OUR SON IS COMING HOME!!!!

" I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS; I WILL COME TO YOU."  JOHN 14:18

This morning we finally got a call! We are cleared for travel!!!! The Embassy gave us our choice to travel as early as NEXT week!!! We submitted three dates 16th, 17th, 21st, to them this morning and will wait for them to respond with our final appointment date but we will be traveling this week! We both are so excited! Both kids were home sick today, so we had a little bed bouncing party this morning!! We are all over joyed to tears today. 


In our joy though we don't want to forget those close to our hearts that are still left in waiting. There are many families that are still waiting for paperwork and we ask you continue your prayers for these families. They too have children waiting to come home.  

There are families still waiting for referrals, the dreaded months of hearing nothing seeing nothing but darkness and these families need our prayers and encouragement as well. That their children are out there, and soon they will meet their precious faces soon! 

We rejoice in the celebration of Tad coming home, but by no means does this mean that we set aside the fact that we forget that others are not in the same spot. We as a family want to not just celebrate in our own victory today but also weep with the families today that didn't get the best news, that got the delays and the postponements. Because we also been that  family too. We are praying for those families we invite you too. Take courage and hope, Your day of dancing is near! Jesus says he will leave no orphan behind, he is coming and he will bring your son or daughter home!


We Tad, are finally bringing you home.

Love you so much,


MOM & DAD.

Abiding not Waiting.

Some simple truths this morning as I woke up. Jeremy and I have been waiting for our house to sell for about three years so we can move downtown. Something we feel God has been calling us to do for sometime. With the housing market crash it has given us sometime to think about why we are really moving there.  At first I thought this was a three year lesson on patience. As would anyone. But I am beginning to see that he is teaching me it is more about abiding. It is about remaining in him even when things don't work out like we think they should or like we think he has promised. It means abiding even when we think the idea is dead. I read the story of Lazarus and a friend of mine pointed out in John Martha. Her response. She says, I know that he will rise again I believe you are the Christ. But here is Mary, saying if you had only been here he would not have died."  Martha knew that Christ could resurrect the dead. While Mary is bitter and angry in what Jesus was late for and had not done yet.  I know in this process I too forgot that Jesus could resurrect us in our times of need if we only trust and abide in him. Or believe as Martha did.  This week I have realized that I am not "waiting" on God to sell our house any more. I am abiding with him. I believe with him he will resurrect this three year old idea and one day we will be living out his calling downtown.

The Israelites moaned and groaned about needing food, and God provided manna. God told them not to take more than a day's amount for he would supply each day for them. Was he teaching them patience? Or teaching them to abide in him. To believe he could take care of them? God today I believe you can sell this house. Today tomorrow or three years from now. What ever the case I believe and I will not wait on you but will "Abide" with you.

One last thought this morning.

I used to get flustered thinking about moving downtown to do ministry and outreach. Here we go to save a community. What!? Who did I think I was? How silly! God forgive me! At church Sunday they showed a video of the Center for Success. The thought occurred to me. Who is doing the saving? I was reading the verse in John 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and who ever hates his live in this world will keep it for eternal life if any one serves me he must follow me and here I am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the Father will honor him. "

So often in  ministry we decide it is our goal or mission to SAVE. We go set and try to conquer. But in the process we fail. Why? We burn out, and no one gets saved. I was thinking about our adoption. Why has it been different?

I never set out to Save Tad. I knew walking into this adoption that it was an equal relationship. That what I have to offer is important but that wasn't all. That I need more love from a little boy too. And that what Tad has to offer me is valuable. In fact Tad may just be doing more of the saving part in this situation.

You see God is teaching me humility about his Good News. I am first and foremost the one Always needing the saving. As I pray to move forward with going downtown, I now am praying that he uses my new neighbors and children and people that come into contact with me to SAVE ME.

In Isaiah 61

61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor; [1]
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; [2]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. [3]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.


Dear God.
Allow me not to wait for things, but to abide with you. Allow me not to run out to save others, but allow others to save me. Pour your spirit upon me so I can bring good news to the poor.

Amy.

Maybe tomorrow.

