Court Date

Okay so I know that I said I was going to try and do a better job of updating this and I haven't! Well here goes another attempt. As most of you already know we are waiting for a court date which is the next step. We were figuring on traveling twice due to new laws that have been made in Ethiopia. The cut off for the new law starting to take effect was May 9th (Mother's Day). Wouldn't you know we got a call of May 7th from our social worker stating that we would not have to travel twice because they applied for our court date!!!!!! Wow, we were 1 day away from traveling twice!!! Our God is truly amazing!!! I also found out from our social worker last week that our court date is scheduled for June 9th. Once they go to court and it passes they apply for our baby's birth certificate and passport and then they schedule an Embassy date which is what we will have to be present for and then we get to bring our baby home!!! Sometimes it might take a couple tries to pass court so I will try and keep you updated if we pass or not. Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts - they have truly kept me from falling apart in this entire process.

Referral Day

Yesterday, a phone call was received at work from Josh stating that it was urgent and could I please call him back right away! As soon as I hear this relayed message my heart begins to race...what happened? To him? To a family member? So I quickly called him back and realized after he started speaking exactly what was going on....WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!! Words could not even describe the emotions that started soaring through me! I started crying, I started giggling, I started trying to close my mouth and the smile would just not go away. I made arrangements to leave work early so Josh and I could go and meet with the social worker - when we got there she met us both with a hug! We met at her church and she couldn't have pulled the papers out of her briefcase fast enough! She held the BEAUTIFUL picture of our baby in her hands! Yes at this point we are aware of the gender but we would like to keep this a secret until we bring our baby home! Our child was born on January 19, 2010! So what happens next? I am sure most of you are wondering...I send in the paperwork accepting the referral. Once it is received they do more paperwork in Ethiopia and apply for a court date. If a court date is applied for and attended before May 9th we will not have to travel twice, but if the court date is not applied for and attended we will have to travel to Ethiopia for our first court date and leave our child and come home until we travel for the second time to take our baby home. The estimated time frame for us to bring our baby home is approximately 4 months from now! At this time we want to thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts, words, and prayers! It has been a long road of many ups and downs. We still have a little ways to go so please continue to pray but at least now we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. - Psalm 100:5