Frank's company is very small (7 employees) so no, they do not offer adoption benefits. Their contribution to our last adoption was allowing Frank to take all two weeks of hs vacation at once, which they normally don't allow. We really appreciated that!!

We have considered asking family for a loan, and we have considered a garage sale, although we don't have enough extra stuff lying around to do it on our own. We'd have to ask other families to go in with us or donate their extra stuff. We also thought we could call our credit card company and ask them to give us a deal like they did last time: we'll partially fund our adoption on their card if they give us a fabulous rate (last time it was 4.9%). But Frank wrecked the car last night (of course, the one that's paid for and only worth about $1,000, so now we'll probably have to get a new car [and car payment]) so I don't know whether we can swing more credit card/loan payments. (Frank is fine, btw.) I used to do some housing testing for the fair housing center, and I got paid for that, but now that I'd have to pay a babysitter for two kids while I did the tests, I doubt I would break even. I have thought about trying to get a job in the evenings. I have done some freelance work for Frank's company, but that's kind-of hit or miss in terms of availability, and while Frank brings in thousands for each freelance job, I only bring in $2-300 for a week of freelance work (with all the juggling childcare that entails), so that would be just little bits and pieces of the amount we need.

Most of the sponsored fundraisers I have found online are selling things: magazines, stuffed animals, candles, etc. I'm not into that at all. A few places allow you to set up a non-profit and solicit donations, and then they match a percentage of your donations. The National Adoption Foundation gives grants with not strings attached, so that is something we will look into, but I know that they are innundated. I have also looked into the Gift of Adoption Fund, and they are pretty high on our lost of possibilities, but like someone mentioned, you don't get to see the application until you are actually applying, which we can't do until our homestudy is completed.

Thanks again!

Danna =]