Hello!!
LONG POST ALERT! :)
It has been awhile since I posted here, but I wanted to update that these last several weeks have been eventful!
8/3/16 Our dossier paperwork officially went to China!
8/12/16 Our dossier logged into China's system!
9/23/16 We got LSC!!! That's Letter Seeking Confirmation! China said YES and sent us an official letter confirming we still want to adopt Yang Ao Fang. We signed that beautiful paper and sent it back to China to begin the final steps of our paperwork journey.
9/29/16 Our I800 application went USCIS (US Immigration) and there it is waiting to shuffle around to the appropriate desks and grant us our approval on the US side to bring Yang Ao Fang to the US. The average wait time is about 2 weeks (we are over a week in!)
We are getting SOOOO close to bringing home our little girl. Yang Ao Fang... soon to be Annika Faith Sappington! We are still hoping for a November travel date, but we also know it could end up being in December.... it all depends on how fast our governments work. :)
On October 2nd, we had a HUGE fundraising event at our church called Family Play Day. We had a HUGE turnout between our church and our community. We raised almost $5,500!!!! God is good! We want to thank everyone who was a key part in making Family Play Day successful. And thank you to everyone who came out from near and far to support us!
So, several people have asked lately, "Where are you at in your adoption costs? What do you have left to raise?" We also get asked at times how much it costs to adopt from China. The short answer: approximately $30,000 (give or take). Because we are taking Jadyn with us, the cost will be a bit more, so we are anticipating about $34,000. To date, we have raised over $22,000 in our journey! God is GOOD! We will need roughly about $12,000 more to fully fund our adoption costs. What's left to pay, you ask? We are mostly down to travel costs and in-country costs....
In-Country Fees:
Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (***soon to be paid)
Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350
Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650
Annika's Passport: $150
Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275
Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000
Hotel: ~$1,500
International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,500
Internation airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~$1,000
In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600
Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700
Approximate total cost left: $20, 725
Several costs we can only estimate, and we do so on the high end, because we just won't know exactly how much until we get closer to travel time. The Orphanage fee and hotel costs are estimates since it will be based on the currency rate at the time of travel.
So, what are we doing to reach our goal? We will soon have $6,000 available to us through our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans/ Chosen & Dearly Loved Foundation (Praise the Lord!). ***We plan to use that $6,000 to cover the Orphanage donation. THAT brings our remaining costs down to $14, 725! Several months ago, Jay and I got a Marriot Rewards credit card and began using that to pay our monthly bills and daily living expenses on it (and pay it at the end of each month) to take advantage of a promo Marriot had going and we were able to rack up OVER 110,000 points that we will be able to use for free hotel stay in Beijing and Guangzhou! That should greatly reduce our hotel costs! (We will be staying in a total of 3 places in our China travels.) We are also currently waiting to hear back from at least 2 more grant applications we sent in and we are hoping to get great news from them soon!
Lastly, I want to talk about the Beijing 3-day tour. We have been given the option to visit some of China's greatest landmarks and experience some of it's incredible history! Since we have never been to China, we have the opportunity to show Jadyn (and experience for ourselves) the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Olympic sites, Tiananmen Square and more! Part of our desire to do so is to learn and experience Annika's heritage and bring home with us that experience. It is an optional package and we chose to go for it. Jadyn turns 9 years old in November... what a great birthday present, right? :)
So, if you're still reading at this point, congratulations on making it this far. I'm sure I lost a few people when I started talking numbers. :) We are continuing to pray and ask the Lord how He would have us finish funding our adoption costs. Please pray with us that we would have wisdom and hear from Him what we should do financially to finish this race. We know HIS timing is perfect and HIS ways are the best. He is the One who led us on this path of adoption and He has been continually faithful to provide each and every step. We know He will continue to do so. :) However He decides to fund the rest of our adoption costs, the end result will be glorious: bringing our daughter home. <3
"If you have a heart for adoption, don't let fear stand in the way."
Doug Chapman
HOPE says God can,
FAITH says God will!
“It is important to realize we adopt not because we are rescuers. No. We adopt because we are rescued.” — David Platt
Want to see our financial journey thus far? Check out our crowdrise:
https://www.crowdrise.com/adoptingannikajourneyoflove
To God be the glory in our life,
Shannon & Jay
No comments:
Post a Comment