So here's where we stand financially with this adoption.
The amount we have fundraised is in the upper right corner. As I write this it reads, 8201. This is a a phenomenal amount, especially when you factor in I only mailed 11 support letters because my printer ran out of ink...and well... there's really no other reason.
That money only becomes available to us when we travel.
So far we have paid the following expenses
Home study- 1500
Hague oversight agency- 3100
Facilitation fee deposit for those working on our behalf in ......- 900
USCIS application and biometric fees- 945
Dossier apostilles (all paperwork has to have a special seal from your state department)- 715
FBI fingerprinting (several times)- 200
FBI apostilles- 100
Mailing last part of dossier to ....- 278
7,738.
There were a few other things like copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, required lab work...
Looking forward
We will have to travel three times for this adoption.
1st trip- meet him and accept referral. A week long
2nd trip- court (quick as possible)
3rd trip- pick up... 2 weeks to who knows 😯
From this point on- we expect we will spend an additional 23000-27000
8500 of that is the remainder of our facilitation fee, which is due on trip one. As you can see we will be able to pay the majority of that with the 8200 we have raised so far.
That leaves us with 14,800- 18,800 in costs remaining. Airfare will be a large portion of that and impossible to know the exact cost until we get our tickets. Airfare is also pricier because the unpredictable nature of this adoption will require one way tickets and not round-trip tickets. Food and lodging will be pretty inexpensive. Drivers and other travel arrangements while in country will be more expensive. There's also visa, passport, and medical stuff.
Bottom line- we are bringing this boy home. We, I hate to say need, but we don't have that full amount SO we could stand to raise 7-8 thousand more dollars.
We are willing and prepared to use an adoption loan if necessary. The big draw back here would be that a loan would make things financially difficult for us when we first bring him home.
We expect he will need significant medical attention- and we must also prepare for that.
SO this seems like a lot, right? As I read it, I'm thinking yikes! And there are some possible "things aren't going as planned" expenses I've kept to myself- you know trying to be optimistic! 😁
But I'm really not worried about the financial part of this adoption. I mean I'm really not. And I'm a worrier.
I'm not ignoring the fact that we will need a good bit of money to complete this adoption- and we did buy printer ink and will be mailing more support letters. Possibly try an additional fundraiser...🤗
But I've seen my son. Sure, just in pictures and clips, but he is invaluable. What cost could be too high? It's a bargain.
*For some reason when I share this blog on Facebook the donate button showing the amount raised will not show up! Our family support page can be found by clicking on the link below. It shows how much people have donated and has a button if you would like to contribute online.
https://reecesrainbow.org/120638/sponsorkronenberger2
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Happy Valentine's Day. It's a day for cards, candy, flowers, and kisses. A day when we appreciate and celebrate all the people we love and who love us.
But to be perfectly honest I've never been into Valentine's Day. Maybe it's because the day is associated with things more than people. Sure people are giving the things and people are getting the things...but it always seems to be about the stuff.
I don't know about you but I never feel more love on Valentine's day than other days.
It's a day heavy with expectations. And for me, the most earnest moments of love have always occurred unexpectedly. And if not unexpectedly then mundanely.
I remember being nervous and excited on my wedding day, and of course I loved Timmy. But when I think about love and Timmy- I think about how when he was only 17 and I 16- he stuck by me as I hugely struggled with anxiety and depression. I think about our first year of marriage where we literally ran out of money and bought groceries at Sears because we could use our Sears card. I think about several months later when my period was late and I took a pregnancy test in the Clarion Walmart bathroom because we couldn't wait the 5 minutes to drive home. It was positive- I took five more just to be certain.
There we were barely making ends meet and pregnant. This was 8 years ago and there were no teaching jobs to speak of and despite having just graduated with a teaching degree...my husband began looking for a job that had nothing to do with what he had always wanted to do..teach.
I think about moving back to the South Hills of Pittsburgh with an 8 month old and moving in with my in-laws while Timmy started a new job. I think about all the nights he got home late and all the times I asked him if he was ok with giving up on teaching. And all the times he said yes.
I think about our first home and the first time we, as a married couple, weren't broke. And how we looked back on those Clarion days with affection and even a little bit of envy.
I think of holding babies that just won't stop crying and hair back as toddlers puke- and I look to my side and there is my husband.
I think of bringing home a traumatized, neglected, drugged 2 1/2 year old and watching the life I knew tilt on it's axis. And there is my husband.
