The following are excerpts from an aritcle by Crown Financial Ministries (www.crown.org)  You can read the full article here~ http://www.crown.org/LIBRARY/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=276 .  If you've ever felt a tug in  your heart about adoption, but didn't think you could afford it, read this article and pray.  If that tug is from God, He will provide a way in every area of question.

"Adoption offers a chance at a new beginning for many children cared for by state and private agencies and international orphan situations. Families constitute the building blocks of God's Kingdom. A strong family unit provides an orphan with the love and security that is needed to ensure that they grow into healthy adults and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (NIV).

Adoption is part of the Great Commission, and we see that God's heart of compassion for the fatherless is clearly expressed throughout Scripture. We see adoption by believers as "missions in reverse" because adoption provides an opportunity to reach across the globe and bring children into homes where Jesus is present and God's Word is central.

The decision to adopt
Because the adoption of children needs to be planned, within reason, a decision to adopt must be made with prayer and the counsel of mature and trusted Christians..........

..........Depending on the circumstances, the cost of adoption can range between nothing to $30,000.

.......Many options exist to help families bridge the gap between their budgets and the costs for adoption. The US government provides a federal tax credit per child adopted in a tax year (which for tax year 2007, was a maximum of $11,390 - see www.irs.ustreas.gov) and some states offer up to $10,000 tax credits (Georgia's was $10,160 for 2006). Many corporations offer adoption assistance programs (www.adopting.org), and the US military offers a non-recurring subsidy for military personnel (www.militaryadoption.com).   

(Letitia's note:  the tax credit mentioned here, is not a deduction, but an actual credit.   If you owe $500 on your taxes this year, the credit will wipe that out.  It then carries over year after  year until you have used the entire amount.  The article goes on here to list several grants and options to fund an adoption. )

........If you are seeking the Lord's will for your life and in the life of an orphan who needs a home, and are obedient to His call, He will provide a way for you to finance it without having to jeopardize your future. Matthew 6:31-33 says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (NIV). In Philippians 4:19 we read, "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (NIV).

........The financial barriers to adoption can seem overwhelming, but fortunately, we do not have to look at the outward appearance of things; we can look to the One who controls all the circumstances of our lives.

If a couple feels strongly that God is directing them to adopt and/or to reach out to an orphan, they should begin to save and to prepare for the expenses, and to prayerfully make their needs known to their church, family, and friends. If God is truly leading a couple to adopt, He will be faithful to provide for all of the financial needs. "

Go here to read more specifics on funding adoptions.  http://www.crown.org/LIBRARY/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=276 

I will remind you here, that if you adopt from the foster care system, there is no or little expense.  I read one of my friends here say that their adoption cost $40!!  If God is leading you to adopt, whether domestically, foster, or international, don't let fears or questions stop you from doing what He is calling you to.  (When we adopted Marissa, we had no clue what we were doing, and didn't know anyone who had adopted IRL or online.)  Pray.  Ask for confirmation that your desire is from Him.  Be open.  Ask questions~there is a long list of my "Adoption Friends" in my sidebar, and millions of others to talk to and ask questions.  And, of course, you can ask me!  : )  God ALWAYS provides a way for His work.  Millions of children await someone to love them, teach them, and share God's love with them.  Ask God if you're one of them.

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Today we celebrated the 9th anniversary of Marissa's adoption.  She loves her special day, that she prefers to call Gotcha Day--"because we're so glad we've gotcha!"  We celebrated with her yearly request of homemade ice cream sandwiches--toll house cookies with vanilla ice cream between two.  We also spent time as a family looking at her scrapbook of our trip to get her, and telling her stories again of things that happened on the trip, what we did that day, and where we were at "this" time.  Tonight, at her request, we are having the always healthy Papa John's pizza for supper.

Marissa was born on May 13, 1997, and weighed 5 lb. 4 oz.    They told us it was a 90% chance that we would have a boy, because most Guatemalan adoptions are boys.  What a surprise when they finally called us late in June to tell us of our referral, and they said we had a little girl.  Of course, we were so excited, and a girl was just fine with us.  We already had two, ages 10 and 7 at the time, so we knew what to do with them! 

