We Have A(nother) Court Date!

We have a new count down to December 7, 2007 when, Lord willing, our children will be officially ours (and when we can share pictures). We received this email addressed to the five families who received their referrals on October 3rd from Laurel, our AWAA family coordinator:

Dear Families,

I am writing to let you know that we have new court appointments scheduled for you on December 7, 2007. The Ministry of Women's Affairs has assured our staff representative that he will have the letters of support that he needs to complete the appointments by that date. Currently, the Ministry is undergoing many transitions, as several of their leadership staff are leaving the agency leaving them understaffed. Because of this, they are processing fewer dossiers per day.

At this point, we do not have a good idea of when your group will travel to Ethiopia. We will arrange your trip dates as soon as possible for the soonest dates possible after we have the results of your court appointments.

Our agency representative, Rachel, leaves for Ethiopia today and will return with updated photos for each of you. We look forward to emailing you with new photos of your child's face!

Please let me know if you have any questions at this time.

Blessings,
Laurel

We are both so thankful that we have another court appointment. Believe it or not, I was thinking our next court date would be on the 7th of December. Here's why. We have a one month theme going. Our son was born exactly one month after we first applied to America World. Our daughter was born one month after we declined the first referral. Our family of four will hopefully be "born" one month after our first court date. I'm not sure there is any significance to the dates; however, it says to me that God has His hand on our adoption and will bring our children into our family in His perfect timing.

The new court date is bittersweet because we probably will not travel before Christmas. Travel has generally been three to five weeks after the court date, so probably the earliest we would travel will be after Christmas. I'm a little hesitant to get my hopes up after our last court date. The court appointment on the 7th of November not going ahead as scheduled and then waiting three and a half weeks for a new court appointment was tough. I want my babies home so badly that I feel like I need to guard my heart lest something else happen. Then I glance down at the quote posted below a picture of Gabe which reads:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

It reminds me that I must trust in God. I don't know what will happen with our court date, but my hope and trust must rest in Him. He began this journey by leading us to adopt and I know He will be faithful to the end, whenever that end may be. Please join us as we pray that this next court date is successful and we travel as quickly as possible.

Please also continue to pray for the other five families who received their referrals on October 19th. They will not be able to schedule their court appointments until after December 7th. My prayer for them is that God will give them peace and patience during this difficult time of waiting and they will receive a court date and travel very shortly after the 7th.