Determind...or stubborn

By now I'm sure everyone in the family has heard that we are planning on doing surrogacy (for sure) and not going with the adoption route. We have also come to the conclusion that we want to do it sooner than later since it can be a LOOOONG process to come up with finances, find a surrogate, and then the entire process itself takes over a year (assume you succeed the first time). Despite suggestions from others, we highly prioritize having our children as close together as possible.
We realize that we have 1 major obstacle to overcome in order to proceed with surrogacy: finances. We are $150,000 in debt and we live off our scholarship and a little bit of loans at the moment. It doesn't exactly leave us an extra $50-70,000 laying around to pay for a little bundle of joy. I guess this is were determination comes in to play. And yes, I am determined to try. Last night I was searching through my almost-never-used scripture case (just the case is un-used not the sceptres) for something and I ran into something I wrote out in my cheesy 15 year old handwriting: "When it's too hard for everyone else, it's just right for me. --Cambrie Groneman" (I know, gag!) Despite cheesiness of my 15 year old cockiness, it has been a theme of my life thus far. A week or so ago I was talking to Malesa about surrogacy and how tough it will be and she said she remembered how determined I was to earn/save $3000 to go to Ecuador prior while living with her at Ricks. She laughed about how I refused to spend $1 to go bowling, but mentioned how surprised she was that I succeeded at earning/saving enough.
I realize that $50,000 is a little different than $3,000, but nevertheless I'm determined to try. Who knows, it might take until Steve is done with dental school to get the remaining needed money, but if that is the case at least we'll have it all that much sooner since I will have been working hard towards it.
Trying to figure out how to fund it has completely occupied my thoughts for the past 2 weeks. Here are some of my sources/ideas for funds:
1. $23 K (approximately) coming from supplement insurance in the next month or so.
2. Moving in with Steve's parents would save us $10,000 per every 6 months.
3. Me getting a part time job could give us $2400 (pre-taxes) per month.
4. Once I get a part time job we could most-likely qualify for a loan.
5. Eliminating spending: driving to Utah, no Disneyland passes, no eating out, very limited birthday and Christmas spending.
6. Other random/small stuff: sell plasma, sell piano and china hutch, participate in clinical trials, babysitting jobs.

I've applied for quite a few jobs in the past week. I'm surprised however at how few RN jobs are out there right now. probably the economy's fault.
Here we go. PS if you happen to know someone who would like to make $15-$20,000 by being a surrogate, let us know.

Comments

Marilyn said…
I put out the word to our ward members on our E message thing. I'll let you know if we get any hits. You know, in this economy, I would think there would be quite a few people that might be interested (at least more than if the economy is healthy)!
Christa said…
Good luck. Sounds like you've got a good plan in place!
Erica said…
You can do it, especially if you follow your well-thought-out plan. Good luck!
Gramps said…
Hey, for $15k I'll be your surrogate!
Marilyn said…
Dear...I think she nailed it right: "Determined"...so everybody might as well get out of the way!
Stevo said…
Brigham can help by collecting and selling his belly-button lint

Popular posts from this blog

A tale of two Brians

Common Answers: November Results