It seems like we hear  those words alot around our house. Another update tomorrow... or we will see next wednesday..... week after week it seems like we keep getting the same report. This document is in, that document is missing. The document changes from week to week on which one they need... it never remains clear which one they really need, and to be honest it really is all out of our control. It doesn't matter if we knew or not, for sure we can't change the situation. We are here, and we are here to wait.

We had an amazing time this week. Celebrating with family! Amber was home and she got to share with us making Injera and eating Ethiopia food together! It made me feel closer to Tad in a good way. God has confirmed some things for me. I can cook for my Ethiopian Boy! I will be a good Ethiopian Cookin' Mama. Yummm! Your missing out if you haven't tried it! I hope to share it with Awan's classmates this week at school. If I can do it again. LOL

I haven't written or even felt like connecting to words for a while. I guess I felt like maybe if I just would put my feelings and emotions aside time would pass and I could come back to my blog with a celebration of good news and Embassy dates rather than more waiting and more writings about God's constant presence in times of waiting!

I have moved beyond the waiting so to speak, Jeremy and I love our life. We love Awan and Zadyn and live out each day not just waiting for Tad, if that makes sense. I hope so. But it does feel hard when we go into Zadyn's room and there is his bed, and there is his packed suit case that has been sitting there packed and ready to go since December 14th. His unwrapped Christmas presents still waiting for him with our expected hope that he might have just made it home for Christmas. And now we are unsure he may not even be here before he turns 5 in April. Oh how my heart does break. How it does get heavy and waiting though I wish it didn't hurt.... it does. It is painful.

I know God is here and is presence and he is with me. I shared last week in our small group that it's been really hard for me to explain my journey because through the waiting and through being sick the last few years there have been times I have felt like God has walked out and left me but yet I also know that not to be the truth either. I know that even in those times of great despair he was there.

Last week in the gloom of the Embassy delay I did feel God's bright glory shine into me and what should have felt grey and gloomy didn't. Now today has felt gloom and dark, don't get me wrong I still have those days! LOL but he is there and he has his way of shining through the storm and showing us he is still there even if the storm is still there.

If you have a chance, for me listen to the song by Casting Crowns. Praise Him in the Storm. It could not be a clearer portrait of the journey that I have walked with Christ the last 4 years.

It's hard for me to share because all I want to do is jump up and down and proclaim from roof tops that we have an Embassy date but true faith is the ability to shout and proclaim and shout that God is faithful and he is good and he is worthy even when we have no Embassy date and that we will Praise him anyway. We have no paper work but we will praise him anyway! We have no more ability on our own to wait but we will wait with him anyway.

We love and appreciate so many of your prayers and words of support.Thanks so much!  We  will keep praying that Tad will come home soon.

Waiting in CONFIDENCE.

Expect with CONFIDENCE that what is unseen 

is just underneath the horizon.

This is a time of the unknown for us. With adoption so often there are times of extended waiting and then times of complete chaos getting papers ready, more waiting, traveling, passing court, and then more waiting. This time the waiting feels different. There is a feeling of a wide hole exposed and feeling barren. It's like being handed your baby after 9 months of work and labor, and then they tell you to go and wait  an undisclosed amount of time to be able to bring him or her home. We couldn't really imagine that. So experiencing it brings this disoriented feeling to me. I think I must look like I am just spinning my wheels not sure what direction to head!

We have also had some uncertainty with our house. We just about get to the point we forget it's still for sale! LOL  Then we get an interested prospect. We now have two. So I am feeling the unknown feeling of, "Are we moving?" "Are we not?" "Will it be to much for Tad?"  "Could it happen before we get him?" To much thinking is what my husband says! Which doesn't help to much.

My mom is always reading my posts. She has a skill at reminding me of my own words by saying. I heard a girl once say, " And quotes me word for word as a reminder that I so often forget what I know to be true!"

I kind of did that to myself today, reading some old post and feeling weepy about my unknowing circumstances. And I read a post I had posted early on that was entitled "Hope Rising." My first paragraph said this... 

At every horizon, the sun rises and the sun sets.
And under every horizon God is working on things unseen.

I was thinking about a verse this week, and then a friend suggested I read Hebrews 11. And whaalaah, it was the passage I had been thinking about. It is the Faith chapter.

Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." 

