The cost of Adoption

I know a lot of my focus has been on money lately. It's been my biggest stressor. We've applied to three different adoption grants. And we were denied by all three of them. Bummer. We knew God wanted us to do this and we have faith in Him to see us through it. But I was still sweating thinking about how was I going to pay for this. The entire time, I should have been stickin' the bill to God. Yeah, that's an awkward way to say it. Throughout the adoption, I knew we could not afford to stop paying tithe. Here we are, obeying this calling; this is His adoption and we knew we had to do it His way. I've heard testimonies about how God has provided funds, this time it's my testimony.
Mostly due to pride, I've not told anyone how much this adoption costs. If you're standing, sit down, if you’re sitting, lay down. Almost $34,000. Mind you, we didn't have a huge savings account to begin with. Moving to the DC area helped with that. But April had a God given dream and we both have a lot of faith. Just yesterday, we were denied financial help from the third granter. I immediately told April that this is a blessing in disguise. God is going to do this His way. We trusted God with our tithes. There is no other way I can explain $33k over the past 16 months. We're a one income family and the '"one" is from a military E-6 salary.
Until recently, the paperwork & home study fees have been relatively small. Now though, we are in the big money stage: Travel.
I just got our taxes done today. Praise God y'all! With the generous donations from family and friends (I'll call you out after the adoption is complete), refinancing the house and our savings, as of today we only need $1127. I MUST say God has made this possible.
If you still feel God calling you to be a part of our adoption, you most certainly may. First, we need prayer. There is still a 13-14 hour plane ride ahead of us (“Jetlag, nice to meet you, we’re the Coxes”). Two weeks in China, and a 13-14 hour return plane ride with a 2 year old that has only known us for a few days. I beg for your prayers. There is also financially. Our burden has been $34,000, however, hallelujah, the need is only $1127. You can donate at http://aprilcox.chipin.com/bringing-anabelle-home. We also have an adoption t-shirt fundraiser at http://www.adoptionbug.com/coxfam/index.htm.

T-shirt Fundraiser @ www.adoptionbug.com/coxfam/

We started a T-shirt fundraiser. Check out http://www.adoptionbug.com/coxfam/ to buy some incredible shirts that spread adoption awareness, also, a percentage of the sale comes back to us.
April and I knew God wanted us to adopt. I didn't know how we were going to pay for it. God has provided so much, it's a testimony to His greatness and faithfullness. This adoption is going to happen, I know the finances will be there too.

Verses for thought...

When I first seen what Joseph did to our family photo below, I thought it was cute of course, but then it reminded of me of how our loving, awesome God grafted us into His family.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
Romans 8:14-16

Another verse it reminded me of was
God sets the solitary in families. Psalms 68:6

Praise God!

First Family Photo

Our first family photo, well, sort of... Our friend Carly Zakutney took this photo of us at the National Harbor. A little photoshop later, Anabelle is part of the family photo.

One new update that we have is, we recieved Ana's provisional approval for her Visa to enter the US. When we get the final approval, we can schedule our consulate appointment in China. That appointment determines when we travel.

Christmas Cake

Joseph and I had the awesome opportunity to send Anabelle a care package over Christmas. It consisted of a panda bear, blanket, pictures of us and Caed, and a disposable camera for the nannies to take pictures. Also included was a huge Christmas cake! The wonderful orphanage took the time to take some awesome pictures of Ana and the other children enjoying their Christmas cake. We were not expecting to get new pictures, because they had already sent us an update a couple of months ago. As you can imagine, I was so excited when I got the email saying that they had new pictures of our daughter!!! Can't wait to hold our beautiful girl!

Adoption Timeline

Adoption can be a lengthy process. Here is a glimpse of the key milestones during our journey.
Adoption Agency accepts our application: 12 Oct 2009
Dossier to China (DTC): 7/16/10
Login Date (LID): 7/26/10
Date of Referral (DOR): 11/4/10 (1st day we met Chun Yi Wan)
Letter of Intent (LOI): 11/5/10 (Yes, we want to adopt her!)
Pre Approval (PA): 11/22/10
Referral Acceptance (RA): 12/17/10
Travel Announcement (TA): pending, expect late March-early April
Travel Dates: pending, 2 weeks after TA

This is her

Allow me to introduce you to Anabelle Ruth Yi. She has no idea how much she is loved.

Chip In

We are most of the way there, Hallelujah! If you could help us with the rest we would be most grateful. I humbly ask you to click the orange Chip In button above. Whether it's a penny or a twenty, thank you for your sacrifice.
Updated on 29 Jan 11: Tax return time. Just crunched all the numbers and we only owe $1,387 (not $3,327 from 15 Jan, not $5k from original post). I'll update the amount as we save and receive other donations. Thank you