Next Steps!

We are so thankful for all of the love and support of everyone on our journey to bring home our little girl!  So many people are asking what comes next, so I thought I would pass along the next steps to you here.

In Ethiopia, they are translating our documents and information and combining it with the information of our little girl to make one file. It will be submitted it to the courts to get a court date.  The courts have been closed for the last two months because of rainy season.  They close every year for August and September.  They just reopened TODAY!!!  We are hoping to hear about our scheduled court date SOON! :)

After we pass court, we will be submitted to the US Embassy.  Our Embassy appointment is the final step.  We will take one trip for about a week for the court date, and then usually about 2 months later, we will return to Ethiopia for another week (Embassy).  On that trip, we can bring our little girl home.

We are hoping to travel sometime in December for our first trip (court), and then bring her home in February or March.  One thing that our social worker was very clear on was that this court/Embassy process is VERY unpredictable. You just never know what is going to happen with the court system, extra paperwork or research that they might require, etc.  We are praying for no bumps in the road!

So...prayer requests:

• Our little girl's safety, health, and adjustment in a different place.  I can't even imagine the things that she is thinking/feeling right now.  I am sure she is so confused.  There will be so much that she has to grieve:  the loss of her family, friends, culture... all things known to her.  Please just pray that God will comfort her little heart as only He can!
• Pray for our family to be prepared for this change...for wisdom for us in parenting each one of our kids and preparing their hearts for their little sister!  They are so excited!
• Pray for us to pass court quickly and without any problems.
• Finances!  We are hoping to hear back this week from a grant we applied for to help with all of the travel costs.  It is a matching grant, and we are going to have an art sale to raise money for it!  more to come on that later...

Thanks for praying for us!!!