Choosing to See

If you love to read, and you love adoption....or better yet, if you love to read about how Christ can change our hearts and our lives and how He works through others, then this book is a must read!!!

Most folks in adoption circles (and many more beyond!) know of and love the Chapman Family.  Read their story about their lives together, their adoptions of their three girls and their loss and the triumph that came from that loss in Mary Beth's book "Choosing to See".

You can also find more information about their orphan ministry and how you can help support orphans in China and around the world at their website SHOW HOPE.  If you are in your adoption journey they also provide grants and funding for families so be sure and check out their site.  It may be that the Chapman family is going to help your family adopt!

Adoption Tax Credit

Awesome News!!!  Taken from the Rainbow Kids adoption website:

Adoption Tax Credit Victory Now a credit and a refund March 01,2010 / Martha Osborne

With the signing of the new health care bill, adoptive parents received some very welcome news. Not only will the adoption tax credit be extended until December 2011, but it has also been increased from $12,170 to $13,170 for adoptions occurring after January 2010. And for the first time, the credit will now be refundable. Families may receive a refund for documented expenses for the adoption of their child. What this mean to adoptive families: The best news: This new tax law means that adoptive parents may apply up to $13,170 of their adoption expenses toward their taxes owed, thereby decreasing the amount owed overall by this amount. However, the news gets even better. For the first time, families may be getting cash back from the IRS for their adoption expenses. That's right, the credit may now be taken as a refund for the first time. In the event that the couple owes less than the tax credit amount stated, they may receive some or all of the balance as a refund on their Federal taxes. The tax credit is important to both international and domestic adoptive families, but it's greatest beneficiaries are the children who will now have permanent families thanks to adoption being more affordable. Many groups and individuals have successfully lobbied to help extend this tax credit beyond its original expiration date of December 2010, and are still seeking to make the tax credit permanent. As we celebrate the extension of the deadline to December 2011, we must also remain vigilant in seeking to make this legislation a lasting gift to the children who wait.

World Water Day & New Financial Aid!

There are lots of things in the works for JHAM!  We have some exciting events coming up this spring and summer to benefit the orphan and advocate for adoption!  We're so excited to share those things with you in the VERY NEAR future!  We're going to be meeting later this week to get some things in place and start the new season off right!

TODAY..... is World Water Day.  You can 'celebrate' with us and get one of these:

When you buy a water bottle, 15 Africans get clean water. That means fewer women in Africa will have to walk six kilometers to collect water. And because of this, they won’t be carrying the 44 pounds of water that they normally carry on their heads that whole way. Think of what they could do with all the time and energy saved.

That’s not the bottle’s whole impact, though. Now, you can use your “Ripple Effect” water bottle instead of having to buy bottled water. You save money, and fewer plastic bottles end up in landfills, where they can take 1000 years to decompose.  By refilling your water bottle from the tap, you save the energy and resources that otherwise would have been used to manufacture, ship, and dispose of plastic water bottles. With over 50 billion bottles of water being consumed yearly, that’s a lot of energy!

Now consider this: the amount of water used in one flush of a toilet is the same amount as an average person in Africa uses all day for washing, cleaning, cooking, and drinking.

In fact, 311 million Africans lack access to clean drinking water. That’s roughly 45% of the population.Some of you might be thinking this is because there is no water in Africa, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Only 4% of the total renewable water available in Africa is used yearly due to a lack of wells, pumps, reservoirs, and other irrigation systems.  Shocking statistic, isn’t it?

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NEXT is a new resource we found for Adoption Funding!  Awesome site!  Awesome folks fighting for the plight of the orphan!  Check them out by clicking the logo and 'about us' link below!  We hope this will be a valuable resource to someone in search of financing to finalize their adoption!  

† Orphan Sunday

Mark your calendars!!!! November 8th is Orphan Sunday and JHAM will be hosting an open house to share information with our community and surrounding area to raise awareness of the orphan crisis!

We will have presentations from various organizations, informational packets from adoption agencies, speakers that range from agency reps to seasoned adoptive parents. We will even have profiles of waiting children that are available for adoption! You never know when a little face in a photo will steal your heart away! :o)

Date: November 8, 2009
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Grundy County Senior Center
Trenton, Missouri

Please come, share your foster/adoptive experience with others, or if you are interested in adoption pick up some information and contact numbers for those who can get your started on your journey to a new family with one of God's children. We look forward to meeting you!

† Employee Benefits

Some of you may be aware already, others may be searching...reading that vast, seamingly endless wealth of knowledge on the world wide web only to become even more confused and overwhelmed... there are benefits available through some employers to help pay for the cost of adoption.

I have been researching several sites, going to actual verified employer sites looking to see if they provide their employees with adoption grants. So many I've researched have not, my own husbands included I'm afraid. Being self-employed as I am, I guess I provide adoption funding but it's something I'm working for.... It's called a paycheck. :)

Then I found this resource EMPLOYER ADOPTION BENEFITS Click on the link and see if you can find your employer listed. Remember, just because they are not listed doesn't mean they don't provide benefits. Check with your personnel office to make sure. I'd also recommend if your employer does not provide adoption benefits that we try to make a difference and make a change with our companies.

You see, while the cost of adoption can be a daunting and overwhelming part of the process it should never be a deciding factor in your choice to go ahead or not. There are so many avenues for financing and we truly believe that if God has led you to this important decision in your life, He has tugged at your heart and you are stepping out in faith to follow His command, that He will see you through it. He will provide.

But it also doesn't hurt to do your part to make it a success either! :) The hardest thing for me to understand and it's downright disappointing is that employers like McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, even the "Book of the Month Club, Inc." provides not only leave but actual financial support in the way of grants to it's employees...... yet my husband's employer, the great State of Missouri does not. Our own state agencies, some that even advocate for adoption and foster care and support those adopting through the foster system as licensed foster/adoptive parents does not support it's own employees by assisting with adoption. Creating forever families for orphans. Does that seem a bit confusing or disappointing to anyone else?

Remember this list was developed by the site it links to and your employer may not be listed, or some of the benefits listed may have changed. It's definitely something worth investigating! Watch for more funding/fundraiser resources in the future!

Advocating...
Renea