Why Fundraising???

I have been waiting to write this post for a while, but my sister recently setup a trivia night fundraiser to help pay for some of our adoption fees and thought this would be the perfect time.

Many people honestly have no idea how much international adoption cost. Most people we have talked to assume maybe a few thousand dollars, but they don't realize the significant amount of money that is required to adopt a child. Jeffrey and I have debated back and forth on whether or not we should have fundraisers. I am not going to lie; it does sound a little weird to ask people to donate money so you can have a baby, but the more we looked into international adoption and have read international adoption blogs, we have found that it is not so strange or unusual after all. 

Jeffrey and I truly believe that this is something that we are supposed to do, but we also feel like many of our friends and family have been led to help orphans and those in need as well. We also know that many of you have a heart for children and for adoption. As Jeffrey and I thought more and more about fundraising for our adoption, we came to the realization that sure we are the ones who are going to raise the baby, but many people would love to be a part of bringing an orphan home to his/her forever family. Jeffrey said that we should not be too proud or selfish to not allow others to help us with this amazing life changing process.

As more and more of you have heard about our adoption process, I cannot tell you how many of you have asked us what you can do in order to help us.

To be real and give you the numbers, Jeffrey and I have currently spent around $15,000.00 on this adoption. Jeffrey and I live on a tight budget and have been saving since the beginning of our marriage. This money has gone towards social worker fees, document fees, background checks, shipping cost, and more. Ahead of us, we have 4 round trip tickets to Ethiopia (We are required to go twice), adoption cost (to readopt our baby here in the US will be around $5,000), adoption agency fees, gifts to the orphanage, vaccinations, and more.  Although we know, we can financially provide for our baby when she/he arrives home; it is getting her/him home that is the challenging part =)

I know I don't really need to list everything and justify anything to you, but I feel like our friends and family should understand why it costs so much. Jeffrey and I are so honored and blessed to share lives with the most generous and loving people on the planet. We would never want you to feel obligated or required to help us, but we have provided a couple opportunities for you to partner with us in rescuing our baby from poverty and so much more.

Like I mentioned, my sister is having a trivia night to help! We are hoping to put all this money towards our plane tickets. I have included the flyer for the trivia night if you are interested. 

We have several friends and family who are unable to attend the trivia night due to distance or other circumstances but would like to help. Our adoption agency has provided a free program that allows friends and family members to donate on our behalf.

Credit card contributions can be made online at https://www.awaa.org/forms/payment.aspx Where it says select a fee, click Eternal Family Program and in the note section type "Eternal Family- Jeffrey and Rachel Woodson". I believe there is a small processing fee. If you would prefer to send a check by mail, you can message me or Jeffrey and we can send you the form and the address.
I pray that all of this information is taken the way we intend it to come across; we know many of you have asked and so we wanted to provide you with the opportunity. Thank you for considering partnering with us financially. We understand that not all are led to give financially, but we do ask everyone to join us in prayer through this process. We know that God provide in every circumstance in this journey. We are blessed to have you in our lives, and can't wait for baby Woodson to be a part of yours.
 

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