Should I just permanently carry a tissue in my hand? The tears of happiness and joy and amazement that keep springing to my eyes are constant! I'm such a big baby! But I don't care - I am thankful to share we are moving forward to adopt a 3-year-old little boy who has completely stolen our hearts!! He has been given an English name, Oliver, and although we never would have found it on our own, we LOVE it! It really fits him.
Where do I begin telling you about him? He is fabulous and gorgeous and amazing. Our beautiful little guy has albinism, which means he is lacking pigmentation in his body. He has pale skin that is very sensitive to the sun (he matches his Momma :) and beautiful white hair (a special gift so he looks like his Memaw Cathy). Even white eyelashes! His vision is low and his eyes are very sensitive to both sunlight and bright light. He and his Daddy will likely never be seen outside without their shades. (Side note: I have to find a matching pair of sunglasses for them . . .)
His story begins tragically, as he was abandoned at approximately 1 year of age, but he has already seen bright blessings in his little life. At about 2 years of age, he was able to go to a group center for children who are visually impaired. The development manager of that center emailed us today with several photos and LOTS of precious information about our son!! We have been wondering about his eye color, because children with albinism often have very light eyes. There are some folks with albinism that have brown eyes however, and since Oliver is Asian, that was a possibility, too. Today we know he has beautiful violet-blue eyes! The center he is in seems to be incredible. They work very hard to help visually impaired children learn how to function in the world around them. We have learned that in China if you are visually impaired, it's thought the only occupation you can have is a masseuse or masseur! He is in an English immersion class, so he will know quite a bit when he comes home. He has a teacher who has been with him the past 9 months. She is actually preparing to leave the center because she is a volunteer, but she is preparing a report for us to tell all about him, and has some of his artwork and more photos to give us!!
More crazy cool info - his group home is out in the country on a farm! Will he feel at home with the Hudson's or what?! And, when he moved to the group center in 2012, another little boy went with him from the same orphanage. They have been together for a long time, sharing a room and preschool together. The little boy is 2 1/2, so how wonderful is it that Oliver will have an Asian brother here at home that is the same age as his "brother" in China? We pray it is helpful for Oliver's transition.
He is potty trained, likes sweet foods, and apparently is a little ladies' man!! They say he throws dramatic tantrums (this oughtta be interesting - we are still pretty sure no child can out-do Freddy's tantrums :), but is usually embarrassed when he's done.
On our side of the story, it is fantastic to see God's hand in this process. We thought we would be bringing home a girl, and albinism was not even on our approved special needs list. Yet God led the events to bring us to Oliver's photo, and He brought us back to request Oliver's file even though we were hesitant about albinism, and He was with us while we researched albinism for over a month. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude and we are in awe at what God has done in our lives. Every time in our lives when we say "I can't", God reveals His majesty and grace and beauty in showing us that "HE Can"!! Thank you God for your patience through our hesitancy, our selfishness, stubbornness, lack of confidence, lack of faith, etc.!! If you had told us last year that we would be adopting our fourth child who would be a BOY with a SPECIAL NEED, we would have laughed at you! If you had said we would be ELATED and GRATEFUL, we would have thought you had gone crazy!! Yet here we are! We are in the 2nd of 4 stages: immigration. We are asking the US government to approve us to bring a child into America for the purposes of adoption. This part will take about 2 more months, then we'll be in stage 3, dossier submission. After that, we might even get to Skype with our baby!
This song running through my head: 'GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME, HE PUT A SONG OF PRAISE IN THIS HEART OF MINE, GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME, THROUGH THE DARKEST NIGHTS HIS LIGHT WILL SHINE, GOD IS GOOD, GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME.'
HUGE smiles!!!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
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!
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!
Monday, June 17, 2013
An Important Piece of Information
We've come up with our financial goal, but there is one aspect that remains undecided. At first, we felt led to adopt two children this time, possibly at the same time or one right after the other. Looking at where we are right now, we realize that may simply have been God's way of leading us to one specific child. We are reviewing the file of a little 3-year-old boy and researching his special need. To make a long story short, the evolution of events has been such that we don't believe we would have seen this child's file had we not sought to adopt two. We have been careful in asking for advice in this regard (although we have been diligently researching the pros/cons) because our desire is to hear an answer from one voice. Of course you know who that is! Quite frankly, it sounds on the verge of insanity to us, it feels scary to the point of a gripping fear, it seems impossible with our current circumstances. But if we know for certain it is the call of Christ to do this, we will do it. I feel selfish in asking for more prayer, but it is definitely an area where prayer warriors are needed. We want to make sure we keep the needs in focus of the three beautiful blessings we already have, as well as the needs of the child or children who will be coming home. I can imagine about two dozen ways Satan would try to use this against our family. When we post our financial goal and progress so far, we wanted folks to be aware of the reason we actually have two goals. We'll also post when the final decision has been made on how we are proceeding.