The rest of Hebrew 11 is a retelling of stories of Spiritual Faith. Stories about people just like us that instead of focusing on the unknown they had faith in the assurance of what God had already promised them in the future.

The Greek word for assurance is hypostasis, which means CONFIDENCE.  That we have CONFIDENCE of the things hoped for.  Faith is described with two words. CONFIDENCE, and CONVICTION.

Often times when we like to use the word, HOPE, we have this vague hope grounded in this imaginary idea of something, maybe even more like wishful thinking. But the word used here is not our kind of HOPE, it is CONFIDENCE. It is solid and secure. It is not vague.

Which leads me the other word faith is described as, CONVICTION.  A CONVICTION according to my google dictionary, says it is a FIRM thought or belief. Something that is not whimsical or vague but sharp and defined. Solid, and not flexible.

So putting this one verse into full meaning...Faith is the CONFIDENCE in things we have been given CONFIDENCE in. ( So that is probably clear as gravy!)  Stay with me. They are things that are fixed and solid, never changing and true to us. Faith moves past what we can see, not just the things that our eyes tell us that are confident, and firm. Spiritual faith goes beyond to even the things we have not yet seen. Faith is a settled CONFIDENCE that something in the future that has not yet been seen but has been CONVICTED to you, or made firm to you will happen and will be. Let's rather say it like this,  it is a PROMISE by God that will come to pass, and God will bring it to the horizon for us to see. How can we know this? Because our faith is something we are CONFIDENT in and CONVICTED in.

We hear this phrase about faith, "A leap in the dark." Or a "Leap of Faith". We get confused when we describe Spiritual Faith this way. Spiritual Faith is not a leap into "nothing" it is not "vague", it is actually the opposite. It is a LEAP of CONFIDENCE, that what we have been CONVICTED or PROMISED and we are CONFIDENT we will land not wavering but standing firm.

In this time of waiting. It is easy to focus on the unseen. The calendar with no return date for Tad, and the hole that engulfs my heart because I  am 10,000 miles away from him.  I can look at the uncertainty of each prospective buyer for our house and toss out a hopeful, wish, but this is not Spiritual faith. This is not trusting in the unseen. This is not having CONFIDENCE in what God has personally REVEALED, CONVICTED, and PROMISED to me.

Now it is by CONFIDENCE OF THINGS THAT WILL COME BECAUSE OF THE PROMISE CHRIST HAS GIVEN ME THAT THEY WILL BE.

It was 4 years ago, our hearts was CONVICTED. God spoke into our hearts and there, a little boy was conceived. So it is with CONFIDENCE that I look forward to the unseen, and know he will be home with us. I have been given God's promise and I can be CONFIDENT in his CONVICTION.

It was 3 years ago, that the same kind of CONVICTION came to us. We felt a small still firm voice tell us to MOVE into a part of town that hasn't seen Jesus lately. And with great CONFIDENCE we have had our house on the market even in the worst housing market in history. We don't have to count our losses when our house is turned down by someone again, and again. We can stand firm in CONFIDENCE, that the Lord CONVICTED our hearts and has PROMISED to move us even though it is unseen to us now.We can stand firm in the things we hope for because we have faith and confidence that he will be there to fulfill what he says.

It is by Faith, we read in Hebrews about many who God gave Promises and Convictions. And we see in all of them his Promises were held true and where firm! What proof for us to believe in CONFIDENCE with them. And trust he will do the same for us just as he promises here.

Now I see the child conceived in my heart as a rock that is not movable. So embassy dates or not, my faith can be firm in the promise that God has given me. That Tad is my son, and his is most defiantly apart of our future. We can't see the date on the horizon line, but think what God can see just below it! I imagine it is a pretty amazing view for all of us!

So here is my challenge.  If you are burdened by things you can't see or control, make a list of the things God has been CONVICTING you or PROMISING you. Stand firm and be CONFIDENT in his PROMISES, and then all of the unseen things will fade away and you will step into the life in which God has asked you to Leap into. with CONFIDENCE .Not hoping or wishing he is there to help you land, but knowing he will!

** We are confident that Tad is our son and  and we know he will be home with us soon. We pray in confidence Lord that you will make a way for him to be here in our arms quickly, but we have CONFIDENCE in you that you are wiser, you are stronger and you know exactly what we all need. We have Spiritual Faith that you will lead us all home in faith. It is in you that we have CONFIDENCE and that you are not something not vague and not hopeful, but TRUE.

