Some Questions Answered

Thank you to all of those who have wished us congratulations over the last few days! I have had many people ask the same few questions that I thought it may be good to put those questions into a blog post.  The first question I have received is "how expensive is it to adopt internationally?"  It all depends on the country you are adopting from.  China as of right now breaks down like this:

• Homestudy $2500
• Post Placement Reports (we have to send reports to China until our children have been home for 5 years) $2800 
• Agency Acceptance Fees (due when we have official pre-approval from China) $2750
• USCIS Fees (fingerprints for Homeland Security) $900
• Dossier Submission Fee (duee when all our paperwork is completed and ready to send to China) $5650
• China Fees (due when we have official approval from China) $4410
• Orphanage Donation Fee (mandatory for each child adopting) $5800
• Flights (per person) $1100
• Hotel (for 2 weeks) $1500
• Food, etc. while in China $1000

This puts us at just about $28,500.  While this looks like a ridiculous amount of money, someone once told me when we were in the process to adopt Kennedi that you can spend that amount on a new car that you keep for 5 maybe 10 years or you can spend that amount on a life that you will have forever.  This totally put things in perspective for me.  I think the life is a much better way to spend the money, don't you?  

The second question I have been asked a couple times is "how can we help?"  We have decided to try a neat fundraiser I came across a couple weeks ago.  It is actually called the 144 Envelopes Fundraiser but we have decided to call it the 153 Envelopes Fundraiser for the 153 million orphans there are worldwide.  All we need is 153 people/groups to participate to raise a lot of money! Here's the idea:

• We have 153 envelopes that are numbered 1-153
• We are asking people to commit to taking an envelope (or more than one if you are feeling overly ambitious and super generous)
• When you agree to an envelope, it means you are volunteering to be responsible for coming up with the dollar amount on the envelope.  So, if you have the number 1 you would commit to $1.  If you have the number 2 you would commit to $2, and so on.  The highest numbered envelope is 153 so the most anyone would commit to is $153.
• All donations will be tax-deductable and checks can be made out to "Across The World Adoptions" with Salvador Family in the memo field.  If the tax deduction isn't needed, you are welcome to make the checks out to either myself or Mark and we will get the amount to the agency.
• Let us know which number you would like and your envelope will be sent to you with the number you have requested.  It will already have a stamp and our address to send your pledge back to us one you have collected it.  Once we receive them all back, we will send the whole amount to our agency.
• You do not have to come up with the money on your own.  Ask your friends and family members to join you.  Perhaps you could have your small group commit to taking an envelope or two.  Or how about your co-workers?
• You can also sign up for us to randomly send you an envelope instead of picking a number yourself.  Again, the lowest would be $1 and the most would be $153.  Of course there are some people who are not able to commit to a large number so you can specify the number you are wanting to take.

Here's the amazing thing...if all 153 envelopes are committed to and returned, this fundraiser would raise nearly $12,000 to bring our little girl home!  Would you consider committing to take an envelope? If you have a facebook, sign up at our event 153 Envelopes Fundraiser for the Salvador Family Adoption or you can email me at 6salvadors@att.net to request an envelope. 

Thanks again for all the love regarding our big news! Hopefully soon we can share her picture with you all!