3/28/2008

I thought I would explain to everyone the process involved in what we are doing as well as the cost breakdown to show everyone the path we are on.

The first thing we have to do is apply with the agency. The reason we have not yet done so is some of whats involved is time sensitive. If we get the ball rolling and we get to a point where we dont have enough funds, it goes on hold. Much of this would still be ok, some forms etc may have to be done over with possible additional costs. The cost to apply is $100. We are thinking about doing this, maybe yet this week, just not sure yet. Once we are approved, which will only take a week or so, then we have a $700 approval fee plus we need to pay a $200 home study application fee. The home study then costs $1800. We will need to apply for our passports which cost arounf $100-200 I believe. I have not checked on this yet to be exact. There are post placement fees that are $600-800. Some governement forms, CIS I 600A & fingerprinting $830, SOS / Dept of State / Ethiopia Embassy $398. A dossier fee of $3600, this is a mound of paperwork as I understand it. There is a $5800 referral fee to Ethiopia, in Country fees of $1005, and then travel expenses which are roughly $3000-5400 depending on all involved. The agency has said that there are other families that go out on faith like we are and wait for the funds to come in to go on to the next step. This is probably what we are going to do to get this started. Hope this isnt too confusing, I just thought it would be good to show all thats involved.