8/22/2005

Advice from Nashville's leading Financial Aid Advisor Dave Ramsey

 
Dave Says
By Dave Ramsey
Author of:
Financial Peace and
The Total Money Makeover

"Borrow to pay for adoption?"

Dear Dave,


My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for years. We’re going to be completely out of debt except for our house next summer. We want to adopt, but the cost can be between $10,000 and $15,000. My husband’s employer offers a $2,500 reimbursement for adoption, but that still leaves us needing around $8,000. We think it’s the right time to have a child. Do you think we should wait?

Rebecca



Dear Rebecca,



Children are blessings. I have three of them myself, and having them was the best thing I’ve done since I’ve been on the planet. I would never want to come right out and tell someone not to adopt. So it’s difficult for me to really put my feet in your shoes.

I know that my wife Sharon and I have drawn a line in the sand, and we will not borrow money. We would be scratching and clawing and working extra, but we would pay cash for the adoption. It would be tough for me, though. I’m an old softie, and holding a little baby is one of the most fun things in the world. If there was ever anything that might tempt me to break my rule against borrowing money, it would be that.

But I’ve found that God tends to provide me with ways to get things done that he wants me to do. Sometimes I get impatient and short-circuit that, and it messes up a plan God had that I didn’t understand. You never know, Rebecca. It could be that a special adoption situation seems to fall into your lap from out of nowhere, and it won’t cost quite as much as you’re thinking. And if you had gone ahead and borrowed the money, you might have missed out on that one child you were supposed to have.

I don’t know how all these things work. But it’s why I try to have patience and let God provide me with the opportunities, even though I like to go out and make my own.

- Dave

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