The Cost of Adoption

We had heard that adoption was expensive, but until we began really looking into adoption, we didn't realize how expensive it was.  There are legal fees, and training costs, and agency costs, immigration fees, travel costs, etc.  When all is said and done, adopting a child from Honduras will cost around $28,000.  God has provided all that we have needed so far but we are only a few thousand dollars into the process.  We know there is still a long way to go.  There are a number of grants and loan programs available for prospective adoptive parents, but most of them require a completed home study before you can apply.  (sidenote: we hope to have our home study completed in the next few weeks)  All of this to say that we are in the process of pulling together two fund-raisers to help bring our daughter home.

First, on Saturday, April 2nd at Clemmer Music Store in Harleysville (764 Harleysville Pike, Harleysville, PA 19438) a friend of ours who is a consultant with Thirty-One will be hosting an Open House from 3-5pm.  If you want to check out the products that will be on sale, go to http://www.mythirtyone.com/bkauffman/.  We would love to see you at the Open House on April 2nd.  If you are unable to make it to Clemmer Music, but want to make a purchase, you can go to the website above, click on "place an order", then select "Alicia Crossgrove".  All orders must be placed before April 6th.  10% of all purchases will go toward the adoption.

Second, we will be having a yard sale this spring.  A good friend of our has held yard sales for a purpose.  She makes sure people know what the yard sale is for, and that all of the money that is collected goes toward that project.  She allows the people making the purchase to set their own price.  She says that some people take advantage of this, but most people will pay more than you would expect because they know it is going to something specific.  In this case, we would let people know that all the money collected would go toward the adoption.  How can you help?  Go through your house, garage, storage unit, and any other place you have stuff stored away and see if there is anything you want to donate to the yard sale.  We have not set a date yet, but once the date is set, we would love to have people help out as well.

That's it for now, if you have other fund raising ideas that don't involve taking one of those glossy catalogs with popcorn and chocolates, or magazine subscriptions to my neighbors, we would love to hear them.