Thanks for the prayers, and smiles!
Thanks for the prayers, and smiles!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Many Ways to Lend a Hand
* Pray for our child in China, our children at home, our process, the financial aspect, etc.
* Tax-deductible contribution to our adoption agency
* Donate an electronic item, themed basket, or gift card we could use in a silent auction
* Donate postage so we can send sponsor letters
* Pass the word on to anyone you think may want to help! :)
* Participate in one of fundraisers (and there will be many!)
Here is what we have scheduled so far:
TEES - We placed our final order on tees, but we ordered extra in various sizes.
BRACELETS - We have plenty of bracelets left, $3 or $3.50 mailed to you.
BOOKMARKS - Grace wanted to help, so she designed bookmarks she is selling for $1!
ORIGAMI OWL PARTY - a sweet friend, Amy Boswell, got together with her friend who is a
consultant for Origami Owl and is hosting a party where a portion of the funds will go to our
adoption expenses! June 20th is the party date, and you can order online at
www.samanthameadows.origam
under "Jewelry Bar" that says "Fundraising Party - for the Hudson's" (#162812). Make sure you
select it!
YARD SALE - if you have items you would like to donate, we'll arrange pick-up. You can also
attend the sale, which will be held at Macedonia Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky
sometime in late August. (We will update when we have the date for sure.)
CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA - November 2nd we'll be having a shoppers dream! We hope
to have 5 - 10 direct sales companies (like Thirty-One at www.thirtyonegifts.com) who will
have tables all at one location, Macedonia Baptist. You'll be able to visit all the different products
at once while a portion of proceeds benefit our adoption! Thanks to Amy Bellamy and Brittany
Zik, Thirty-One consultants, for their support and help in this venture!!
* Tax-deductible contribution to our adoption agency
* Donate an electronic item, themed basket, or gift card we could use in a silent auction
* Donate postage so we can send sponsor letters
* Pass the word on to anyone you think may want to help! :)
* Participate in one of fundraisers (and there will be many!)
Here is what we have scheduled so far:
TEES - We placed our final order on tees, but we ordered extra in various sizes.
BRACELETS - We have plenty of bracelets left, $3 or $3.50 mailed to you.
BOOKMARKS - Grace wanted to help, so she designed bookmarks she is selling for $1!
ORIGAMI OWL PARTY - a sweet friend, Amy Boswell, got together with her friend who is a
consultant for Origami Owl and is hosting a party where a portion of the funds will go to our
adoption expenses! June 20th is the party date, and you can order online at
www.samanthameadows.origam
under "Jewelry Bar" that says "Fundraising Party - for the Hudson's" (#162812). Make sure you
select it!
YARD SALE - if you have items you would like to donate, we'll arrange pick-up. You can also
attend the sale, which will be held at Macedonia Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky
sometime in late August. (We will update when we have the date for sure.)
CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA - November 2nd we'll be having a shoppers dream! We hope
to have 5 - 10 direct sales companies (like Thirty-One at www.thirtyonegifts.com) who will
have tables all at one location, Macedonia Baptist. You'll be able to visit all the different products
at once while a portion of proceeds benefit our adoption! Thanks to Amy Bellamy and Brittany
Zik, Thirty-One consultants, for their support and help in this venture!!
Friday, June 14, 2013
How Long Will It Take?
When does our precious child come home? Every country is different, so this is only regarding our process through China at this particular point in time. Our estimate is 12-18 months, but many factors can lengthen or shorten that span, so it is approximate. There are basically 5 stages:
HOMESTUDY - a social worker visiting your home, looking through every aspect of your life including your marriage, parental style, childhood and life experiences, finances, criminal history, etc. This process typically takes around 3 months.
IMMIGRATION - sending an application and copy of our homestudy to US customs and immigration to ask for permission to bring a child into the US for purposes of adopting that child. Once the application is mailed to approval is around 3 months.
DOSSIER - a packet of forms all about our life, with almost every single piece of paper requiring a type of authentication. Sort of like having each paper notarized, except it goes through a series of 4 authentications. These documents go to the county level (in Kentucky), the state, the US Department of State, and the China Embassy or Consulate. We will probably wait for our immigration approval in order to save mailing costs, so after immigration approval, 2 months is the estimate for the authentications. Then it goes to China! It takes 2 - 6 weeks for it to be logged into the system there.
REFERRAL - this is when you receive pictures and information on the child that has been matched with your family, or you get a referral for the child who you have requested to be matched with. These children are called "waiting children", because they may be older or have some type of special need that makes them harder to place. Right now, we are actually reviewing the file of a little boy with a special need. Should our family request to adopt him, we would receive his referral once we were approved as a match. I have the estimate as 5 - 12 weeks, with 8 weeks as the standard.
