What About the Tax Credit?

One question I get a lot from folks considering adoption is, "what about the adoption tax credit?"  Well, the Christian Alliance for Orphans announced that the IRS issued guidance today on the current tax credit available for your 2010 return.  You can read CAO's article here, outlining some of the confusion and benefits of the current tax law.  Among the highlights of the Affordable Care Act, according to the article:

1)  The amount of the credit is up to $13,170.
2)  The credit is refundable.  This means that even if you don't have a tax obligation for the 2010 tax year, if you are otherwise eligible with eligible adoption expenses, you may still get the money back.
3)  Eligible creditable expenses include reasonable and necessary expenses of a legal adoption, including adoption fees, court costs, attorney's fees and travel.


Fine print:  I was not able to find the new guidance bulletin myself on the IRS site.  So I don't know exactly what it says.  I am not a tax attorney or tax professional, and nothing in this site should be construed as legal advice.  Please consult your tax professional of choice for advice in how you should make the most of available tax credits.  I know I will.

~Katie

We Yard Sold

We had our first yard sale on Saturday.  I'm not the yard sale type.  But as I stood outside Saturday morning getting an irregular sunburn with strangers in my driveway perusing mine and others' pre-loved goods, I thought that I might could be a yard sale type.  Because I think that being an adoption type is requiring that I should be a yard sale type.  I mean, people were coming to my house to take away stuff no one else wants, and they were paying me for it.  Really.

We knew we'd have to have a yard sale soon.  On the list of ways to raise adoption cash fast, yard selling (saleing?) is high up.  So when we received an email from our neighborhood association on Tuesday of last week that they were advertising for a huge neighborhood-wide yard sale, Curt and I decided via IM that we'd host a yard sale four days later.  Incidentally, this was perfect for me, because I'm the last-minute sort anyway, and any advance time would have been spent agonizing that I wasn't doing anything to prepare.  Because I do have a few other things on my plate.

So, the word went out on Tuesday afternoon.  And y'all gave!  By my count, 16 families donated their wares for our yard sale in a few short days.  And the Lord worked in those few days to encourage us that we are on the right track and have not yet thwarted His plan for our lives.  (I know.  We can't do that.)

But when our list of family woes grew exponentially in number and severity in the months since we decided to adopt, I confess that it has given me pause sometimes.  That's exactly what the Enemy of adoption and the author of fatherlessness wants.  But last week, our Champion showed Himself faithful to our family through the encouragement of our friends, the blessing of family, the gifts of generous folks who don't even know us and a joy that comes from obedience.

My mom swooped in unsolicited to help out for a few days and came bearing groceries and diapers, bless her heart!  Strangers called offering their yard sale donations.  Friends brought pizza and fed and watched our boys while we spent our date night making yard sale pick-ups.  We were offered items to auction off and sell (news of this in coming posts).  My dear friend Dana and her family came to our rescue, and Dana walked me through the yard sale.  She was here for everything.  She was at my house before 7am after staying late the night before.  That's a friend.  She also educated me about the book on Cake Wrecks.  I laughed so hard I cried.  She's also doing a half marathon next weekend.  Seriously.

The yard sale itself was even an encouragement to me.  We had been given quite a few large items by my dear friend Eli who wears amazing earrings.  Among her donations, a darling crib.  The crib caught the eye of another Summitteer preparing to open her home to our city's fatherless.  Do you see the sweet circle of blessings here?  One friend gives a fine piece of no longer needed furniture to another (me) who sells it at a great price to yet another opening her home to children in need.  And I loved that I had friends there supporting us.  Bless your hearts, friends!

And all this while our T-shirt sales continue.  We've got some crew L and XL and youth M & L left, by the way.

So, there's the update.  We decided on a moment's notice to have a yard sale.  People gave generously, and we raised just over $600.  Not bad for a few days' work.  Thanks folks!  We're that much closer to submitting a mountain of paperwork to our adoption agency.  We'd love to be able to do that at the end of six weeks, when our passports are expected to arrive.  At that point, it would be great if we had the money ready, so that we can turn in the next set of paperwork.  We're needing and expecting big things from the Lord in the next few weeks.

Please join us in praying for the completion of our application process, so that we can move on to the home study without delay.  Thanks folks for coming back here and for following our story.

~Katie

Update-free Update

I wish I had time to write an update on all the encouraging ways things are coming together for us this week, but I don't.  I hope to update very soon with how we're coming closer each week to being able to submit a mountain of documents along with a sizable check to our adoption agency so that we can move on to our home study.

For now, we'd love for you to pray with us that our very first yard sale (ever in the history of our little family) will be successful tomorrow.  Thanks to those who have been donating for this impromptu event and who have encouraged us.

We're blessed.

~Katie

A Milestone

As we head into the weekend, I want to share a message about how hopeful and encouraged we are.  Thank you, friends, for helping us hit an exciting milestone this past week:  $1000 in donations and T-shirt sales (and pickles, too)!  We actually passed $1000 at our small group, where yet another of our small group faithful donated for a shirt.

