Airline discount

I just spoke to Delta, and they said adoption travel is 65% off! I had heard that, but thought it only applied to the children's trip home! I am so excited about it! That's less that half the original price! Woo-hoo! Thank you Lord!

Back on Track...

Well, after my recent meltdown/panic attack, I am back on track. I know God will take care of the expense and all the bumps in the road. He always has, so why would He stop now?


And honestly, the expense part over all is far less stressful than the time line. I want my kids home as soon as possible!

So this week (instead of panicking), I'm just going to pray twice as hard.

On May the 9th, it will have been 2 months since I sent my dossier to my adoption agency. I am praying that they will send it to Ghana by May the 9th.
 
I just can't wait for them to be home, running around in the yard, climbing trees, riding bikes.... It's going to be so much fun!
 

So, Now What?

Today I have lost it.

Word has been spreading over that last week that Ghana now REQUIRES both parents be present in court. One of the reason we chose to adopt from Ghana is that neither of us had to travel for court. It was one of the only countries we could afford to adopt from. (Not to mention I just fell in love with the country for some reason.)



So all the sudden it goes from neither of us traveling for court to both of us traveling for court. At first I was a little discouraged. It's gonna be a little extra cost than we thought. Then I started REALLY thinking about it. It's not a little extra cost. It's ALOT extra.


First, Al will miss a week of work. With no pay.

That's gonna hurt. Alot.

On top of that is the cost of food and a hotel for that week. That wouldn't be so bad, if we weren't missing a WHOLE PAYCHECK for that week!

Then, I got the bright idea to check the flight price on Delta's website. Heart attack!


I was nearly in tears when the price popped up as $2,059.99. How are we going to afford $2,059.99?

Oh wait- that tiny writing. It says "per passenger".


And I'm pretty sure there is another part of the agency's fee due before travel!


So it has now gone from 'we are going to be completely broke' to 'we can't do it'. Not that it will be REALLY difficult. Can't. Do. It. There is not even that much money in the bank! Checking and savings combined!!



So what now? We can't just say "Sorry kids, we don't have the money."



We can't say "Just wait another year or two, then maybe we can afford you".



I just don't know.



Anybody who has been through this whole thing- any idea?


I've already depleted my (very small) 401k. We've called about borrowing against Al's 401k twice. They DO NOT allow us to borrow for adoption.
 
We've even sold several pieces of furniture from our house! Still not enough.
 
So, now what?

A Whole Month of Nothing...

In case you wonder what's been going on the last month or so... NOTHING at all! We mailed our dossier to the agency on March 9th. I'd like to say we're waiting on a court date. But we're not. We are waiting for our agency's rep to look over our dossier before they send it to Ghana. He was in Ghana recently, and just got back on March 30th. Hopefully he's back to work this week so he can look at the dossier & send it over so we can start waiting for a court date!

Mete Twi, Kakra!

(I speak Twi, a little.) I started trying to learn Twi about a week ago. I just finished Pimsleur's Twi course. It is very short, but helpful. I can only say about 10 sentences. But hey- it's a start! Now on to my 2nd CD that I bought on Ebay. I don't even know the name of the course, but it looks alot harder! But I'm willing to give it a shot! It would be awesome to be able to speak to my children in their native language. (Even if it's only 10 sentences!)

A little about my kids...

I was just scanning my own blog (weird, I know) when I realized that I haven't even given any information about our future children! I guess I forgot everyone can't read my mind!

Well, we are adopting two children. (Which I suppose everyone has already figured out.) The oldest is a 7 year old girl. She will be 8 in May. Since I'm not sure about posting their names, I'll call her S. Her little brother is 5 1/2 years old. I'll call him K for now. Truth be told, I'm not even sure how to pronounce their names! (Do their letters make different sounds than ours?) Oh well.


My biological daughter is 9 1/2. (That sounds so old! Seems like she was just a baby a few years ago....) She can't wait to meet her new brother and sister. She finds things all the time that she wants to save for them (clothes, toy cars, funny shaped rocks....) She's gonna be a great big sister!

So, there you have it. A (very short) summary of the kids!

Look into these eyes...

These are the eyes of my future children. I just can't wait to get them home. I know I have a long way to go, but I am already getting impatient! I never was really good at waiting. I think the rep from our agency should be back in the US this week or so. I hope he brings new pictures of the children with him! I only have one, and it's almost a year old! I can't wait to find out more information about them. Like what other languages do they speak? Do they have any nicknames? I want to know all I can about them!