to raise another child.....it's the cost of getting said child into our house.  There is no "magically dropping child into our house" when it comes to adoption.

We tell you this mainly to dispel any misconceptions that might be out there.  This isn't cheap.  It isn't easy.  As we've stated before, we can't do it on our own.  This is also not to say that we're not investing heavily in this process.  We have already paid all the initial fees out of pocket and have money for some of the other fees and/or travel expenses....but we can't do it ALL.

As we've said before, you'll be hearing more about some fundraising things that are coming up in the near future.  We just wanted to use this moment to clarify why we keep bringing money and fundraising up......cause it's kind of a big deal.


EDIT:  Literally while this post was in the editing process, we received an e-mail from our agency explaining to us that because of increasing inflation inside Ethiopia, all families who have not had a referral yet (official matching up with a child), will have their fees increase.  I kid you not.