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Another day, another exciting and amazing update!

Another day, another exciting and amazing update!
We were approved today for a matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans. We will be able to accept donations through Lifesong and those donations will be tax deductible. 100% of the money that is raised through LifeSong will go directly to pay the program fee for Eliana's adoption.
With this amazing blessing, we have re-evaluated our current fundraising model. The money that we have raised through GoFundMe cannot be applied to our matching grant, but that money will be used to cover the acceptance agreement fee and the inter-state compact fee as those are the fees that are the most pressing. We have changed our GoFundMe goal from the full amount needed for our adoption to the just the amount needed to cover the immediate fees. And now we are only $960 away from that first goal!! God is just so very good! If you would like to donate to help us reach our first goal, you can still donate at our GoFundMe page.
In the coming days we will be putting out more information on how people can donate through LifeSong for Orphans to be a part of the matching grant. We are also scheming on things that we can sell so that we can come up with the final $960 for stage one of our fundraising goal.
In other updates, Eliana continues to improve. It has been amazing to watch her start to thrive and it feels like she is starting to recognize me when I come to the hospital. Aaron gets to go the hospital with me tomorrow and he is looking forward to holding his baby girl again. The big kids are also getting more excited about bringing Eliana home and are starting to feel more connected to her, thanks to the amazing staff at the hospital. The big kids each have a photo album that we keep adding pictures to that they are taking with them everywhere. They also have matching teddy bears with baby Eliana and they have been sleeping with baby blankets so that when I take them back to the hospital, Eliana will have items that smell like home.
Continue to pray for Eliana to improve and that we can get a date for her surgery to repair the hole in her heart. Pray that we can get approval for the inter-state compact agreement - we will need this approval before we can bring her home to our house. Our prayer is that we will get the inter-state compact agreement before Eliana is released from the hospital so that Eliana will not have to spend any time in cradle care, but just get to come straight home with us. We continue to be amazed at God's goodness.

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