Raising Funds for Our Adoption

To all faithful blog readers and lovers of our family:

We have great news on the adoption scene and it is moving forward as fast as things move like this.  Paperwork is being processed and we hope to have even more news in the coming weeks.  Unless God intervenes in a New Testament Miracle kind of way, it doesn't look like our Maggie will be home by Christmas.  There's some hurt in that but some trust too.  Hopefully the latter outweighs the former in our hearts.

Because things are tracking on along quickly, we're asking for anyone who wants to help out to help out.  There are two basic reasons we're reaching out like this now:

First, with our Peanut, we had 18+ months to work to save.  That allowed us to more or less pay cash for the fees, etc., that went along with the adoption.  We obviously don't have that luxury of time here.  We're at 18 weeks in the process with about 8-12 more to go.  But that doesn't add up to 18 months.  Our capacity to work and save is hindered by the calendar.  As a brief aside, some may want to know why are we pushing so hard on getting her home.  The answer is because of her heart condition, she needs immediate medical attention.  We could burn through our savings to get her, but we also anticipate needing substantial money for her medical needs.  So we're asking for help.

Second, we want to invite people into the process with us.  So many celebrated Peanut's homecoming and dedication in 2009.  But not many got to participate in the earlier stages.  This is an opportunity to do so.  The things we have done and are doing (like the garage sale that many of our friends and neighbors jumped in on) are designed to help people feel like they are working with us, participating with us in the project to Bring Maggie Home, our rallying cry.

So, the calendar and participation.  That's our heart.  So here are the details:

Our estimation of total expenses for the adoption is around $35,000.  We're about $12,000 into that already and have been able to meet all our expenses from working, garage sale, and a few donations.  We're not trying to cover all the rest, but as much as possible.

One big way you can help is purchase a t-shirt.  You see the link in the top right of this blog and here is a link to my wife's post about it.  Husbands, it's a great Christmas idea for the wife.  Trendy and stylish and with a good cause attached.  Again, we're about participation - we want you to know (and others to know too!) that you're helping do something that changes the world.

The other big way you can help is by sharing the info about it.  If you run a blog, you can copy the code in the text box and put that in your blog.  Please tweet info about it.  Please share it on Facebook.  Everything you can do to help is a huge blessing to us.  100% of the proceeds go to Bring Maggie Home.