Wordy Wednesday

We see many blogs that follow the wordless Wednesday where pictures are posted but never words. Anyone who knows me well knows that wordless does not work for me.. Whether it be the first word or the last I gotta have it :) I thought I would talk a little about the costs and time frame since that might be of interest to some of you.

 

Here is an estimate of the costs associated with adopting from Joshua's country. The numbers in in blue are amounts we have to pay upfront while the numbers in red will need to be paid when we receive our travel date.

 This estimate is based upon others who have traveled on this journey to the same country to rescue their sons or daughters.

Promise Trust Fee to RR w/donation- $1225.00

Homestudy- $2000.00

Passports- $ 310.00

Document Fees- cost to get all the necessary certificates (marriage, birth etc) $100.00

Family medicals/bloodwork- $100.00

First packet sent to country- shipping approx $150.00

UCIS fees- for permission to bring orphan into country and fingerprinting- $1000.00

Apostille fees for documents- $100.00

Flights- $5000.00

Facilitator costs- fees for acting as agent for us before we get there, translating dossier and submitting dossier- $8600.00

First trip lodging- $1700.00 ($80/night for 3 weeks)

Second trip lodging- $1100.00 ($80/night for 2 weeks)

First trip food/supplies- $450.00 ($20/per day for 3 weeks)

Second trip food/supplies- $250.00 ($20/per day for 2 weeks)

Visa and Medical for Joshua- $450.00

Transportation in country during both trips- $2000.00

Orphanage donation- $1000.00

* for a second child there is approximately $4,000-$5,000 additional costs- just saying in case :)

Grand total if everything goes according to plan- $25,535.00

Minus the grant Joshua is already blessed to have approximately- $9,420.00 leaving us with about $16,000.00. Because approximately $5,000 is up front costs that we are paying for now without any grant money we have to raise approximately $11,000 from now until travel. If God willing we raise the whole $16,000 we may pursue saving a second child or pay it forward to another family wanting to begin this journey for their up front costs.

So there you have the costs associated with saving our son. When I say any donation is not to pad our bank account- it is true. We have the necessary means to support Joshua when we bring him home it is just that unlike the graphic above we do not have a money tree growing in our back yard. That is why I count on the support of my villagers in every aspect. But in the end, bringing Joshua home will be worth it because he is our son and he is PRICELESS!

Now on to the time frame. We started the process middle of January but due to a glitch with our first home study agency and them holding onto our check for 2 weeks before contacting us that they are no longer doing independent adoption home studies. I am going to give you estimates from the time we met our current social worker. With any adoption we can only give an estimate as so much depends on the timing of others. I will tell you that all of our paperwork has been turned into our social worker with the exception of Dave's employer letter and our state police clearances. (again waiting on the employer and state police)

Our first meeting was on February 25th.  We were told it takes approximately 6 weeks to complete home study. We are hoping she can complete sooner if the above letter and clearances come back soon enough. For this purpose I will estimate 6 weeks bringing us at April 8th. Sending it to the UCIS for our approval which seems to be taking an estimated 8 weeks. That puts us at June 3rd and once we get approval our dossier then gets apostilled and sent to the country to be translated and submitted. Estimation 4 weeks to receive a travel date. So when it is said and done we are looking at possible August travel date. We are hoping sooner of course but again it all depends on how quickly we can get others to act as well. We are ready for him now!!!!! Do you remember me and the patience factor? Yeah again a virtue I could use more of :)

So that is the why it cost so much and the when factor. That is one of the reasons I am trying to raise the funds in short time. Yes, the time issue we are at the mercy of others in this process however, it is up to us to raise the funds when the time comes. The last thing I want is to have money be a factor on when we can go get Joshua. The sooner we raise the funds, the sooner that weight will be off of us. My baby boy has waited too long already, he will spend his first birthday March 30,2011 with little to no fanfare and he deserves every effort on our part to bring him home as soon as we can.

We have about a week and a half left on our puzzle fundraiser. We still have lots of pieces to sell for the ring giveaway but all puzzle piece purchases have the chance to win the diamond butterfly necklace. I would love all the pieces to sell so that I can gift our grandmothers wedding set to someone! I could basically pawn it to raise funds but truly hope to sell all the pieces and gift it to a member of our village that will truly understand the meaning ya know? Dave's grandmother was so instrumental in our having Jacob yet passed away before meeting him. We do not own the most expensive items and this ring set is the most valuable item with the most meaning for our family to offer. Please consider buying a puzzle piece and telling others about our fundraiser so we can sell them all. Thanks for reading my wordy Wednesday post and God bless you and your loved ones!