Million Dollar Baby???

Everyone has heard that adoption is expensive, and it is true! BUT it is not as expensive as people think. Most people think that adoption costs $50,000 and up! It is not that cut and dry. International adoption is much more costly than is domestic adoption. International adoptions do usually cost around $30,000 and vary depending on the country you are adopting from.

• The average cost of an adoption from Korea is about $38,000.
• The average cost of an adoption from Ethiopia is about $28,000.
• The average cost of an adoption from China is about $29,000.
• The average cost of an adoption from Russia is about $50,000.

The average domestic adoption costs around $5,000 to $40,000 depending on your state and the type of agency you go through. Most average people cannot afford either adoption method without fundraising, grants and finishing up with a loan. Ours is a domestic adoption. We are looking at our adoption costing around $15,000 total. We are currently in the process of fundraising. It is a slow climb for sure. To date we have raised $48.43, and we are VERY thankful to all of those who have contributed to our fundraiser by purchasing T-shirts.
There has in previous years been an adoption tax credit. In 2011, the credit was $13,360. In 2012, it was $12,650. The projection for 2013 is that the credit will only be $5,000 to $6,000 and only adoptions of special needs children will qualify. Needless to say, we can't count on the grant.  It way not even be there at all.

We are hoping to hold other fundraisers as time goes on. One mom told me that once we start fundraising don't stop till baby comes home. I can see where she was coming from, it just may take that long to get there!  lol  We are hoping to be able to completely fund our adoption, but in the end loans are available for the part we can't raise. It would just be better on us financially not to have a monthly loan payment due if possible.  

Through it all I still have this to say: It is all obviously a very slow go, but I know God has a plan in it. He set us on this path and He knows the roads He is leading us down. He already has it all figured out, and we just have to trust Him. He knows our finances better than we do, and He already has our checkbook balanced on this too. We know that because He called us to adoption that He will make the way for us. We have faith in that. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? - Numbers 23:19

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. - 2 Corinthians 1:20

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. - Hebrews 10:23

Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD. - Psalm 117 

Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. - Psalm 119:89-90

If you would like to view our current fundraiser through Adoption Bug, you can do so by clicking on the link below.

http://adoptionbug.com/laramoreadoption/

Also if you have any ideas of future fundraisers we can do, we would love to hear from you!!
e-mail - crlaramore07@gmail.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/christy.laramore

or comment below  :)

Credits: 

The Adoption Guide (http://www.theadoptionguide.com/)
Adoption.com (http://www.adoption.com/)
Image:
Matt's Financial Blog (http://matthewpdoyle.wordpress.com/)

Going Global with GOD :)

Just thought I'd share this.  It is so awesome to me to see just where our blog is being viewed.  I started this blog as a way to share what God is doing in our lives throughout our adoption journey.  We also thought it would help to keep our family and friends up to date on the progress.  We would have never pictured it going past the southeast region of the United States, but IT DID!!!  Below is a chart that shows every country that our blog has been viewed in and how many times.  Simply amazing.  I KNOW God has a plan in this.  I am so excited that God is using our little blog to reach other countries!  Thank you, Lord!

Entry	Pageviews
United States	971
Russia	65
United Kingdom	20
China	14
Germany	8
Sweden	8
Denmark	4
Japan	4
Ukraine	4
Latvia	2

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
-Isaiah 55:11

Just the facts...

DID YOU KNOW?

Fast facts about pregnancy, adoption and abortion

http://www.birthmotherministries.org/extras/fast-facts.htm

PREGNANCY

• There are 6.4 million pregnancies a year in the U.S.
• 49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended.
• At 18 days after conception, the (baby's) heart is forming, and the eyes start to develop. By 21 days, the heart is pumping blood throughout the body.
• At 42 days after conception (6 weeks), a baby's brain waves can be recorded, and the baby's skeleton is complete.
• 79% babies born at 25 weeks' gestation in the U.S. survive.

ADOPTION

• About 2% of U.S. children under the age of 18 are adopted. 
• Nearly 4 in 10 American adults (81.5 million) have considered adoption.
• Since 1987, the number of adoptions annually in the U.S. has remained relatively constant, ranging from 118,000 to 127,000.
• An estimated 10 million couples would attempt to adopt a child domestically if they felt they had a realistic opportunity to do so.
• 48% families considering adoption turn to their houses of worship for support and information.
• A growing number of children are now placed through independent (private) adoption with estimates ranging from 1/2 to 2/3 of infant adoptions.
• 2% of unmarried women at any age place their children for adoption.
• In 1998, 56% of Americans held a "very favorable" opinion of adoption. Today, 63% hold this opinion.
• November is National Adoption Awareness Month.
• Fewer than 50,000 children find families through intercountry adoption each year.

