First Appointment

YAY!  I can finally post! :)
Our first appointment was Tuesday.  We drove to Columbia to meet our case worker, Tricia.  It was a very informative meeting.  I feel so grateful that we have been well prepared to this point.  Some of the scenarios and stories could have been very intimidating had the Lord not already been preparing our hearts to see this adventure with truth and light.  When I was 19 and the Lord first laid adoption on my heart, I had a very romantic view of adoption.  . . . Truthfully, that romanticizing continued up until the last few years, and really over the last year reading and talking with couples who have adopted, I have a much more clear picture of how it is really, most likely, going to play out.  :)
What's next:  Over the next three weeks, we will have three more visits and do 10 hours of online training.  After that our homestudy will be written up, reviewed, and approved!  Then it will be time to start the dossier.  We are especially excited about having to go to Charleston to get finger-printed + DATE DAY! :)
Prayers: Continue to pray for wisdom.  By the end of the home study, we will have to specify an age range and say "yes" or "no" to a lot of medical concerns and special needs that our children could have.  Our desire is to be open to whatever the Lord will bring us, knowing that He will prepare us, and that through Him we will thrive.  Also pray for our children's protection.  Our caseworker was telling us that spiritual warfare is very strong in Ethiopia; witchcraft is prevalent.  Pray that the Enemy is bound from our children and their family.  Pray that the Lord is working in their lives.  Pray that He blesses them and keeps them safe and healthy.  Pray for their birthfamily as very difficult decisions are what will bring them to us.  Pray that someone would show them the Love of Christ and that they would experience His freedom and love even in their diffficult circumstances.  Praise the Lord for what He is already doing in preparing Jayden, Asher, Jude, and Evy, and pray that He would continue to give them understanding and a love for these brothers and/or sisters that we don't yet know.  Lastly, pray that we would be wise and efficient with fund raising efforts, and that Chann's business would continue to grow so that I will be able to be a full-time stay-at-home mom by the time we bring these children home!

Thank you for your love and support!

First Appointment

So, it's a little more than 2 weeks . . . just getting us ready for East African timelines, I guess! :)  But, it's HERE!!  Tomorrow at 1:00 we go to Columbia for our first appointment in our home study!  Pray for wisdom and peace as we begin the process that will bring us closer to our children!  Hopefully I will have another quick update tomorrow evening!  Thanks so much for all the prayers!  We really feel them and know that we are loved!

Babysteps

Babysteps . . . when we say that, we mean it can be an attempt at looking at something positive that really is a stretch.  It's a REALLY small, sometimes seemingly insignificant, step in the right direction.  However, when our children take that first baby step, IT'S A BIG DEAL!!!!

So, this little tidbit of news is a babystep in both senses!  Our home study will be in two weeks!!!!!!  Yes, this is another step in a really long process. . . .  Even after it's completed, it could be a year or more before we even get a referral, much less start the process of bringing our children home.  Yet, IT"S A BIG DEAL!!! 

For me, that email that our home study really is happening soon, brought up so many emotions.  The first, sheer excitement that this really is happening!!!!  Secondly, a longing for our children, just to know their names, and, yes, see those sweet faces that I constantly imagine!  Then, the questions: how hard is this language barrier going to be? how does a child simultaneously deal with the grief of lost parents, lost culture, loss of all things familiar, and embrace a new family,with whom they can't even speak, not to mention a new home that doesn't look or feel right, a new culture that they don't understand?  how will I balance my time between 6 kids with very different needs? will our biological children still be as excited when our new brothers and sisters actually get here? how will we know which children are meant to be ours, since there are so many waiting? will I know as soon as I see their pictures, or will there be difficult decisions?  . . . . Then, I remember. . . God has this, ALL of it - down to the very last detail - already under control.  He already knows the answers to the questions that haven't even formed in my head yet.  Even now, He is preparing my heart, calming me, speaking truth and wisdom.  Does that mean it will all be easy?  No way!  I am not promised nor called to a life of ease .  I am called to pick up my cross DAILY, never an easy task; I am promised that I will suffer as Christ did.  But, as Paul says in Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

These two verses in Mark have also given me much hope in the past few weeks:
10:27 "With human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."