TRAVEL - once you have accepted your referral, travel would be somewhere around 4 months later!
This time our homestudy itself was super fast (2 weeks!) because we had a homestudy just a few years ago, and our social worker is rocket fast and super awesome (GO LYDIA)!!! But, we have one document that I requested on May 6th that has to be received to complete the homestudy. Even though the government agency that issues that document has a policy requiring it to be mailed by June 8th, I called yesterday and it could still be two more weeks. Once that single sheet of paper arrives, we are ready to roll! The homestudy will be complete, which means our paperwork to immigration can be mailed off (and believe me, the paperwork was filled out by yours truly a month ago :), and as soon as the immigration paperwork is processed, our dossier can be authenticated and mailed to China (again, our part finished already)!!
The immigration paperwork involves fingerprinting, so it takes at least 2 months for the application to be approved and the fingerprint appointment to be scheduled, fingerprinting to be completed, and preliminary approval to be received.
The dossier is almost a little comical, because it's like the forms get notarized, then someone certifies that notary is able to notarize, then someone certifies that the person who certified the notary is able to do so, etc. :) But it is what it is. Now that we have done all that we can do with gathering documents and filling out applications, we are pretty at peace with the process. I fully expect to have my moments of panic or impatience, but the good Lord will get us through! :)
Smiles!
HOMESTUDY - a social worker visiting your home, looking through every aspect of your life including your marriage, parental style, childhood and life experiences, finances, criminal history, etc. This process typically takes around 3 months.
IMMIGRATION - sending an application and copy of our homestudy to US customs and immigration to ask for permission to bring a child into the US for purposes of adopting that child. Once the application is mailed to approval is around 3 months.
DOSSIER - a packet of forms all about our life, with almost every single piece of paper requiring a type of authentication. Sort of like having each paper notarized, except it goes through a series of 4 authentications. These documents go to the county level (in Kentucky), the state, the US Department of State, and the China Embassy or Consulate. We will probably wait for our immigration approval in order to save mailing costs, so after immigration approval, 2 months is the estimate for the authentications. Then it goes to China! It takes 2 - 6 weeks for it to be logged into the system there.
REFERRAL - this is when you receive pictures and information on the child that has been matched with your family, or you get a referral for the child who you have requested to be matched with. These children are called "waiting children", because they may be older or have some type of special need that makes them harder to place. Right now, we are actually reviewing the file of a little boy with a special need. Should our family request to adopt him, we would receive his referral once we were approved as a match. I have the estimate as 5 - 12 weeks, with 8 weeks as the standard.
TRAVEL - once you have accepted your referral, travel would be somewhere around 4 months later!
This time our homestudy itself was super fast (2 weeks!) because we had a homestudy just a few years ago, and our social worker is rocket fast and super awesome (GO LYDIA)!!! But, we have one document that I requested on May 6th that has to be received to complete the homestudy. Even though the government agency that issues that document has a policy requiring it to be mailed by June 8th, I called yesterday and it could still be two more weeks. Once that single sheet of paper arrives, we are ready to roll! The homestudy will be complete, which means our paperwork to immigration can be mailed off (and believe me, the paperwork was filled out by yours truly a month ago :), and as soon as the immigration paperwork is processed, our dossier can be authenticated and mailed to China (again, our part finished already)!!
The immigration paperwork involves fingerprinting, so it takes at least 2 months for the application to be approved and the fingerprint appointment to be scheduled, fingerprinting to be completed, and preliminary approval to be received.
The dossier is almost a little comical, because it's like the forms get notarized, then someone certifies that notary is able to notarize, then someone certifies that the person who certified the notary is able to do so, etc. :) But it is what it is. Now that we have done all that we can do with gathering documents and filling out applications, we are pretty at peace with the process. I fully expect to have my moments of panic or impatience, but the good Lord will get us through! :)
Smiles!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
The Cost of the Adoption Process
So you really want to know the costs involved in the adoption process? Are you sure? Before you read on, you must solemnly promise that if you believe God is calling you to adopt, you will not allow this information to be discouraging. Did you promise? Wonderful. :) You are also required to memorize Luke 18:27 -
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men, is possible with God."
You have it engraved in your memory? Good. It is very important to note that you are not "paying for a child", you are paying for the processes and professional services involved. Here are the average estimates of the costs involved. The huge variance is a result of several factors that vary from adoption-to-adoption. Some of those variables are: the costs of traveling to the country, the area of the US where the adoption is taking place, if the child has special needs, domestic adoptions might include legal/living expenses/medical provisions/counseling for the birthparent(s), if the adoption is between relatives, mailing costs, differing costs between adoption agencies, etc.
