I wish!  I think everyone in the DC area has had enough winter for a lifetime.  I’m sitting in my room right now listening to the 30 mile an hour sustained winds and wondering what new object has just hit the house with every 50 mile an hour gust.

The temperature actually referring to is our funding for the adoption.  I never could figure out how to get one of those thermometer thingies on my page that tells what our goal is and how we’re doing, so I’m just going to try and break it down in this post.

We are hoping to leave for Serbia within the next 2 weeks.  (No, I still can’t speak the language and I’m really praying that my daughter is a faster learner than her Mama.)  The Reese’s Rainbow grant says that we have $0 in our grant, but there is actually $750 in it.  We also have a little over $4000 in our savings that is dedicated to the adoption and if the settlement that I have scheduled for next week comes to pass, we will have about $3000 more.  That’s a grand total of $7750.

Here are the expenses we still have ahead of us:

Facilitation fee (to be paid asap)                                                              $5487.00

In-country fees (visa, passport, etc)                                                      $750.00

Travel (we’re flying for free to Germany and taking the train)     $1700.00

Lodging in country                                                                                          $1800.00

Orphanage donation                                                                                       $500.00

Total                    $10,237.00

So…we currently have $7750 out of the $10,237 of remaining expenses.

That’s 75%!!!  That’s huge!!!  Up until this point, God has given us every single dime that we’ve needed (about $6000 so far).  I remember when we first started the process wondering how we could possibly come up with the money we needed AND keep working towards financial peace.  I’m still not sure how, but it’s worked.  Not only have the adoption cost been provided, but since October, we have eliminated more than $15,000 of debt.  To quote PD, “Go God!”

So there’s my thermometer.  I guess you could say it’s about 75 degrees in here right now.

My attitude towards donations has changed over the past 6 months.  I’ve watched people who have been touched in some way by adoption be blessed or work towards healing by giving.  God had to do some work on my pride, but I now welcome donations from anyone who feels called to give.  We only need about $2500.00 more to pay for all of the adoption expenses.  In the big pie, that’s just a sliver.

If you do want to give and you would like to write it off on your taxes, you can give through our Reece’s Rainbow grant.  The link is the pretty picture of Ana-Sophia on the right surrounded by blue and purple butterflies.  They are a non-profit dedicated to helping special needs orphans find their families.  They will release our funds next week, so if you’d like to donate through them, you need to hurry.

The thermometer outside may be stuck on miserably cold, but the one measuring just how close we are to getting our daughter, is definitely on the rise.