It's THAT important....

...so I'm posting twice in one day. I want to elaborate on the match book and the fees a bit more.
Right now we are in the process of filling out all the paperwork and getting set up for our education classes. Once our home study is approved and all our education is complete, we can enter the (drum roll) match book! TADA! The match book is a collection of information on other folks like us. We create a sort of ad for ourselves, like a resume but approximately 100x more important. I am not as concerned about the match book itself (for now anyway!) but more concerned about what Summer warned us about entering the match book. Hypothetical situation time. Its February and we've finished the home study and the education. We create our *resume* and put it in the match book. BAM! Because we're so rad a birth mother picks us right away. Lots of things happen and before we know it someone is handing us a baby and telling us what court to show up to, to make everything final. When we go to the court to make everything final, we cut a check to the agency for the full placement fee. Summer suggested that before we enter the match book we have our agency fee ready to be written, because it really could happen that fast. Not typically, but in this situation...nothing is typical. Not sure if y'all caught that...we likely will not enter the match book until we have our fee completely ready to be sent to the agency. From the time you DO enter the match book, its give or take 1 year to be placed with an infant. The longer we hold out on the match book, the longer it could take for BabyB to come home to us.

This is where we talk about fees. If talking about money makes you squeamish, RUN. FOR. THE. HILLS. (I'd lead the way if I could) Our fee seems like a daunting number, in fact, it is. It makes me go, um really, what do you expect us to raise the kid with...maize and beads? I don't think they will give me diapers in exchange for that...But I'm reminded by my more level headed compadres that the number is only daunting ALONE. Which we aren't. God brought us here because He knew we could handle it. He has provided for us when we (me) really didn't know how we would get by. Ask me about the "escrow and the bill" story some time. I truly do believe that God will provide us with enough money to cover these fees.

So here's where we hit you guys up for money, look out! We ask that you would prayerfully consider donating ANY amount you can to help us with our agency fee. I'm going to add PayPal to the blog as soon as I can figure all that out. *Disclaimer - PayPal is slightly stingy and will make us pay a percentage fee on every donation* For me personally, its easier to just pull the card out and make it happen, so I understand the need for PayPal. On the other hand, if you would prefer to do some good old fashioned check writing, all of your donation to bring BabyB home will go directly to that fund. Or cash. Or the spare change in your couch. If you feel like you just can't help us out financially would you consider donating your gently used items to us so that we can add them to our garage sale pile? We plan on having a sale in October sometime when the weather is less like death. Does anyone have any other ideas for raising money?

Here are a few things that, if you're a praying person, we could use prayer for:
+We ask that God would be softening the heart of the birth mother. She may not even be pregnant right now but God knows her and He's already chosen the baby that will be ours.
+We ask that the baby He's chosen for us would be cared for while growing in her body.
+We ask that God would show us new opportunities to raise money to cover our fee.
+We ask for prayer that we would not become frustrated with each other, the process, the money or any other "thing". That we would be focused and completely trusting of Gods will for us.


Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

If you guys have any questions AT ALL please email me, text me or leave a comment. We don't want to keep anything from you if you really are pressed to discuss something!