Declaring the day of the Lord's Favor!

While we were in Ethiopia last week, I read this verse about 15 times. Usually this is a pretty good indicator that God is calling me to something or really asking me to Listen to him. I read two books on the long trip and saw this verse in each of them. I was emailed but friends this verse while I was gone, and read it several times in my devotions, as well, as the Sunday morning service that we attended.


"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."      Luke 4:18  ( Isaiah 61)

This is our Christmas Celebration. As we rush through the malls searching for the perfect gift for the people in our lives that already posses everything, why don't we proclaim a bigger celebration. Why not celebrate the year of the Lord's favor this Christmas by rescuing the poor. Not just the poor in wealth but the poor in spirit.


In Ethiopia, we had the honor of meeting an amazing Man of faith, Ewenetu. He is 30, and living in a poor country but even though he grew up with 12 brothers and sisters, being the 7 child in his family he decided that even his resources could not keep him from living this verse out to the fullest.  Ewenetu was our driver in Ethiopia. He asks a mere $20 USD for a half day and $50 USD for a full day of driving. He would wait in the car as we ate dinner, or shopped. And each time returning we noticed he wasn't playing games on his cell phone or texting his friends, he was with his most important friend Christ. He had a small Amharic Bible, and was always reading it in between his travels. As we got to know him we found that he was a driver to support his income so he didn't have to take a salary. He owned three orphanages, Resurrection Orphans & Widows Service,  that support not only orphans but widows as well. He currently has around 200 sponsors but his goal is 1,000! He is taking responsibility for the 5 million orphans that are in Ethiopia alone, not to mention 180 million in the world today. Just by taking care of a few, he is helping change the the lives of the ones in his care which is life changing!

As we heard him talk about his orphanages, and I had to go see them, meet his children.  I was amazed at the care he was giving each child. The orphanage was so clean, and the kids were singing "Do Lord oh, do Lord"  Some friends of ours had previously visited another government orphanage and told us horror stories of the care they were giving the children. They said some children had diapers that were well overdue for changing. Some of the children they said they knew had pneumonia. The place was a hell on earth for these children. We were prepared for the same experience, but instead found a heaven on earth for the poor, and the captives. Ewenetu understands declaring the day of Lord's favor, because he lives in it each day.

So what does this all mean to me? As I came back from a poor country but so wealthy in love and in beauty in other ways we so often look past, I realized that God is calling me to ask you all to rethink this Christmas and choose to celebrate it as the day of the Lord's favor on the weak, the poor, the down and out, the orphans and the widows.

For your parents or siblings, give them a gift that changes not just them, but a legacy for a child or widow.


You can find more about his orphanage and supporting a child at: www.rowsinternational.org. Here is some information.


At ROWS we have created the great opportunity for you to be part of a fantastic group of child sponsors. For just $30 a month ($1 a day) you can help provide love, care and basic needs for children who have nothing and no-one. With our careful selection of needy children, we will provide all the information about a specific child including matching age and gender to help you choose which one you would like to sponsor. If you wish you can leave us to decide where the need is greatest at present, ROWS will ensure your money is used properly to provide proper care to the child of your choice including food, school, medical, recreation and so on.

Once you start sponsoring a child we will provide you with up-to-date progress report on the child and see the difference your sponsorship makes. Depending on your wish you can also visit the child and make more donations for birthday and other special occasions.

ROWS manage your money to its maximum effects by reducing administrative cost using volunteers in different specialty areas who keeps our costs low and use the sponsorship money to provide long term help until the child is old enough to be independent. So, why not sponsor now? A little boy or girl in desperate need is waiting for your help. 


This Christmas I am understanding that God has asked me to proclaim the need of the poor to us whom have been given much so that we can also be free from the captive of materialism. Join with me in my Christmas Challenge, to help Ewenetu get his 1,000 sponsors! Post it on my page if you are willing to sponsor and give a gift to someone this Christmas that represents Christ in his fullest.  Even if you can't sponsor a child, any donation will be huge! Our money is worth 16 times their money so giving a little is 16 times more than they could do themselves. Time and time again, Christ shows us in the New Testament what amazing things he can do with just 5 loaves and 2 fish. Don't let the little stand in your way of allowing God to do huge things this Christmas.

