Keep praying

After great news yesterday, we are sobered by finding out how few families passed court in the last two days from our agency. I only know of one other family out of 6 or so who have had court cases the last two days. I don't know why He saw fit to have us pass, but I am SO thankful!

MOWA and the Ethiopian courts have begun to require lots of investigation into abandonment cases, which means that families with children who were abandoned now have to wait longer. Many of them were just as close to traveling as we are, but now are in an undefined waiting time, again. Pray that Ethiopian adoptions will be able to continue and that MOWA would be able to put measures in place to speed up the process.

Also, we should find out tomorrow if we can travel on Saturday using the plane tickets we've already purchased. Pray that tomorrow in Ethiopia is a very productive day for our case and that all of Tate's paperwork and appointments can be put in order for us to come. Also pray that the Embassy would confirm that they have received our fingerprint update.

Thank you all so much for the hundreds of prayers on our behalf!

Week of Prayer - Day 7

Today keep Joseph and me in your prayers. Sometime in the next 24 hours our court case is scheduled to be held. Hopefully we will hear tomorrow, Monday, if we passed or not and if Tate is legally our son. We'll let you all know as soon as we know. Pray that we respond to whatever news we receive with faith and hope and that we would get some sleep tonight as we eagerly wait to find out the outcome.

Check back tomorrow for news!

Week of Prayer - Day 6

Today please pray for our son, Tate. Pray that he would somehow be prepared for the massive changes that are about to happen in his life. He has no idea what is coming and one day will just begin to live life with new people, then fly to a new home where he'll experience more new people, new smells, new sounds, new everything. Pray that he adjusts well and stays healthy though the transition.

Week of Prayer - Day 5

Today please pray for MOWA (Ethiopia's social services type organization). They are a very busy office and with the number of adoptions going through Ethiopia right now, they have a difficult time keeping up. There is one letter in particular that needs to be written by them for our court case. Many times this is written the day of the court date, so if anything goes wrong, it causes a delay. Pray that the letter would be written on time and correctly. Also pray for MOWA as they increase staffing and computer equipment to keep up with the increasing demands of time.

Also pray for our son's original orphanage. They will need to submit his original paperwork and information. They are not located in the capital city, so pray that everything makes it to court on Monday (Monday is SO soon!!!).

God has brought me back to being in submission and dependance on Him in this whole process through the fingerprint update glitch. A praise that yesterday I was able to talk with people at the National Visa Center, who actually were very helpful AND called me back after looking into our case. I also FINALLY figured out how to talk to a real, live person at the USCIS office in Indianapolis! It only took me a year to figure that one out, but I realized that all the emails from them had a name at the bottom, so I went from the automated voice menu to the directory to enter someone's name in and Voila! a real, live person answered the phone! If you want info, just email me and I'd be happy to share :-)

What has been going on with our fingerprint update is that the NVC (National Visa Center) began uploading updates instead of emailing them to the Embassy in Addis. The Embassy did not know this and were still looking for emails, not knowing they had to go to another site and download the updates. The NVC assured me that our updates are uploaded and ready for them to download the information. Our agency rep. is quite confident that the NVC and Embassy will communicate and get this figured out by Monday. Apparently there are a number of families who are in the same boat and they are taking care of it. So, praise God!! Mostly I'm so thankful I was able to get through to people on the phone. I don't always have internet at home, so that was very helpful!

Keep praying!!! This is the last business day before our court date! Wooohoooo!!!!

Week of Prayer - Day 4

Today is going to be a repeat request of Day 1, since the embassy in Ethiopia still does not have our updated fingerprint dates. Please pray that our paperwork would all end up in the right place, in the right hands, and done correctly by all the deadlines.

I'm spending today talking to the office of immigration in Indianapolis and the National Visa Center to have them re-send our information to the Embassy. Please pray that the people I talk to are helpful and that they actually do the work they say they will do.

Week of Prayer - Day 3

Please pray today that all of the external circumstances would work out for us to have a successful court date. There are about a million reasons that our court case could not be heard on Monday, starting with: the power might be out - for the day, or the court might be overbooked, or email or telephone communications be down, or the judge might be sick. We've heard lots of stories about court cases not happening on the day they are scheduled for reasons that we all take for granted in the U.S.

It has reminded us that actually it is God who is in control of all these things and they are all in His power to control, not ours. Pray that God would be please to allow our court date to happen on the 11th. Pray that all the little, or not so little things, that need to be working that day would work.

Psalm 115:1-3 "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth. Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases."

Week of Prayer - Day 2

Today please pray for our son's birthmother and relatives. Whether they need to appear at court or not, pray that God would give them joy and hope and peace. If they are summoned to appear at court, pray that our agency is able to track them down and bring them up to the capital. Pray that that his birthmother would be assured that she made the right decision to give her baby boy up for adoption.

