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We didn't have the money saved up ahead of time. We were able to pay the homestudy, application fees, and all the miscellaneous expenses up to that point (copies, postage, fingerprints, etc.) but we got the call much sooner than we expected (were told probably 6-9 months, plus a couple months of pregnancy until birth, got called in just over 2 months with a baby who was already born, so obviously were NOT prepared for that). We had arranged for a line of credit on our home for the agency fees, but that still left us needing a way to pay for all the travel expenses, legal, etc. The travel and all post-placement fees, legal, etc. pretty much went on credit cards. It was a scramble situation and you do what you have to do in those kinds of situations, and obviously Yuna is worth it, but it wasn't the financial situation we were hoping for... having a newborn and owing close to $6,000 on credit cards in addition to all our other bills, which included a larger home loan due to the agency fee line of credit.
For adoption #2, we are going to try to save either all, or close to all, of our estimated expenses before beginning because we know it's likely we'll have a short wait this time, too. Since we are not open to gender and only want a certain type of situation, our wait will probably be longer than it was with Yuna, but we don't know that. So that means waiting longer to start than I'd probably like. But I think overall I would rather have the adoption paid for , or at least mostly paid for, and not have the stress of credit card or other debt hanging over our heads.
The worst problem with this plan is that the saving is going much slower than I'd like. We just don't make enough money to be able to save large amounts at a time, and while I know that every little bit helps, at this rate, we're looking at Yuna being 3 or even 4 before we can start again. While that doesn't make me especially happy, I think it will just have to be that way. And maybe it's God's way of saying that our next child will not be ready for us until then.
I'm just trying (haha!) to stay patient and let God take care of me and help me do what needs to be done in order to save that much money.
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