Save the Adoption Tax Credit

As an advocate for adoption, this is a topic that's very dear to my heart. Adoptive parents love their children unconditionally, just like our biological families do. Families adopt, because they love children and want to open their home to them. Women (and men) who place their child for adoption are most of the time in a difficult situation in their life. They give their child the gift of life, but recognize that they will not be the best parent for their child.
In 2009 almost 2700 children were waiting to be adopted through the foster care system in Arizona alone. Yet, adopting an infant or an older child from foster care is never an easy thing.
Infant adoption is connected with fairly high costs for adoption agencies. Fees are generally between $15,000 to $35,000  and cover a number of things like, medical, living and counseling  expenses for expectant mothers who are prospective birth mothers,court and other legal fees, and more.
While adoption from foster care is not connected with high fees from agencies, most foster children have some special need that will bring financial challenges to their forever adoptive family. At the same time each child in foster care costs the government about $47,000 per year. (I know, I was also shocked when I saw this number!) So even if you are not an adoption advocate or worry about the expense this tax credit is for our government, you can see it is a much smaller expense than caring for children in foster care. And while we have wonderful foster care families out there, it is much better for a child to be able to grow up as a permanent member in a family.
For this reason I ask for your help to advocate of the extension of the Adoption Tax Credit. At this point it is set to expire at the end of 2012. To my family this will mean that while we will be able to adopt once, a 2nd adoption might financially not be possible. I am sure that Michael and I are not the only couple that would love to adopt (more than once), but cannot financially afford it.

The goal is to have an adoption tax credit that is:

• Inclusive: Children, whether adopted from foster care, through intercountry adoption, or through private domestic adoption should be able to benefit from the adoption tax credit. 
• Permanent: The adoption tax credit should become a permanent part of the tax code to ensure continued support to those who bring children into families through adoption. 
• Refundable: The adoption tax credit should be refundable to ensure that families with moderate and lower incomes receive the full benefit of the credit. 
• Flat for Special Needs: All families who adopt a child with special needs should be eligible for a "flat" tax credit, meaning they can claim the maximum credit without documenting expenses. This distinction, which is already in current law, recognizes the fact that many of the expenses associated with adopting children with special needs show up after an adoption is finalized. 

Here is what you can do to help
Please visit http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/advocate/ to get more information.
Contact your representative and senator today! Here is the link to a sample letter you can use when contacting them: http://adoptiontaxcreditdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/atc-wg-kit.pdf
You can find the information of how to contact your legislators on the follwing websites:
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
www.house.gov/representatives

Thank you for considering to help this important cause!!!!

Summer just began

This has officially been my 3rd day of summer vacation. truthfully I've had a hard year at school. I love teaching, but all of you teachers out there know that some year's are rougher than others. God certainly challenged me this year, but I made it through - with A LOT OF prayer. Even my students knew, that sometimes Mrs. Bartlett needs a time out. To be honest, this triggered some interesting conversations between my students. One of my favorite ones went something like this:
"Mrs. Bartlett, when you need a time out, what do you do?" "Well, I take a minute and say a prayer." "What does that mean?" Another student chimes in, "That means she talks to God." The first student turns to me and says full of surprise, "You can talk to God?!" Before I can say anything the second student wisely tells the first, "Anyone can, even you. Didn't you know that?" Which the first student accepted with a big smile on her face. I love my first graders!

You all are probably wondering why I am writing about this on our adoption blog. Well, because although the year was hard, and many days I couldn't wait for it to end, it kept me very busy. Which in this time of waiting, was a very good thing. I've only been off for three days and I have no idea how I'll make it through the summer. Being at home by myself with the dogs really reminds me that what I want most in the world is to be a mother!

Today I talked to our adoption counselor. She said that our matchletter is being passed around. She knows the waiting is hard. Her recommendation was to go on vacation. Her exact words were "Please don't not go on vacation because you might get a call. Go on vacation, enjoy your summer and relax." Well all that is much easier said than done!

