Seriously ? Why ? This is why pictures :)

Why does it cost that much?
Thats been the question of the day lately. People can not fathom WHY it should be so expensive to adopt children, who are not considered worthy in their own society due to their special needs. These children are destined to a mental institution and rarely will they live long enough to see adulthood, so really they should be HAPPY we are adopting them, right? Like maybe it should be free ? Umm, nice try ;)

                                                                    looking out the window at the tree guys cutting down a tree ;)
 I am sure they love to see the children find homes. 

But  every step of the process has a cost. Homestudy can be anywhere from hundreds for an update like ours this time, to $1000's  then,  notary fees for about 23 documents, to mailing the documents to the capitol for a Apostille stamps , at $10 per documents, $20 per marriage license x's 2 and mailing fees of either 4.95 both ways(scary without tracking)  or 18.95 for expedited shipping and tracking, which is x's 2 to mail  them back to you. Next you have to pay for new birth certificates, and marriage licenses, and Dr appts and tests ;) also you have to fax each paper to your stateside  helper to be sure everything is good to go , which if you are like me , without a fax machine costs $2 for the first page and $1 for each page after :) Then comes the USCIS fee which is now $720 for the first child plus $80 per adult to be fingerprinted, finally to ship off ALL  the documents to your childs Country in Europe is a jaw dropping  $150 ! Plus now we have to send the translations fees over with the documents which is around $500 (somewhere in there, cant remember exactly right now)
 Sooo you can see that before you even LEAVE the country the costs add up :(
Most folks in the adoption world know these fees are just part of the "ransom" to rescue our childrens lives back for them.And we will bow our heads and ask for help all in the name of saving our child and making Jesus happy :):)  But add in , well life , and things can get tight :( 

So I will be doing a couple little giveaways (bowing my head )  to try to raise our USCIS fees which I learned have gone up to $720 per child :(
plus of course, the $80 x 2 for fingerprints.
So for the folks that didnt know, this is why many adoptive families are struggling to raise money thru the whole process. It does take a bite out of your monthly budget...it is a ransom that is SO WORTH paying . It just takes a bit of creative financing sometimes ;) this is one of those times.

my sweet Bug painted a picture with "PRESTON 17 " 's picture and raffled it off to raise money for this sweet little boy she loves on Reeces Rainbow. We are raising kids who have a heart for those less fortunate , they are learning ..guess what? IT AIN'T all about YOU. :)

 I have added a "chip in" button on the right sidebar. If you feel led to donate to our 'United States Customs and Immigration  fund' we would be so very blessed and humbled :) Unfortunatley we are short the funds to apply right now . This sucks. But jumping right in to save baby Anna was faith and we knew  it was going to be hard to come up with so much money again so quickly.
It is SO worth it. We cant wait to hold our new baby girl in our arms and watch her hit each new milestone just like sweet Taiya :) And you get to be a part of it too ! Each of you who follow my little blog are part of this amazing process . And we are so very thankful for each of you :)
So check back next week for some goodies to bid on :)
Now for the cuteness you really came here for 
;) oh yeah...I know you just want pictures lol ;)

Look at my plump little Taiya! She is just blossoming !

 and she is pretty cool to sleep next to as you can see :) Both Baby girl and Boo sneak in Taiya's crib drawn in by her gently sweetness.

 Ok , NOT sure what Taiya was doing here :)

So. That is why is costs so much . That is why we cant go to lunch at pizza hut for a playdate.
And, THAT is why it is all so worth it :)
Hugs !!!