Good news......Bad news....

Good news: We got new pics of Misrak and Mistire today!!! I cannot WAIT to hold them!

Bad News: We are STILL waiting to hear when our embassy date will be. The Ethiopian government branch known as MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs)has decided to close for two weeks for personnel training. They are the folks that create birth certificates, visas and passports and of course we cannot take them home without these documents. We can get these documents at our embassy appointment. We will most like not hear until after July 28th as to when we can go get them. Might get to travel in August...but might have to wait until September :(

So for now.....we have these sweet faces to gaze at.

.....Your Kingdom Come....

Scriptures tell us that

Where there is fatherlessness and death,

where there is fear and violence,

where there is oppression and exploitation,

where there is racism and greed,

where there is human trafficking and child prostitution,

where there is a bloated belly and an AIDS infected mother,

where there is a contaminated wellspring and a empty library

where there is a soccer ball made only of rags and

dolls made only of straw

that is the place where we have been called.

So therefore when we

care for the orphan and grieve the loss of a loved one

when we turn the other cheek and walk the extra mile

when we stand up to the bullies and reach out to the victims

when we provide a warm towel and a fresh bowl of rice

when we pay for a $99 cent immunization and a $5 dollar mosquito net

when we invest in water filters and new wells

when we put a ball in a boys hands and a

doll in a girl’s arms

when we do all of this and a thousand other things

we are meditating God’s shalom.

This is our mission.

This is our task.

This is the story that God calls us into.

It's his story.

His dream.

His mission.

His task.

So let us be about shaping our lives around Jesus' prayer:

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Gloria Deus.

Unbelievable! Unforgetable! Undeniable!

We are in disbelief.....Our family of 3 has become a family of 5! God has graciously and mercifully given us two precious girls from Ethiopia named Misrak Grace and Mistire Hope and we are SO excited to show them now to the world! Girls, we cannot WAIT to meet you. Looks like we will travel in August.

Riley turns 11 !!

I can't believe my sweet miracle boy is now 11! We had a big birthday weekend extravaganza.....friends spent the night, movies, food, cake, presents, popcorn, swimming and pizza! In our house, at Christmas-time, we celebrate Jesus' birth and do not exchange many gifts. And since we cannot give a gift to Jesus, we give to the "....least of these" (Math 25:40) which is usually a family or families in need. But BIRTHDAYS are a big deal.....a day to celebrate you! Here are some pics from our fun weekend!

Um......yeah. This is hard. Really hard!

So we sit at nearly one month of our case at "open" status. Who is FOR these children besides us? Is there anyone in Africa trying to get this case resolved? Nameless.....faceless.....people.......out there....somewhere. I know several others who are in the same boat and some have been at it longer than us. I had no idea it would look like this.......carrying this load.....When I say this waiting is killing me......I mean it is really killing me. I feel like my emotions are raw and right on the verge of letting the floodgates burst open. Watch out :) I know God knows what He is up to but I don't have to like it, right?

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.......Dreaming and Praying!

We had our first court date on May 12th. We did not pass. Our case is in "open" status. We found out that the girls have an older brother who is relinquishing them as their parents are both deceased. Unfortunately, the brother is injured and had some type of surgery. We are waiting for him to recover and go to court to make our adoption final. Please pray for the girl's brother to get to court and sign the documents for us to bring them home! "Open" cases are heard on Wednesdays we understand so we pray and fast each Tues eve through mid day on Wed until they come home!

Last week, another fellow adoptive family went to pick up their kids and took with them our photos and a goodie bag filled with homemade necklaces and bracelets, hair ties, clothing and books. Our girls now know for SURE that they have a family that loves them and can't wait to see them and bring them home.

We are worn out emotionally. This is not an easy process. I just know that it will all be worth it in the end when we finally get to hold them. Until then, God is holding them and is taking better care of them than we ever could.

Dossier to Ethiopia & a town called Nazareth

Our Dossier (aka. Big Stack of papers that IS our life story) is being flown over the ocean via DHL and should land in Ethiopia early next week. Once it lands in Ethiopia, it will go to translation and then to get in line for a court date. Now that our end of the paper chase is over, we've been able to take a breath, get passports for Todd and Riley. I know God's got all the details worked out but sometimes it is hard not to worry.

Our case worker seems to think we should be able to get our documents translated, get a court date and travel before the courts close in August! Wow, that will be in less time than a pregnancy! The courts close for Ethiopian New Year for approx 10 weeks. Our prayer is to be done by August.

We have new pics of the girls and they look so healthy and happy. They've already changed so much since being admitted to the orphanage in December of 2008. Another Hope family traveled recently and said they met our girls. Said they were both pretty shy but warmed up after some time. We've been told that they were walked along with a big group of kids from a city called Nazareth(huh?) to Addis Ababa, (which is approximately 60 miles) and abandoned there.

We're starting to think about schools, hair, clothes, hair, their room, hair, and all the other FUN stuff! They have so much HAIR! These things are keeping us up at night. The list seems so long and the days seem so few.

God certainly is growing and stretching us through this process. We have learned many lessons that I hope will stay with us for a while.

One, we cannot control this process! SO many things are out of our control. We have got to let go and let God do His thing.

Two, we have learned that NO ONE is going to hold our hand or tell us what the next step is. We have to make our best educated guess in figuring out what to do next and then step out in FAITH! Sometimes it feels like we are free falling instead of stepping but we know that God has got our hands, our feet and our hearts and HE will not let us fall or fail

Three, there are SO many people that love these girls and want them home as much as we do. It is amazing to have the love, prayer and support of SO many people we know and SO many we don't even know! I can't imagine going through this without any of them and we are eternally greatful.