Share our JOY!!!! (times 2)

Make a Joyful noise to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever!!!

We are more than delighted to share the news that we have accepted referrals for 2, count them 2 new kiddos! We will be parents to 8 - GOOD GRIEF!! Never in my life did I think I'd be saying that!!!

We have a new soon to be son E. who is 8/9 and a new soon to be daughter A. who is 6/7. For those of you keeping track we also have a soon to be 8 year old daughter at home already - so in about 8 years our car insurance is going to be more than our mortgage (or food bill!!)

These 2 cuties - and you have to trust me they are SUPER cute!!! came to us via a waiting child list with our agency AAI. The great difficulty with doing everything in reverse is that you are behind on the paperwork! We have been hurrying to get everything in for our dossier and managed that with some last minute FedEx help this week (How could I send the whole thing in and miss just one piece??? Seriously those of you who know me in real life know that is crazy!)

So how did we know these were the kids? Well let me tell you!!!! Even before we picked up the amazing Miss Becca we knew we'd be going back - from the very beginning of our adoption adventure I have felt like God had 3 kiddos for us, so when we got one the first time we just knew we'd be back! Our hearts were greatly moved while in Ethiopia for the older kids who were in care at the various orphanges that we visited so we determined that this time we wanted to adopt those who most needed a family - I searched and searched waiting child lists for that moment of "these could be our kids", and I was always drawn to 8 year old boys and 6 year old girls. These two kiddos are ones that we just couldn't shake out of our minds and hearts - their smiles, their stories - well they touched our hearts deeply and we knew, just knew that they were ours. We commited in our hearts to adopt them a week and a half ago, just about on the same day (plus a year) that we commited to adopt Becca.

So what comes next? our paperwork is being authenticated and then will be sent to Ethiopia and what ever needs to happen next will over the next 10+ weeks - there is no way we will make the court closure. At this point I am praying for the miracle of having them home for Christmas (American or Ethiopian) and believe me that will take a miracle - BUT our God is a God of miracles, a God of signs and wonders, and the Father to the fatherless - which praise Jesus these two are no more. God sets the lonely in families and we are thankful that sweet little A and grinning little E. will be joining our family at the appointed hour.

So friends pray for us as we bring home these precious children - pray that the wait will be short (really short!) - pray for favor on our paperwork to be processed quickly- pray that the kids files are complete and ready to go - pray that the kids stay healthy - and most of all pray for all the orphans who are still waiting for their families to find them, and join God as He moves across the nations on behalf of the fatherless - come friends join this move of God.

(P.S. for those of you already wondering if we are taking the whole family back to ET - we don't know yet - we'd love too but God would have to open the storehouses of heaven over our bank account - or shower us with airline miles instead of water!!!)