Money or Not...Here We Come! (Part 1)

  I have debated whether to make a post about money but it is a very big part of the adoption process.  I know I have appreciated reading other people's blog post's on this subject.  I have so many thoughts and feelings swirling around in my head, I hope I can make it all make sense. I have so much to say about it I'm going to split it into 3 posts so it doesn't get too lengthy.   Nevertheless here it goes....

  Of course like most people who feel led to adopt we didn't have thirty extra thousand dollars laying around.  To be honest with you we didn't even have a savings account.  We have always had what we need but not much extra.  We are planners by nature so if there would be something we wanted we saved to buy it.  When God spoke to us about adopting it's the first time we stepped out financially on faith, meaning we weren't going to be able to save it all before we started the process.  We believed if God was calling us to this then he would provide the way.

 I had been a stay at home mom to Isaac until he started second grade.  I got a job as a para because I was bored, or so I thought, but God was lining things up just right to provide the way.  We were used to living on just Jason's income so I have been able to save most of my checks for the adoption.

 I kind of think about the adoption fees in 3 steps.  Step 1- the homestudy, dossier fees, I-800A fee, etc.  Step 2- the big chunk at time of referral and Step 3- travel.  Now when we started this process our plan was to save the 6,000 dollars for step 1, get a loan for step 2 (because there was no way we could save over 11,000 dollars) and then save for step 3 (6 to 8 thousand...give or take).

 We were able to pay all of step 1 with my paychecks.  I felt very grateful just to be able to come up with that much.  Let me tell you it was scary for me (who is a type A personality) to write that first big check.  I had to have Jason sit beside me for support because it represented the physical "step of faith".  It's one thing to say you are trusting God but a whole other thing to actually write that check and have faith God will provide the rest but we made it through step 1 of our financial goal!  Ahhh....sigh of relief.