People have asked me many times. How much did your adoption cost? How did you get the money?
That seems to be one of the first questions out of people's mouths when they find out that we adopted a baby.
To be honest it was one of the first questions we asked when we first began to pursue adoption in a serious way. Here's our story.
October 2007. We met with a couple who had just adopted, and their question to us was "Are you really serious about this?" Our answer was "Yes". They then began to tell us their story, all the things we would need to do to begin our journey, and they connected us with Amy Young, our adoption consultant. Our question was "How on earth do we afford this?" Over and over again they told us "God will take care of it. The money will come in!"
November 2007. We were handed a check for $1000 and took "baby step #1" and scheduled our first home study visit.
November 2007. An unexpected inheritance check came a few weeks later and we sent our payment to Christian Adoption Consultants, and they began preparing our profile. $1900 was left from the inheritance check and we started our savings account. Another check for $800 came in from an overpayment on our mortgage on the closing of our house in Pennsylvania.
You can add. That makes $2700, and we were well aware that would need up to $25,000. I'll be honest, the though overwhelmed me.
Our next step was to send out a letter to friends and family announcing our adoption plans and asking them to consider supporting us in it. Several thousand dollars came in and our savings account began to grow.
January 2008. Our second step was to begin plan a fund raiser. Our friends had been successful with a fund raising event and were willing and ready to help us plan ours. If not for their story I would have never believed it possible to "raise" enough money for an adoption with an event like this.
February 19, 2007. In the midst of planning our fund raiser, we finished our home study and were matched with a birth mom in Louisiana. And we'd been matched to an agency that was non-profit and very low cost. We were told that we may only need about $10,000-$12,000. Another answer to prayer!
You've never seen a fund raiser put together so quickly. We mailed out invitations in the midst of phone calls to check on our birth mom who is due early April and on bed rest with toxemia. And we prayed.
February 27, 2007. We are given a check for $3000.
March 5, 2007. Our fund raiser is scheduled for March 7, 2007 and people are beginning to RSVP with checks coming in daily. Our birth mom calls and is in the hospital with high blood pressure again. She may go home if they can get it under control.
March 6, 2007. I've finished all the shopping for the fund raiser and am on my way home to put all the food in the refrigerator. The phone rings. Our birth mom tells me that they will be inducing her in the morning. I kick into high gear... the only gear available to a momma whose baby is going to be born TOMORROW in a state 8 hours away, who is supposed to be hosting a fund raising party in 24 hours.
To make a long story shorter, we pack quickly, get in the van and head to Louisiana, while our dear friends and family step up to the plate and throw our fund raiser without us! Elia's fund raiser becomes a BIRTHDAY PARTY- March 7, 2007!
And God Provided for every need, every step of the way, at the moment it was needed. The fund raiser was a blast and deposits were made into our account for us. Every time we had to write a check, whether to the agency, the lawyers in Louisiana, the hospital, our motel... the money was there just in time.
The remaining costs of follow up home visits, some additional medical bills, and legal fees have all be paid. He paid it all by opening up the hearts of His children to the Spirit of Adoption and by asking them to give. We continue to be overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from the many who have given to Elia's adoption.
God's heart is for adoption, after all it is His desire to adopt each of us into His family. He paid a very dear price to call us His sons and daughters. Elia's life was precious to Him, and He provided the ransom for her to be placed in our family.
If you are considering adoption and finances are in the way, I encourage you to believe that God Finances Adoptions!!!!
