no news

Surprisingly, some of you are still reading our blog, even though we hardly update it. Thank you for being interested. It is encouraging to know. Maybe you’re not all that interested, you just stumbled into us. Whatever, thanks for reading. And it is high time for the ridiculous picture of us a the thrifty prom to be moved down some. That is hideous. Hopefully we will get some new pics up in a few days, we’ll see.

This is a little bit of an update and an opening of my heart just a little. First, why we don’t write all that often:

Of course the number one reason is just because we forget or are busy or something like that, but there is a slightly deeper one. It is hard. With this whole process going the way it has, when things happen, we are never really sure if they are actually happening or if they will stay happened. Things seem like they always change, so it’s hard to pass on big news, good or bad, and then have to come back a week or a day later and say it has all changed. It’s a little embarassing at times, but mostly it’s just sort of draining and wrenching to do. It doesn’t seem like it should be, but for some reason it just is. So in this PC generation you should all be tolerant of me saying something feels a certain way when it seems like it shouldn’t.

So we have sort of stuck to telling family and a very few friends (sometimes) when we do get news. Then after a while we try to pass things on once they seem to be a little more stable. (The word “stable” in itself seems sort of like a joke at this point. Not much has been very stable.)

So, in the way of an update, our paperwork has been processed faster than expected (which was a surprising blessing) and is actually in a region in Kstan. The actual region is one of those details we will hold close at this point for the reasons I already mentioned, but it is a very exciting time. This is the place where the people on teh ground actually say yes or no to us adopting from that region. We are not sure what all that means if it happens to be a “no,” but this is the level we have heard the most about and been told to look toward the most. If the region says yes, then we are in. If not, we will see. It could be bad, but we don’t know, so we will just pray, hope, and wait.

So, 2 major things to pray for right now:
1) Paay for favor in this particular region. This is the first one we have been sent to, and we don’t want it to come back. Pray for the people considering our case and our dossier, that we will have favor with them, and that the Lord will establish peace for us with them. There are many reasons they could say “no” so please pray that God would put peace in their hearts in regard to us. Ask him to let them see our hearts for this child and for adoption through our dossier and to respond to that, not money or some arbitrary thing.

2) Ask God t set us up with the right people in country (facilitators, who basicly work our case for us, translators, and coordinators). This is a very big deal as these are the people who represent us in country. Who these people are matters a lot.

And an extra one, please ask God to prepare our hearts for whatever happens and to grant us grace to respond and deal with it. How we respond to everything that happens says a lot about who he is, who he is to us, and how well we know him. We want to be found faithful, and more than that, we want to magnify and point to him as great. Pray for us so that we would not do anything that would reflect negatively on who he is.

Thank you. We love you guys. Thank you for walking with us.