ABORTION

• "The 3,733 abortions occurring every day in America are ... more than all the lives lost in the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center." -Randy Alcorn in Why Pro-Life?
• Half of unplanned pregnancies in America end in abortion; 24% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriage) end in abortion.
• 84% women who have had an abortion say they would have kept their babies under different circumstances.
• Only 1/3 Americans find abortion morally acceptable; 2/3 find it morally wrong.
• An overwhelming number of teens find abortion abhorrent ... maybe it's because millions of other teens who would have been their friends and peers never made it out of the womb. 
• In 2008, Planned Parenthood performed 134 abortions for every 1 adoption referral.
• 8 out of 10 pregnancy care centers (PCCs) report that abortion-minded women decide to keep their babies after seeing ultrasound images.

Credit:  The information above can be found on Birthmother Ministries website. http://www.birthmotherministries.org/extras/fast-facts.htm

Loss Experts

We just wrapped up the second book in our series and have our meeting tomorrow to go over what we learned and to receive Book #3. Book #2's title is 'Understanding Separation and Loss'. According the text we as potential foster/adoptive parents must become loss experts. At first I took this as a challenge... "Yes! I will become a Loss Expert" (in my best "Super Mom" voice). But the more and more I read into the workbook, the more and more impossible that seemed. Webster defines an expert as being a person having great knowledge, experience or skill in a certain field. I personally hope that I never qualify as a true expert in loss.
Children who enter care experience many losses and separations along the way. It is really sad to me that ones so young DO end up being loss experts. They start out with the loss of their parents whether it be by abandonment, death, or court order. From the very start of the process, they are dealing with things that no child should ever have to face. Then they enter foster care. Some children end up living in a few to several different foster homes over the years. Each move means more separation and more loss. They leave behind the adults who cared for them as parents, the other children who were as close to them as siblings, the stability of the routine they learned in that home, the comfort of their surroundings... and they start over. Most will eventually be adopted into permanent homes, but many will stay in the system until adulthood and leave foster care having never officially joined a family. 

 We often take for granted what we have. We don't see how blessed we are to have our simple lives... to live with our birth family in ONE (maybe two) homes, but always with our own family. We don't realize how many children just wish they could have that.
However, the children are not the only ones who experience loss through the process. The birth parents have to watch their child be taken from them, not really knowing if or when they will be able to get them back. If they work with the agency and make the necessary changes, they WILL eventually return home, but it is a process that can take some time. If the child is returned to their parents, then the foster parents will experience a loss when they leave. Some children will stay with a few different families during their time in care. Each change equals a loss to the foster parents and to the children. 

The ones no one really thinks about are the agency workers. They also experience loss. Society sometimes has a way of painting social workers as villains out to steal our children and give them to other wealthier families. NOT THE CASE AT ALL!! Social workers have the interest of each child at heart. They don't want to see children removed from their parents' home. That is why they take such care in creating a plan to have them reunited as quickly as possible. That is the ultimate goal, but sometimes it is not possible despite the social worker's best efforts. At this point the social worker experiences a loss. The loss of the hope of reuniting a family. This family will never be "whole" again. That's a lot of weight to carry even knowing it's not their fault. And with each move that they watch that child have to make, that burden will get heavier and heavier. you would think that the child finally being adopted into a forever family would relieve all the pressure, but what you have to understand is that it brings about a different kind of loss in itself. To this point, the social worker has been in charge of the child and been in close contact with them. Upon adoption, the child will be in full custody of the adoptive parents. The social worker will fade to the background and out of the child's daily life.
The entire process of foster care and adoption is full of separations and losses that will affect all involved. God gives us hope for these times in the Bible. He offers us comfort during our pain. He is the truest Loss Expert.

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.' - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

'Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.' - Matthew 5:4

'For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.' - Romans 8:18

'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' - Isaiah 41:10

'and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away' - Revelation 21:4

5 Comforting Psalms About Grief

'The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.' - Psalm 18:2

'This is my comfort in my affliction, That Thy word has revived me.' - Psalm 119:50

'For Thou dost light my lamp; The LORD my God illumines my darkness.' - Psalm 18:28

'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.' - Psalm 23:4

'My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' - Psalm 73:26

My prayer today is for all those involved in the foster care and adoption process.  I am thankful for those who bear the burdens of being the social workers and the foster parents. I pray that they will all feel the comfort and love of God surrounding them; that they will have the strength and courage to carry on in the hard times knowing that better times are ahead.  I pray that all those who are experiencing loss know that they are never truly alone, because God is always with them, and He will never forsake them.  He will guide them through to the dark and into the light of His plan for them. And I pray that through it all God receives all the glory and that everyone will know God and His works for the miracles they are. I also pray for the ministry that will come from it all as the testimonies unfold, and people tell of what God has done in their lives. These things I ask in Jesus name. Amen.