Here is our change to declare the day of the Lord's Favor!

2 Weeks from TODAY!!!

So often our measure of God's influence or power in our life is by what is happening to us. When things are working out or if a miracle occurs we know it and label it a "God thing." When we think of miracles in our western mind sets we assume it means short, relief, comfort, moving on to new things. We think of miracles as taking a desolate situation and turning it into a fantastic one over night.

When we first decided to adopt we decided not take out loans for the adoption but decided to do it the slow way and pay stuff off little by little. There was a piece of me that was just waiting for the thunder bolt miracle to happen. A huge check in the mail with my name on it! Or maybe just maybe we will put our house up for sale and it will sell the next week, because God is on our side right? So it will just sell, even in this crappy market! He is for me, so it will move, it will be a miracle for every one to see! I must proclaim that he has done a miracle in my life without selling our house super fast and giving me a lighting bolt miracle to fund our adoption.

We become arrogant with God when we assume he works in quick and spontaneous ways and that is the only way he works. We become ignorant to the real miracle that he wants us to have and accept.

I remember so many days in the last 4 years, that I would run to my bed, hide myself in the comfort of my covers and cry in the arms of my Lord. Hurt, broken, and terribly confused by his plan. Why did he ask us to move, yet 2 years and 6 months later, we have yet to sell the house? Why did my health fail, and we have to struggle as a family just to keep things going, while I went in and out of the hospital, and made our family life out of doctors visits? Why was it taking so long to pay off debt? Why had all the other houses in the area sold but ours?

I would lay in bed in agony praying for a minute miracle. That the phone would ring, and it would be our Realtor, giving us the big congrats. But it didn't happen. I would hope beyond all measure that God would just fix it all and leave me alone.

The last 4 years has by far been marked by suffering. But in the suffering I have found the biggest miracle of all. The closeness of Christ in the suffering. He was always there. Every time I would run to my bed and collapse, he was there. Even when I was angry and mad and hated him at times, he was there.

So often we hear the stories of instant miracles, but that is not the story or experience God gave me. The real miracle of this whole journey has been one of trust and dependence. The miracle is not that we will be leaving in two weeks to see our little Tad. The miracle is that God has stayed beside me for the last 4 years pushing me and teaching me to trust him with it. About 4 years ago I struggled with extreme fear. Fear of going places, doing things. Now in two weeks, I will step onto an airplane and fly clear across the world. That is a miracle. Not something that just happened but was through the power of the Holy Spirit transforming this fearful person so that I can move beyond my fears to be with him and where he wants to take me.

Even though my health comes and goes, and my body sometimes is my worst enemy, I have learned not to trust my physical self. It can do very little for me. But the Spirit working in me and the presence of God in my life is what moves me from place to place and that my health and physicality may be one of my greatest weaknesses but the real miracle is that God is stronger than I am.

The miracle we have been given, is not early court dates, and an interested buyer in our house. The real miracle that I have been given is God's presence. Not in the good times, but trusting and knowing he is there even in the muck, even when I want to reject everything he is doing in my life. Knowing he still walks hand in hand with me, through 4 years of suffering, he has given me a trust in him that is beyond any short term miracle could ever give me.

A friend texted me this verse this week. Psalm 20. It didn't surprise me to much. Because for the last 4 years he has prompted friends, and family to send me this confirmation, so thatI know he understands my heart, and the reminder that he is the miracle in my life. Not any circumstance or situation. It is by His presence alone, we have been blessed with a miracle of his Grace and Love.

I want so much to encourage everyone, suffering. That though it sucks, and though the pain feels so unbearable, the day to day dependence on his Love and understanding is the real miracle you will ever receive. Yes you might get an early court date, or your house might sell super fast. But the real gift is going through the long days with no minute miracles, but seeing the faithfulness of His presence through the crap!

Psalm 20:4- " May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with saving might of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall but we rise and stand up right!

