God: "In Case You Didn't Hear Me..."

In the last week or so, I have been inundated by all things adoption.

First, I contacted a pregnancy crisis center that also facilitates private adoptions.  We have their initial application sitting on our dining room table now.  They charge $500 for their processing fee, which I thought was reasonable, considering others we have researched. 

After posting a happy status on Facebook regarding our newfound information, I was contacted by three people with additional resources and/or advice.  One lady recently adopted and is a wealth of knowledge and contacts.  She knows of a couple of lawyers in a nearby city who do not charge to be on their "list," and another who charges $250.  She also had some great tips on how to navigate the system and offered to help in anyway she can.  Another has worked with various lawyers and is happy to help. Yet another offered the name of a person who has helped with adoptions and is gathering more information for us.  Also, my mom may have found a company that will match up to $2500 for us if we do a fund-raiser.

In the last two days, I attended a leadership training course.  I talked to one person about our desire to adopt and he pointed me toward the president of the organization who adopted two of his children.  I'm going to email him and get his perspective on things.

Tonight, I talked to someone to get ideas about fund-raising and she is going to dream up some things for us.  We were also told that we have access to a personal loan if a situation comes out of the blue before we have funds secured.

In sum, I think it is very clear that we are to adopt.  I don't think God could be any clearer in what His purpose is for us if He were standing in front of us, yelling.  And maybe He is.

So, in the next few months, we will be gathering information and resources and setting up a real game-plan.  We will figure out the best people to sign up with and then start to gather/raise funds.  A private adoption will cost us about $6000, so we have an uphill battle in that aspect.  I know that things will fall into place if this is truly what we are meant to do, though, so I'm trying not to worry too much about the money.

Please respond with any ideas that you may have.  We can use all the help we can get and any and all ideas will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!