525,600....dollars

Okay, not quite that much.

I'm tracking our actual expenses on a different page, but here are the projected fees provided in Packet II:

#	Item	Fee	Due Date
1	Application Packet I	$95.00	With application
2	Application Packet II	$595.00	With application
3	Home Study	$1600.00	With HS application
4	Activation Fee	$4,000.00	When our profile books are submitted to Love Basket
5	Non-Love Basket Home Study Review Fee	$425.00	Upon agency request
6	Agency Placement Fee	$15,500	Two business days before placement of child (basically, as soon as Baby is born)
7	Interim Child Care (if necessary)	$35-$45 per day	Same as #6
8	Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (for children born in one state, but residing in another	$600	Same as #6
9	Legal Expenses	$2500-$4500 (estimated)	Same as #6
10	Home Study  Update	$295	Due at one year anniversary of packet II approval, if still waiting

I've omitted fees that do not apply to us and have also changed a few numbers based on prices from the local agency.  I will explain each item as we approach them.  Some don't really need explanation.  

One thing I learned today, after confirming these fees with our agent, is that the $4,000 activation fee is applied to the $15,500 placement fee.  So, we can take $4,000 off of our $30,000 estimation right off the bat.  I also learned that some of the fees on the paper I have do not apply to us because Love Basket is not doing our Home Study.  We calculated fees we know of from CSI, but I'm pretty sure there's one missing up there...again, more to come as we get that far. 

Lastly, we were adding up the higher end of each estimated cost (interim child care, legal fees) and I learned the lower numbers are closer to average.

We haven't talked much more about how to pay for things, but we're committed to this adoption, with this agency, at this time.  We're going all the way, together, and we're going to figure it out.

I didn't fill out any new papers today.  Despite my all inspiring faith from this morning, I spent my free time on the phone with local adoption agencies to do a cost-comparison.  In the end, we're adding about $1400 to our expenses by not living in a state that houses a Love Basket office.  But, this doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary for them.  I could be wrong.

Two posts in one day.  Watch for more tomorrow!