Well then, it may be helpful to know that you usually don't have to write the really big check until you get a referral. It depends on the agency and the program, but with our adoptions which were from Korea, I'd say we paid roughly 20-30% of the total costs in the first few months (application, homestudy, admin & govenmental processing fees), 50% when we recieved the referral (a few months later for DS1, but now the wait times are 18-24 months), and the remainder when we traveled. So if you decided on a program that is likely to have an extended wait for referral, you'll have more time to save up the cash while your girls are getting older