We have had a wonderful Christmas this year but it is not complete. We had hoped and prayed to have our two little girls home for Christmas but that has not happened. Here is a picture of our tree with their presents left under the tree. We are hopeful that we can go in a few weeks and bring them home and then we can celebrate their Christmas then.
We received word back from the Embassy yesterday that they had just received our paperwork from our agency and not to make any travel plans yet. Our agency had led us to believe they had submitted our paperwork and were just waiting for approval. An e-mail back from the Embassy today indicated that it would probably be another two weeks before we will be able to travel. This is very disappointing to us since we have already been waiting two months since our court date and since January will be so busy for us. Please pray that our agency does everything they need to take make sure that we are able to go on this date.
We still have not found out if we will be traveling or not. Our agency said that everything had been submitted to the Embassy for a December 27 date but the Embassy did not respond to them today. We were asked to e-mail the Embassy and ask if we have been confirmed for this date. Since it is the middle of the night there we will not receive an answer until tomorrow (if they answer). We could possibly have to leave by Thursday to get there when they want us there. Please pray that we find out something definitely tomorrow and that we will get to go now since our work will get much busier in January.
We are still waiting to find out if we will be traveling to Ethiopia for the December 27th court date. We are praying that we will be able to travel this time since our work will be getting busy in the next few months and this will give us more time to spend with the girls. If we will be traveling on this date every day that we have to wait to find out causes the airline tickets to go up. We are very anxious to go get our little girls and bring them home so that we can be together as a family.
Mike's dad is still in the hospital recovering from his surgery. He is hoping to come home in the next day or two.
Mike's dad is in recovery after his surgery. They weren't able to remove the tumor but removed his gall bladder and rerouted what they needed to. The next step will be to decide about chemo. Hopefully he will be home for Christmas.
We received an e-mail yesterday that they think our Embassy date may be on December 27. The Embassy hasn't confirmed this yet. We had hoped and prayed that we could go before Christmas but are thankful that at least we may have a date now. We would be traveling during Christmas and would not be here to spend Christmas with the kids but this way we can bring them home the Christmas present that we have been waiting 2 years for. Please pray that this date will work out and we will be able to get them and bring them home soon.
Mike's dad has surgery tomorrow to remove his tumor. They will be doing a lot of work while they are doing the surgery. Please pray that he will maintain his strength through the surgery and that the surgeon will be able to remove all of the tumor and accomplish all that they need to. We pray that he will have a quick recovery and be home in time for Christmas. Thank you for all your prayers!
I came across something that someone had posted who has been waiting about 4 years for their daughter and are not finished yet. What an incredible reminder to us when want everything in our time.
"God whispers into our ears, "My child. Wait. Trust. I have an incredible plan that I am perfecting in this very moment." Yet we kick, cry and scream. "Why aren't things working out the way I want them to? Why is this taking so long? Why do things seem so unfair?" The truth is that HE HAS IT ALL FIGURED OUT. And His timing is perfect. That's right, perfect. Absolutely perfect."
Please pray for our Embassy date. It normally takes 4-6 weeks after the court date and we still have not heard when our Embassy date will be. We know that several couples were not able to go to their date on November 27th. We hope that this does not cause our date to be pushed out. It is our understanding that there are only two Embassy dates per month so this could possibly push our date until after Christmas. Since both of our jobs get busy in January this will get difficult for us to spend the time we need to with them when we get home.