Foster Care Adoption - approximately $2500
Domestic Adoption - approximately $20,000 to $40,000
International Adoption - approximately $20,000 to $50,000
I'm assuming that sound I just heard was your jaw dropping. :) Before looking into the costs ourselves, we had no idea it was so expensive. This link has an interesting break-down of costs:
Many people are very surprised to find that domestic adoption is so close in cost to international adoption. I think we all make the assumption that traveling expenses alone would cause an international adoption to cost more. For the record, our adoption process through Korea was a total of $35,000 (the site above lists Korea as $38,000), which included attorney fees for finalizing his adoption and paying $550 for his Certificate of Citizenship. Thankfully, we received the fully refundable adoption credit, which left our costs at around $22,000. We saved and held fundraisers for the remainder, as well as receiving frequent flyer miles from my parents that were astronomically helpful with our flight costs. We give the good Lord all the glory for providing completely for our first process!!
The next chance I have, I'll give the specifics on our estimated adoption expenses through China's Special Needs Program.
Smiles!
The next chance I have, I'll give the specifics on our estimated adoption expenses through China's Special Needs Program.
Smiles!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Salute to Foster Families
As we have been selling t-shirts, I get super mushy because we are SO appreciative of the support. You don't realize what a treasure support from others can be. . . until you need it, or you have needed it in the past! :) In our first adoption, we recorded all those who assisted our family in one way or another. We will do the same this time. I am hoping to get a snapshot of everyone who buys a shirt (wearing their shirt) to put in the scrapbook! What a cool tapestry of faces that will be!! Anyway, as I was perusing little man's scrapbook, looking over names of some of the most generous people we have ever encountered, I was reading the page about the beginning of our process. I had forgotten we researched over 20 different countries!!
There was something else I had forgotten. At the time, through family and friends, we had seen just one adoption finalized through the foster care system out of six attempted. I knew I could not handle such an emotional roller coaster - getting attached only to find the child would not be our own - unless we were positive it was what God was calling us to do (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13). So I truly, wholeheartedly admire the families who wade through the ups and downs of the foster care system, holding on with all their might and fighting for the best interests of the child for which they are caring. No matter the outcome, whether the child is reunited with their birth family or joins their new forever family, these foster moms and dads are a true representation of unconditional love. It's not that they don't get heartbroken or frustrated; they just advocate for the children regardless of their own emotions. We have some new friends through our homeschool group who I deeply admire. They have 5 children altogether, and are just inspiring. The kids are well-adjusted, well-behaved, and obviously loved. They help give us the courage to grow our family!
We have some other friends who are fostering infants. A blessedly tough job! Imagine, they are getting all the precious snuggling and sweet newborn moments, but also taking all the sleepless nights, fussy tummies, and developing diaper movements! I think God puts a special strength in families like this, to go through the physical demands of a newborn never knowing how long they will be in your arms.
Other family friends work as respite care providers, caring for children in the system when their main foster family needs time off. I can only imagine the stresses of adjusting to a new child or children in the home in just a few days, only to have them leave and the dynamics be reset each time.
So this is our salute to all you foster parents (and grandparents) out there - I can only imagine the smile on God's face as He sees you care for His children!!
Smiles!
There was something else I had forgotten. At the time, through family and friends, we had seen just one adoption finalized through the foster care system out of six attempted. I knew I could not handle such an emotional roller coaster - getting attached only to find the child would not be our own - unless we were positive it was what God was calling us to do (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13). So I truly, wholeheartedly admire the families who wade through the ups and downs of the foster care system, holding on with all their might and fighting for the best interests of the child for which they are caring. No matter the outcome, whether the child is reunited with their birth family or joins their new forever family, these foster moms and dads are a true representation of unconditional love. It's not that they don't get heartbroken or frustrated; they just advocate for the children regardless of their own emotions. We have some new friends through our homeschool group who I deeply admire. They have 5 children altogether, and are just inspiring. The kids are well-adjusted, well-behaved, and obviously loved. They help give us the courage to grow our family!
We have some other friends who are fostering infants. A blessedly tough job! Imagine, they are getting all the precious snuggling and sweet newborn moments, but also taking all the sleepless nights, fussy tummies, and developing diaper movements! I think God puts a special strength in families like this, to go through the physical demands of a newborn never knowing how long they will be in your arms.
Other family friends work as respite care providers, caring for children in the system when their main foster family needs time off. I can only imagine the stresses of adjusting to a new child or children in the home in just a few days, only to have them leave and the dynamics be reset each time.
So this is our salute to all you foster parents (and grandparents) out there - I can only imagine the smile on God's face as He sees you care for His children!!
Smiles!
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