Passed court!

We are praising God tonight!

Blessing number 1: we got to pick up the kids from the orphanage by 8:00 this morning, because...

Blessing number 2: we passed court!! It was an amazingly cool moment to have this massively huge Rwandan judge pronounce you parents of two beautiful children. What an honor! Definitely a highlight.

Blessing number three: the kids had such a great first day with us. We made great strides and we were able to laugh, read books, sing, and feed our first bottles!

Blessing number 4: my mom is here, and without her, this trip would be much harder. Thank you, Mom!

Blessing number 5: my parents in law and sister and brother in law, who are keeping Ezra while we are away for 3 long weeks, with love and dedication! Thank you so much!

Blessing number 6: Peter, who has worked tirelessly these very long days. We are exhausted, and yet he is he one working so diligently on our behalf.

Tomorrow we pick up the kids by 6:30am (!!!) to work on passport stuff. Lots left to do, but so thankful for the very fast court ruling!

praises

So many beautiful things happened today.

We did not get our court ruling as we had hoped. We were told that we could get them possibly this afternoon, but that our family probably would get the ruling in a day or two since we came to this travel group so late. We were sad but it was understandable.

At 2pm, Peter, our POA, received a call that all six families would get their rulings at 7:30am! Including us!

One other quick story. The dads in our group today were asked at the last minute to go to the notary's office this afternoon instead of visiting the kids at the orphanage. We moms were trying to picture how it would go, since all of us have endured crying, screaming, running away, general tantrums, and stiffness and fear.

This afternoon was by far the best visit we have had! No tears, no screaming, no tantrums. Just quiet love with Mom, with several falling asleep on Mom for the first time!!!
It was beautiful.

Thank You, God. This has been an amazing few days.

beautiful sight

Quick update

Hi everybody,
We are having some downtime at the hotel before we go tour the orphanage later today. We tried to get our court date today, but it will be tomorrow, Lord willing. According to our lawyer, we should get our court date and our ruling tomorrow. We would love your prayers to that end!

To all of you waiting, we want to MIGEPROF this morning to meet all the people there. I nearly knocked out their power by tripping over the numerous power cords. But, the scanner was working! We prayed over the office like crazy!!! We cannot get you guys that are still waiting out of our minds!

We can't wait to see the kids this afternoon. Posting pictures has proven impossible at this point, so I'll just say this: this has been amazing! The kids at the orphanage are precious and we can't wait for you all to come and scoop them up!!!

Thanks for praying! We will update as we can.

The Wait is Over!

The long, hard wait is over!

They have all met the kids (sunday) and the first visit went well!

Praise the Lord!

The are all head over heels in love with their new family members!

The new blessings were quiet and a little tense - but started to relax by the end of the first visit. (Two hours long.)

Hopefully today's visit was even more relaxed.

The internet connection is difficult - so they are having a hard time getting much posting done or even many emails sent... so in the meantime - I'll try to keep everyone updated as we get details as well!

Thanks for continuing to pray for this transition as they grow by two and health for everyone as they travel!

glory!

we are off! amazing views this morning! thank you, God, for this gift!

the journey begins

the tables have turned

unbelievable.

one week ago, i was in the depths of despair (oh yes I do love Anne Shirley), convinced we would *never* make any progress whatsoever in our adoption or in our lives. I was convinced God was against me and that He was only *for* other people.

the long wait in this adoption had really taken a toll, I'm sorry to say, and I was just sure that waiting was my lot in life.

last week, I was on the phone with my one of my sweet adoption buddies, who just spoke Scripture over me and reminded me that God is FOR me and that He knows what is best.

yeah, yeah i've heard it before.

but Scripture always does what it sets out to accomplish, and it did make a dent in my hard heart. I am thankful for friends who speak the truth, whether or not it is what we want to hear. (thank you, LB!)

sometimes I just want to hear myself talk, instead of listening to God. And then:

God spoke the word I had been waiting to hear for nearly two years: referral.

we trembled, we turned on the video camera, we clicked the email open...we cried.

there they were. the two we had prayed for, longed for, dreamed about.

and they are beautiful!

"On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.

traveling this Friday!!!

oh.my.goodness.

we saw the two most amazing pictures we have ever seen yesterday on our computer screen. we called the kids and excitedly showed them the pictures. they couldn't believe it: a boy AND a girl! What a dream come true!

and then, as if that wasn't sweet enough, we have been given the opportunity to travel with *this* travel group...which flies out of the country THIS Saturday!

in 5 days!

we have so much to do.

thank You, God. Only You could do this!

REFERRAL!!!

oh, how I have longed to say that word.

it is so sweet.

at 10:35am Eastern Standard Time, our lives changed forever.

we saw two of the most beautiful children you have ever seen on that computer screen, with a letter informing us that these two precious ones had been "attributed" to our family.

thank You, God.

only You could have done this.

only You make things this good.

and we are so grateful.

(I wish I wish I wish I could show you their pictures, but I can give no identifying details about them...yet! We have to pass court first!)