The Adoption Option

I’ve made no secret that we have tossed around the idea of “Adoption” for a little while now. That word alone evokes all kinds of emotions and my mind conjures up the picture of a Word Cloud. Do you remember those? Well, the one in my head says the following:


Adoption:

Expensive
Crazy
Impractical
Like, Crazy Expensive!
Time consuming
Busy
Fear
Home Study


But it also says:

Willingness
Love
Selfless
Command
James 1:27
I was adopted thru Christ
Big enough house
No valid reason not too


Since our visit to Uganda, MP and I both feel like adoption is meant for our family. And we are fortunate enough to be able to afford a third or even fourth mouth the feed, clothe, school, care for, marry off one day, etc. The problem is the Initial Expense. I don’t have $20k lying around. But what I do have is a crazy talented husband, amazing friends, & some creativity. Also, I’m resorting to soliciting. I have no shame.


I’ve listed the crosses on Etsy (btw, no orders have been forgotten we just couldn’t make them before our trip- MP is working on the remaining orders now). Please consider these crosses for Christmas Gifts, birthday gifts, Hey-Look-It’s-Tuesday! gifts, etc. I’ll also be working on a tee shirt to sell ($25) AND I’m working on a “Best Of” type Facebook Quote book. It’s just a little lighthearted funny book of Facebook posts ($15). Oh, and Ugandan paper beaded necklaces. We bought some in Uganda to sell for our adoption ($20 per necklace).


So far, we’ve been able to cut our expenses at home by the following:

1- A strict weekly budget. I don’t like this one. At all.

2- I cut out my beloved Keurig coffee because I drink a lot of coffee and its expensive- I’m back to the old coffee pot now but saving $40 month. This one cut me LIKE.A.KNIFE.

3- We don’t have a gym membership or home phone to cut, so our utilities are pretty standard. Except cable. We haven’t canceled that, but I’m seriously tempted. Except our kids might stage a revolt against us.

4- Brown bagging it. We’re trying to limit our eating out to Sunday lunch only. Even then it is usually someplace where one or both kids eat free.

5- Oh! We have a boat for sale! I’ll ask MP to do a guest post soon about that. He’s the boat guy.

6- Our cell phone plan is about as cheap as we can go, so that’s not really an option and we have to keep internet at home.

7- I’ve been trying to remember to adjust our thermostat before leaving the house to cut costs as well.

8- Christmas gifts are being bought on a weekly basis as our budget allows. Santa has been asked to limit the number of gifts he brings this year.

9- I’m a couponer.

If you have ANY suggestions as to how to raise the money OR any ideas on cutting our monthly expenses, please let me know!

Love.
~cp