May the love of God surround you . . . Everywhere, Everywhere

It's been ages since I've updated our blog about our adoption, so I will do so soon, I promise. But in the meantime, I couldn't help but think of all the orphans worldwide as our 6 year old daughter practiced her song for worship on Sunday. Please enjoy (and excuse the boxes in our office -- still unpacking from our move back to the great Pacific Northwest). May the love of God surround you! (be sure to pause the music player at the bottom of my blog before playing this video, thanks!)

Sweet Bedtime Prayers

Love this song! Thought of it tonight as Kaitlyn (our 5 year old) prayed for her future little brother from Ethiopia in her bedtime prayers! "Dear God, please watch over my baby brother baby 'Xan' in Ethiopia & keep him safe until he comes home to us." So sweet! 
(Be sure to press pause on our music player at the bottom of our blog before playing video). 

Roadblocks & Speedbumps along the way to International Adoption

Last August, we encountered our first "road block" in international adoption when the doors to adoption in Rwanda were temporarily closed. At that time we prayed continuously and felt God's leading to Ethiopia. But, as advised we knew that any type of international adoption is always filled with uncertainties. Here's one more . . . see article below. We are hoping and praying that this will be just a "speed bump" in our journey and not another road block.

This is an article posted by our adoption agency, America World, on Facebook today:

"America World is asking all families to be in prayer for the Ethiopian adoption process. The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWA) has stated a desire to reduce the number of recommendation letters they write each day for families in the court process. The number of recommendation letters have already started to decrease and we anticipate this will continue over the next few weeks as the court, MOWA, and other entities meet to discuss MOWA’s desire to decrease the number of recommendation letters they write overall."

"Even as this continues to unfold, we know that the Lord places the lonely in families, and that the enemy does not want to see this happen. Please pray that God will break down the strongholds set up against adoption, and that His Spirit will direct the decisions being made in the coming days and weeks in Ethiopia. Pray for all of the families and children affected by decisions being made and that they will experience God’s peace and comfort through this time."

Keep us in your prayers as we continue this journey to our baby boy!

Happy 2011!!

Happy New Year to all my friends & family! We're so excited to enter the new year with renewed hopes about our adoption from Ethiopia and the prayers that our family will grow through adoption in 2011.


So many of you have asked, "how's the adoption going?" So, I thought I better do an update. I hate to say it, but we still are in the "paperchase" phase. Why?  . . . you ask? Stay tuned for my next update & I'll fill you in.


Our hope for 2011 rests in these divine words, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11

Room for another in our family picture!