So What is Left to Pay?

Basically here is what is left to pay:

Orphanage Donations for each child = approximately $12,000 total ($6,000 for each child)
In Country Fees = $3,000

For a grand total of approximately $15,000 still needed to be fully funded.

AND ....before you get your panties in a wad about the orphanage "donation" - please consider this:
This money is used to help reimburse the orphanage system for 4-5 years worth of care for our children ...and one of our children had open heart surgery for crying out loud!

This is seriously such a gross under-payment for anything and everything these two children have required in food, nurture, education and medical care over the last 4-5 years.

As I have said before, Chinese culture is a very complicated one.  Unless you have lived there, or experienced the orphan and adoption scene for yourself ...I encourage you to please be careful about rushing to any judgments.  Even those of us who have adopted from there, we still really have no idea what is is like for the families who actually live there and the kind of "choices" they are required to make each and every day ...most of which we in this country will never, ever have to come close to.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of our adoption expenses, experiences ...really anything at all, please feel free to comment or contact me.  I am happy to share.
Thank you all again for your prayers and support!

Rant over, night!

Adoption Funding Updates

Who's Got Their Praise On?

Thanks so several donations, an online auction and a few adoption grants which just came through, we have just hit the $30,000 raised mark!! We sort of jumped from $15,000 to $30,000 in just a few days time. ...which means that I didn't get to use my sweet thermometer graphics that I had ready to go for the $20,000 and $25,000 marks.  Oh, well ....I can just use them next time around! :)  

Only $15,000 to go!  To God be the Glory!  Great Things He has Done!
Thank you to everyone of you for your prayers and support!

Adoption Fees and Costs

This post is also for all those mobile device users who have missed all of the painstaking and oh so interesting break-down of all our adoption expenses.

Adoption Cost : Start at bottom of the list and work your way to the top.  And if you add it all up, it comes to approximately $45,000 to $47,000. (There is some variance in the that price due to travel cost fluctuation and some document processing fees.)

• 25. Additional Documentation Fees - $400 - PAID January 2016
• 24. Post Placement Reports Translation and Transmission Fees - $600
• 23. Children's plane tickets home - $2,000
• 22. In Country Travel Costs (lodging, food, translator, transportation, etc.) - $6,000
• 21. Plane Tickets (round trip) - $4,500
• 20. In Country Legal Expenses - $3,000 ($1,500 per child)
• 19. Child's U.S. entry Visa and processing fees - $700 ($350) per child
• 18. Child's File Update Fee - $160 ($80 each child) - PAID June 2016
• 17. Orphanage Donation for 2 children - $12,000 ($6,000 each)
• 16. International Processing Fee (part three) - $2,000 - PAID June 2016
• 15. International Processing Fee (part two) - $500 - PAID June 2016
• 14. Agency Fee (part two) - $500 - PAID June 2016
• 13. Dossier Documents Authentication Fees - $700 to $1,000 - PAID March 2016
• 12.CCCWA charge - $1,450 (Chinese Children's Welfare System) - PAID February 2016
• 11. Dossier Processing Fee - $500 - PAID February 2016
• 10. International Processing Fee (part one) - $2,000 - PAID February 2016
• 9. USCIS Filing and Finger Printing - $975 - PAID February 2016
• 8. Agency Fee (part one) - $2,000 - $1,200 was PAID with WACAP Promise Child Grant
• 7. Passport Renewal Fees - $450 - PAID November 2015
• 6. Post-Placement Reports Fees - $900 - PAID November 2015
• 5. Home Study Mileage Fee - $50 PAID November 2015
• 4. Home Study Fees - $1,500- PAID November 2015
• 3. Home Study Application Fee - $200 PAID 9-28-2015
• 2. Pre-Approval Application Fee - $500 PAID 9-15-2015
• 1. Application Fee - $350 PAID 8-21-2015
• Begin Here and Move up the list:

Adoption Timeline

Is has occurred to me that those of you who view this blog on a mobile device may be missing all of the spectacular information that I have been updating in the side bar.   Therefore, for your reading pleasure, I thought I would post our adoption timeline as a blog post too!  

