Great News!!!

We got a call yesterday from our case worker that the birth parent embassy interview went well! I was very relieved to hear that and felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Now we wait for our PAIR letter from NBC here in the US. I have heard of another family getting theirs less than a week after their BP interview. So I am holding out hope that we might receive ours just as quickly so that we can send it onto Washington DC to get authenticated. I feel like we are accomplishing a lot but still so far away from meeting our girl. I have to take each step at a time and praise God when each one is accomplished. Someday soon I'll be holding our precious one in my arms!!!

So excited today!! We finally heard that we have a birth parent embassy date for this next Wednesday, January 29!!! I was looking for emails for two weeks now because the custom is for our family to be copied on the emails between our agency and the US Embassy but I received none of them. This afternoon our case worker surprised me and called to let us know that there was a date set up and very soon. So now we wait for this to occur and pray in the meantime that the family makes it and that everything goes well. After this is when they issue this new PAIR letter. Once we receive that in the mail we send it to Washington DC through a courier service to get authenticated from the State Dept. and the Ehi*pian Embassy. Once that is completed we send it onto Ethi*pia and their court will review our case and set up a birth family interview then we get our interview date with them. I have really no idea on a timeline on this but to guess I might say 7 or 8 weeks from this first interview. I would totally guess that we might end up going for our first trip around the middle of March. I would love for it to be much quicker but pray it isn't later. Thanks for following along with us on our journey.

Showing His Glory!!

      Well, He showed up and in a big way! The Friday before New Year's we received an email from our adoption agency concerning some talk about Ethi*pia closing all foreign adoptions. We honestly weren't too concerned from the way they worded everything but then by Saturday changed our mind. There was lots of news and talk about closing and we were very scared. We asked others urgently to pray and I think I was in constant communion with God on this matter. I felt like I was grieving and was so very worried that we wouldn't be able to bring our little one home. During this time I realized how guarded I was keeping my heart from fully loving our daughter. I had been so afraid of something bad happening that I kept up a wall. With the thought of really losing her I let down those walls and knew that I loved her with my whole heart. On Monday we received some very reassuring news that they were not going to close, at least anytime soon. I felt finally like I could breathe once again.
      Then we went to our friend's house for a long New Year's celebration and had tons of fun. On the last day that we were there I received a voice mail from our CW from our agency. She was asking if we had received two emails that morning about the US Embassy requesting a birth family interview. I had been checking my email on my phone a lot during the time that we were gone but didn't receive anything. I called her back and found out that they probably went to my spam and sure enough they did. I had just called NBC again that morning in hopes to find out some information on our case and had gotten our officer's voice mail. I had called two times within the last two weeks and had been told both times that it was still pending so I was completely shocked to learn that our case had in fact been sent on. I am praying for things to move quickly and miraculously fast from now on. He provided this nice surprise for us when we thought we were so far behind so I know the Lord can continue to move mountains and provide a miracle!!!

This Christmas

Wow! This was quite a Christmas for me and not in a good way. It was hard on many levels. To save the embarrassment for my 10 year old lets just say there were some issues. On my end those issues brought out all the emotions that I have unknowingly been bottling up for weeks. Let's just say that it wasn't pleasant and it kinda lasted for days (still reeling from it). My poor kidneys are still throbbing...my MSK has been acting up. My four year old hasn't been sleeping well because of having croup so I wasn't sleeping which absolutely did NOT help things. The whole holiday stress was getting to me and I dearly miss my soon to be daughter. We didn't receive word like I had hoped that our case had been forwarded on and I found out that it is STILL pending. (What???) My heart is just aching today for my baby girl that's halfway across the world. I'm taking some time today to just sit and renew. Listening to worship songs, reading the Word, and doing as little as possible. My heart is just crying out to God to bring good news and to move mountains! Please Lord my soul needs this today.

Prayer

I'm usually not one to share a lot of things because I feel like my "needs" are not that big or I don't want to appear whiney but right now during this adoption my mind has changed. I will fight and battle for my baby girl to get home. I truly believe that prayer works and I'm going to continue to ask when there is a need. Right now there is a need for our case to be sent to Ethi*pia to the US Embassy there so that we can start moving forward. We had sent in our paperwork and were asked for an RFE (request for further evidence). This took about a week to get from ET and hopefully by now is on our officer's desk so she can review it and decide if it's enough to send on. Please be praying with me that we hear by this week that our case has been forwarded onto ET. I am going to continue to pray boldly and specifically knowing that it's in His hands and timeline but I can present my desires to Him right? If you feel led to please pray along with me for mountains to move and for us to get to our dear Scarlett quickly. Thanks!!!

Today I got out the crib and changing table from the basement. I was going to wait to do this but thought "Why not?" and did it. I've been getting out clothes and other things slowly to go through and see what we have so that was all out already. I must admit I am whooped!! I'm trying to squeeze two little girls things into a room that already had ALL of one such little girl's things. It's tight but doable. I think we're going to be really organizing the closet to hold a lot more things and really utilize the space much better. It seems way more real now that things are starting to be put together and I can see that she is going to be coming. Sometimes to be honest I really wonder if this is actually going to happen and then God gently reminds me that He started all of this and will complete it. I also sent off our power of attorney form to be authenticated in Washington, DC and also everything to get our visas! Crazy sauce!!! I keep reminding myself that each task completed means that we're one step closer. I'm praying that we hear soon that our case has been sent to Ethi*pia so that we can get our PAIR letter. This means that things can really get rolling! Praying, praying, praying continuously.

Scarlett

My baby turns 3 months old today!!! We are working so hard at coming to see you precious one! Until that time I know that God is wrapping His wings around you and loving you extra special for us!!!!

Gavin's Flag Football (They were number 1 this year!)

Gavin's Birthday (back in October)

Brodie and Claire's Birthdays (way back in September)