We received our court date!!!! We will be holding our little man in our arms October 29th. Our date to appear in front of the Ethiopian Judge is October 31st. We have waited for so long for the moment.  We leave this Sunday morning and will arrive in Ethiopia Monday morning. Rob and I are ready to go hold our little guy for the first time and just let him know that we will do our best to make the best home for him possible. We will raise him to love Jesus and to make Him #1 in his life.  Please pray for traveling mercies for us. I'm so thankful for our church family, (Sunbury Nazarene Church) I know they will also be praying.  Please also pray for my in-laws because they will be coming here while we are gone to look after Avery and Brock. I'm so thankful that they are willing to do this for us. We will have peace of mind knowing that they are being taken care of. God Bless! Oh, BTW, I should be able to post pictures when we get back.  :)

Well I finally have some good news!! We received our referral August 30, 2012. I was driving on my way home from work when the phone rang from our adoption agency. My heart started beating so fast because i just had that feeling. Sure enough, my case worker said, " I have a referral for you".  I totally didn't even know what to say. She started to tell me all about this perfect little guy and told me that she would send his profile in the mail and to review everything and if we were going to accept him to sign the letter and return it. That is just what we did. I wish I could show everyone the picture of him, he is the most beautiful little wide eyed perfect 12 month old boy that I've ever seen. We started this process in 2010 and here it is Sept. 11, 2012 and we finally have our referral. We are now waiting on a court date. Hopefully that will be as soon as possible. I'm praying that all the future steps will be according to God's will and I'm having faith that we won't experience any hurdles. God is so good and I'm amazed of His faithfulness.

I just wanted to give everyone an update on Ethiopia news. Today, August 8th, Ethiopia closed its courts due to the annual "rainy season". We're not sure when they will open back up for business, but it is predicted to be around the end of September, or the beginning of October. Our adoption agency will still receive referrals though, they just won't be setting any court dates or travel dates until the courts reopen. We are praying that our referral call will be soon.

We also have been informed that some of the orphanages that our adoption agency receives referrals from have closed. We also have been informed that they received contracts from other orphanages though and will be receiving referrals soon from them. We're keeping the faith that God has chosen the most perfect little man for us. We are waiting very patiently. Please pray for the famine in Somalia and Kenya, it just breaks my heart to see those children on the news.

Rob and I are still on the waiting list to adopt our son from Ethiopia. We have really learned what patience is all about. We have officially been on the "waiting list" now for 4 1/2 months. We love God so much, and know that this is what He wants us to do. We just want to share with everyone and keep you all updated with this awesome journey we're going through.

I am trying to put this blog together, please bear with me...