Christmas Shoes for Sofi

Dear Life,

We are wracking our brains trying to come up with creative ways to fundraise money to fund our adoption to beautiful Sofi Rose. 

 The fees are crazy expensive...everything costs so much money.  But none of that matters to us...all that matters is bringing home our sweet girl...and having her be a part of our forever family.  I'm sure that some of  you are wondering what all of that money goes towards!  Well...here goes:




PROGRAM FEES PAID TO our adoption agency in the US

Application Fee (PAID) $700
Agency Fee $6500
P.A.R. (Refundable) Deposit – $500

FOUNDATION FEES: 3rd PARTY FEES PAID THROUGH agency – FEES DIFFER BY FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION “A”: 1000 EUR due at match, (PAID)  1000 EUR (PAID) due at dossier submission, 4000 EUR due prior to 1 st trip, (1000 PAID)
2000 EUR due prior to 2nd trip
 (We've had $3000 euro granted us in Europe thankfully, which goes towards this).


Additional Expenses incurred by family:

HOMESTUDY/DOSSIER EXPENSES:

Home Study Estimate $2250 (ALMOST PAID)
Post-adoption/Post-placement Report Estimate (requirements and cost varies from state to state) ($300-$1000)
Adoption Education Internet Courses ($30-$50 each)
CIS Filing fee $720
Fingerprint Charge (2 @ $85 each)
Passports (2 @ $170 each) (PAID)
Document notarization (cost varies) – estimate only $500

PRE-TRAVEL EXPENSES:

2 Trips - Round Trip airfare for 2 adults (@ approx $1000-$1500 per person, per trip) estimate
only $4000 +
Child’s one-way airfare (cost varies, estimate only) $500 +

IN-COUNTRY EXPENSES/FEES: Estimates will increase due to daily exchange rate for USD to EUR

Lodging and meals (2 people – 5-7 nights each trip) – estimate only $100 - $200/night $1000+
Medical for child’s Visa – estimate only $100
Child’s U.S. Visa $230
Incidentals (amount varies depending on family desires and tastes) varies

CRAZY, right?  That is why we appreciate all our friends, family, Spina Bifida friends, strangers, have done so far.  We have far to go...but we are confident we can do it.  Our big fundraiser at the moment is the collection of used shoes.  We are collecting gently used, wearable shoes.  They can be any shoes.....dressy, casual, flip flops, childrens, mens, womens, babies, cleats, etc.  They cannot have holes and they must match.  That is it.  We have seen a huge amount of people willing to clean out their closets and give us their shoes.  Many people are SHIPPING their shoes to us.  AMAZING.  IF we can get 5000 pairs of shoes, we can EARN 3000 dollars.  Awesome, right?   

Thank all of you....may your holiday season be amazingly beautiful.