WE PASSED!

Amen! We passed court! Thank you for all of the prayers and encouragement! We cannot wait to bring OUR little girl home!

Psalm 118:23 "The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."

Waiting

Psalm 27:14--
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. (KJV)*

And now we wait. There have been "waits" during this process....getting on the list, getting updated waitlist numbers, getting a referral, getting a court date. All of these could happen at any time in the future, and when they did, we rejoiced.

In THIS situation, the "event" has already happened. Now we're waiting to see the outcome. It's past tense now.

It's not uncommon to wait 1, 2, or even several days to find out the outcome. I suppose the court doesn't decide right there in front of the orphanage director. Once they decide, they issue a court decree which is delivered to the orphanage in a few days. If ours is there, we've passed. If it's not in the bunch, we wait.

So that's what we're doing. But we're still praying, pretty much constantly. Please continue to pray!

*Thanks to my high school friend Andrew for giving us the encouraging verse!

Court Tonight!

Since it's midnight, the title of this post is correct!

We have court tonight, August 11th here in the US, August 12th in Ethiopia. Please pray for us that we pass this first time through. We're prepared (not really) for not passing, but asking God for the miracle of passing the first time and bringing our little girl home.

Psalm 109:27
Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O Lord, have done it.

Paisley found Africa at the zoo:



Majil found a thing of lipstick, unattended:


Please pray with us and the other families going to court today and tonight! Thanks!

Birthdays and Trundle Beds

It's been a weird time here at our home....just waiting. We're fervently praying for our little "T", thinking about traveling to get her, wondering about us and the girls adjusting to her being home. But, it's been peaceful waiting.

Majil, the baby (at home anyway!), turned 3 yesterday. The balloon fairy brought 3 balloons overnight for her to see when she woke up. Against the balloon fairy's better judgment, he/she went with the "two-legged, obese horse" balloon instead of the My Little Pony, hoping Mae would LOVE it.


Fortunately, she did.

We asked her where she wanted to eat for dinner, to which she replied, "How about Applebee's?" They sang her Happy Birthday and she graciously shared the brownie and ice cream with Paisley (whose birthday is in a month and wants to eat at Applebee's too!). We came home and had family over for a party, including some out of town family who were here which was great. We all had lots of fun!




The funniest part, to me anyway, was that I had to run to the store for icing to write on her cake. Jana's mom makes the girls' birthday cakes every year, which is awesome. She's done bunnies, a bear, the Backyardigans, and Tinkerbell. Majil just wanted a plain pink cake with pink frosting and a pony, which is exactly what she got. We wanted to write her name on it, so I tried my hand at cake decorating. The picture says it all, but needless to say, I'm by no means a cake decorator (perhaps qualifying as a "wreck-erator"), but it was delicious.


Majil got her own cake to eat, which she did in style:




Also, we moved Majil and Paisley into the same room on a trundle bed. The first few nights were rough, but they've adjusted well and really like being close to each other at night. They're pretty funny, whispering and giggling together.



Our court date is August 12th (which is the night of August 11th here in the US), so please pray for us and the other families who have court this week as well. We're praying to hear this week that we've passed, SHE'S OURS, and receive our travel dates! We'll reveal the name we've chosen for her first name once we pass court.

Any guesses? Hint: type of foliage you might find at a nursery...(which has nothing to do with WHY we chose this name; we just think it's pretty...)

Waiting...

Now that we're waiting in excited anticipation of August 12th like 5 year olds waiting for Christmas, we've needed to fill the time with something. We scheduled a vacation several weeks ago when we didn't know the status of things. We thought some family time would be great, and since switching jobs I haven't been able to take time off. BUT, this weekend, we took a little getaway to one of our favorite spots with most of Jana's side of the family.

We rode rollercoasters with our nieces, swam in the hotel pool, and did a little damage at the Gymboree outlet for the new little addition to the fam. It was a great time.

Jana's dad, who will be accompanying me to Ethiopia, taught Majil how to shoot a straw wrapper at her mommy. Majil quickly extended the straw-shooting capabilities to other items:

That's a fry. It didn't fly as well, but it was certainly funny.

Lots of fountains.
Paisley's favorite: the Ferris Wheel
Perhaps we'll find one of these when she's learning to drive...I like the dual steering wheels!
Please don't give that look to boys. (Praying for her dates now)

The highlight of the weekend was a carriage ride in Cinderella's carriage. I'm pretty sure we've found a family tradition. The girls LOVED it. They wore their princess dresses, because...after all, they are princesses in a carriage!

If you have a free minute and 23 seconds, you can see them waiving at people on the street. The bystanders were very nice and waved back!

We have room for you, sweet little T! Right in front!

COURT DATE!

Wow. God is awesome. He'd be awesome without this news, but this is a testament to His awesomeness...

We have a court date!!!! AND, it's August 12th! What about the rainy season, you ask? EXACTLY! The God who created the heavens and the earth allowed court dates to go into August!

We are so excited; please pray with us that we'd pass the first time through. In order to pass, all the paperwork has to be correct and three different things have to come together on the date of court: MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs), our agency, and the birth mother. We have faith that God will arrange this perfectly. We've met some great people who either have court the same day or are *hopefully* going to have a court date close by, so prayers for all are appreciated.

We're almost there! We can't wait to meet our baby girl!

Prayers

Sorry for the absence....again. We took a break from blogging and reading blogs for a variety of reasons, but are excited to be back. We're so thrilled to see everyone's progress.

Please pray our case passes court before the rainy season so we can pick up our beauty! We are so in love with her and are making arrangements for her back here.

What kind of arrangements? Humbling ones...it wasn't enough that we turned 30 in May. Now we have a minivan. And the worst (best) part? I love driving it! Such room! Ease of use! I would've bought one YEARS earlier had I known.


The girls are excited; they pray every night for their sister in Ethiopia. They are growing up too. Wonderful girls...