1st Time Around

If you are not familiar with our story and would like to know how we came to the decision to adopt the first time you can visit our family blog here and read all about the beginning.

In October of 2011 we committed to the adoption of a little boy from Russia. We had just started to recover from a financial learning experience and we were admittedly hesitant to follow what we believe to be a call from God to go to Russia. There were several other countries (including our own) that would have allowed us to adopt with a fraction of the financial commitment. But we knew we needed to go to Russia and we needed to get to it quickly. Our son was born the very same month we began the process and we assumed that was why we had been prompted to adopt from Russia when we did. We had no idea the adoption ban was coming. We are grateful for the foresight and guidance of a Father in Heaven who knows exactly what and why in every situation.

We were humbled to see the hundreds of blessing unfold during our adoption experience. Every step was God-lead and every penny we needed to complete our adoption came at just the right time. We believed it was necessary to use a personal line of credit and small amounts on our credit cards to complete our adoption. In hind sight, knowing that we missed the ban by a mere 2 months, we are grateful to have had the ability to use our credit to bring our son home.

But now that we are continuing to follow the path laid before us, we believe it is possible to complete an international adoption without debt. We know it. And we have committed to it. Now it is our task to figure out how.

The first step is to take a good hard look at how things worked out the first go round. Russia is literally the most "expensive" adoption option. The quotations are because we are talking about a child. Could you immagine an amount too high for one of your children?

We were told to anticipate approximately $50,000 in total expenses (travel and everything) to complete our adoption from Russia. We are still in awe to look back and realize we managed to put together that amount in just 13 months.

We were able to accomplish this (through the grace of God) by cashing in investments and selling assets, contributing a significant amount per month from our personal income, fundraising, and using credit.

With our next adoption there are no major assets left to sell, investments to cash in, or significant savings to apply. In fact, although we have already paid off the personal line of credit we used for our first adoption, we still have a small amount of credit card debt to pay off from our final trip to Russia.

But, as I have said before: God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.

So, we are hoping you will join us on this journey as we work to achieve the task laid before us: adopting without debt.