Don protégé
Hello friends and family! As some of you might know, Nick and I have been trying to have a baby and start a family for more than a few years now. We have unfortunately hit a considerable snag, and are now humbly turning to you all for some help to fulfill our deepest heart’s desire. Whether your help is in the form of a donation, prayers, or simply words of support and encouragement, it will mean more to us than you could ever know.
WHERE WE ARE NOW – It’s been more than three years since we started trying to have a baby. After quite a few tests, fertility treatments and other unsuccessful efforts I thought that the only thing we had to show for it was a drained bank account and broken hearts, but I have never been so wrong. This journey is hard. Infertility is a huge, life-changing thing that is very hard to explain. It has the power to end marriages and can plunge people into deep depression. It’s scary! But as awful as some parts of this journey have been, it has brought Nick and me closer than I ever thought possible. Our capacity for compassion and support for each other has grown immeasurably. That’s not to say it just happened naturally; as if a magical rainbow of patience, peace, and warm fuzzy feelings appeared above our heads as I was lying on our bedroom floor sobbing when we lost the first and only baby we’ve been able to conceive. No sir, it takes WORK! Literally. We have to intentionally work through the struggles. Every day we heal and grow. We can say now without any doubt that everything we’ve been through, all the disappointment, pain, fear, sadness, confusion, despair, all of it has led us to this point. We’ve decided to adopt! God has been preparing our hearts for this for years and we didn’t even realize it. The seed was planted years ago when our best friends became foster parents and that child squeezed us and started calling us “Aunt Panna” and “Uncle Dude”! Now, when we pray, we still ask, “Why us?” but it’s no longer out of self pity, but we ask because we have no idea how we could possibly deserve to be so blessed. God has chosen us to walk this path and we are so humbled.
We knew the process of adoption could be long and arduous, but what we did not know and were not prepared for was the cost. We researched all the different types of adoption and different financing options and as big salty tears fell from my eyes I was overwhelmed with what felt like defeat…again. But we are determined. We know without a doubt that this is what we are meant to do.
BASIC COST BREAKDOWN
Preliminary Application Fee $300
Home Study Fee $2,000 – depending on how long it takes for us to get a match it is possible that the Home Study will need to be updated which would be $1,000)
Domestic Agency Fee $16,500
Domestic Adoption Fees $12,575 - depending on the birth mother’s stage of pregnancy when we are chosen, there could be an additional $2,000 due per month until post placement.
Federal and Post Placement Fee $1,350
Estimated Total: $35,725
WHAT ELSE ARE WE DOING TO RAISE/EARN FUNDS – We are doing everything we can to save and earn extra money to put towards our adoption. If we had more time we probably wouldn’t even ask for help, but pride is a luxury that we cannot afford right now. We have always lived modestly and have carefully budgeted since we got married in order to stay out of debt, buy our quiet, little house in the country, and save for our future. But we have to do more than that now and I’m confident that we can.
When we started brainstorming about what we needed to do Nick immediately suggested we do what artists do…”We need to make art!” So, we are collaborating on a large series of paintings that illustrate this crazy adventure that we’re on. The plan is to then take those paintings and turn them into a children’s book. This will be the book we can share with our sweet baby about how he or she came to be with us and how every step of the journey was leading us to them. We will be offering prints, copies of the finished book, and the actual paintings as a way to say THANK YOU for your donation. (Details provided under Reward Levels) We understand you work hard for the money you earn and that means something to us. To donate to anything is a sacrifice of love no matter the size. We are already so overwhelmed and grateful for the emotional support we’ve been given from friends and family and we hope that our efforts and artwork will help convey our thankfulness.
Nick will also be selling paintings from new body of work he’s been working on this summer at an event in Monroe, Louisiana in August. (I will post details for this event in an update)
We are both participating in the Ruston Makers Fair on October 8th. Nick will have paintings and prints for sale and I will be selling original drawings on mylar. I will post an update with some sneak peaks of the work that will be available at this event.
We are both also planning to participate in the NCLAC Holiday Arts Tour this winter. I will post an update with event details later.
We will regularly post updates about the adoption process as well as updates about the artwork and the book. The artwork is “in progress” and we have quite a few of them to make so if you make a reward level donation be sure to provide a good email address where we can follow up with you.
