Court Update

We were very excited to get our court date--We got it Oct. 21 and it was for Nov. 2nd, so it wasn't a long wait once we finally got it. I started letting myself get excited that this is real, checking airline tickets, looking over the packing list to see what we needed, buying diapers, registering, etc. My mom and sister even planned a little shower for me for 2 weeks after our court date, but waited to send the invites until we passed court. The night before (which was right when court happens) we had family over for dinner and prayed for court. It was a great night of hope and excitement. We prayed for everything I could possibly imagine that could go wrong....missing papwerwork, someone who was supposed to be there being sick or unable to attend, the judge, especially, and then actually slept very well that night.

Our agency called around 11:30 the next morning (I was peaceful when I woke up, but the next few hours were pretty torturous), and told me that court had over scheduled that day, and our court did not go through because they ran out of time and it wasn't even heard. She told me that they often do things alphabetically, so it makes sense that we were at the end with "W" for our last name.... We were rescheduled for 4 weeks away, Dec. 1st, which feels like an eternity. We spent last week really grieving...grieving the loss of a month or more of time with our daughter, grieving loosing having Christmas with our daughter and having lost the hope that we had that this was really happening. It had just started to feel real the week before court, and now it's back to feeling like something we are "pretending".....I don't know if that makes sense, but it's how I have been feeling....

We are slowly recovering, and feel that God has given us back our hope with the word "miracle" that keeps coming to mind. Our agency says to plan that we won't go get her until at least the last week in Jan., because now we will hit Ethiopian Christmas and everything shuts down for 9 days again.....We are praying that God brings us a miracle, and that we can go getter sooner than that, but have accepted that God might have a reason to keep her over there longer....Hard to understand, but we are choosing to believe that He is powerful and can work things to match His plan, and that He is good and really does have our best in mind, even though it doesn't make sense to us.....

We would appreciate continued prayer: 1. For a miracle and that we might have our daughter in our arms by Christmas, even though it is "impossible" in our agency's eyes. 2. For peace whether God answers that prayers or not 3. For energy and ambition to proceed with plans for the holidays, and that we would be able to make this Christmas a special time for Noah, no matter what happens.