Monday, June 23, 2014

Fundraising? Again?! WHY??

When we adopted Peter, we did a lot of fundraising. A lot. We tried very hard to make our fundraisers family fun and to make sure that everyone got something out of it. This time around we had planned it to be a bit different. We did fundraising in the beginning, we would use our adoption tax credit for travel, and maybe do some fun little fundraisers for spending money. Well..that was our plan.

As previously mentioned, we did not qualify for the tax adoption credit. It's still crazy but it is what it is. We did fundraising in the beginning of this adoption and we have used all that money. That money did apply to this adoption. It paid for all the paperwork that we needed to get done to get to the point where we are today. So please know if you have supported us so far, your money has been used to bring Elise home. Our timeline was different with Peter. We could not do any paperwork until we had locked him in. This time around we have all the paperwork done and then we locked Elise in. When we locked Peter in, we had 11 months until travel. This time we have four months. All we have left money wise is travel. Travel just happens to be the biggest expense in adoption. It's best to figure $20,000 with flights and everything.

We are working very hard at having fun fundraisers. It would be great to have a big one so we do not have to have several small ones. People have mentioned golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, and 5k's. While these are great ideas, I do not know anything about golf and tennis, you have to spend money to make these successful and it's the hottest time of the year right now. So, unless someone knows how to do these and wants to guide me in it, I do not think these are our best options.

So....where do we go from here?? We plan on selling planning t-shirts, Eric is still selling coffee, (check it out!!) we will put together the cookbook, a give back night at a restaurant, garage sale, (start saving your stuff for us!) and try to come up with some family fun things! Abi is planning a drop off day camp and bike-a-thon. (She must pay for her travel this time around) Our awesome friend Allison will be selling compelled jewelry for us. You know you want to check it out before it arrives! If you know of any fun fundraisers, please let us know. We really do not want to overwhelm our friends and family by asking for money over and over. Please do not feel compelled to come just because you are our friends. God is going to provide!!! We know this!! We appreciate your prayers as we see how He answers our prayers but especially answers Elise's prayers!

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