Approved...

***Warning***
My brain is a little foggy...work has been a little overwhelming lately and I did not get much sleep last night. Though it is only 9:30PM...my body feels as if it is 2AM. Therefore, I apologize if this post seems jumbled, too short, or if I am leaving any important details out! :)

This past Tuesday we received a wonderful email from Bethany Christian Services telling us we have been APPROVED into the Domestic Infant Adoption Program! Next week we should hear more information regarding the online adoption training classes and our home study paperwork. My heart is so full! Every day I feel more and more blessed that we are able to go through this process of adoption. God has adopted us as children...and Warren and I get the opportunity to adopt one of God's children...to hopefully be a picture of His grace...with the aim of glorifying Him. I feel like I could say so much more (and actually have typed and deleted a couple of paragraphs), but my foggy brain is not allowing me to clearly express the joy that is in my heart!

At the beginning of this process, I was a little frustrated at how much it cost to adopt a child. Though it is much less expensive if the adoption is private (meaning you connect with your own birth mother), an agency adoption is costly for several reasons...they provide counseling (pre and post placement) to the birth mother, have their own legal and accreditation fees, most have several personnel to support, etc.

To offset some of these costs, we are having an adoption fundraiser yard sale October 23rd. My sister, who is a photographer, has graciously agreed to "raffle off" a mini-session that will include a 20 minute photo shoot and a cd of 15-20 high resolution edited photos. The raffle will begin on October 23rd and will end October 30th where the winner's name will be drawn.

God has called us to this...and, therefore, we trust completely that he will provide the funds we need! We look forward to seeing what He is going to do...and we can't wait to bring baby Gorman home!