Look What GOD Can Do!

We feel strongly it's important to be very open and forthcoming about the financial aspects of adoption primarily to show what our great God can do!  It is our hope that our story serves as an encouragement to other families.  We hope by showing what God has accomplished through our journey, it will give you hope in beginning yours.  I do apologize that this is so long, and I hope it doesn't deter you from reading it in its entirety!  (Hopefully you read the post "An Important Piece of Information", so you'll understand the duality of info below.)  :)

Adopting ONE Child - Estimated Costs $28,000
                                          Our Goal                15,030

Adopting TWO - Estimated Costs            41,580   
                                Our Goal                        28,610
*Updated the costs 9/14/13 based on our current figures from our agency.

As you can see, our goals are lower than the estimated cost.  This is because there is an adoption tax credit of $12,970 that reduces your tax liability.  For example, if our taxes showed we needed to pay the federal government $2000, the adoption credit would reduce that liability to zero, and we would carry $10,970 in credit to the next year.  This can be done for 6 years.  This is different than our first adoption because they refunded the entire amount the year we claimed it.  Because of this change, we may not be able to use the entire $12,970 in 6 years unless our tax liability exceeds that amount, but we feel this is a part of the process that we should bear completely on our own.  Our plan is to apply for an interest-free loan from a wonderful organization such as LifeSong.  They allow payments to be made based on how our taxes are actually reduced each year.  Should we not be able to use the entire credit, we would repay the difference. 

Other than that, we are determined to save, apply for grants, and fundraise for the remainder, fully trusting that it is God's plan for this adoption to be debt-free.  So far:

We have saved - $2100
Tshirts - $915
Origami Owl Fundraiser Party - $150
Individual Donations - $1476 to date!!

It's pretty encouraging for being almost 2 months into the process!  A friend recently told me that partaking in the fundraising gave her the sense the we are ALL getting a new child!!  I love that!  We really are.  It takes a lot of people to change an orphan's story, but together, we can do it!