I would be so very sad if I spent all of this time and effort on all of these tedious details for no one to appreciate them!  So here you go!  .

...And YES, it really has taken us a year for this process to unfold!  Through it all, however, GOD has been faithful and HIS fingerprints are all over this story.

Our Adoption Timeline:

(...and because I would really like to add to your confusion ...the beginning starts at the bottom.  You need to go to the bottom and read from the bottom to the top.)

• Article 5 Pick up scheduled for September 8 - Article 5 is the last phase before our papers are submitted to CCCWA for Travel Approval (TA). - We should get travel clearance within a week of this pick up date. We should travel in about two weeks after that which is approximately the end of September 2016
• August 23, 2016 - DS-260 confirmation page, copy of the NVC (National Visa Center) letter, agency version of the Letter Seeking Confirmation and all other required supporting documents were submitted to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China today!!
• August 22, 2016 - Submitted DS-260 Immigrant Visa Electronic Application for each child
• August 17, 2016 - Received I 800 Approval (I 800 is the USCIS form to "Classify an orphan as an immediate relative")
• August 2, 2016 - Received form I 797 from the USCIS - They are processing our I 800 now
• July 15, 2016 - I 800 sent (USCIS petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative)
• July 13, 2016 - Letter Seeking Confirmation
• July 8, 2016 - Officially MATCHED with our children
• July 5, 2016 - Dossier out of translation and In REVIEW
• June 13, 2016 - Dossier is Logged Into the CCCWA (LID - Logged In Date).
• June 3, 2016 - Dossier is on its way to China!
• May 31, 2016 - Dossier is done at Chinese Embassy and on its way to our agency, WACAP, in Washington state.
• May 24, 2016 - Dossier is at the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC for processing.
• May 17, 2016 - Dossier is at Washington DC Sec. of State for processing.
• May 13, 2016 - Sent all dossier documents to the courier in Washington DC.
• May 10, 2016 - Got last certification back from Kansas Sec of State.
• May 5, 2016 - Got self-employment letter from local bank and sent to Kansas Sec of State for certification.
• May 1, 2016 - Decide to go another route for Cherri's self-employment verification letter since the State of Illinois took three weeks to decide they would not certify the document.
• April 30, 2016 - Received letter back from Illinois Sec of State saying they will not certify document because notary did not write her county on the form.
• April 18, 2016 - Send home study to Missouri Sec of State for authentication
• April 15, 2016 - Receive documents back from Kansas Sec of State (Oops, one document has to go to Missouri instead!)
• April 6 & 7, 2016 - Submit documents to Kansas, Maryland and Illinois Secretary of State offices for authentication of notary signatures
• March 29, 2016 - Received I 800 A Approval Letter
• March 14, 2016 - Finger Printing Appointment at the KC USCIS office
• February 22, 2016 - Received Finger Printing Appointment Letter
• February 12, 2016 - WACAP submits I 800 A application to USCIS
• February 5, 2016 - I 800 A application submitted to WACAP for review
• January 20, 2016 - Home study officially approved
• January 2016 - Documentation issue resolved
• December 2015 - Home study complete but a hang up with some documentation
• October 2015 - Begin working on Home Study, including KBI background checks and fingerprinting
• September 24, 2015 - Pre Approval to proceed with Min Na's adoption
• September 18, 2015 - Pre Approval to proceed with Wen Bo's adoption
• September 2015 - Begin working on a parenting plan for two children
• Later August 2015 - Find a girl age 4 (Min Na)
• August 2015 - Find a boy age 3 (Wen Bo)
• July 2015 - Begin feeling like the Lord is saying yes to prayers
• 2013-2015 Praying about adopting again from China