Holy debt, Batman!

We went through our first consultation yesterday at the adoption agency so the next step is completing our homestudy. The person we are working with calmed a lot of the fears we have about open adoption, support, and risks (I'll blog about these later) but really rubbed some salt in the money wound. Because we would love a child of any race and we are fairly open to physical special needs and birthmother drug use, we were told that we could end up in a situation where the adoption process moves VERY quickly. This isn't the norm and probably will NOT happen but we were told that we need to be prepared financially in case it does happen.

Um, yikes?

So in true Lindsey-fashion, I was up texting with a good friend and researching fundraising options long after The Husband had gone to bed last night. I set up one fundraiser last night through Just Love Coffee. I have a link to it on my Facebook page as well as on the right side of our blog. Basically, you click through our link and it'll take you to our family page on the Just Love Coffee site. From our page you begin shopping and we will earn a fixed amount back from each item you purchase. It's super easy for everyone and it's fair trade, direct trade coffee and products.

My next step is to set up a t-shirt fundraiser. I think I will do this through a website called Chrome Buffalo. Basically, they have 4 t-shirt designs to choose from (in all sizes) and you buy as many as you want! We will let everyone know when the fundraiser opens and it will run for 10 days only. For every shirt purchased through our family page, we will earn $11. Again, super easy. I really like this fundraiser because we don't have to design our own shirts (time-consuming) nor do we have to put any money into it ourselves. I think many times adoptive families will design and buy their own shirts and then try to sell them which can end up LOSING them money if they don't sell all the shirts!

That same sweet friend I mentioned before is going to be helping me make some super cute button bracelets that I'll sell here and on my Facebook page as well. I'll hopefully be starting to sell these within the next week and a half.

I tried to set up an Amazon affiliate link on our blog so we can start earning money when you purchase items on Amazon through our link but apparently if you live in Illinois you cannot do this?? If anyone knows differently please let me know!

I have to give a shout out to my super awesome friend down the street who has been SO supportive and helpful! ALL of my fundraising ideas have come from her :)

More to come...