Seeing the END of our adoption journey

I am in Kyiv, Ukraine with our adopted son, Ezra Alexander and our 10 year old son, Jordan.  We are just waiting on his passport and final paperwork to allow us to leave the Ukraine.  It has been an amazing journey so far.  Ezra is five years old and very handsome!!!  He is full of energy, smart and very curious.  I can not wait for everyone to meet him.

God has provided for this journey in many ways with His favor and financial blessing.  He has guided our every step.  We know He will keep us safe and get us home with the rest of the family very soon.  Thanks to everyone for your prayers and help!!!!

***just so everyone knows we have met all of our matching grants!!! (God is faithful!!!)

Matching Grant with HAND IN HAND

We have received another Matching Grant with Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc., in the amount of $2,500.  This means they will match all donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500 and send us a total check for $5,000 for our adoption expenses.

Please follow the instructions below to help us out:

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by October 9, 2015  to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself) Address the envelope as follows:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.                 

Richard & Lisa Bowling
           18318 Mimosa Court

Gardner, KS  66030  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

LifeSong Matching Grant

We have received a $3000 Matching GRANT
 with LifeSong & Legacy 685

If you could please help us out we would appreciate whatever you can give.  Remember your donations up to $3000 will be matched.  This can turn into $6000 going toward our adoption expenses.  At this time, we have received $500 in donations making us $2500 away from reaching this goal.  

See below for how to support this grant:

DEADLINE for this grant is:  OCTOBER 19TH

Here are the instructions to help us out:

**Checks should be payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”.   Please, in the memo note “Bowling #5504” to assure it goes to the correct account.  Please mail to:  Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.  Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all US administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners).  That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.

**To pay online go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate  Select “Give to an Adoptive Family”  Complete the online form and fill in Account Number (#5504) and Family Name (Bowling).  Note PayPal charges an administrative fee of 2.9% + $.30 per transaction.  Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.


We leave for trip #1 on September 6th.

TRAVEL DATE . . . . .

Wow, I can't believe it!!!!!  We have our travel date.  We are so excited to announce that we will be leaving for Eastern Europe on September 6th and are DAP appointment is scheduled for September 8th.  We are very excited!!!!!

We will be taking more than one trip this time because of our current children at home and their needs.  My oldest daughter, Aria, and myself will travel together for our first trip.   We will visit with and meet our son for several days and then return home and wait for court.  As soon as our court date is scheduled I will return with our son, Jordan, to finalize court and then decide if we will return home to wait or wait in country for finalization.  This process can take several weeks.

We are still in need of funds to be completely funded but are trusting "Where God leads He will provide."  If you would like to help we would appreciate your prayers and any support you can give.

Thank you so much!!!!  We are so close!!!!

Can you see the difference?????

Can you see the difference????

There has been such change in our two newest additions.  There is such a sparkle in their eyes.  Kevin Michael is healthy and happy.  Eliyanah has become quite bossy with all the English words she has learned.  She can say complete sentences and most of the time her words are understandable.  They have both come a long way in a short amount of time.  We brought them home on Jan 1st.


Here are their before and after picts:

 Kevin during his heart surgery in February

Eliyanah
at her orphanage
prior to
us adopting
her.























Please help us as we leave to pick up our newest son.  What will his before and after pictures look like?  YES, we can make a difference!!!!!!

We are still in need of about $21,000 to complete his adoption.  We will be traveling sometime in September.

If you can help please donate using the button to the right of this page.

What does a child's life cost??? (Traveling soon)

"Our children are worth every penny we spend on them."  I would say that most of the time but there are some things we spend money on for our kids and think "that was sooooooo not worth the money spent".  There are also those times when we throw money at things to just get our kids out of our hair for a few minutes and later think that was a waste of money.  Especially when you are tired and they are still nagging at you for something you normally wouldn't spend money on.  I mean we all want PEACE and it seems like a good purchase at the time.  Here in America parents spend a lot of money on their children for things they really don't need.  The cost of even raising a child has increased drastically over the years.  (over $245,000 for a child born in 2013 until age 18)  WOW that's a lot of money!!!!

The real question is "what does a child's life cost????"  I know we would all say in desperate situations "every penny I have!!!"  I know I would say that if my child's life was at stake.  I would sacrifice all that I have for my child's life and well being.

That's what I am saying right now!  Our son's life is at stake and we urgently want to bring him home ASAP!!!!  We have and will continue to fight for our son to bring him home no matter what it cost.  It is now time to have funds available because our last document has just arrived and will be headed over to his country in the next 10 days.  We will get a travel date very soon!!!  Please help us to bring him home - any amount will help!!!

These are our estimated ADOPTION EXPENSES  

  

            Homestudy Fees                $ 1600 (paid)

            Application Fees                $   275 (paid)

            Passport Fees                     $     85 (paid)

            USCIS Fee                         $     85 (paid)

            Bank Fees                          $     55 (paid)

            Birth/Marriage Ce             $     20 (paid)

            Police Clearances              $   160 (paid)

            Postage Fees                      $   100 (paid)

            Apostille Fees                    $   150  (paid)

            Estimated Air Travel         $ 9600

                        For 2 trips

            Adoption Fees                   $ 9400 (have paid $900)

            Travel in country               $ 1200

            Medical for Visa                $   350

            Visa App                            $   350

            USCIS fee                          $   720

            Child’s Passport                 $   600

            Living in country               $ 2000

            Travel to US                      $   800       for child trip home

            Bed/clothing for child       $ 1200 (paid $600)

Estimated TOTAL:  $28,750

Paid so far:  $4,030
Cash on Hand:  $3,055

TOTAL AMOUNT still NEEDED:  $21,665


We currently have a Tshirt fundraiser going on until July 31st.  All proceeds go to help bring our son home and you will also receive a Tshirt for your donation shipped directly to you.  ORDER YOURS TODAY by going to:

booster.com/bowlingfamilyadoption


Tax deductible donations can also be made by clicking the link on the right at Reece's Rainbow.

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!!!!

Difficult Decisions

We had to make a very difficult decision this week concerning our adoption.  We have been moving forward for awhile with a feeling that something was just not right.   We wanted to be excited about adopting again but for some reason God's peace had just disappeared.  We began questioning whether we had even made the right decision.  We were not sure, at all, if this was going to be a good fit for our family.  Honestly, we were ready to just throw in the towel.

We discussed many times if we could actually care for the little boy we had initially chosen.  We had received further information and there were concerns raised about his future needs.  We wanted to help and felt we just could not say "no" especially now that we had said yes.  The turmoil inside was really eating at us.  I finally took the initiative and sought some counsel from a reliable source.  I did not feel we should just give up but something needed to change.  She gave us great counsel and listened to my heart.  (thank you)

Some of you may never understand the decision we had to make and you may frown on us for making a commitment and then back out of that commitment.   I am sorry but in the end we had to go with the directing of the Holy Spirit and what was best for our family.  I will say that God's peace has returned and we strongly feel this is the best decision for our family.  We will continue to pray for the little boy that we had to say "no" to.  He needs a family to call his own.  Please pray someone will commit to him soon!!!

We will now be pursuing a little boy who approximately five years old.  We feel he is a better fit for our family and we would appreciate your prayers and support.  Our paperwork is almost complete and traveling to pickup our new son is drawing very near!!!!

Here is a glimpse of our son:

Thank you!!!