Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Need for Adoption



Gladney is the adoption agency we are using. We are excited about being able to use such a great company. There is a HUGE need for adoption, which makes this a burden on our hearts. I hope that this touches your heart as well.

This leads me to how else you could help us through this adoption. Adopting a child costs a lot of money. If you've never looked into this or heard about the costs, an adoption can cost between $25,000 to $50,000. One of the reasons we have chosen to adopt from Ethiopia is because it is the cheapest international adoption. The estimated cost of this adoption is about $35,000. Yeah, that's a lot of money. Zach has a good job which allows us to carry some of this burden but no where close to all of it. We believe this cause is well worth our money and yours.

There are several phases of the adoption process which each have their own expenses. In about six weeks Laura and I will need to come up with $4000 to cover the cost of the home study and a portion of the adoption agency fee. After that we will have to pay a plethora US and Ethiopian government fees to the tune of $7000-$9000. After waiting for a referral, usually 4-8 months, we will need somewhere between $9000-$13000 in travel and post-placement fees before our son is legally our son.

We live in reality and the numbers are daunting but the hope of removing the title "orphan" from one child isn't a burden that can or should be shouldered by one family. We are humbled by the opportunity to adopt and we are humbled by the fact that we can't do it on our own. Thankfully we have been given some great ideas on support raising. We have sold some of our own possessions, we have friends who have made t-shirts and we have used our own money thus far but at the end of the day we still need more...

We are asking each one of you reading this to consider if and how you could help us. Would you consider giving to our family to help make what is now only possible a reality?

If you would like to give, there are two options:
1. Mail us a check (this is the best option since we get 100% of that money)
2. Donate by clicking the button on the right side of our blog.

We know that not everybody is led to adopt, but we do know that we are all called to help care for the fatherless (James 1:27). One way to care is to support those of us who will adopt the fatherless. We pray that you will partner with us in bringing home our son!

1 comment:

Katie said...

This video makes me cry every time I've seen it. Imagine our little ones sitting in the same orphanage, waiting. Let's go!