We can set aside a day to acknowledge love with fancy dinners and grand gestures, and love can be found in the midst of those things, but love is not those things.
When I think about the times love has made my chest ache and feet move- it's been tucking my kids into bed as they tearfully tell me about having trouble with friends. So the next day I set up the slip n slide and resign myself to having their friends over so relationships can be mended. It's when I am feeling anxious and down and not pleasant to be around and Timmy runs out to get me my favorite burger. It was holding kids who were dying from curable illness and still they were going to die. But I was going to hold them.
The moments when I have known- I would take someone else's burden if I could. And times when someone would take mine.
Is there any love that doesn't deny self? Love is selfless.
I thought it so fitting that the beginning of Lent fell on Valentine's Day this year. What a great reminder for me of what love is.
"My command is this: love each other as I have loved you" John 15:12
How did He love us?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16
He gave...but it's not simply that he gave, it's what he gave. He gave himself. He laid down his life.
Love is actionary and sacrificial. It doesn't say and not do. It doesn't feel and not move.
And whereas I know there are moments when love seems easy. When I said, "I do", the first time I held my babies, when I committed to adopt Martina and Roman...and many other moments when love floods my heart.
I know that love is putting others before myself. And I must be incredibly selfish because that, more often than not, isn't easy.
But it is love. And love is good.
Happy Valentine's Day.
But to be perfectly honest I've never been into Valentine's Day. Maybe it's because the day is associated with things more than people. Sure people are giving the things and people are getting the things...but it always seems to be about the stuff.
I don't know about you but I never feel more love on Valentine's day than other days.
It's a day heavy with expectations. And for me, the most earnest moments of love have always occurred unexpectedly. And if not unexpectedly then mundanely.
I remember being nervous and excited on my wedding day, and of course I loved Timmy. But when I think about love and Timmy- I think about how when he was only 17 and I 16- he stuck by me as I hugely struggled with anxiety and depression. I think about our first year of marriage where we literally ran out of money and bought groceries at Sears because we could use our Sears card. I think about several months later when my period was late and I took a pregnancy test in the Clarion Walmart bathroom because we couldn't wait the 5 minutes to drive home. It was positive- I took five more just to be certain.
There we were barely making ends meet and pregnant. This was 8 years ago and there were no teaching jobs to speak of and despite having just graduated with a teaching degree...my husband began looking for a job that had nothing to do with what he had always wanted to do..teach.
I think about moving back to the South Hills of Pittsburgh with an 8 month old and moving in with my in-laws while Timmy started a new job. I think about all the nights he got home late and all the times I asked him if he was ok with giving up on teaching. And all the times he said yes.
I think about our first home and the first time we, as a married couple, weren't broke. And how we looked back on those Clarion days with affection and even a little bit of envy.
I think of holding babies that just won't stop crying and hair back as toddlers puke- and I look to my side and there is my husband.
I think of bringing home a traumatized, neglected, drugged 2 1/2 year old and watching the life I knew tilt on it's axis. And there is my husband.
We can set aside a day to acknowledge love with fancy dinners and grand gestures, and love can be found in the midst of those things, but love is not those things.
When I think about the times love has made my chest ache and feet move- it's been tucking my kids into bed as they tearfully tell me about having trouble with friends. So the next day I set up the slip n slide and resign myself to having their friends over so relationships can be mended. It's when I am feeling anxious and down and not pleasant to be around and Timmy runs out to get me my favorite burger. It was holding kids who were dying from curable illness and still they were going to die. But I was going to hold them.
The moments when I have known- I would take someone else's burden if I could. And times when someone would take mine.
Is there any love that doesn't deny self? Love is selfless.
I thought it so fitting that the beginning of Lent fell on Valentine's Day this year. What a great reminder for me of what love is.
"My command is this: love each other as I have loved you" John 15:12
How did He love us?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16
He gave...but it's not simply that he gave, it's what he gave. He gave himself. He laid down his life.
Love is actionary and sacrificial. It doesn't say and not do. It doesn't feel and not move.
And whereas I know there are moments when love seems easy. When I said, "I do", the first time I held my babies, when I committed to adopt Martina and Roman...and many other moments when love floods my heart.
I know that love is putting others before myself. And I must be incredibly selfish because that, more often than not, isn't easy.
But it is love. And love is good.
Happy Valentine's Day.
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