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!