Henry is officially ours!

It is official! Henry is our son!!

Yep, his shirt says Captain Chaos!

Court Date Dec 4?

The Caldwells were notified yesterday afternoon that their court date was not December 2 but December 4! We are in their travel group so perhaps today is the day!
We hope to share good news with you soon!

No news...

They say no news is good news and today I would have to agree. The families who received a call from our agency heard news no family wants to hear- they did not pass court. These families are heartbroken... their children will not be home for Christmas.

So we wait, hoping and praying we will hear goods news tomorrow!

I have been listening to Andrew Peterson. His song -Faith To Be Strong -seems to be a perfect way to end this post.

Give us faith to be strong

Father, we are so weak

Our bodies are fragile and weary

As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead

Give us faith to be strong

Give us faith to be strong

Give us strength to be faithful

This life is not long, but it's hard

Give us grace to go on

Make us willing and able Lord,

give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn

Mend us up when we break

This flesh can be wounded and shaking

When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take

Give us peace when we're torn

Give us faith to be strong

Give us strength to be faithful

This life is not long, but it's hard

Give us grace to go on

Make us willing and able Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us hearts to find hope

Father, we cannot see

How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom

And as hard as we try, Lord,

it's hard to believe

So, give us hearts to find hope

Give us faith to be strong

Give us strength to be faithful

This life is not long, but it's hard

Give us grace to go on

Make us willing and able

Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn

Give us faith, faith to be strong

Court Date

We believe our court date is Dec 2. Because of the time difference, sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning our court hearing will be proceeding in Ethiopia! If all the paperwork is in order the judge should rule favorably and Henry will be our son!
Please pray for the judge, our family and the other 10 families who share our court date. We appreciate all your prayers! We are filled with hope. We should hear something from our agency on Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll let you know as soon as we hear something.

Thankful

I've been tagged by Melodie to write 5 things we are thankful for!

1. I am thankful for my dear husband who loves me no matter what. He is a terrific friend, encourager, father and husband.
2. We are so thankful for our son Igor. We cannot imagine life without you dear one.
3. We are thankful for the opportunity to adopt Henry! We cannot wait for you to be part of our family!
4. We are thankful that we live in a country where Christians may worship freely and do not face persecution.
5. Thankfully we will know in a few days if we passed court!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Giving Thanks

My dad, a veteran of the Vietnam war, sent me the following:
If you go to this web site http://www.letssaythanks.com/
you can pick out a thank you card. Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq.
You can also pick out a "pre-written" note to include with the card.
You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these cards? Whether you are for or against the war, the men and woman serving in Iraq need to know we are behind them.

Our family

Igor and I have started our Christmas baking. I know it's early but Rob and I may be in Ethiopia December 13-20! Igor was asking about gingerbread men so I decided we should make them this week. Last year Igor make a cookie family- Daddy, Mommy, Igor and little brother. He wanted to do the same thing this year except he wanted icing on the cookies. I made the icing and he frosted and decorated them.

This activity gave us time to talk about Henry being part of our family while doing something fun. We had a sweet talk about what a family is and what our family will look like when Henry arrives!
Please pray for our paperwork to be correct and on Judge's desk on time!