$318.00

I just had to share this. I was invited into this jewelry trade party on this past weekend where they take your old gold jewelry (real gold and not gold plated) and give you cash for it based upon its value after weighing it.
I could not attend the event on Sunday, however I took the 14kt gold items that I wanted to give to the the person's home who was hosting. I haven't worn yellow gold in many years. So, I found some gold pieces in my jewelry box that were outdated (to me).
The hostess called me that night when they were giving her the prices of my items, so that I could say "okay" or not. She told me that the items that I sent were $318.00. That was so cool to me. It was stuff that I wasn't going to ever wear again and I had not worn it in over 10 or 12 years (gold dolphin ring, simple gold bangle, tiny gold necklace with cross, gold anklet, tiny gold rope bracelet and gold turtle link bracelet). It did not matter the condition of the jewelry, although mine was in great shape. I was surprised when she told me. The hostess brought my cash to work Monday morning. You can also host a party as well after you attend one they give you the card. It is really neat and it is legit.

This is the funny part. Since we began our Domestic adoption process, we have spent a total of $320.00 literally.

• The initial informational meeting $20.00
• 2 day mandatory adoptive parent class $300.00

Now, we have basically received a little change to compensate for what we have already spent, with the exception of $2.00. We will just apply that extra money to the application that we are getting ready to send in anyway.

The application fee is $600.00 (so, we can literally apply this to the 600.00 fee that we were sending in anyway). The $318.00 was not a whole bunch of money, but it was something unexpected and it was enough to add to our little expenses. I definitely was not counting on that little stuff that I sent being valued over $100.00 at this point. It just goes to show you that blessings come in different forms and at unexpected times.

Once the application is submitted we have to pay the $500.00 deposit for our home study and the remainder $500.00 after it is completed (for a total of 1,000.00). The home study is a reasonable price in my opinion. Most of the home study prices that I have seen do not go beyond $1,400.00 anyway. After that, we do not have to fork the larger amounts of money until we get a placement.