And So We Start The First Step Towards Adoption.....

http://www.giveforward.com/adoptionofbabymartinez2013 I don't ever admit defeat. I don't ever ask for help either. So, why am I doing it now? I guess because I'm tired. It's been a long journey, and while it's not even close to over, I need some help to keep going. 14 years of infertility would normally wear a person down. And I won't say that I'm not worn out by it. But it takes a strong person to keep going through all of the poking, prodding, needles, invasive tests, and miscarriages..... Yep, I'm patting myself on the back. That's another thing I don't usually do. We've decided that adoption is probably our best option for completing our family. We've always said that we were going to do it, but for some reason, the hubby insisted that we try to have a biological child first. After everything, we kept trying and trying because he kept saying he wanted a biological child first. Well, here we are 14 years later with empty arms and an empty house. So, it's been decided that when we get to our next duty station we're going to try to adopt. That's all well and good, and we're beyond excited but adoption cost so much money. It's really expensive. That's another reason why we've been putting it off. Adoption of a baby can run up to $45,000. There are some that say that if you can't afford to adopt, then you can't afford children at all. Those are the same people who got pregnant on the first month of trying and gave birth to a healthy baby. I mean, what NORMAL person has $45,000 in their bank account to just hand over to an adoption agency?!?! Well, we don't. We've decided to save most of my personal paychecks and to also try to get a personal loan to finance our adoption. But we have to decide what kind of adoption we want to go with first. Either way, I've decided to do one of those online fundraisers to help with the costs. I don't expect to raise the full amount. I'm just hoping to raise enough to do the home study. From there, we'll apply for grants and loans. I'm also happy that I talked to a good friend about doing an auction. Now I need to gather up everyone I know who's selling anything to maybe donate. I'm also going to see about donating some unused things of my own. I'm hoping it all works out and we can go through with the adoption without completely going into debt. We've already spent so much on fertility treatments and meds. Thankfully, we have good friends and family to help us through this. Once again: Here's the link to our online fundraiser (http://www.giveforward.com/adoptionofbabymartinez2013) and I'll keep everyone informed of the auction whenever we get it going.