Day One--A Big Success!

The first day of our garage sale went really well, especially consindering that I was doing it alone for the first 4 hours! We sold almost all of the big items, and made $270! I would have been happy if we had made that much for the weekend! I know that it won't be as much the next two days since we don't have as many "expensive" items left, but hopefully we will sell all the little stuff we have.

Every day we are getting more things donated. I know that my parents were pulling stuff out of the attic tonight. We have been blessed by the different friends how have given us items to sell.

Here's a basic summary of the adoption costs right now. The application fee (paid on Tuesday) was $600. When we have the homestudy, it is another $1,000, and then when we are approved, we have a $1,600 acceptance fee. That adds up to $3,200. We really want to pay all of that ourselves and not use the loan until we own the balance when the adoption is finalized. This lets us put off having to make payments and paying interest. Even though it is a special low-interest, interest-only loan, it is low interest for an unsecured loan, not for a home or car type loan. That's a big part of why we want to put that off as long as we can.

Once the adoption is finalized, we become eligible for state and federal tax credits (and, of course, the child tax credit), and Mark's company will reimburse up to $5,000 for adoption expenses.

Please pray that the garage sale continues to go well and that God will continue to provide the money that we need.

Thanks for all your support!