Money Miracles

I haven't been very open about our adoption funding since Russia shut down, because it's both heartbreaking and personal. We had worked our tails off and raised a substantial amount of money by last December to adopt Dasha girl. We were extremely blessed to have friends and family give us unbelievable amounts of support in our Russian adoption. Let's admit it, though: fundraising is exhausting. It's embarrassing and humiliating and not fun at all to ask people to help you financially. We did it, though, because Dasha's adoption was going to cost $57,000 and we didn't know of another way to get that much money in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, we ended up spending over $30,000 for that adoption. That wiped us out. It was every penny we'd earned plus thousands of dollars of our own money.

When I saw Cooper's picture and knew I wanted to be his mom, funding was one big hurdle standing in our way. It's one thing to fundraise for an adoption. It's another thing to fundraise for an adoption where the child was never able to come home with you, then turn around to fundraise for yet another adoption. I just couldn't do it. It made my physically ill to think about going through that part again. That would mean I would have to explain over and over again where all the money we had previously raised had gone. That would mean I would have to rehash in detail how Russia banned Americans from adopting, Dasha is still stuck, and $30,000 is gone. The money was spent on a home study, background checks, USCIS approval, two dossiers, countless apostilles, postage, dossier translations, agency fees, agency fees, and more agency fees, airline tickets, hotel, etc. We didn't just pay Russia $30,000, so no, we weren't eligible for some sort of refund (we got asked that question a lot initially). Lately I have been wanting to share that we were SO careful with money that was donated to us! We kept track of every penny we spent and 100% of it went directly towards adoption costs.

I knew if we proceeded with an adoption from China, we'd be on our own. We'd need to come up with the $30,000 it would cost by ourselves. We inquired about a home mortgage loan line of credit, and that's the route we took. It was really depressing to sign that paper, but also a relief to know that we wouldn't need to beg for money. Of course we didn't WANT to take a loan out, but we also know that money shouldn't ever be the thing standing in the way of saving a life.

Our first money miracle came from my dear friend, Tania. She and her husband were also trying to adopt from Russia. Their darling "Jack" ended up getting adopted and Tania ended up getting pregnant and having a biological child (they are still going to adopt in the future, but knew they weren't up for it for a while). Instead of  holding on to the funds they'd raised (which I would not blame them one second if they'd have chosen to do that!!), they decided to spread the love. They chose a few families and waiting kids and gave Jack's adoption money away. Tania reached out to me and asked if she could donate $4,000 to our FSP. I was blown away!!! This is a game changing amount of money! I'm so thankful for the money given to us from Jack's account that I cry every single time I think about it! What an honor and a gift!! You can read about their big giveaway here.

Our second money miracle came last Monday from the Sevenly offer I posted about. According to my math, we should get around $550 from their campaign!! WOW!! Again, such an unexpected (yet welcome) blessing!!

Now, a fellow adopting mom I didn't even know until last week has started a quilt giveaway and has included Milo and our family in their giveaway!! To learn more about that, click here. Even if we don't make one penny from her darling giveaway, what a treasure to know we are thought of and loved!

I am increasingly thankful and amazed at the generosity of others, even when not asked for. This adoption road has definitely not been an easy one for us. The unexpected blessings that have come along the way have been surprising and amazing! The friendships I have made (both long distance and local) I would never trade for anything! The tender mercies to sustain us will never be forgotten. Thank you for joining us in our journey, and thank you for the love!!

I wanted to share some amazing pictures with you in case you didn't get to read the article about the Russian picket/protest about the adoption ban. These are pictures of Dasha and us! So crazy!!

I love these Russians!

I also wanted to share a baby picture of Milo just for fun ;)

Have you ever seen a cuter baby!? This is the first picture we have of him. Check out that hair! Oh, I can't wait to snuggle this guy!!