Wait a Minute, You Mean We Need Real Money?!?

You may have noticed that I write "I" a lot in this story. Let me take a minute to explain a little something that I think a lot of women can relate to, whether you are an adoptive mom, a biological mom, or a future mom. Most of the guys I know don't have a plan for kiddos; well, not a concrete, detail-oriented plan. They don't take a whole lot of time to think about timelines and all the implications of timing and planning. Again, true for pregnancy, true for adoption planning. With most of the couples I know, the ladies do the planning, present the plan to their guys, and then the guys get on board. So, just to clear that up.

Anyhoo, we had passed go, but we did not get to collect $200. And boy were we going to need it. Backtracking for just a moment, we received an amazing gift in December 2004. Two dear friends showed up one night before Christmas with a card and $500 that was from a collection of friends. HUMBLED does not even begin to describe what we felt. We were amazed by the power of friendship and God in our life. And I believe a not so subtle push to conquer what often felt like an unconquerable journey. We could do this because we had amazing people pushing us forward. And most importantly, it was God's plan.

For the longest time I had a hand-written note on our fridge with the following Scripture:

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." --Phil 4:19

So for a long time, as stupid as it sounds, I could focus on the journey and not on the money it was going to take to make the adoption possible. It was kind of like running full force, straight ahead while plugging my ears and going, "NAH, NAH I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WE CAN DO THIS!" and then one day I ran smack into a tree. I'm pretty sure it was the day we received the packet from our international agency with actual monetary amounts and deadlines. Holy crap, after all that research, the reality of coming up with $30,000 was HEAVY. But somehow, I managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other down the path. The downside was that I became obsessed with the thought of the money. You remember that scene near the end of Vegas Vacation where Sid Caesar's character wins and he starts going, "The money! The money! The money is mine!" Ok, well that was me except it was more like, "The money! The money! I have to find the money! The money is not mine!" Cue more research. So after first scoffing at the ideas that seemed so unsophisticated and low revenue, I finally said let's give it a go. And when I put my mind to fundraising, I really put my mind to it. Stay tuned.