Adoption : Episode I : The Application Process

My wife Jen and I are planning on adopting a child from Ethiopia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) soon. We have some big decisions coming up, mostly financial. If anyone out there is reading this, some suggestions about how to generate extra money would be helpful. And I don’t mean selling candles door to door. We are considering sending out fundraising letters. There are a lot of grants and loan programs that sound really good but most require that you have a certain amount of the process completed before you apply. The main step that needs to be completes is the home study (http://home-study.adoption.com/adoption_home_study_process.php), which involves a hired social worker coming to your house to make sure you are not a child abuser. The upfront costs seem to be prohibitive at this point, though we are trusting that God will provide the money some how as we move forward with what we believe He has called us to. We have sent in the initial application and are waiting for the agency to review and approve it. The home study is the real application. I am sure that we will get through it with flying colors, as long as Isaiah doesn’t tell the social worker about all the crack we sell out of the garage (that was a joke, in case any real social workers are reading this). We would really appreciate your prayers (if you are the praying type) as we try to move forward in this process. I will try to keep this updated as we make progress.