We would love to adopt, but just can't afford it.
I wish I knew how many times I've heard this phrase or something similar to it. An agency coordinated adoption is EXPENSIVE! Even if you decide to go a sometimes less expensive route through an independent coordinator (which is what we are doing with our St. Vincent adoption) there are still legal fees and travel fees and childcare fees while the child is being fostered, etc... But listen to this... there is hope! Did you hear me? HOPE! You don't have to be able to afford adoption right this minute! Please do not let the lack of finances be the one thing stopping you from taking a step of faith and making the decision to adopt.
Want to know how much we had saved for adoption when we started the process? Zero dollars. Yep, big fat nothing. Do you want to know how much we have raised toward our concurrent adoptions since then? Thousands! The short answer for how we did it is God. We prayed, we cried, we garage sale-d, blogged, sold shirts, sent letters, applied for grants...and then we prayed more... and God provided! It wasn't always the way we wanted or envisioned, but looking back He always provided exactly what we needed when we needed. I can say with all honesty from an eternal perspective, I'm glad we didn't have thousands of dollars saved up for our adoption up front. I'm serious! God has used this adoption process to grow my faith in him. He's drawn us close to him and shown us how big he is. We would have totally missed out on his miracles had we not had to depend solely on him to provide the funds we've needed. We definitely aren't done raising money so he's still workin' on us!
I like to think of adoption like going to college. Just because you don't have thousands of dollars saved for college doesn't mean you shouldn't go, right? You apply for loans and scholarships and get an extra job. You make it work because education is important. How much more important is caring for the vulnerable children of this world? There are people and organizations out there that want to help you help them. You just have to work at it. It's worth it. THEY are worth it!
My fellow Give1Save1 blogger, Bonnie has written a wonderful post about some of the organizations that want to help people who want to adopt. It's over on the Give1Save1 domestic blog. Did you know that Give1Save1 is now also helping families raise money going through domestic adoptions? Awesome!
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