Funding

    As I mentioned in my previous post, finances was our big mountain that kept us from adopting. We finally, with the urging of God and family, decided to take the leap of faith and started our process last August. We completed loads of papers and passed inspections on our home, well water, and family. January 6, 2012, we were officially Homestudy approved for a child under the age of our youngest child. We have chosen to adopt domestically (from the USA) because there are many children in need of homes and we are not required to travel multiple times leaving our kids  behind as we would have with international adoption. Our social worker does not recommend changing the birth order by adopting an older child, and also claims that at times for attention the younger child will get abused. It is for this reason that we are approved only for a child younger than Oliver (3). It would not be fair to adopt a child and treat him/her differently or have something terrible happen to our innocent children. When they are older my goal is to adopt a child from a state waiting program but we are not approved for it at this stage of life. 

     I believe that it is through this that God was working. We had researched adoption cost and knew we couldn't afford it. We found that we could afford state waiting tho! I also really wanted an older child. I am really not a lover of the first 0-6 months of life. My babies seem to do nothing but eat, puke, and scream. Notice I didn't put sleep? They didn't. Naps? At night? Nope. Just screamed unless they were held, then they were happy little angels.  Anyway, we talked to our agency and signed up. We paid the initial fees and started our process. Pretty soon, we paid some more fees and did our Homestudy. It was during our Homestudy that we realized that the $12,000 state waiting program with most back through government grants was really not an option for us. By this time, we were hooked on the idea and could not back out of the child that we had been praying for daily. We do not have the amount of money that is needed to adopt a child, however, and we waver from trusting in God to trying by ourselves. I am to the point that I believe with all my heart that God has led me to this and God will lead me through this.
  
  Matthew 17:20- For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this Mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and Nothing will be impossible to you. 

   Luke 12:29-34- And you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious mind; for all the world is seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Only aim at and strive for and seek His Kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also. Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom! Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!

   The average adoption will cost $30-60+ thousand dollars. That is a lot of money to us. Our adoption will be (estimated) $45-50,000. UPDATE: Sadly, we have exceeded these expectations. Thank you to those that have generously donated money towards our expenses! We strongly feel that Willow was chosen for us by God and we are trusting Him to financially get us through this. We probably spent more on our son's medical bills when he went through chemo. We love Wyatt and it was so very worth it. I feel the same about this child that I haven't met. Somewhere, someone is pregnant with a baby and she doesn't know what to do with it when it's born. God knows. An online concordance tells me (and I didn't verify this myself) that there are 52 verses in the bible about orphans or fatherless children. I believe that there is a huge call to Christians to adopt or help those of us willing to adopt. Our siblings are helping us financially, without them we would not be able to be as far as we are.