It was such a long wait until we were finally able to go get her.  Everything with her adoption went smoothly, but we were new at this, were not getting enough information, didn't know anyone else who had gone through this, and if there were online groups at the time, we sure didn't know about them.  At one point they told us to tentatively plan on going the end of October.  The last week of Oct. came, and we had heard nothing.  We called, and were told, "Oh, no.  You aren't going yet.  We had to get her birth certificate authenticated at the hospital where she was born.  We put it on a "Chicken Bus", and will just have to wait until they send it back."  Oh, my.  Have you ever seen a Chicken Bus?  Plus, they were sending it up into the highlands, several hours away.  We didn't know if we'd ever see that birth certificate!  As Thanksgiving approached, and we had gotten the birth certificate, we knew the call should be coming soon.  We were just waiting on her passport and final approval by the American Embassy.  The call finally came on Monday, Dec. 1.  We were told we needed to be in Guatemala by Wed. night.  You should have seen the travel agent's mouth drop open when James told her we needed 4 tickets to Guatemala, leaving in less than 2 days.  We got up the next morning, drove to Atlanta, and spent the night.  Wednesday morning, we flew out of Atlanta to Houston, had a 4 hour layover, plus an onboard delay, and arrived in Guatemala City close to 9:00 pm.  We were in the air 6 hours.  I should mention that this was the first time I'd ever been on a plane.  I prayed a whole lot!  On top of that, I arrived (very abruptly--Guatemala City has a VERY short runway) in a country where I didn't speak their language, and was scared to death.  Our foster mother's grown son met us at the airport, and we took a wild, fast ride through the streets of Guatmala City.  Have you ever seen Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?  He took us to the foster home to get Marissa, we filled out paperwork, then he took us to the hotel, dropped us off, and said, "See you in 2 days."  That was it.  We were totally on our own, with a new baby that we knew nothing about, a hotel where no one spoke English, and we were the only guests. 

But, we had our baby girl.

Meeting Marissa for the first time.

Marissa was 6 months, 3 weeks old.  She was very tiny, and wore 3 months size clothes.  It was about 10:00 pm, but she was wide awake and playing.  We gave her a soft bear rattle, that somehow became affectionately known as "Bobby".  She loved playing with him, and watching the ceiling fan turn.  She wouldn't settle down for us, but by about 11:00, she finally fussed herself to sleep.  She was up at 4:15 crying.  I sat on the toilet and fed her a bottle, trying to let Ashley and Briana sleep!  We stayed up after that, and had to be at the American Embassy at 7:00.  That was another adventure.   After a few hours there, we walked back to the hotel and rested for a while. 

Then we looked for McDonald's.  That was the next adventure.  It was a very easy, fairly short walk from the hotel, we had a map that the lady at the Consulate's office had drawn for us, and we couldn't find that place to save our lives.  We walked for an hour in dress shoes, on streets we probably shouldn't have been on, in traffic that would run over you in a heartbeat, and tried desperately to ask people for directions before we found it, and went, "Oh, duh, there it is." 

After lunch, and resting from being hot and "famished", we did some shopping across the street.  James had to go back in the afternoon to pick up her visa, and the next morning we were back at the airport at 6:30.  Marissa did great on the flight home, and went to sleep as soon as we got in the car. 

Marissa had a lot of physical catching up to do.  At 7 months, she couldn't sit alone, could not support any weight at all with her legs (as soon as you tried to stand her up, her legs just folded under her), and could not lift her head when she was lying on her stomach.  She spent the next week, catching up quickly.  Within a few days she could sit up.  My in-laws bought her a bouncy seat that you hang in the doorway, and after teaching her how to push with her feet, within a couple of days she was a bouncing maniac! 

Marissa is a fun, adventurous, mischievious, cutie pie.  She is smart, is good at solving problems, and loves to explore new things and places.  She loves horses, pink, her cat, sparkles, mud, playing and reading outside, her sisters, the computer, and history.

We are so happy God brought her into our family.  We are all blessed.

               We Love You, Marissa

Addition:  Tonight after we got the little ones all tucked in, Marissa called me back up.  With tears in her eyes, she hugged me super tight, and said, "I'm so glad you adopted me.  You are the best mother I could have."  Wow.  Very humbling.  I know that I am the mother God gave her, I know it was his perfect match, but I know I am not the best mother I could be.  For some reason, her statement has a whole other significance with her being adopted.  Help me, Lord, to be worthy of her title.  Help me to be the mother she needs me to be.  Thank you for the precious gift of Marissa. 

. 

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    Getting the call to go pick up your adopted child is an incredible experience.  This time, we did at least have about a week's notice.  And, you know an estimate of time about 2 weeks ahead.  Ashley and Briana went with us. 

    We drove to Atlanta (about 4 1/2 hours away) to fly out.  Our plane was very late leaving because of mechanical problems.  They had to bring in a new plane.  Otherwise, we had a great flight this time, and were only in the air for 3 1/2 hours, with no stops.  This was actually only the 2nd trip that I had ever been on a plane, so a short, easy flight was quite nice. 

