Paper Pregnancy, The Second Term

Expecting! But don't you dare touch my belly...

So now that I've finished the first term of this "paper pregnancy," what comes next?

Well, it starts with a large sum of money and lots of paperwork! FUN!

Our second agency fee is now due; they spread the fee over the entire timeline so you aren't paying everything in one lump sum. The fees are for a laundry list of different things, so it's kind of like how a doctor's office will spread all the hospital bills for a pregnancy into multiple appointments while you are still pregnant so you aren't stuck with one enormous bill when the baby pops out.

I'm hosting a booth at the flea market this Sunday, hoping it will really help with this next set of fees. Today I realized not only are the agency fees due now (since we are ready to send in the first set of dossier documents!,) but our USCIS application fees as well (that's the immigration paperwork that the U.S. requires.) Once they have our money and application, they will assign us an appointment for new fingerprints (seriously, I don't understand why we have to have so many sets of fingerprints taken, but whatever.) After that is completed, our dossier will be submitted and we can travel to meet Elisha!

After debating this for a long time, I've decided I'm going to put up a ChipIn for these immediate needs. I hesitate to do so, because between all the fundraisers I've had for our family plus those for other kids, it would be nice to take a break from talking about money.
However, I'm going to do it anyway. The reality is that we DO need to father gather these funds as soon as possible, because both are ready to be submitted, but without that money in hand, we'll be just sitting here stressing about how to move forward. (A big thank you to the lovely Faith for pointing out that fathering funds is a whole new way of fundraising. HEHEHE! I know I should have erased it but it was just too funny not to share.)

SO...
I'm putting the ChipIn up, and, well, we'll just see what happens. This one is not tax-deductible, because it does not go to our grant account. If you  feel so inclined to help us with these immediate needs, we are once again beyond grateful at your willingness to do what it takes to get Elisha home. Perhaps you have friends or family that have never followed our blog, but may be happy to help out. Maybe you just won the lottery and are trying to figure out what on earth to do with all that new money! (hehe, if you are someone who has so much money you literally don't know what to do with it, shoot me a message. I know a LOT of ways you could change the world with your pocketbook!)


For anyone who contributes to this ChipIn, I'm offering a small thank you gift in return. If you decide to give please include your address in the notes section offered from paypal or send me an email with your address. I promise, it'll be a delicious and fun surprise! :)

AND... as a bonus, just because I love Elisha's Villagers so very much...

A few weeks back, you may remember the very lovely Niegsch family hosted an absolutely incredible fundraiser for our family? Well, for this fundraising event, since we couldn't be there in person, we had instead put together a family video montage to share with everyone.
I'm not a big fan of getting my picture taken, and I'm really not a fan of sharing my picture with others! But I really want to share this video with everyone, because the message in it applies to each of you.
So, when we reach this next goal, I will be posting the video here, on my blog, to give all of you a little more about who we are as a family, and why Elisha and our (current) family are such a great match.
(And if you have already seen the montage because you were at that concert event, well, I hope you enjoyed it and want to see it again!)