July Update and Travel Plans

We got new pics and some updated info on our new daughters today. They continue to get more and more beautiful. We feel so blessed that God has placed these girls in our family. He is so gracious! We can hardly wait to get to them.





The plan is to fly out of Omaha on August 12th. We're still working on travel arrangements. Everything looks fine getting to Addis, but getting out is a little hairy. We're waitlisted for a flight on Friday (21st) and a flight on Saturday (22nd). We'd really like to get out on Friday, but to get out at all would be great:) Until we have a flight confirmed to get out of Ethiopia, we can't make our final arrangements. Please pray for all this to come together well.

Gina

A Family of Five!!!

Woo hoo! We got a call this morning from our agency with good news. We passed court! Everything went smoothly with the case while we slept last night (Friday for them), and now these beautiful girls are joining our family.

These pictures are some that we got with our referral. We will let you know more about their names and show more recent pics later.

Praise God with us!!
Gina

Try Again Next Week

Well, this week has come and gone. The birth mom was not able to make it to Addis Ababa this week, so we're hoping for a successful court hearing sometime next week.

On another note, people have been getting court dates in August, so this is a good sign that courts will not be closing for August and September. Great news for all the waiting families and children.

Hope to have good news for you regarding our case soon!
Gina

Is Our God Moving a Mountain?

Ever since we did not pass court, our agency has been trying to get us another court date. While it is necessary to have a recommendation from MOWA in order to have court (and remember, MOWA has closed for a spell, so no one is getting new recommendations), the recommendation we got for our first court date is still good b/c we didn't actually fail court but rather were never given a hearing. On Thursday, the court finally said, "Bring her [the birth mom] in next week and we'll have court." No scheduled appointment. No specific day. Just show up and they will have court! This is such good news. We could pass court this week and be able to travel in August! The two-month court closures would not even impact us b/c we would already be through that part of the process.

We were deflated earlier in the week when it looked like we would be waiting until at least October to pass court, and we were confused because we had seen the process begin moving at incredible speed (after so much time of feeling like we were standing still) that we attribute to God moving. Now we are again seeing how the details of our circumstances have lined up perfectly for us to fast track it to our girls. I think we may be seeing the hand of God work on our behalf, and we're giving Him all the credit.

Please pray that the birth mom is able to travel this week, that the judge does in fact give us a hearing, and that we pass. On a more important level, please pray for our girls' continued health and safety. We are reminded this week how fragile these children are and the limitations there are in Ethiopia as a third-world country.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers!
Gina

Sweet Julianna

We will post more on our adoption later. We have some encouraging news related to our case.

Today, however, we grieve with our good friends the Reeds, whose precious baby girl Julianna died today, just weeks before her new family could travel to get her. Julianna was brought into the Reed family officially on July 6th. She did not die an orphan, but the dearly loved child of a family who would sacrifice everything for her.

Please pray for Erica, Jason, and their sweet son Ashton.

Gina

More Deflating News

We've been holding out for a new court date, but it looks like it won't be coming very soon. The organization in Ethiopia that is in charge of adoptions (MOWA) is closing until July 23rd. We don't know for sure if the Ethiopian courts will close due to the rainy season, but another adoption agency posted that the courts will indeed close early August through the end of September. This means there is a very short window of opportunity for us to get an appeal on our court date and get a new court date scheduled. And of course we would have to pass court, which is not a guarantee. It sounds like a backlog of cases is finally making it to the courts, which is great for many families who have had to wait on abandonment investigations. However, I have my doubts that we will be among the families who are able to get through during the short period between MOWA's re-opening and the courts closing. I assume we'll be traveling October or later. If we reach November, we'll have been in the adoption process for three years.

We would appreciate your prayers for us and for our girls.
Gina

We Didn't Pass

Since the birth mom was late to the appointment the day before, the judge wouldn't even listen to her testimony at the second hearing. Even our agency was surprised by this and said the judge seemed to be in a bad mood. For us, this means we didn't pass court. It will be rescheduled, we hope sooner than later. For the birth mom, I guess it means she will be sent the five hours back home and will have to return at a later court date.

Of course we're disappointed and sad. But we know that our God is trustworthy, so we'll wait to see what He has in mind.

Thanks for your prayers.

Gina