We're seeing God move in encouraging ways.  People in our community are noticing, and remembering, our shirts.  Perfect strangers are learning about the needs of orphans, they are supporting us in bringing home our baby, and most importantly, they are hearing and sharing the gospel.  The Lord has expanded our circle and helped us spread the Good News and that He cares for orphans.

I get chills when I think about a friend from our small group who was asked by the librarian last week whether she had been at that library the day before.  She had not, but the librarian remarked that she had seen that same T-shirt (our T-shirt!) worn there the day before.  Thank you, friends for supporting us.  For WEARING the shirts, and for sharing our exciting story.

This past Sunday morning at church, as I was updating a friend on recent events in the life of our family, I realized she had not heard we're adopting.  She mentioned that she had just seen a cute little girl walk by with an amazing adoption T-shirt that she had to have.  (It was the same little girl whose mom sported our tee at the library this past week, friends from our small group.)  The result?  Two more shirts sold and that much closer to bringing home our baby girl.  My generous friend with a huge heart for children and adoption herself, and her amazing daughter, reached into their pockets after church to support and join with us.  Thank you, friends!

Needing God to provide far more for us than He normally does to cover the cost of this adoption is humbling.  We are looking at raising around $30,000.  What a huge, impossible number for us, but so very easy for the Giver of all good gifts.  Receiving your gifts is such a blessing and an answer to our prayers.  Know that we appreciate you and praise God for how He is working for our family's good through the generous gifts of our friends and family.

So just know that when you support us and wear the shirts, people notice.  I'd love for those of you who have already received them to send in pictures of you or your family in our shirt.  I'll put together a little album here on the blog, with your permission, and share our shirts around town (or around the world).  And stay tuned for more exciting ways to partner with us in the coming months.

You can send your pictures to: whereourhopeis @ gmail.com (take out the space).

With a grateful and encouraged heart,
~Katie

He Takes Away

After my last post, I was feeling a bit silly for complaining about some pretty petty obstacles being tossed our direction.  I knew those minor challenges were part of a bigger plan to derail our obedience, though, so I wanted to call a spade a spade.  This week, I feel less petty about calling foul.  

Generally speaking, ours is not a family of planners.  I used to be one myself, but my control gene was silenced over years of marriage and then stomped to death once I became a mom.  It doesn't happen to everyone; that's just my story.  

The events of the past week have reminded me how much I still cling to my plans.  We're still experiencing trials here, as we were last week.  But this week, it's been turned up a notch.  


You see, very shortly after we began our adoption process, we found out that I was pregnant.  With a very long awaited, very wanted, very prayed for baby.  Having lost our baby just four months earlier with a first-trimester miscarriage, my excitement was tempered.  There was no excited announcement to everyone including the lady checking us out at Wal-Mart.  This fallen world had stolen some of my joy in this happy turn of events.  


I was blessed beyond my wildest imagination, and no one knew.  Not only that, but finding out that I was pregnant just after paying our adoption application fee left me feeling conflicted, and feeling guilty for feeling conflicted.  It added a whole new layer of fear also.  Fear of what people would think of our family.  Fear that we would not find the financial support we need to adopt, because people would assume that we didn't need the money or shouldn't be adopting anyway if we were having another child on our own.  Fear that the prevailing world view about children as a luxury as opposed to a blessing would affect how our family was perceived and whether we would raise the support we need.  


This is my confession.  My fear betrayed some idols I was worshiping:  a healthy pregnancy, the health of my children, the blessing of more children, avoiding heartache, and what people think.  I've read that Satan dances when God's people fear things other than God.  I practically threw him a party.  


This past Sunday night, after we sent off the last of our small group, one of my idols failed me.  This was not a healthy pregnancy.  And this week, we have lost our fifth child.  Since the wound is still open, the reality that two fifths of my children are awaiting me in heaven has yet to sink in.  I expect I'll write more on that another time.  


So how is this relevant to our adoption?  Well, in several ways.  But today, I've been thinking about the mother whose child will be mine, assuming she is alive to make the gut wrenching, selfless decision to give up her baby.  She too will lose her child for reasons outside of her control.  Her heart will break.  And she will wonder what she has missed out on.  


We've been praying for months for our new daughter and sister.  But we must pray for her family as well.  That they would receive comfort in knowing that their child is going to a place where she will be loved and cared for, and where she might know the hope that we know.  I realize I will be reunited with my lost children, and that I will have the rest of eternity to know them.  I know that this separation is painful but temporary and that they are safe.  


But that mother's separation may not be temporary.  I must pray that both my adopted child and her biological family would come to know my Lord and Savior, that they will hear and believe the Truth.  I must plead that the pain of separation they know in this world will likewise be temporary, and that we will have an eternity to marvel at the amazing plan that unfolded in our lives to bring us back together.  