I guess all I can do is to finish up the nursery, finalize reorganizing the house a little, and read the adoption and baby books that are waiting for me.

Michael and I really appreciate your prayers for us. Our prayer requests are on the right side of our posts. I guess what we need most of all at this point is PATIENCE! Thanks for thinking about and praying for us!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!

Since there hasn't been much to do but wait the last few months, Michael and I were focused on meeting our goal of financing our adoption without dept. To be honest, a few months ago, it seemed pretty much impossible to me. I cannot attribute this to anything but the grace of God! He is faithful! I am simply in awe by what he has done through you in the last few months! So many of you were instrumental in achieving this goal! Therefore I wanted to share our happy news. As of yesterday, we have saved up the amount we will need to pay to the agency once our baby comes home with us!!! YAY!!!!! We are so incredibly excited!!! This means, that when we get a call, we can accept without worries if we will be able to have the money in time.
Since we decided to adopt we made sure all of my paychecks went into savings. I only cheated for Christmas, is that bad? We also used some savings money for agency fees we already paid.
While we were doing a good job of savings, we were incredibly blessed with all your amazing contributions!!!!
Thank you for all your monetary and also yard sale donations, we could not have done this without you!!!! God has blessed us in such amazing ways, we can't even believe it most days!!!!
We don't know what else to say, but THANK YOU!!!!!
I've been very stressed about this financial situation, and thankfully a lot of that stress is now gone. I am so thankful to have learned to live on a budget though! This will greatly help us out in the future. Now we'll continue to save, since babies are expensive.   :o)
But at least, now we are ready for God's and our agencies call!
Thank you all again for your amazing support!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting, praying, wishing, waiting

As all of you noticed I haven't been good about blogging at all. One reason is that life has been very busy. I've really been enjoying having my mom here with me! That also means, that I don't really spend time on the computer, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. ;o)
On the other hand, there hasn't been any progress, so not really much to write about. Our homestudy is at the court and now we wait. I guess our agency has shown us to mom's, at least they say they have, but nothing yet.
The benefit to all of that is that we've had more time to raise and safe money, which is a very good thing!
Thank you to all our wonderful friends who helped us with our yard sales the past 2 weekends!!!! We couldn't have done it without you Summer, Wade, Justin, Colleen, Logan, April and my mom!!!!!!
I feel so blessed to have the supportive friends and family I have!
What I do need to work on is my walk with God. A few weeks ago we had our hopes come up again, with no result. I've prayed and prayed and prayed, but nothing. I know God has a plan, it's just so hard for me when I get my hopes up for nothing. It makes me angry and frustrated. For those of you who pray, I guess I could use some prayers for my walk with God. I haven't been good about reading my bible and I know that is not good. The feeling of disappointment has taken overhand lately though. So thanks for your encouragement and prayers!
We all have our ups and downs, and I'm hoping once my health is better again (no more bronchitis and sinus infection would be nice) my spirits will rise. We shall see.
Oh boy, I'm a downer today, I better stop.

The waiting game

We have now been certified for almost one month. Many of you have asked what the plan is from now on. Really, there is not much of a plan. All we can do is, wait, pray, and try to prepare as best as we can.
To be honest with the holidays, we haven't really done much on the "prepare" part. It feels like there is so much to do, yet it feels so unreal that we really should be getting ready. Probably because we're PAPER PREGNANT instead of pregnant. - I do kind of like this expression, because it hits the nail on the head (no idea if you'd say that in English.)
According to one of my favorite adoption support websites we are in the 2nd trimester of adoption. It typically feels like the longest one, while we are waiting for our baby to find us. Every time the phone rings, we hope that it's that call. During this time period it is suggested that we:
1. Start putting the nursery together - which we've started! 
2. Go shopping for baby things. - We did get a car seat and nursery furniture, but nothing else so far. Things we should get are a few outfits, receiving blankets, diapers, wipes, bottles, and formula. We should get these basics, since we don't know how much notice we'll have before our baby arrives. 
3. Find a pediatrician - ? Really, let me know your thoughts.
4. Take newborn classes - Which I don't feel comfortable doing, since I'm not pregnant. I've had some practice through my friends and a great support system, so I'll pray I'll be fine. The few books I've read will hopefully help too.
5. Plan a last "kid free" vacation away. - With saving for our adoption, that's not going to happen, but we've had our vacations ;o). 
6. Read, read, and read books on adoption and child rearing. - We've started that as well. One of our favorite reads is "The happiest baby on the block". 
7. Educate our family and friends on what is going to take place since we are now the pros in regards to adoption. (Well I'm not sure about being a pro, but I guess I know more than most of you.)


