This past week I have been quite discouraged with the whole adoption process. After our yard sale, where we raised a good amount of money, I found myself feeling hopeless at how little that money amounted to in the vast amount that we need to adopt. I have always said that each little bit helps, and I truly believe that, but it is hard not to get discouraged when we have $3,000 raised for a $15,000-$20,000. I'm sorry if that sounds unappreciative, that is not my intent, we honestly appreciate every donation! It is just where I have been, what I have been dealing with and I want to be honest with all of you about the emotions we feel on this journey. This was magnified by the fact that we had to say no to being presented to two situations in that past week due to not having enough finances. I know I focus a lot on the cost of adoption, but it really is the one thing that is holding us back.
I was however encouraged a bit on Thursday morning when we met with our adoption agency and they informed us that they do have harder to place situations that come up occasionally that we may be open to that would have less fees. We also spoke with them about steps we are taking to try and locate an expectant mother/couple privately in hopes to keep costs lower, as well as once again considering foster care in which case we will pay emotionally and are trying to prepare ourselves for that. They were incredibly supportive of us exploring three different options and keeping all of these doors open. It was just a nice reminder that they are not in this field for the money, but rather for expectant parents, adoptive parents and children. Please keep praying for us as we explore our options and seek what God has called us to do.
I am going to switch gears briefly as I came across an article that I think some of you may find helpful or interesting. The article discusses the cost difference of surrogacy, international adoption, domestic adoption and foster care adoption. I have said pretty strongly before that we would never consider surrogacy since we struggle with male factor infertility, but also because we feel as though we are called to adopt and would be better off investing our money in a child who needs a family at this point. This article helps back up my argument as you will see that we could adopt 4-5x's for the cost of surrogacy and there is not even a guarantee that a surrogate will get pregnant! I do want to point out that the fees associated with domestic adoption are more what you are likely to find with an agency versus private adoption. Private adoption can be done for less that $10,000 if the expectant mother does not need much financial assistance. If you want to read more, you can follow this link here: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/smart-spending/costs-adoption-vs-surrogacy.aspx
Lastly, I just want to encourage you all again to check out our newest fundraiser. I am incredibly passionate about this fundraiser, the story behind how these fundraisers began and how it helps both the widow and the orphan. You can check out our webpage here: http://bothhandsfoundation.org/ZehrAdoption
And if you want to be involved you can become part of our volunteer team by joining our even on Facebook at "Zehr Family Both Hands Project".
Thank you all again for your prayers, love and support! Many blessings to all of you!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Yard Sale Results!
Hi everyone, in case you didn't see on Facebook, I wanted to catch you all up with the results from our yard sale. We had a ton of generous donations of items, which helped make our sale a success. Like all yard sales, there were people that tried to get us to lower prices beyond what we thought were reasonable, but we had even more people give extra because of our cause. We had a few people come simply because they had been blessed by adoption in some way and wanted to help us out, and we even had people come after things had been picked over and leave a donation without buying anything. Overall, it was a lot of work, but we were so blessed by the experience and unexpected generosity of people, who for the most part, we didn't know.
I had originally announced on Facebook that we made around $1200. Well apparently I was tired after the sale and miscounted. As I went to recount the money to deposit it into our adoption account, I was taken aback when I was suddenly around $1400 not including coins, a couple of last minute donations that my mom had taken and money from a snowblower that my dad had sold earlier in the year. So, after all was said and done, we came out with about $1600! For a yard sale, I would say that's pretty good. We still have a few items left that we are hoping to sell at a later date as well as an electric oven that we received an offer on, but we felt as though they were not offering a fair price. We now have about $3000 to put toward our adoption with more fundraisers in the works! We just want to say thank you for all of you that have contributed so far, we would not be where we are without you!
If you have not had a chance to be involved and you would like to be, you can check out the link below to the page of our next fundraiser that helps the widow and the orphan. If you decide that you want to help out with this one, please let us know as soon as possible as we will be having a meeting soon.
http://bothhandsfoundation.org/ZehrAdoption
Also, thank you for all of you that have been praying for us, especially as we approached our 5 year anniversary today. Anniversaries are always bittersweet and 5 years hit me kind of hard this week. We are so thankful for each other, Scrumpy and all of the many blessings God has given us, but we felt the hole of not being parents more this week than we have in awhile. Thank you and blessings to all of you!
I had originally announced on Facebook that we made around $1200. Well apparently I was tired after the sale and miscounted. As I went to recount the money to deposit it into our adoption account, I was taken aback when I was suddenly around $1400 not including coins, a couple of last minute donations that my mom had taken and money from a snowblower that my dad had sold earlier in the year. So, after all was said and done, we came out with about $1600! For a yard sale, I would say that's pretty good. We still have a few items left that we are hoping to sell at a later date as well as an electric oven that we received an offer on, but we felt as though they were not offering a fair price. We now have about $3000 to put toward our adoption with more fundraisers in the works! We just want to say thank you for all of you that have contributed so far, we would not be where we are without you!
If you have not had a chance to be involved and you would like to be, you can check out the link below to the page of our next fundraiser that helps the widow and the orphan. If you decide that you want to help out with this one, please let us know as soon as possible as we will be having a meeting soon.
http://bothhandsfoundation.org/ZehrAdoption
Also, thank you for all of you that have been praying for us, especially as we approached our 5 year anniversary today. Anniversaries are always bittersweet and 5 years hit me kind of hard this week. We are so thankful for each other, Scrumpy and all of the many blessings God has given us, but we felt the hole of not being parents more this week than we have in awhile. Thank you and blessings to all of you!
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