Referral May 11, 2008

Well, after a great deal of prayer and searching and question asking (information gathering) of friends and those who are home with Ethiopian children, and of our agency...... we feel that the best situation for our family and for the boys will be to have two sons. Picking the two was not hard, we had known for quite some time which two we felt a stronger "connection" to, if that is possible with a photo, I understand it is. :) Due to a signed agreement, I may not post photos or the names of our boys until we have finished our embassy work, in Ethiopia after we go get them. This is going to be a long time.

Well, a little info. Both of our boys are approximated to be about 3 years old. They seem to be quite lively little fellows and have winning smiles and happy countenances. We are so excited to go get them and have them home at last.

Both boys were totally cleared for adoption. One may have some new issues due to some policy. We do not know any details. We are praying that it will be an easily resolved issue and that things will still move quickly enough for us to travel in August. Please pray with us.

We just saw a little video bite of one of the boys and he is just so very endearing. I can not wait to call them mine, kiss their little heads and faces and give them love and mothering. We are very aware of the difficulty that will come as we all transition. We are pleased that a company which does a lot of publishing regarding adoption has finished a book and cd set on Amharic for adoptive families, done by native speakers. Yippee!!! We will start learning as soon as it gets here. I want to tell my boys how much their mommy loves them right away. I hope they can understand me.

I am doing another State Department run Mon and Tue of this week to speed along papers. I think Wed. we have a good chance of having the dossier sent to DC, that should take 1-2 weeks, we are hoping for one. Wed. or Thursday we should be able to send our papers for immigration approval as well. At this same time all the papers will be drawn up for the boys, to attach to our dossier.

Well, things are moving. Staying interesting for sure. Our faith in the wonderful work of God and His direction in our lives in all aspects is a very good thing. Sustaining, reassuring.