~Katie

We Were Warned

In all my research on adoption, I did not overlook the warnings about spiritual warfare. I read that our A/C would DIE, that our finances would be stretched in ways previously not thought possible, that our patience with one another would wane, that my kids would act up causing me to wonder whether I have it in me to parent another day, much less another child. Check, check, check and check. All in the last 48 hours.

Camping out in my own house the last two nights, windows open allowing in the sounds of the night along with its heat and humidity, minus the hum of our A/C, has given me time to think and pray.  We knew to expect trials on our long path to adoption.  We knew that our enemy who hates adoption also destroys, lies, and takes no prisoners.  We have no doubt that we are under attack.  But in Curt's words, "bring it on."  I'm not that bold, but I do know that our Champion can handle it and will claim victory for us.  He is faithful, and He is powerful.

I know that God has always provided for us more than we need.  He has always healed any rift in our marriage.  His grace to me as a mother increases daily, so that what I could not handle yesterday, He empowers me to manage today.  Though He did not have to, He has proven Himself faithful and trustworthy to our family over and over again.

I also know that we are not adopting because we want one more child or because we don't want to take a chance on having another boy.  We are adopting, because we ourselves are adopted by our Heavenly Father.  He has called us as His children to care for orphans and has called our particular family to adopt a child with no family to be a permanent part of ours.  We adopt, because He has given us joy in obedience.

If you've read Russell Moore's Adopted for Life, then these words will be familiar:
The protection of children isn’t charity.  It isn’t part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps.   It’s spiritual warfare. (65)


So we cling to our Father's promises, and we pray for protection and perseverance.  Our obedience is required.  Our joy and our good are promised.  Our comfort is not guaranteed, but our refinement and His glory are certain.  And this is why in the midst of discouragement, it is well with my soul.

-Katie

How We Got Here

When we read a new story, background is helpful.  So realize it might help to share a little back story on how we arrived at the decision to adopt a child into our family.

I do not remember a time when I did not want to be a wife and mother.  In addition to the desire to be a wife and mom, the Lord also put on my heart as a child to adopt.  Witnessing children begging in the streets of Nairobi, Kenya during my time there between high school and college cemented into my mind the reality of the suffering of the fatherless, and my heart broke for Africa in a way only the Lord could make it.  

In our pre-marriage days, I recall our talks about adoption as something that is good and that we'll talk about later.  In our married pre-children days, I recall researching adoption and realizing that we either hadn't been married long enough or didn't have the money.  

Law school and kids kept me too busy for several years to consider adoption much.  After our third child was born in 2008, I dove a little deeper into the research.  Within months of losing our fourth child earlier this year, the Lord had heavily burdened my heart that our family should begin the adoption process.  But my discerning husband was not convinced.  

The encouragement I found from other families through their blogs played a large role in convincing us that we could adopt.  I prepared my arguments for Curt by sharing link after link and video after video.  The more information he had, the more clearly he saw how we could heed God's call to care for orphans through adoption.  

I prayed relentlessly not only for the children that God would bring to our home but for God to lay on Curt's heart what He had placed on mine.  I rejoiced in thinking of the day when Curt would go from being invited on board to captaining the ship.  And then it happened.  One day several months ago, not long before we witnessed the official move of our local church fellowship into orphan care, Curt said, "let's do it."  And we haven't looked back.

Now, Curt was no stranger to orphan care.  When we met, he worked in a children's home primarily for children in the foster care system.  And since the loss of his brother just 8 moths ago, I have witnessed him become a father figure to our nephew, caring for him physically and spiritually.  My husband knows what it is to be fatherless.  And I am grateful that even through painful circumstances, our Father was preparing both of us for this decision.  

If you are burdened to care for orphans (and if you are a Believer, you are burdened), then I want to encourage you to prayerfully seek how our Father would have you obey that call.  And I want to encourage you to act.  Not every family is called to adopt, but we are all called to care for orphans.  You may have time to spend supporting a family in your church who is or has adopted by volunteering to babysit.  You may have money to support an orphan care ministry or a family struggling to raise the funds to ransom their child.  You most certainly can pray.  

If you are called, know that our Father will provide a way for you to obey.  And if you've listened to our pastor for any amount of time, you know that God's Plan A for obeying His commands is through His people.  We are grateful and humbled (if somewhat uncomfortable) to come before His people for help in heeding this call on our family.  But as I keep saying, there's nothing I would not do for one of my children.  And my discomfort in exposing our family's personal decision and asking for support is not worthy to be compared with the blessing of ransoming our baby girl or encouraging others to care for the least of these, much less the glory yet to be revealed in us.  

Our long-term goal is not to afford an adoption.  Our dream is far grander and far more daunting:  to raise our children for His glory, that we might see them in heaven and that they might be effective witnesses until then, to confidently send them out into the world with hearts full of the Word and heavy for the nations.  

Thank YOU for being part of our story.  

-Katie