Thanksgiving praise!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

Yesterday we received this wonderful email:

Your kids cases have been filed in the Addis Courts! It takes about 2 weeks to hear of a date right now.

That was fast! God is a movin' people! What does this mean, you ask?
The girls papers have jumped through one set of hoops and have to jump through one more set (the Addis courts), before they are officially our daughters. As the email states, we should find out that day in about two weeks. If we are successful in the second court date we should travel to Ethiopia about 4 weeks later! We have heard that right now they are assigning new court dates for January. So we are expecting ours to be around then. That means at the earliest we would travel in February! We can't believe it. What wonderful Thanksgiving news!

I am reminded this Thanksgiving season of what the Lord has called us to do. It's not about looking good, or better or holier than another; but about being His servant. Acting in obedience to what He asks and joyfully and faithfully living it out. I am honored and humbled to know that the day is near when I will become M & G's second mommy. We continue to pray that their hearts are being prepared just as we ours are.

HUGE news!

After my solemn post on Sunday, we got a great email on Monday!

The referred Bethel kids papers are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your guys papers will be filed this week!!!!!

We couldn't believe it. This is what we have been waiting for! This is a huge step in the process and it feels as though a mountain has been moved!

So where are we now, you ask? The girls papers have to pass through two courts, a lower court and then an upper court. Once the papers get approved and pass through the lower court, they move to being filed in the upper court system. We will then wait for that date. There could still be hold ups, and we know that there is still more waiting to do - but the fact that their papers are compiled and ready is such a relief! Things are finally moving along. It seems like a reality again.

Time to start moving forward on our end. Rooms to paint, mattresses to buy, clothing, bedding, shoes, you get the idea! We are looking forward to more good news to come. Please continue to pray!

We also received new pictures, what beautiful, precious girls. We can't wait to hug them!

bittersweet

original acrylic painting by aworldinvented
inspired by their Ethiopian adoption

Our friends from church leave on the 22nd to go pick up their sweet baby girl in Ethiopia. We are SO very excited for them and can't wait to meet beautiful Frehiwot. They have been on an adoption journey far much longer than we have. Their adventure has led them in pursuing an adoption through China, getting pregnant and putting things on hold, and finally switching countries and adopting through Ethiopia. It has been a long time coming for them. Four years to be exact! Our wait seems like nothing compared to that.

Today our friend stood up in church to thank all those who have supported them through this time. She spoke of the power of prayer and petitioned our church to not cease in praying for our girls. Our pastor, who has also become a dear friend, prayed for our friends, prayed for us and prayed for our girls. A powerful and humbling moment indeed.

Today was a fresh reminder of the fact that our adoption of M and G is a true reality. Others around us are praying and hoping alongside us. The wait is so long, and so hard and some days it all feels like a dream. The hoping and longing is sometimes physically painful, so we just stuff it in the back of our minds. This makes it a bit more bearable.

Some new friends with our agency just got back today from Ethiopia. They too have a daughter at Bethel and spent many days there, meeting all the children. We are waiting for new pictures, notes and messages. Looking foward to that!

So if you have been wondering where I've been, I'm still here. Quietly waiting. Bowing on my knees to the One that will make it all come together in the end. With Him all things are possible.