We are getting quite close and there is only one travel group before it is (Lord willing) our turn!

We welcomed a new niece into the world yesterday, Abrielle Larie Weeks! She is precious as we can't wait to bring her cousin home.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Week of Prayer - Day 1

We officially have one week until our court date! As it approaches we would love it if you joined us in prayer. About 70% of adoptions make it though their first court date, which means 30% do not. We are well aware of how out of our hands everything is and want to bring it all before God, who says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Please pray today that all our paperwork is correct and done on time. It amazes me how much paperwork is required, how many signatures needed, and how many hands the information gets processed through. Just last Friday I found out our first paperwork glitch and it amazes me that anything is ever done correctly on the first attempt.

Pray specifically that the embassy in Ethiopia would receive our updated fingerprint expiration dates, which are needed in order for us to get our son a visa to come home. As of Friday, they reported that they had not received it. This morning I have called the National Visa Center, who says they emailed it back in April and now I'm waiting to talk to our agency about what to do.

There are hundreds of little things like this that need to happen and I will be unaware of most of them. Pray that the people in Ethiopia and America who are filing papers for us are conscientious about details and do it correctly on the first try. Pray that communication is open to all the offices.

Thank you all and we hope and pray to post pictures of our official son next week!

3 weeks until court

That seems either very soon, or very far away, depending on how I look at it. If I think of all the things I want to get done before we leave for Ethiopia and bring home a baby, it seems really soon. But, when I actually think about our baby boy, I wish we were on a plane already!

Prayer requests for this week are:

• Wisdom for Joseph as to when/how to purchase our flight tickets
• That all the paperwork that is in process right now would be completed on time and correctly for our court date
• That if any relatives are summoned to court, they would be able to appear at court
• That we would pass court on the 11th and be able to travel on the 16th

Sometime before the end of the month, we will receive an update on our son, which is quite exciting and I can't wait to see new pictures of him!

32 days until court!

Not that I'm counting or anything :-)

May 11th can't come soon enough. Please do keep praying that all of our paperwork goes smoothly from here on out and that we do pass court on the 11th. Why wouldn't we pass court? Things like wrong names on paperwork, the electricity goes out in the capital city, a relative is summoned and doesn't show up, the judge is sick, a key signature is missing, court was overbooked and they didn't make it to our case, and on and on . . . you get the idea. With all of those things so clearly out of my control, I am being forced to prayer more often. It is a much better solution than worrying, which accomplishes nothing. So, I'm thankful for all the unknowns because it is driving me Christ and depending on Him. It would be quite encouraging to know that there are others praying for us as well.

In case you missed a previous post, if we DO pass court on the 11th, we will likely be leaving on the 16th, but may not receive the absolute "yes we are ready for you to come" until the 15th. That seems a wee bit stressful and scary to me, but thankfully I have a husband who is quite comfortable with last minute travel and decisions. So, he is handling all the flight/travel arrangements and I'm handling the packing, paperwork, and being ready for a baby when we get home.

Life Insurance Part 1

Joseph's life insurance policy came today, so we're one paper closer to being done. We are hoping mine will come tomorrow. Once we have both in hand we can get them approved by our agency and get everything certified.

Then, we still wait for our final I-171H to come in, which our representative is looking into. Please pray that this comes this week. It would be a HUGE deal to get done with paper work and officially start 'waiting.'

Closer. . .

We're quite close to being done with paperwork. We just need the department of immigration to mail us an approval form (171-H) and get our life insurance finalized and we'll be set to have everything notarized, certified, and authenticated. So, pray that these two last pieces come quickly, as they are out of our control as far as speed goes. The 171-H takes anywhere from 2 weeks to two months to get delivered. We'd like the former.

Introduction

There are any number of things I could say in this first post, but I want to let you know briefly what is going on. Heidi and I are adopting from Ethiopia. We began the process in September of 2007. We are currently in the "paper chase." We are gathering a whole bunch of official documents and once we have them all, our dossier will be complete. Then we wait. And wait. And wait for a referral—a picture and complete medical records and all known information of a baby (or babies). Once we accept the referral, we wait for the adoption process to finalize in Ethiopia, and then travel to pick them up. We're hoping that we can travel before 2009.

What can you do?
-Pray for us as we continue the process, that we would have patience.
-Help us with our fundraising efforts (the estimated cost to adopt 1 baby is about $20,000)

What to look for here
-More detailed information about each stage in the adoption process
-Up-to-date status of where we are in the process
-Details of fundraising plans and how much we need to reach our goal