The Wall Bloggers

Ahhh.  It came.  It really and finally came.  We received our court date today!  We'll be leaving before too long to meet our third child in Uganda.  Anticipating the date, I did most of our packing last week.  And so, we're almost ready.  Yippeee!  Thank You, Father .

We are praising God this morning!  After two unsuccessful court dates, we passed court in Ethiopia today! And what verse should I read this morning, but Psalm 34:3... "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together."    (When I read it, I was hoping beyond hope that I would be able to post it on here after we passed court!) Now we are finally allowed to introduce our son to you!  His name is Abel (which means "breath").  We love his name and are so excited to raise our son in the legacy of the Biblical Abel, a faithful and righteous man, and the first prophet (Luke 11:46-51). These are the pictures I have been longing to share.  The first is the referral picture -- the first glimpse we got of our little boy. Here are the pictures we took of us with Abel's picture, which we put together on a ring to send to him.  (We're hoping he'll get to see those now that we have passed court!) The following are ones that families trav...

In the middle of the night tonight or maybe in the early hours of the morning, our court case will be determined!  The suspense is building!!  Pray with us?

Three more days until our third court date...!

Four more days until our third court date.  More waiting.  More praying. I want so badly for our family to pass court, so that we can make plans to pick up our son in a month.  I am struggling with fear about us not passing court for the third time.  But I am claiming the verse that God has shown me many times.  1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear."  If I am trusting God with our court date and our son, I cannot fear, because His love casts out fear. Will you pray with us again?  Thank you, dear friends and family.

Five days until our third court date...  Hoping... PRAYING!

So tonight's the night of our second court date (because it will be Thursday already in Ethiopia).  The last nine days have been filled with waiting and hoping and counting down the days.  I cannot express how much I want us to "pass court" tonight.  I do not want our court date to be postponed again.   If you read this before tomorrow, you can join with us again in asking God to allowed our boy to be declared ours at this court date.  Thank you.  We have been so encouraged by those who are joining us in prayer. On a different note, I wanted to add some recent pictures... Scott caught a picture of Adrianna and me looking at adoptable dogs on the internet. We found a paintable birdhouse for Adrianna. If you look closely at the box, you can see how she painted it just like the picture on the box.

I don't know how I could be so down about good news.  Well, actually, I do.  We got more news about our court date today.  Good, right?  It should have been.  But I was anticipating that the news was that we passed court and our son was officially declared ours. Instead, we got news that we know a court date.  And it's April 19.  I know, in the scheme of time and eternity, another week-and-a-half longer does not sound long.  It sounds very brief.  But to me, the mother longing for my son, it sounds like an eternity already tacked on to an eternity of waiting. I've  been letting our Father know that I am sad, but grateful.  He's been letting me know that He is faithful, and all these wonderful promises He has taught me in the last months still hold true.  He is still Father to our fatherless boy.  He is still working all things together for good.  He is still in control (and He has been working!). And the good ...

Last night, on our agency's online forum, we heard that another family -- who received their referral a month later than we did -- received a court date. While reading this left me a little disappointed, I could not even wallow in it.  In the bottom of my heart, God had already granted me a blessed peace (as only He can). This morning, I left my email box open, only to hear the wonderful mail chime a few minutes later.  When I went to check, there it was... the message I have been waiting for since January 25. We have a court date!!!!!!!!!  The funny thing is, we don't know when it is yet!  Usually, a family is told when their court date is, but our Ethiopian representative said he had not received that part of the information yet.  I'm okay with that for now.  I know it's coming (probably some time in the next week to week and a half). Another part that I need to explain is what I was not able to share in a previous post.  We got word a couple...

Well... If you are wondering about when our court date is, so are we!  It's been 5 1/2 weeks since we received our referral.  Usually court dates are 5-6 weeks after referral.  And so we wait again. At Community Bible Study this morning, I was asked to share our adoption waiting journey with the ladies there.  In preparation for that, I went back to this blog, and found the examples God has given of His faithfulness to us during this process.  (I will add a link above, called Adoption Testimony, if you are interested in seeing what I shared.) Because I have seen His faithfulness, I trust that we will receive our court date in His timing.  He has been the One in control of all these necessities from the beginning.

A common question to Scott and me lately about our adoption: "What's next?" Well... I could answer with the thousand details we need to take care of before leaving the country and the endless odds and ends that come from making a family of three into a family of four... But, the short answer is: "Our court date." Six to eight weeks after our referral (which was already three weeks ago!), our case is assigned to the Ethiopian court. Our agency will inform us of the date, and then we wait. Everything is entirely out of our hands after that. Because there are so many pieces that need to come together to "pass court," many times families do not pass the first time. A few days ago, I saw another adopting family's blog that said they had to wait for four court dates before they finally passed. At the day of court, our agency's Ethiopian representative goes before the court for us, and if all the paperwork is complete, and all the necessary peop...