Ever since you said YES, time has broadened your horizons, giving them new and brighter colors and making them more beautiful every day. But you have to continue saying YES.
~ Escriva The Furrow
Thank you everyone for your generous support and self giving for this family endeavor. We will forever be indebted to you as we daily take on the privilege of loving these two boys who are already so excited to step into a bright new world awaiting them. From both sides, theirs and ours, we are emerging from our caves to give and receive. If only money could buy us the tenacity to do it all well daily with supernatural energy, right? But that comes through a priceless investment of prayer for which we will never stop asking and giving in return. As a favorite saint, St. Josemaria Escriva so wisely said, “Once you were pessimistic, hesitant and apathetic. Now you are completely transformed: you feel courageous, optimistic and self-confident, because you have made up your mind, at last, to rely on God alone.”
So I’d like to preface the financial breakdown once again with some clarity. I remember when adopting Miriam 6 years ago that Cole would ask questions like:
How much does she cost?
How much do we have to pay for her?
As we all know, a person cannot be bought. We are not inanimate objects. All humans have a God-given soul and a dignity upon conception that cannot be made any more full or taken away or bought or sold. It can only be guarded and protected.
That said, in the case of adoptions in our current civilization, for the protection of the children, especially those who have been abandoned or humbly given over for the good of the child (as with Mimi and Coco’s infant adoptions), there are legalities that must be walked through and adhered to. The best interest of the child is in the hands of the State and the agencies. The agencies and their staff are the bridge for the children between the State and the birthparents and the waiting parents. To secure the union of the family and the new identity fo the child, painstaking services are provided. For this adoption, we are going through Little Miracles International for our home study here in Germany and the placement agency Agape International, out of Washington State. The courts both in the US and Bulgaria take the placement of these boys very seriously and that require s services provided by both agencies, attorneys and country and state officials which are not free. So we with your help are paying for the guardianship and protection and well being of these boys throughout the process, from preapproval to finalization.
And to be clear, we found and are pursuing these boys, but they have to choose us too. They are not being forced into this. They are eager to have a family and to be in ours. We have written a letter of intent to them explaining our reason to want to adopt them and they have responded positively. And we hope that our travels in early spring 2020 to spend a required week with them will solidify their desires. We hope they think we are “cool” enough.
And we have to keep saying yes too with each foggy moment.
I’ve linked to the fee schedule below. It covers some costs we have already covered prior to the GoFundMe campaign. And it includes costs after placement and travel, as well. Some of the costs are doubled with two children, so the final amount is a little off.
Light Strung Studio 