"You're Gonna Buy A Baby!?"

I had to take a second before I could respond to these words that were uttered by a teen in my youth group last week. He said them with a smile on his face, but from my perspective, it couldn't be any less than true. To a degree, I am going to sacrifice emotionally and financially to bring a new member into my family.

Everything comes with a cost. In accounting (which I got a B minus in, so I make no guarantees on the accuracy of this information), I learned about a concept known as opportunity cost. Every choice you make entails an opportunity cost; that cost is whatever you give up for the sake of making that decision. If I choose to eat at Subway, my opportunity cost is every other restaurant I could have chose to eat at. If I go to the gym, my opportunity cost is sitting at home eating ice cream. Every choice we make comes with a cost. Some of them are insignificant, while others can have great impacts on you and those close to you.

What are the opportunity costs of adoption? What am I willing to sacrifice for the opportunity to bring someone in to my family that has no blood ties? What things must I put off today and for the near future to make this possible? What must my children give up to bring a new sibling into our home?

As I struggle to find the answers to these questions, my mind turns towards alleviating the sacrifice and increasing the assets. If I can come up with ways to increase our liquid assets, I can ask less of my young family. Life can go on as "normal", if you will, while we seek to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

So we are being proactive. Andrea has busted out her Pampered Chef apron, and the cooking parties are back in full force. If you have ever had the food they make at those parties, it is a cause for excitement in and of itself. I have dabbled in making drinking glasses out of bottles, but this month I am going to try to sell them at a Craft Bazaar at a local school. I am picking up odd jobs and general labor, whatever I can do to supplement what we already have. And I am praying. Praying that God provides not only for our financial needs, but for wisdom, power, and courage as we go through this process. I know that even when my checkbook holds little, I have a direct line to the guy that made everything. He is looking out for us, and he will take care of us. He is so good.

-Jayson