Answer to blog comment on how we're able to adopt

This is the comment:

Hello,
Some months back I found your blog when I googled The Mother's Companion and told you I remembered reading about you in Helen's newsletter. Anyway, I thought of your family this week as we've been praying about the homeschooling issues there in CA. I thought I'd look you up again. So excited to hear you're adopting again. My husband's extended family includes four adopted sisters, one adopted brother, five adopted cousins and four adopted nieces, so we're big fans of adoption. However, all these relatives who have adopted only have a few biological children of their own. We're expecting number 6. Our kids are already kind of crowded in their rooms, and we have been remodeling our dear little cottage here in the country for almost three years and we're still a long way off. (Did I mention we have one bathroom!?) My question is---unless you're millionaires and have a huge house---how on earth do you pull it off? My in-laws' adoptions of two girls from India almost caused them to lose their house, which they had built a few years prior. They ended up selling it, and my MIL had to go to work full time. These are not options for our family. I have too many precious little ones to even think of leaving the home, not to mention homeschooling the older ones. I hope you can take a bit of time (which I'm sure you don't have much of) and share what
God has enabled you to do.
God bless you,
Kristyn Hall

My answer:

Hi Kristyn!

Thank you for your prayers on the homeschooling issue. We're continuing our education as usual and anticipate the decision will be depublished meaning it will only apply to that family not homeschoolers all over the state of California. As it is San Diego are laying off about 1600 positions in the school district because of the budget crisis in California. Layoffs are happening all over California for the next school year. How can California possibly educate all the homeschoolers that would infiltrate their schools? It's said there are 4,000 home educators in just San Diego County.

That is one big adoptive family! Good for your family giving homes to children!
Congratulations on your new pregnancy. Hope it is an easy pregnancy for you.

As far as the finances to adopt. Yes, it costs a lot to adopt internationally. My husband has always saved part of his earnings from the time he started working at fourteen. He has made wise investments and this has paid off. We are in our late forties now and so have some savings.

A few years ago we were going to do foster care and we desired baby/toddlers because our youngest was about four-five years of age. We live on four acres and have a seasonal creek that the foster system wanted us to fence off with a 6 foot fence. The creek runs the entire length of our property and that was the one thing we weren't willing to do. We gave up the idea of helping others in this capacity and being blessed in return because I thought all adoptions had to go through the state, they don't. I did find I had thyroid cancer through the medical screening I received though. That was taken care of and now I'm fine.

Then we saw the movie on the Invisible Children from Uganda. This was happening to children. Africa's children. Uganda's children. But still children. Children that needed their familes, but in some cases were forced to kill their families. I looked into adoption from Uganda, but found that it wasn't really a viable option. I have since learned it's kind of on a case-by-case basis.

Then we were learning how blessed the Campbell's and their extended family were from adopting children from Liberia. I read articles in the Above Rubies magazines that came in the mail and I was so happy for them that families were growing and growing by bringing children in that desperately needed help.

At this time in our lives our youngest was five or so and we wanted to take a year and travel the USA in a motorhome. We could have done it financially, but was that the best use of our money? It would have built family time. We would have had great memories. But $80,000 for a vehicle that could break down as soon as it's pulled out of the lot. We waited. We never bought that motorhome. Instead we bought a toy hauler that was much, much cheaper, but would hold all of us. We've since used it as our family vacations in our local mountains and when we had to evacuate the wildfires this past October. We lived in it for a little less than a week. It fit all ten of us!

One day at church my friend, Rachel, and I were talking international adoption and the Campbells. I didn't know that you didn't have to go through the state to adopt. I asked Steve how he would feel about adopting a little black baby. He was good with it and so we started praying about it, reading about Liberia, and deciding that we weren't going to buy a motorhome, but would instead invest that money in children.

We decided to go ahead and contacted an agency here in San Diego, Adoption Options, and they came out and did our homestudy. We were put down for four children with the intention of adopting three. When we accepted the referrals of two unrelated girls we could not take a third child. If one of them would have had a sibling then we could have had three, but not as it played out. We adopted from Christian World Adoption and that is who we are using again.

When we did our paperwork for Anna and Adah we were told to prepare two sets of documents. We only used one. I talked to our social worker from Adoption Options and she said we could start the proceedings for new children immediately. We did! Since the paperwork was still in the same calendar year we didn't have to repeat medical evaluations, or much of the paperwork. We had to do minor tweaking.

We decided on two children. Steve felt that as long as we weren't adding on to the house, we weren't buying a bigger camper, we're squeezing bodies in bedrooms as much possible then we could adopt again. The fees for older children were also lower than for those under two.

So now we're going to have three boys in one room, two boys in another room, four girls in one room, and one girl in her own room, and then my husband and myself in our room. We took part of our garage and made a bedroom. We have three bathrooms, actually two and a half, but three toilets. We bought our house back in 1995 when property was cheap, cheap, cheap. We would not be able to buy our house now with the way prices have sky rocketed here in San Diego.

I do not work outside the house. I do volunteer at church as the Awana Cubbie Director and the Early Childhood Director. We would not have gone into debt to adopt. God has blessed us with wisdom in how to use our money wisely. We have always tithed and always attended church. We gave the size of our family over to the Lord back in 1988-89. We had six children since then. We haven't been blessed with a biological baby since 2000. I've had six miscarriages since 1979.

I do have friends on our adoption board that do raise money for their adoptions. We were blessed in that we did not have to do that. Kingdom Kids Ministries helps those who want to adopt and do not have the financial ability to do so. There is also an adoption tax credit of $10,000 per child.

If you would have asked me two years ago if I would have two new little ones with two on the way I would have looked at you like a deer in the headlights and thought you were bonkers. Life is joyful with our two new daughters, but it is definitely tougher since I'm older and there is two of them. I am willing to be used by God in this way though. I can minister to others from my home and be ministered to!

If finances are tough and you're called to adopt you could fundraise or adopt domestically. God will show you a way.

Hopefully I've answered your questions. Please ask if you have more!

Blessings,
Vikki