Emmanuela & Priscilla

Passed Court, Now What?

Ghana Process After Court:
1)Wait for adoption decree - issued after Court
2)Apply for Birth Certificates of our children in Ghana
3)File our I-600 (needed for immigration for our children) - google this for more details :)
4)Apply for our children's "adoption passport"
5)Wait for Approval of I-600
6)Pick-up Visa packet
7)Wait for Visa interview
8)Wait for Visa print date (after interview - this is for the children to exit the country)
9)Bring our children home!!!

***Our agency and Power of Attorney (who is in Ghana) helps facilitate and complete many of these steps.  We do a lot of the steps that say *wait* :)  Don't get me wrong, international adoption requires a lot of paperwork and acting on the part of the parents, too (A LOT)!  But, WELL worth it!!!   

Adopt Together Profile - Tax-Deductible Donations for the Halls

Hello friends and family,


Adam and I decided to work with a non-profit called Adopt Together to help us raise the remaining expenses for our adoption of our beautiful girls E. and P. We are humbly asking for your help, and any amount of support is so appreciated- prayers, $5, $10, $30,

Or whatever you can do. It is tax-deductible. Please check out our profile, and share with your friends and family to help bring our babies home!

We will also put your name on one of our puzzle pieces (see below in the blog for more details) when you donate!

Blessings, The Halls

Click on this link:
http://adopttogether.org/hallfamilybuiltonfaith/

Why is Adoption So Expensive!?

Why is adoption SO expensive!?  Adam and I hear this question a lot now that we are adopting, along with other questions regarding adoption and costs.  It seems unfair.  And well, we feel like it is unfair, but without sounding too cliche' - life isn't fair.  You would think that if parents and families wanted to grow their families through adoption, and there are children WAITING, literally WAITING, SITTING, unstimulated and unloved in orphanages, then why shouldn't that same loving family not be able to bring home their child that God has placed in their hearts.  Surely not because they are not able to afford the initial $25,000 to $40,000 that is the average cost of an international adoption?  But sadly, there are many families that would consider adoption if they could afford adoption.  There are also many families that adopt who use any means available to pay for these adoption expenses, including family sacrifices, budgeting, savings, credit cards, loans, fundraising, 401Ks, etc.  It may seem unreasonable to have such high expenses for such a loving process, but agencies, attorneys, government entities, etc. are providing a service and until you are in the process it is hard to understand how these expenses get to be so high for families. 

So, I'm going to try to explain the best I can:

Here's some examples of adoption fees and approximations of those fees:
1.  Home Study ($1,500-3,000)
2.  Immigration Fees ($3,000-$3,500)
3.  Document Charges (varies depending on country, agency, etc.) ($100-$1,000)
4.  Agency Fees and Attorneys Fees ($8,000-$24,000)
Agencies and attorneys facilitate the adoption including identifying a child, completing the orphan investigations, obtaining medical information for a child, preparing/reviewing/submitting the dossier, filing for court, arranging travel for the family, representing the family at court, and much, much more.
5.  Travel and Accommodations ($4,000-$12,000)
One of the main reasons international adoption is so expensive is that travel, often more than one trip, is required. Depending on when you travel, you could pay high-season ticket prices. Additionally, in-country accommodations may not be as inexpensive as you might think. Sometimes, it costs just as much to stay in your child’s birth country as it would in your own.  Adam and I experienced this to be true of our children's birth country Ghana, in the city we stayed in, Accra.  Plus, we are planning to take 2 or 3 required trips to Ghana.

Other fees may include education, foster care, passports, vaccinations, etc.

For Adam and I, we have the following:
Foster Care for 2 children every month, Vaccinations, Passports, Education
*Many Immigration Updates because we have been in the process of adopting for close to 3 years for paperwork.  Also, we have had to update our home study 2 additional times on top of our original home study.

There are certainly other costs I have not mentioned here, and many expenses are unique to the country/program you adopt from.

But, while adoption is a costly leap of faith, our family believes we are truly being guided by God and with God's grace, we have faith that we will be able to bring our girls home.  Like any of our children, we will do anything we need to in order to bring them home and into our care.  And so, although it is so hard to ask for help in the way of money, we so humbly do ask for your help if you are able to. 

We have stepped out in faith again, and we are asking you to step out in prayer and if you are able to support us in any way financially to bring our babies home please do - and in doing so there will be 2 less orphans in the world :)  And we will be so blessed to be able to call them our daughters and our sisters.  And you will be able to call them friends, neighbors, and family. 

Love, the Halls

Trip To Ghana - Trip One (of 2)

Adam and I were blessed to spend the first ten days of July in Ghana.  The trip just fell into place and soon we were traveling not only to take our first trip to Africa, our first trip to Ghana, but *most AMAZING* to meet the children we would be *SO blessed* to welcome into our family forever.  We are so thankful to God for bringing these children into our lives (and for the safe trip!) and for the many friends and family that stepped up to pray for us, take care of our children and our pups, feed us as we frantically did our last-minute packing, take care of last-minute paper-work, and chit chat about this and that before our trip while packing and tying up loose ends!   Side Note:  Packing was pretty comical, to say the least.  I bet Adam stepped on our scale probably close to 20 times for each of our 2 checked bags that were loaded with donations and goodies.

The trip was beautiful, life-changing, precious, and we will remember our time in Ghana forever.  The people in Ghana are so beautiful inside and out.  Everyone we met greeted us with open arms, smiles, and friendliness.  The country was lush with beautiful flowers, trees, tiny lizards, and the vast ocean.  But what captured our hearts, of course, was our children - beautiful, stunning, sweet, precious - love at first sight :) 

Leaving them, however, was heartbreaking.  No amount of adoption preparation classes, discussion, meditation can prepare you for this.  Prayer and then seeing the love in the eyes of their foster mom got us through it. 

And so, we hold our breaths for our 2nd trip to Ghana - which will be the trip we are able to bring our children home.  There will again be tears as we leave Ghana, but this time we will be leaving with our precious girls and crying both tears of joy (Praise God - the most amazing JOY) and sadness, sadness over their grief - their loss (ours too, because it has become ours, that's what happens when you are family).

Shirts & Puzzle Pieces: Bringing our children home one piece (puzzle piece/shirt) at a time, now that we have found renewed PEACE and HOPE!

Help us bring our 2 children home (we are requesting 2 siblings) and with Ghana we are required to make 2 trips:

Please if you love Africa, love our T-Shirt Designs, would love to donate toward our adoption, or have any other reason to donate, we welcome you to.  We have shirts for adults and children.  You can also donate a smaller amount that you are able to, and we'll put your name on a puzzle piece.  Anything and everything helps :)  Also, in this time as we wait to bring our children home, the most power request we have is for you to pray for our family as we wait. 

Thanks to all our Friends and Family, and may God Bless :)  The Hall Family

P.S.  See to the right hand side of our blog for more information, pictures, and ordering info about our shirts.

Update - Part Two

Peace - Another Door Opens

Just want to start out by saying GOD is TRULY AMAZING!  Shout this out!

Just when you think you can take it no more, and can take it no more, he literally scoops you up, and you have strength and continued hope.  No one, no one, other than him can do this!

We have found PEACE AND HOPE.  Thanks to God - and his workings through these people:  Thanks to a couple of FB friends and families that have guided us on FB and an amazing, ethical, responsive, patient agency (with all our questions and uncertainties after a failed adoption with Rwanda).  And the many, many prayers and support by family, friends, and our church.


We have decided to adopt from Ghana, Africa :)  A beautiful country that we are falling in love with - wait a minute, we are in love with :) -  their people, their country, their culture, and most of all our future Ghanaian Children.