$2,000!!...and Breakdown of Costs

Our FSP is up to $2,000!!! Thank you to whoever donated to get us there!!! We are so blessed! We have had an awesome donor offer to pay for our first set of round trip plane tickets, and raised enough through the beach giveaway to pay for the second set of round trip tickets (although we're prayin' our hearts out maybe our 10 day wait will be waived and we can do it in one trip!). The two sets of round trip plane tickets are estimated at $5,000, so that is a huge chunk of our costs, already paid for!! I don't think I've ever done a breakdown of costs on Zoya's blog or Laina's....so here's an idea of costs in addition to the estimated $5,000 for plane tickets:

The first biggest chunk of money goes toward facilitator fees, which are $9,000! Those fees cover

   *Review/approval of all dossier documents
   *Translation of dossier documents
   *Notarization of dossier documents
   *Submission of dossier to the State Department for Adoption in capital city
   *Work with SDA until dossier is approved
   *All bureaucratic and legal fees (including expedition fees)
   *Translation of all the child’s documents required for the US Embassy to get visa
   *Donation to the orphanage

Other services not included in that fee and that will cost an additional amount are:

*Accommodations both in capital and in the region: $80/night--estimated at $2,800 for 5 weeks in country
*Groceries/Food: $20/day--estimated at $700 for 5 weeks in country

*Transportation-trains/planes/automobiles in country--estimated at $2,000, although cost us more last trip
*Medical examination in capital – $150
4.   Visa application in the US Embassy in capital – $404 per child
5.   Passport and expediting – $250-$600 per child, varies by region

Sooo.....in country costs are approximately $20,650....

Costs we have already paid out of pocket total approximately $4,000. These costs include:

PA police clearances, Child Abuse Clearances, FBI Clearances: $106

Homestudy: $1,100

RR application Fee and Promise Trust: $1,025

Marriage Certificates: $15

Apostilles: $675

Postage/DHL Fees: $271

USCIS application and fingerprints fee: $890

Sooo....plane tickets, covered! We have $2,000 in FSP plus $500 from a diamond ring we sold, plus $800 from our garage sale (we recently sold a couple more items to raise our total!), and are hoping to make about $1,000 from our candle sale! We will (hopefully) get reimbursed $3,000 from Shawn's employer toward adoption costs, $100 from Laina's Locker sales (so far), and my friend Shelly is also doing a candle sale and a garage sale for Laina! Soo....that means we've raised about $11,250...almost HALF of our costs are covered!! Woohooo! We are madly saving away and Shawn is working extra hours. He will not be able to take any vacation because he has already used his vacation for the year (remember we didn't commit to Laina until after our free trip to Florida and really had no idea we'd be adopting again anytime soon so had no reason to "save vacation"). So his time off for travel will all be unpaid...so we are saving extra for his unpaid time as well.

God is good and when he led us to adopt this time around, we didn't flinch at the cost because where there is a will, there is a way and where there is a God, there are miracles!

So my friends, now that you've seen the breakdown of costs...you know why we are so very thankful for your donations!! You are all a little piece of Laina's story, through your support, kind words, encouragement, and donations!