Help Us Start a Family

I haven’t written much about this here, but Amber (my wife) and I have been trying to jump-start our family for the last couple of years or so. After some tests earlier this year, we realized that we had a choice: either attempt In Vitro Fertilization or adopt. For a few reasons, we chose adoption.

However, adoption is not cheap and we are far from rich. We’ve already spent about $11,500 (initial deposit; took out a loan) which we expect to get back via an adoption credit on our taxes for whatever year we actually get a baby.

Adoption costs vary but we expect to spend $10,000-$15,000 more over the course of the time between now and when we finally bring home an infant. So, we are officially asking for help. We’ve both been very active in the blossoming social network that the Internet has turned into over the last decade and, after donating ourselves to many causes that we personally believe in, we’re hoping that spirit of generosity extends outside our small sphere and encompasses the social community as a whole.

So, we’ve launched HelpUsStartAFamily.com, a site that acts as a hub to convey as much information as possible about us alongside receiving any amount you might feel inclined to give.

Our goal is to spend the money taking in a baby that has no home. Any additional amount we receive beyond the cost of our adoption will go to a charitable organization that helps adoptive families (we’re still looking for one … I’m sure they exist somewhere!)

Unfortunately, we can’t give a tax benefit or provide “official” accountability of funds like a not-for-profit corporation might, but we have created a pretty transparent link to help put any doubts about our motives at ease.

Thanks for any help you might provide and thanks for reading this blog!

www.HelpUsStartAFamily.com

Look Familiar?

Microsoft uncovered Windows 7’s proposed UI today. While not a few articles compared it with Apple’s OS, the first OS I thought of for comparison was actually KDE 4. Check it:

Grasping for Straws

McCain this morning:

Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you’d better hold onto your wallet. Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don’t pay taxes.

That’s not a tax cut, that’s welfare. America didn’t become the greatest nation on earth by redistributing wealth; we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.

Later in the speech:

I’m not going to spend $700 billion dollars of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I’m going to make sure we take care of the people who were devastated by the excesses of Wall Street and Washington. I’m going to spend a lot of that money to bring relief to you, and I’m not going to wait sixty days to start doing it.

So let me get this straight: you are opposed to redistribution of wealth except you’re going to redistribute wealth.

Makes perfect sense to me.