The Potential of Social Media

buttons courtesy Craftiments

I wish we didn't have to fundraise.

Fundraising means asking people for money and I've worked all of my life to never have to do that.  I read a blog recently that said one of the "pros" to fundraising was that it humbles you and that is some serious truth.  My husband and I had $39K in student loan debt and car loan that we fought our way out of using the principles in Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. It got us to the place where we could finally have true financial peace.  We were going to start saving for an adoption so that we didn't have to ask for a penny.  

Well, you know what God does with our perfect plans?  He makes your cousin ask you to go to China to visit orphans after you had decided to put your plans to adopt on hold. He leads you to fall in love with a little boy with a serious heart defect.  He makes you ask for help because you can't do this alone.

And I know that by asking for help, this first of all tells the world that we don't have $20k laying around.  We did have some savings and we are using that now. We are using my husband's 3rd paychecks since he gets paid bimonthly. We are using our photography business profits.  We are using the vacation funds we saved. 

I also have to constantly fear that the world is judging our every financial decision.  I'm afraid our friends are going to give us $25 and then see us at Chick-fil-A and judge us for eating out.  I'm afraid that I'm going to post that we went to the zoo and people are going to think that we should have used that money towards the adoption. This is probably crazy but welcome to my crazy brain. We are trying to cut back in any area to fund as much as we can ourselves.  We are also still trying to maintain a healthy level of normal for our 3 girls.

So here we are. We have written a lot of checks already but the biggest financial obstacles are yet to come. We have to pay for our travel, Liam's visas/passports, the fee to the orphanage and our final payment to our agency which is estimated at about $20,000.  Due to some amazing and generous donations already, we are down to about $18,860.  

That's only about $6.82/person if all the people that follow me on Twitter or are friends with my husband and I on Facebook donated.  I know that isn't going to happen but just imagine it.  For less than the cost of a coffee and snack at Starbucks, we would have every penny we needed to bring our son home, give him a family and the medical care he needs.  

I'm not trying to guilt anyone to giving to something they don't want to.  This is simply an invitation to be a part of something amazing. That's one thing that my husband loved about our first adoption meeting with America World (our agency).  It wasn't a guilt trip or a bunch of sad pictures of lonely kids.  It was an invitation to be a part of God's redemptive story and we heard the testimonies of those who have gone through it. 

We are so overwhelmed with gratitude at those who have already given.  People have donated money in absolutely stunning amounts.  Every time someone has handed us a check, I've come away grateful to be given the opportunity to see how generous people are.  

If you can give, we invite you to. It is secure, tax deductible and greatly appreciated.

You can give as little as $10 or as much as you want.

You can give monthly or weekly to break it down. If you wanted to give $100, you could give $20 for 5 months.

You can give here at AdoptTogether,

God bless you.