Back on Waiting List

Mike and I have been so blessed by our community of friends as we have grieved the loss of Samuel. Thank you so much. We continue to grieve even while we trust God for what is next. He has given us peace about going back on the wait lists. So, we are now in the #1 positions on the boy and the sibling lists. They have a huge waiting list for girls and few for boys and we have been preparing for a boy so we felt good about not going back on the girl list. We have added a few other stipulations that could slow down the referral process but it seems likely that we could receive a referral by the end of the month. We shall see. Please continue to pray with us for Samuels well being and for God's will in our family.

Goodbye to Samuel

Our adoption of Samuel is not going to happen. We know that he is to be with birth family in Ethiopia and have peace about this. We are grieving yet trusting that God has great plans for Samuel and will see them through. We are also trusting that He has a plan for a little person from Ethiopia in our family but we will have to wait and trust to see.

Silas is 11!!

Today is Silas' birthday. It is interesting timing to have his birthday fall in this week when our future with Samuel is suddenly uncertain. Our adoption of Silas was a huge faith building experience for us and for his amazing birthmom. We all had faith (and still do!) that Silas was in God's hands. He was meant to have the birth parents he had. He was also meant to have Mike and I as his mom and dad. The week Silas was born I lost 10 pounds because of the anxiety of feeling uncertain about the outcome with him and if we would truly be able to adopt him. Yet, that whole week we prayed that God's will would be done - we didn't just pray that he would be ours because though we knew we wanted him we knew he deserved God's best and only God knew what that was. So, here we are 11 years later marveling at the talented, kind, full of life boy we have and so amazed by what God did and also in a new uncertain situation with Samuel. We are praying God's best for Samuel, though we know we want him. Please join us in prayer that God would have his hand on Samuel and on the court hearing on the 29th and that the outcome will be his will.

New Court Date

There will be another court date for Samuel on April 29th. Please pray for God's will in Samuel's life. It is possible that God has other plans for him in Ethiopia and we may not have the opportunity to adopt him. We are sad but trusting that he is in God's hands.

Please Pray!

Samuel's court date is tomorrow, the 22nd, in Ethiopia. Since Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us please pray today that the people who need to be at that appt. will be there and that the judge will find favor with us and our paperwork and approve things to move ahead. We are so aware of each day we are missing with him and if the judge does not approve things now that means at least a 2-3 week delay and possibly more. If he does approve things we should travel before the end of May. I may not know what happens at this court date for up to a week but I will post as soon as I know!

Spring Break

Woodland Park Zoo

Cannon Beach!

We had a wonderful time enjoying the beach and each other on this trip. Silas will help us always remember it as he had his flip camera constantly taking video. This will probably be our last vacation as a family of 5.

Samuel Update!

No big news to share today but we did get some brief info from our caseworker who returned from a trip to Ethiopia last week. She spent over a week at Hannah's Hope (orphanage where Samuel lives) and sent us an email with three pictures (which I cannot share unfortunately) and some tidbits about how he is. She said he is very smiley and happy. She also said he has recently learned to walk and so is still tottering around. He is also in the process of being potty trained!! On the 17th he will be 21 months so he is late on the walking but early on the potty training by our standards. This bit of info left me with more questions and made us all just feel like we want to go get him today!! Christy also said that he is mainly called Sammy at Hannah's Hope so that is fun to know. Please continue to pray with us that the judge will have favor on us on the 22nd and will approve Samuel's adoption to move forward so we can bring him home in May.