Tomorrow, July 1, 2013 marks one month that the grant papers were due. There was so much paper work involved! We worked very hard for several weeks trying to make sure we had everything exactly the way it had to be. We had to fill out all the paper work they required plus all the other information they needed. This list consisted of a copy of our marriage license, copies of the past 3 months pay stubs, a copy of last year’s 1040, a 4×6 photo of us, and copies of our birth certificates. (For this we were a little unsure of what to send for mine. Due to the fact I was born oversees, I have 3 different birth certificates. So… to be sure we did the right thing we sent a copy of all three)! 😉 We also had to have copies of all my medical records from my doctor, and a letter written by my doctor saying basically that we do have infertility problems, and should be counted eligible to receive this grant. All of that had to be in a signed and sealed envelope from the doctor. Included in the paperwork that we had to fill out was two copies for a treatment budget. (This was a list we had to make of how the money would be spent if we did receive the grant.) There were two copies of our monthly household budget, and a personal statement written by each of us stating why we wanted to do IVF, why we felt we would make good parents. etc. (Basically self promoting ourselves… Neither of us were comfortable with this, but had no choice.) These are just some of the things we went through to get these papers ready to be sent in.
As a way of memorializing this special occasion I took this picture of Jonathan on May 27, 2013. We mailed the grant papers on the following day. It was quite a relief to be done with it all, and know that we had gotten it sent in on time. However, at the same time we were very nervous for the next several days while we anxiously waited to receive an email from The Cade Foundation. This was a pretty big deal to us! Some of you may be wondering why. Well… as part of the application process we also had to fill out some information online and pay a donation fee of $50. At that point we found out that if our paper work was in any way in-complete we would not be considered for the grant. It stated that if everything was correct that we would receive an email saying that they had received our paper work. That email came 12 days later on June 10, 2013! I know that is not a long time, but we felt as if we were waiting on pins and needles! We were beyond thrilled when we received that email! It was at that point that we had a small feeling of satisfaction in knowing that everything we had just spent weeks laboring over was in fact what it needed to be. Now though… we have come to another waiting period. We are of course hoping we will receive this grant, but we also know that like us there are so many others who are waiting as well to know what will happen. We are very excited and I have to say that October 15, 2013 can’t get here fast enough! 😉
P.S. I also have to say that while the amount of money that is needed was somewhat overwhelming to us, we’ve always known that The Lord would supply the need for what we were doing. He’s always supplied our needs before and why would He lead us in a way that He would not provide for us now?! I heard a saying many years ago: Where God guides, He provides! I KNOW this to be true.
While we knew that we would receive support from our family and friends, we did not expect the response to be quite like this! To see The Lord work these past few months for us has been amazing! There are no words to describe how overwhelming it has been. In a little over seven months we have received 6,540. dollars. Our total need is 14,030.00, and the amount we applied for is 6,090.00. We are hoping to be able to save another $1,500.00 between now and January 2014.
Thank you to everyone who has given to us to help with the expenses, and also thank you for all the prayers that are being said, and most of all thank you to Our Lord for His many blessings! God is good… ALL the time!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
-Becky
