Home at last!

We arrived home in Seattle Saturday night after about 30 hours of travel. We are doing great… adjusting well. Thank you for all your prayers and support and encouragement! Please keep praying for strong bonding and good adjustments… especially for Tarike to feel comfortable and love being in our family… and to have a strong spiritual desire and become a fully devoted follower of Christ! We love you! Jim & Jaci and family

Thank you for your prayers!

We just got off the plane in DC after about 16 hours of flying from Ethiopia.
Feels good to be in a familiar setting. 
We have really felt your prayers, and thank you so much!
Tarike has done so well… and we know God is helping us all.
I tried to upload a photo but had trouble on the limited airport internet.
Will wait now till we get home.
Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement on this journey.
Our love, 
Jim for us all 

Together at Last!

Dear friends,
We had a wonderful day today picking up Tarike at the Thomas Center in Addis Ababe, Ethiopia. She was definitely teary eyed saying goodbye to her friends and nannies. But she has done will the rest of the day. We arrived in Addis around 6:15 am this morning (Wednesday), made our way to the hotel, took  a nap, picked up Tarike at 2:00 pm and we've been together at the hotel since then. We enjoyed walking around the pool, playing on the playground, having an ice cream cone, and then watching video, TV, games, dinner in our room. Trying to keep it pretty simple and busy. Please keep praying. We are enjoying Tarike so much. We are also missing Bethlehem and the rest of the family back in the USA. We love you!
Jim & Jaci & Bethlehem

m

EMBASSY DATE CONFIRMED!

We have a confirmed Embassy hearing on Thursday, Oct. 31st! So we booked our tickets… we are leaving on Monday for Addis, and return on Saturday night! A very quick trip this time! One reason is so we can come home on the same flights as another adopted child who Tarike has been with at the orphanage for some time. We hope that makes it easier for both of them. Please pray for health and safety and for Tarike to do well with all the change! Also for Bethlehem back home while we are gone. Thank you so much!                        We love you! Jim & Jaci 

ADDIS - Here we come!

We received the email we have been waiting for from the Embassy in Ethiopia this morning… we are cleared to set up our Embassy date! Yay! We will hopefully have a confirmed date and travel plans by tomorrow!              Blessings! Jim & Jaci

Embassy News!


Dear Friends and Family,
We heard from the US Embassy on Oct. 16 that they are now working on our file. Then on Friday, Oct. 18, we heard they are waiting for a missing paper for our file which should be arriving from the orphanage later this week. The good news is they are finally working on our file. However, we hear it can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of months for them to complete this step. We have also heard that at least one family that was in Ethiopia while we were has received clearance from the Embassy to come pick up their child. So our prayer is that our clearance to come pick up Tarike will be soon too! Thanks for your prayers! 
We love you, Jim & Jaci

Still No News - I keep waiting for something "substantial" to share. But I am thinking my definition of substantial and God's definition may be different. So... two more weeks have passed. It's now been something like 3 and 1/2 weeks since our file was accepted by the US Embassy in Addis. We understand the Embassy is behind and that we shouldn't expect to hear soon... but we were hoping by now we would have heard something. We are asking God for the grace to focus on what he is teaching and doing in our lives rather than get impatient and cranky. We trust the Lord is also accomplishing his perfect plans in Tarike so far away. Thank you for your prayers both for us and for Tarike. We love you! Jim & Jaci 

PS - Here is a photo of our family (minus Leah who took this photo - thanks Leah!) We celebrated Jeff & Jenae's birthday last weekend. We hope to celebrate Tarike's arrival to our family in America soon! :)