It's Gonna Cost How Much?

Second post and we're going to talk about money. I know, you can't believe I waited, so long...

Marty and I have run the numbers and run them some more and they keep looking the same...

ENORMOUS

However, we're not new to this. God has given us great big mountains of money to climb before and it seems He's doing it, again. We won't waiver. God has already proven to us, many times over, that He is FAITHFUL!

What will it cost to move a family of 7 from south-western Virginia to Bulgaria? We're so glad you asked.

We're looking at needing 2 different sums of money. The first will be our up-front costs. They include the cost to move a family of 7 to Bulgaria: flights, a vehicle, rental deposit, passports, visas, health insurance, the list goes on. The number is not as high as you might think, though. Or maybe on the tail-end of fundraising for 3 international adoptions in the past 2 years, it just doesn't seem that high to us. To leave the country (and have money for tickets back home, one day), we need to raise $35,000.

We'll have multiple fundraisers throughout this year to raise that amount. We have experienced God's favor during each of our adoptions and believe that He will continue to bless the efforts we put forward. There it is, we need to raise $35,000 by May of 2014 to get on a plane and fly to Bulgaria.

That's not all, though. Once we're in Bulgaria, we'll need money to live on. Raising all of that up-front is what my sad, weak flesh would like to do. It's terrifying to think of moving our family to another country and depending on other people God to support us. It's what we hear God asking us to do, though. To trust Him to provide by nudging hearts and opening hands in this direction. Allowing other people to be a part of what He's calling us to do. We'll be asking for monthly sponsorship to cover our daily expenses. I don't have an exact number on that, yet. We're waiting to hear back from some families living in Bulgaria. If you'd consider praying about supporting our family in this way, we'd be grateful.

There's a YouCaring donation box on the right hand side of the blog. It's not tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to set that up. We'll continue to pray that God will open a door for that. Meanwhile, we need to start raising this $35,000 and taking monthly commitments. If you want to make a monthly commitment, just message or email us with the information.

We're incredibly excited to be taking this journey. We're, also, thrilled to be able to share it with you. I hope to share some of what we'll be doing in Bulgaria this week and ways that you can pray for us as we prepare to go.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy