Good News!

Well, finally some good news. We received the referral for miss "T" last Thursday and signed it and sent it in along with $9500 on Sunday/Monday. We are official! Of course, we have a minor detail... we need to go pass court in Ethiopia... that won't happen for about 3 months apparently. We pray it's sooner than later. Our miracle we are praying for is to go straight from Israel (we finish leading a Holy Land Tour on June 14th) - so that really would be a miracle. We like that idea since it would save us so many hours of flying... plus significant bucks on airfare! Main thing to pray for is God's perfect timing and protection over miss "T" and for additional grant money to help us with the costs. Thanks for praying with us! We love you, Jim & Jaci  

One month later

Well, it's been a month since we last updated our blog. A lot of water under the bridge this past month. We have been processing a lot of information and different emotions.  At times it has been a bit confusing. Most of the time we didn't know what to say other than please pray... which we said to many of our friends and family. Here's the latest... the roadblock in Ethiopia to our adoption seems to be getting cleared aside... which in itself seems like a miracle. The orphanage is in the process right now of being re-licensed. We don't know for certain, but it appears that in about a month or so we will be given a referral to adopt our girl. By then she will be about eight years old, as her birthday is in May. We have had some wrestling in our own hearts during this past month... first, was the question of why God would lead us to adopt again and then close the doors. We had asked him to open or close the doors as He willed, so was this a closed door. And if so, why did we still feel called to adopt? Then we found out some news from our extended family that hit us like a punch in the stomach and made us wonder if we should proceed with the adoption. Or would it be wiser to save our energy and resources to support our family? So we have been in prayer and waiting upon the Lord for the past month. We need to give the adoption agency our final decision in the next couple of weeks, but we certainly sense that we are supposed to move forward in faith. We know we aren't the best parents in the world but we believe that God can use us in spite of our weaknesses. So once again we ask you to pray for God to protect this precious little girl in Ethiopia and the other 7 children in her orphanage... that they will be able to be adopted soon. And pray that God will confirm His plans and His will in our hearts. Thanks so much! We love you! Jim & Jaci