Building our family through love: A plea for Christmas.....

For those of you who actually know me in person you know how much I hate asking for help for myself. I love helping others and asking for help for them but when it comes to asking for myself I'd rather not so this whole thing has taken me way outside of comfort zone. This journey has stretched Jared and I in more ways than even we realize and we are only about half way through this part of the process. We knew it would be hard we knew it would be stressful and challenging but wow until you are actually living it you just don't comprehend how hard it is and no one gets it except other adoptive parents which I am so very glad I have met several in person and have my face book friends who have been there and done that. It is so encouraging to know we are going to get our kids no matter what happens because God has already made our plans for us, he just hasn't clued us in yet on what they are. So we are walking blindly and trusting him which is sooo hard, FAITH it's such a small word but its meaning is HUGE! OK here comes the plea part....

Do you see those two beautiful faces? Those are MY kids, no they are not legally mine yet and yes things can happen during the adoption process but here comes the faith part, we are trusting God that we were led to these two kids specifically through crazy coincidences and Jared and I both know these two are ours. As I sit here typing I have tears forming in my eyes because I am trying so hard bring them home but I need help from everyone. I used to have the same beliefs and feelings a lot of you do about adoption and fundraising. I thought if you can't afford to adopt well, blah blah blah. Until we started researching adoption several years ago, of course no adoption is the same especially domestic versus international but they have one thing in common...MONEY. The amounts can differ greatly from a few thousand to over $60,000 yes I said $60,000. We paid for our first two domestic adoptions out of our own pocket for everything. Our first was about $17,000 from the first application fee to the legal fees to finalize it. Our second was about $25,000 from application fee to legal fees to finalize it. Yes we did get the adoption tax credit from the first for about $13,000 but just like having a biological child we had to buy all the things you need for a baby and in most cases you don't have people lining up to give you a baby shower and gifts when you adopt at least we didn't. We did have some wonderful people at the church we were attending bring a whole table full of gifts which we were very very grateful for. Both of our adoptions were very fast our first was super fast we had the first meeting at the agency in March our home study was complete the first week of June and by mid June Stacey had contacted us through a mutual friend and told us she wanted us to adopt Kaeden. She was due July 2nd...we were thought and were told by the agency we would be waiting several months because we already had a bio child. So we started saving money but ended up having to take out a $10,000 loan that has like 28% interest...yeah ouch. The agency wanted their money as soon as he was born so we had to pay $14,500 the day we brought him home! With Savannah's adoption same thing we were told we would be waiting awhile since we now had two kids but we completed the home study in late September and on Dec. 29th we got the call we had been chosen and the baby was due in the beginning of February. So knowing we needed over $20,000 total again we had to take out another loan for this adoption:( same high interest rate...we had almost paid off the original BTW so as of right now we still owe like $6,000 for the last loan which we pay monthly, never late etc etc. I know some people are thinking well if you couldn't afford it why are adopting, why chose to have another child. OK so for those of you who have bio children, did you pay your entire hospital bill and prenatal care upfront or before they let you bring the baby home? Did you decide before you got pregnant well we need however many thousand dollars for the medical bills so lets just save up them get pregnant when we have the full amount yeah I didn't think so.

This costume ring is also available as a buy it now or you can bid on it in our auction on facebook. The rings belonged to my late aunt

This time is different we are not adopting newborn babies our kids are already alive and waiting for us. We were not planning on adopting again especially so soon but ya know how things go when you try to make plans! Yes we have a good income and could just save up every month to pay for the adoption completely by ourselves but that would take over a year to save that amount. Our kids need home now, Leonid is stuck in a crib everyday almost all day. He needs therapy and surgery when he gets home, a lot of kids in his country have undiagnosed medical needs and if he is not adopted soon he will be transferred to an institution where he is left in a crib all day and will receive nothing but the bare minimum. Masha is almost 14 she needs parents to love her and guide her into adulthood, now is critical in her development. We can afford their day to day care, doctor appointments and surgeries we just cant afford the upfront costs to rescue them and literally save their lives. We are putting our own money back every month to go toward adoption expenses, we cut back on our budget and we are making things to sell but we still need help. I have lots of crafts I've made to sell, I've offered babysitting, I've tried giveaways, We've done auctions, We did a car wash, we did garage sales, I've done craft shows, we are going to do several nights at restaurants to help fund raise but we still need help. If you aren't interested in buying any of my crafts or a puzzle piece can you please at least share our story and get the word out about not only our need but the need of so many kids that need families. We are begging and pleading for help not a handout for our kids lives not us personally but for them. We still need about $15,000 to finish our adoption of Masha and Leonid, can you please at least just share our story or consider collecting your spare change for us?! We already have put over $200 in our savings acct just from spare change.