A Drop in the Bucket

What does $5 get you these days?

A coffee or two at Starbucks. A box of candy at the movies. A stuffed animal at Walmart. A short paperback book.

What about $10? What'll that get you?

A slightly bigger paperback. Maybe two or three coffees at Starbucks. Lunch for you and one kid at McDonald's, if you choose carefully. One ticket to the movies—maybe.

Five or ten bucks to most of us is nothing these days. It won't buy a fast-food lunch for two adults. It probably won't buy a single entree at a nice restaurant. It's not really a whole lot in the scheme of things, and most of us could part with ten dollars and not necessarily miss it.

But to one little girl, that five or ten dollars could be worth everything.

Triple Trouble. Love these little guys.

In my previous post on this subject, I mentioned that my best friend and her husband are adding one more to their family of three rather precocious little boys. They're bringing home a little girl, from Haiti.

Adoption is not cheap. Period. International adoption is a whole other class of fiscal insanity and worry. They have a huge amount of money to raise to bring their daughter home.

And I know, at times, it seems daunting. It's depressing to see how many zeroes still remain in reaching their goal. Constantly hawking fundraising ideas to the same friends over and over again is tedious on both ends, and there's always the fear that you're going to pester the same friend one too many times, and lose the friendship. Sometimes, the monetary mountain is the only thing you seem to talk about...kind of like when new parents get their first night out without the baby, and vow they're not going to discuss parenthood or children or anything like that while they're out, and that's all they talk about.

How do you balance the adult worries of needing the funds to bring home your daughter, whose face you haven't seen, whose birth name you don't know, whom you already love with all your heart, with the three boys who need you now (whom you also love with all your heart)?

It's hard.

It's scary.

It's brain-bending.

It's heart-wrenching.

And if they could maybe get a few people to donate small amounts—$5, $10, whatever little bit you can spare—on a regular basis, I know it would be encouraging to them. Can you squeeze out more, for a one-time donation? Oh, they would be so appreciative.

Could money spent for fast food or Starbucks or another book or a toy or a movie have better use? A higher calling?

I believe it can.

It can help bring a little girl home sooner than otherwise might be possible.

Is your budget too tight to donate? Please, share this post on your blogs, your Facebook pages, your Twitter feeds. Share it wherever you can, where you think there are folks who might help. The wider the net JJ and her family cast, the better their chances are that they can reach someone new, touch some heart they don't know with their story, and meet their daughter sooner.

And bring her home.

There's a link up on my sidebar that will take you directly to JJ's GoFundMe page.


Disclaimer: Yes, JJ is my best friend. Yes, I am supporting her daughter's adoption through both JustLoveCoffee and GoFundMe (both links are on the sidebar). But—as before—she didn't know I was doing this today.