Proclaiming this for all of you today! I hope you can all be blessed with the miracle of His presence, even when things are not working out. He has foreseen our court date even before we ever decided to adopt. He understood the path he was taking me on. He knew it was more powerful for me to see his love and his presence through suffering, and agony than a one minute miracle that left me guessing what I had saw. I have an unbelievable amount of trust in him and him alone. There is no way I can take this trip to Africa in two weeks, or do any of the things he is asking me to do, and now I know that's is exactly where he wants me. Not trusting in what I can get done or do, but handing it to him and being confident that we don't trust in the momentary securities, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

We will be leaving November 5th, two weeks today to meet Tad. This story is far from over, it is only the beginning of a new journey with Christ where he can teach me more about who he is and the adoption I have as him as my Abba Father.

We have court dates!

Court Date Day! Praising God for our court dates!

This morning I gave in and started an email to our case worker for our adoption agency. I woke up full of questions for her. We hadn't heard any finalization that our paperwork had been submitted to court. As far as we knew they were still translating it. So the anxiety killed me this morning and I broke down and send her an email just asking where we were at.

I also have felt overwhelmed for Tad. I wanted to know does he know he has a family coming? Does he understand what is ahead of him? How will we communicate with him when he speaks a rare language? What size of clothes does he where? How big are his feet? All things as a Mom I feel I should know about my little boy! The distance makes my heart yearn for court dates. Not that I am wishing my time away, but it is a home sickness for your child that is so far away. Well I quickly got an email back from the agency, and it said, I need to talk with you both, can I call you now.

My heart sorta stopped in fear that oh, no maybe something fell through. As I answered the phone, her excitement hit me by surprise as she said, " Congratulations!" I was thinking what? And she said I have COURT DATES, for you guys!! Holy Cow! I didn't know the paperwork was even submitted yet, and they told us it could take months to get a court date.

She told us our 1st Court Date is November 11th. This is where the Ministry of Women Affairs will submit information concerning our adoption to court and the judge will interview the responsible parties for relinquishing Tad for adoption. Once we pass this court date we can then book our flight!

Our 2nd Court Date is December 13th!!! We should leave on Jeremy's birthday or near then around the 7-8th to fly to Ethiopia to prepare for court and meet our little Tad for the first time!


She also answered questions to most of my concerns. Yes, Tad knows we are coming, and he has a family. They are working with him so he understands the concept of adoption and knows he will be moving away. They have been exposing him to English tapes and books so he can start to hear and learn English! This is HUGE! They also said he has picked up some of the Amharic language which is easier for us to start to pick up some short phrases because Tad's native language is very remote, and hard to find resources to translate it. This is a huge relief to know he is being prepared. We got new photos of him last week, he is so HAPPY! I told my mom it looks like they are saying, "Tad, smile for your family!" And there is a glow in his eyes that makes me know he is a Happy Boy. His soul has been protected by God's angels from all that he has faced in his short 4 years of life. We even got a birthday for him last week too! April 30th! He will turn 5. He is a slight bit older than they first told us, but he is still ours! <3

I am flooded with emotions! Giddy, and excited! Amazed at God's orchestration of small details and planning things out in his way and in his time. Ready to jump on a plane and squeeze my little Tad, and see his huge smile in person!

God answered a huge prayer last week, with a medical exam that confirmed that Tad's liver is NORMAL! On our paperwork/ referral there was concern he could be in liver failure. But the liver was normal and just fine last week! So glad to know that my little boy is ok!

It's hard to be a world away from your son. I can't explain the feeling of it. Though I have never met him and and have only seen his face, I have a love in my heart for him that has grown over the last 4 years of waiting for this time. With a regular pregnancy you feel it at conception, you know you have something growing in your womb. I guess adoption is like that, only this conception grows in your heart. The Holy Spirit has allowed me to be connected to Tad even though I am a whole world away. That is powerful.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Here are some ways you can pray with us!

1.) November 11 court date is HUGE~ Pray that everything is in order and that the Judge allows us to proceed to travel!

2.) Sanity- We have to research flights, get visas, vaccines, and prepare our hearts for this life changing event.

3.) Though God always provides, we do have to finance two trips to Africa between now and January. GOINK. LOL

4.) Tad. That this experience will be one he remembers as a new beginning, and that it is not so traumatic for him.

Thanks again! Love you all.