    The hotel had a taxi waiting at the airport for us.  Taking a ride through the streets of Guatemala City in a taxi is a wild ride.  We stayed in La Casa Grande, which was such a neat hotel.  There is no AC, which is very hot during the day, but they do give you a fan.  The nights are pretty chilly, though.  In the center of the hotel is a pretty courtyard where the restaurant is.  Almost everyone in the small hotel has a baby or child that they are adopting, so the atmosphere is so fun. 

    We arrived at the hotel at about 9:30 that night.  The next morning we had free time to do some shopping.  That's a lot of fun, but you have to cross La Reforma Avenue, which is a 6 lane street, and no one is doing under 60.  Whoever is in front or beeps their horn the loudest wins.  It is dangerous to cross, and pedestrians have no rights of way.  We went to the "safe" shops, not the downtown market.  There's a McDonald's across the street, so that's where we grabbed lunch.  Guatemala City is basically like any other large city--traffic, high rise buildings, stores (even Chucky Cheese and Rooms to Go), but you have to throw in the occasional women in traditional dress carrying baskets on their head, or the man pulling a horse cart down this crazy road.  Once you step outside the city, though, you are transported to another time. 

    We went back to the hotel just after lunch, and waited for them to bring Daniella to us.  It was a nerve wracking wait.  I guess we felt like a nervous dad pacing while mom is in labor. They came around 1:30.  We were on the upstairs balcony waiting, and jumping at every car that pulled in.  : )   When they stepped out of the car with her, we snapped a couple of quick shots, then took off running to meet them at our room. It's a small hotel, but I did not want to miss her coming up the stairs.  I was in sandals on a marble floor, and I almost busted it trying to turn and hurry to the room.  I was shaking and in tears. 

    This was an extremely emotional experience.  This foster mom had had our little girl since she was just 3 days old, and she was now about to turn one.  The foster mother was crying before she even got to our room.  She cried so much.  She would cry, and I would cry.  It was such a mixed feeling--finally holding my little girl, but feeling like I was taking away her little girl.  In the midst of all of this emotion, you are having to have a meeting with the Guatemalan lawyer who has represented you in court, and the translator, trying to complete paperwork that has to go to the U.S. emabassy the next morning. 

Daniella with her foster mother

     Daniella was somewhat bewildered when she first came in, but she took right to us.  Never once did she cry that day.  In fact the only time she ever cried was the next day when James came in the room, and it startled her.  I had so tried to prepare us all for it to be a difficult transition for her, but it never was.  It was like she knew this is where she was meant to be.  (Many prayers had gone into this.)

    We had to be at the Embassy the next morning at 7:00.  The appointment went smoothly, and we picked up her visa and other papers that afternoon.  The rest of those 2 days were spent playing with our sweetie. 

There were so many babies in the hotel that they ran out of cribs, so the first night they pushed 2 highback wicker chairs together and put a sheet on it.  She was sandwiched between the wall and our bed.  She had been sleeping through the night, but that first  night, she woke up, crawled out of her makeshift crib over into our bed.  She crawled up on top of us and just grinned.  It was a priceless memory. 

    Daniella had a ball on the plane trip home.  There was a Guatemalan lady sitting behind me and she bounced on my legs (about killed me) half way home, playing peek-a-boo with her.   

Looking out the airplane window

The only problems we had  was after that episode where James came in and it startled her, she would not go near him.  Everytime he tried to hold her she cried.  She would only go to me or the girls.  So, that meant I got to carry her through the airports and hold her most of the plane ride.  She sat, or I should say stood on, Ashley or Briana part of the time.  Man, I was worn out by the time we got back to Atlanta, and then drove that 4 1/2 hours home.  I ended up with a severe sinus infection, and was in the bed for several days.  So, Daniella had to do some Daddy bonding time whether she wanted to or not.  By the time I was out of bed, they were best buddies. 

Daniella now at 5 years old

   So those are the highlights of our 2nd adoption experience.  It is a difficult and emotional job, much harder than my 2 pregnancies with c-sections, but it is so rewarding and worth it.  It is an amazing journey. 

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Last Saturday we celebrated Daniella's fourth adoption day.  We call it Gotcha Day, but that has now become politically incorrect.  Supposedly it sounds like you went to the store and picked them up--degrading, they say.  I asked Marissa, age 8, who is also adopted, and she thought that was ridiculous.   She likes her "Gotcha Day".  So Gotcha Day it is around here.

Let me preface our story by saying that it is not typical.  Most Guatlemala adoptions take 5-7 months to complete.  Please pray that issues with the Hauge Convention do not stop Guatemalan adoptions altogether.