***********While we appreciate any support any of you want to give, monetarily or otherwise, in an effort to prevent any ethical conflicts we will not be accepting monetary donations from students currently enrolled at Louisiana Tech University. We apprecciate your understanding.***************
WHERE WE ARE NOW – It’s been more than three years since we started trying to have a baby. After quite a few tests, fertility treatments and other unsuccessful efforts I thought that the only thing we had to show for it was a drained bank account and broken hearts, but I have never been so wrong. This journey is hard. Infertility is a huge, life-changing thing that is very hard to explain. It has the power to end marriages and can plunge people into deep depression. It’s scary! But as awful as some parts of this journey have been, it has brought Nick and me closer than I ever thought possible. Our capacity for compassion and support for each other has grown immeasurably. That’s not to say it just happened naturally; as if a magical rainbow of patience, peace, and warm fuzzy feelings appeared above our heads as I was lying on our bedroom floor sobbing when we lost the first and only baby we’ve been able to conceive. No sir, it takes WORK! Literally. We have to intentionally work through the struggles. Every day we heal and grow. We can say now without any doubt that everything we’ve been through, all the disappointment, pain, fear, sadness, confusion, despair, all of it has led us to this point. We’ve decided to adopt! God has been preparing our hearts for this for years and we didn’t even realize it. The seed was planted years ago when our best friends became foster parents and that child squeezed us and started calling us “Aunt Panna” and “Uncle Dude”! Now, when we pray, we still ask, “Why us?” but it’s no longer out of self pity, but we ask because we have no idea how we could possibly deserve to be so blessed. God has chosen us to walk this path and we are so humbled.
We knew the process of adoption could be long and arduous, but what we did not know and were not prepared for was the cost. We researched all the different types of adoption and different financing options and as big salty tears fell from my eyes I was overwhelmed with what felt like defeat…again. But we are determined. We know without a doubt that this is what we are meant to do.
BASIC COST BREAKDOWN
Preliminary Application Fee $300
Home Study Fee $2,000 – depending on how long it takes for us to get a match it is possible that the Home Study will need to be updated which would be $1,000)
Domestic Agency Fee $16,500
Domestic Adoption Fees $12,575 - depending on the birth mother’s stage of pregnancy when we are chosen, there could be an additional $2,000 due per month until post placement.
Federal and Post Placement Fee $1,350
Estimated Total: $35,725
WHAT ELSE ARE WE DOING TO RAISE/EARN FUNDS – We are doing everything we can to save and earn extra money to put towards our adoption. If we had more time we probably wouldn’t even ask for help, but pride is a luxury that we cannot afford right now. We have always lived modestly and have carefully budgeted since we got married in order to stay out of debt, buy our quiet, little house in the country, and save for our future. But we have to do more than that now and I’m confident that we can.
When we started brainstorming about what we needed to do Nick immediately suggested we do what artists do…”We need to make art!” So, we are collaborating on a large series of paintings that illustrate this crazy adventure that we’re on. The plan is to then take those paintings and turn them into a children’s book. This will be the book we can share with our sweet baby about how he or she came to be with us and how every step of the journey was leading us to them. We will be offering prints, copies of the finished book, and the actual paintings as a way to say THANK YOU for your donation. (Details provided under Reward Levels) We understand you work hard for the money you earn and that means something to us. To donate to anything is a sacrifice of love no matter the size. We are already so overwhelmed and grateful for the emotional support we’ve been given from friends and family and we hope that our efforts and artwork will help convey our thankfulness.
Nick will also be selling paintings from new body of work he’s been working on this summer at an event in Monroe, Louisiana in August. (I will post details for this event in an update)
We are both participating in the Ruston Makers Fair on October 8th. Nick will have paintings and prints for sale and I will be selling original drawings on mylar. I will post an update with some sneak peaks of the work that will be available at this event.
We are both also planning to participate in the NCLAC Holiday Arts Tour this winter. I will post an update with event details later.
We will regularly post updates about the adoption process as well as updates about the artwork and the book. The artwork is “in progress” and we have quite a few of them to make so if you make a reward level donation be sure to provide a good email address where we can follow up with you.
***********While we appreciate any support any of you want to give, monetarily or otherwise, in an effort to prevent any ethical conflicts we will not be accepting monetary donations from students currently enrolled at Louisiana Tech University. We apprecciate your understanding.***************
Organisateur
Hannah Bustamante
Organisateur
Dubach, LA