Karis' Bed

I love this picture of her little bed, with our family picture posted at the head and her name at the foot...but I will love even more her sleeping in her own bed in the same room as her big sister!

Referral Acceptance!

I neglected to post these before...obviously we accepted the referral of our precious girl, and can't imagine there is any way we could have or would have said no! Signed the paperwork, included a check for just over $5000 (which we HAD in the church orphan fund, hallelujah!), and FedExed it off to our agency! Talk about a milestone!

Update from Ethiopia!

Ashlie just sent me this lovely note via facebook!  I know she's frustrated with being stranded in Ethiopia until they get Embassy clearance to leave the country with her new son Easton, but I so appreciate how she uses her time to bless the rest of us who have children waiting for us!  Thank you, Ashlie!

Wendy~
We got to spend some quality time with L***** today!!! I was at the TH around 2:00 with another family. They have a women traveling with them,and she held L***** for over an hour!!! She is doing good! A little rumble in her chest but no coughing. She is still very tiny, compared to Easton. Her features are very delicate. The nannies love her a lot, you can tell that she is special to them. I hope it does your heart happy to hear that you baby girl is doing well.
Hope you get to her soon~ Ashlie

(Just as we can't publish pictures of Karis until she is legally our daughter, we can't tell you her given name.  It's very cute, though, and we plan on keeping it as her middle name.  Funny to me that her initials will be in alphabetical order...KLM). :)

Submitted to Court!!!

Our Family Coordinator just replied to my email inquiry that we have indeed had our paperwork submitted to court!  That's a great step...at least we're "in line," even if we don't get assigned a date before closures.  But it would do our hearts good to have a date in place before the courts close tomorrow...thanks for praying with us!

Healthy!

I just got word today that Karis finished up her meds for her Upper Respiratory Tract Infection, and that's she's significantly improved!  Praise Jesus!  The video I have of her coughing just breaks my heart...I'm so relieved she's doing better!

Updates and Prayer Requests...

As is evident from the lack of activity on my other blogs, there is a lot going on in our life revolving around Karis!

We did get a picture via email on Tuesday from one of Rebecca's teammates.  Trust me when I say that even a completely unbiased opinion would say that she is the most beautiful, precious little bundle ever. I  just cannot wait to share her pictures with you!  But as grateful as I was for the new picture, it put me further into an emotional tailspin.  I just could not get past the agony and despair of not being with my baby for an extra two months, waiting for "no good reason," just waiting...while she grows and changes without knowing her family.  Buckets of tears here this week, I tell you.  I spent several days just rotating back and forth from our agency's Ethiopian yahoo group to see if anyone else had gotten court dates, to facebook to check for updates from Rebecca, to email to see if any pictures had come through.  And back and forth and around I went...becoming more sad by the moment.

By Thursday night, I was ready to crack emotionally, and I did...at our worship team's prayer and practice.  One big fat ugly cry.  But you know what?  They prayed over me...prayed for peace, for joy during this process.  And God answered!  It has been the difference between night and day!  Not that I am not still longing and praying to get there as soon as possible, but not devastated at God's obvious answers, either!  I am filled with joyful anticipation instead of heartbreaking agony.  A good switch, for sure.

We would like specific prayer for the following things, though...and as always, we are so grateful to have you all standing with us!

1. Karis' health:  She has an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection.  Unfortunately, this is pretty common in orphanage life.  But she is so tiny, we would appreciate prayer for her strength and a speedy recovery.
2. A court date.  Obviously, as court closes this Friday,  we are not headed to Ethiopia this month, despite our best-laid plans and prayers.
   HOWEVER, we are praying that our October date will be assigned this week.  If we get assigned a court date this week, it would help with:
   
   • Travel costs:  Purchasing tickets two months in advance will likely be much less expensive than tickets purchased 1-2 weeks in advance!
   • Quicker court date:  There will an absolute flood of requests for court dates when the courts reopen on Sep. 27th.  If we are assigned a court date now, we will "beat the rush."
   • Planning!  How much easier it will be to navigate the next two months with a travel plan in place, from travel arrangements to care for the other three kids to Mark's new job if we know a date two months in advance instead of the 1-2 weeks in advance we can expect otherwise.  A light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. 
   
   We know that God's ways are not our ways, but we're hopeful for a court date to be assigned this week...thank you for your prayers to that end!