The hardest part in all of this is of course the waiting. Although I'm in no way ready to be a mom tomorrow (actually I'd be in trouble, especially with school), the not knowing how long it might be is sometimes hard. Not all the time though. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for patience and peace of mind! While I am peaceful most of the time and know to trust the Lord, I still get my moments of anxiety in which I am horribly scared that I'll never be a mom. Thank you for those of you who pray for us, it means a lot!

New Year's Resolution 2012

As I was reading through my favorite blogs, I realized that I really should have a new year's resolution.
The last few year's my goal had always been that by the following year at this time I would be a mother. Well, we all know how that has worked out so far - which is why we're here in the first place.
Even with all the heart break, sorrows, huge medical bills, and challenges we never lost hope. Yes there were times were I wondered if God didn't let me get pregnant, because I would not be a good mother. Maybe he was protecting me and my family from even bigger sorrow. Thankfully though, the Lord placed a very supportive and wise man on my side, who prayed for and with me and never lost faith.
Last year I made the resolution to become a better servant. God had brought me through so much, and had taken all my sorrow and hurt and carried it for me. I had been scared that all these heart breaks would put me in a dark place I knew all to well from my teenage years- depression. But thankfully this time God carried me and kept me safe like one of my favorite poems states. "The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you". 
Michael and I began serving at our church on Sunday's last year in January and have enjoyed it very much! What a blessing it has been to us, to be better servants.

So my new year's resolution for this year is to live by one of my favorite bible verses Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding".  I read it all the time, but it is not easy to live by for me. I pray that I would become better in trusting this year and be ok with not being in control. If you know me, you know how extremely hard that is for me. You'd think I'd have learned it by now, but I have a long ways to go. 

At the same time I feel like I'm not in control of anything right now. We are waiting for the call to become parents and have no idea how long it may be. Maybe a year from now, 6 months, 1 month, 1 week, or tomorrow? We don't know. It's entirely in God's hands. He has our baby in his perfect plan. All I can do is pray for our child's health and safety, for our birthmother's health and peace of mind, and for patience for us. 

I pray that 2012 would be filled with blessings for our home and wish the same for all of yours!!!!

Another Milestone!

Quite a while ago I told Michael, that all I really wanted for Christmas was to have our adoption paperwork finished so we could be in the matchbook. I am soooooo incredibly excited and grateful that my Christmas wish came true. It's official we are in the matchbook of our adoption agency and our letter is also online at their website. We are Family 560 - Marion and Michael, although the number really doesn't mean anything. Matchletter Link - we are on the very bottom. :o)
God has blessed us so incredibly with all your support during these last few years and months. Thank you friends for your continued prayers.
As I was praying for our baby a few days ago, I decided that my new place of prayer will be our nursery. It does have the most comfy chair in the house in it ;o). And what better place to pray for our child than in it's home.
We received some wonderful Christmas presents that will help us get ready for our little one! I'm looking forward to going shopping with my step-mom-in-law and my step-sister-in-law. Long words but two ladies who are very dear to my heart!!!!!
And even though we are getting closer and closer, it still seems unreal to me that one day we will get the call that someone wants to meet us to maybe choose us as the parent for her child. What an honor!