We began the process to adopt Daniella in July, 2000. Thinking that you will be an old pro at all the paperwork and the process because you've done it once before is only a dream.  Almost everything has to be redone.  It also took us longer because we were adding a bedroom to accomodate a new baby, and the social worker would not complete the homestudy until the bedroom was pretty much complete.  This is even though it would be our bedroom, and the girls would sleep in the old master.  (However, we LOVE our social worker, and she thinks homeschooling is great.)  I think our homestudy was complete and approved in about February of 2001. 

We got a call for a referral of a little girl the first week of May.  At that point, you race to get the foriegn dossier done as soon as you can.  You can't start on it until after the referral comes, and the process down there can't start until those last few pieces of paperwork are done.  In Guatemala, you are given the referral of a newborn, and have pictures and info for that child until the adoption is complete.  We got pictures of her when she was just a few days old. 

Lesly Cristina Gomez Alvarado

The court procedures and everything went smoothly for the first few months.  If we stayed on the tentative schedule, we would be out of PGN by mid Nov., and be able to bring her home by early or mid Dec.  When it was time to come out of PGN (which is the equal to an Attorney General's office--the final place where a lawyer for the Guat. govt has to approve you), we get the call that there is a smudge on one of the papers, so they will not accept it.  It was a very nit picky thing, especially since it was their standard form in Spanish that was still readable.  Later what we realize is that we got an attorney who does not like U.S. adoptions.  When you have one of those, you are in for it.  And we were.) 

 The form happened to be one that is difficult to get to start with.  You must have a reference from someone who will testify that you will be a good parent and can provide for the child, BUT, they can't be a friend, relative, employee, etc.  AND, they have to have a passport.  Not only that, you have to set up a predetermined time with this person and a notary that their sig. can be notarized, because before this can happen, you have to tell the adoption agency the time and date, and the whole form has to be made up in Spanish to be notarized.  Can you imagine how it feels to go up to someone, ask if they have a passport, and say, "I really don't consider you a friend, so could you please sign this statement that I'll be a good parent?  And, by the way, you have to be at the notary when I tell you to, and you'll be signing a form in a different language, so you'll just have to take my word for it what it says."  So this is the process we were going to have to go through again.  The bigger problem was that the one they threw out was a missionary who was out of the country, and we had no idea when she would be back. 

Thankfully, PGN said we could use another witness--so we had to start over that process above.  This paper then had to go to the Courthouse for a seal, Nashville for the Sec. of State's seal, and to D.C. for a seal from the Guatemala Embassy.  This could take up to 3 weeks.  So, in one day, we got the notary and the courthouse seal, then dh jumped in the car and drove to Nashville (3 hours), and they did it on the spot.  The next day, grandma came for the other kids, and he and I headed for D.C. (about 8 hours).  We went into the embassy (which was an adventure to find).  Their website said they had a one day turnaround for walk-ins and this was a Thurs.  We gave them the papers, and they said we could pick them up MONDAY.  A spontaneous gasp escaped from my mouth (we had left our kids and really couldn't afford a D.C. hotel that long).  She tells us to wait a second, and when she returned, she said we could come back tomorrow!  Friday, we picked it up, walked to the nearest FedEx drop off, and it was on it's way in 3 days instead of 3 weeks.  At least dh and I had a nice, quiet (?) couple of days to ourself.  There were very few people there the week after Thanksgiving either. 

The whole 6 week PGN process had to be started over completely instead of just picking up where we left off, so we waited and waited.  Finally about the 2nd week of Jan., we get a call.  "I'm so sorry, but now they are saying they will not accept a new witness.  It has to be the original person."  We were devastated.  Fortunately, she was back in the country, but that entire process had to be redone.  So it was back to Nashville, and back to D.C.  The whole family went this time. 

(A funny side note:  We had just been to D.C. for a family vacation in Sept. of that year before, so this was the 3rd trip dh and I had made to D.C.  in 4 1/2 months time. And, yes that was Sept 2001.  We had been in front of the Pentegon on Sept.9th!) 

Once that was done, the process went along pretty smoothly.  You wouldn't believe how ecstatic we were when we found out the paperwork had LEFT the PGN office.  Many squeals of delight.  Of course, the birthmother still had to come back and sign a final paper.  She did, but it took about 3 weeks for her to do that, and we were getting a little stressed out over that one.  This whole time, we had still not even seen a picture of our little girl since she was few days old.  Once that child is referred to you, you can't help falling in love with it, even though they warn you not to.  The stress and sadness come because in your heart, that is your child, stranded in another country, and there's nothing you can do about it. 

The call to go get her came the 2nd week of April, and she was brought to us on April 15, 2002, eight days before her first birthday. 

I know this is very long.  Thank you if you stuck with me through our story.  I will  post about our trip and pictures next time. 

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