We have a COURT DATE!!!!

I was beyond excited when the phone rang a little after noon on Friday, July 2nd with news that we had our court date. My jaw dropped once again with this second, big news call from our agency (the first being our referral), when I heard what the date was--July 20th-our anniversary. It will be 9 years since we've been married and 10 years exactly since I was first in Africa on our family's trip to Kenya. The Lord did so much in my heart then both towards Nathan and the people of East Africa. It could not be more perfect that we are getting such an amazing anniversary gift from the Lord!!

I am also considering this my BEST early birthday present this year as I am turning 30 on July 5th and was really hoping and praying that I would hear by my birthday. Of course, I so trust the Lord's timing and knew it would be perfect regardless, but the fact that He gave me this gift brings me to tears over and over again. His ways are so amazing! There is no one like our God!

So, I got the call and had only an hour to get flights found and confirmed by our agency before the holiday weekend! I was only a little stressed--:) but thankfully our good family friend Colleen Reagan who is a travel agent dropped everything she was doing and helped find us great flights. We travelled with her family to Kenya in 2000 and it is very special that she has now had a hand in our adoption. It's super expensive to fly to anywhere in the summer, much less Ethiopia, but we have enough for this first trip, and I know the Lord will provide for the second! We are leaving July 15th and returning on the 25th! We are planning on taking a two day trip down to the Awassa area the 22-23 and will work out all the the details of our trip with our agency early next week.

These next 12 days until we get on a plane are going to be CRAZY busy! I want to enjoy every minute with my precious ones here at home because I know I will miss them so much. It was so hard to leave Kendra and Carson when we went to Croatia in 2008, and I know this will be no different leaving all three. However, I know they will be in excellent hands, and I am very excited to have an anniversary trip with Nathan that includes getting to hold and play with Brielle and have her grafted so perfectly into our family!

He's turned my mourning into dancing!

He's turned my mourning into dancing again! He's lifted my sorrow. I can't stay silent. I must SING for His joy has come!

On Friday morning, June 25th, after an intense afternoon and night of prayer for Brielle after finding out she had malaria and still no news on the birth certificate, I woke up with great peace in my spirit. I had been told by my family coordinator that I would hear some news about the status of the birth certificate--or at least news about when they might find out news :) per my emailed request. I had really been praying that I would hear that it was found by Friday.

Several hours into the morning, I checked my email (for the 6th time I admit) and saw a big heading: SUBMITTED FOR COURT I opened it and it said that all our documentation ie. birth certificate was in and our papers had been submitted for court. I immediately started screaming Thank you Jesus!!!! at the top of my lungs over and over with my hands raised in the air. My kids all had their ears covered and I was trying to convince them I was really REALLY HAPPY!!! It was such an amazing gift to my heart. This means that we will hear within a week or two when our court date is and can start planning for our trip. It should be sometime in July--most likely mid. We are so excited!!

This morning (Sat.) I woke up and had a message from Ashlie Fulmer, a dear adoption friend from AWAA that is over in Ethiopia for the summer to volunteer at the transition home and spend time with her baby boy that she is adopting. She had gotten to see the 1 year olds and said that Brielle looked completely healthy and happy. She was smiling and doing all the hand motions to the games/songs that the nannies were doing and looked great. This news thrilled my heart!! I had done some research on the medicine she was on for malaria-Coartem-and supposedly it is the very best and works in 3 days. I know the Lord's hand is on her and can't wait to get over and love on my girl!

Truly no eye has seen nor ear heard any God like ours who works on behalf of those who wait for Him!

Waiting on the Lord for a court date

Psalm 27:13-14 "I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"

As we are still waiting on the Lord to bring the birth certificate for Brielle so that we can receive a court date, my heart takes refuge in the perfect plan and timing of the Lord. In my spirit I am at peace with knowledge that it will come at the right time. There is a day and a time that only the Lord knows when we will meet Brielle for the first time....then when she becomes legally ours.....then when we get to bring her home. All these moments are known by God and set in his plan. I trust Him with all my heart!!!

This trust and peace is accompanied by a groan and longing that is too deep for words.... Many tears have been sown in this season of waiting. I believe I am receiving a taste of the longing of the Heavenly Father for his children. I am so in awe of the picture that adoption is of the heart and reality of God. Experiencing the adoption process is like diving into the depths of God's love. Even though the agony of longing unfulfilled right now is great, the joy that will surely come will be much greater. I love meditating on the reality that one day there will be no more sickness and pain, and God will wipe away every tear from my eyes. The One who my heart longs for Most of all--my beloved Jesus will be with me in Glory and Fullness--never to be separated again. These windows into his heart are precious to me and bring me great comfort in my yearning.

Even now my baby girl is sick with malaria on the other side of the world and it breaks my heart that I can not hold her and comfort her and lay my hands on her as I pray. I am thankful that the Lord has sent doctors and nannies and America World Adoption friends to do those things. I believe that angels are ministering to her as well. I found at stat that said that every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria. Truly the Lord has his hand upon this precious one and has spared her life. He has a great and awesome destiny for her on the earth. Praise the Lord she was able to receive immediate medicine and medical attention!

Please pray with us that she would recover quickly and fully and that the agency representative that has been sent to expedite our birth certificate would come back with it in hand and a speedy court date would be set.

Ps 33: 18-22 "Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul form death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love be upon us O Lord, even as we hope in you."

Happy Referral Day!!!!!

We could not be more excited that today we had the blessing of getting a referral for a beautiful 15 month old baby girl! She has the most beautiful smile in her pictures! She is so precious and beautiful and her name is actually a few letters rearranged from the name the Lord gave us for her--Brielle. We don't know what it means in her native language, but as far as I can tell online, in other languages, it might actually be derived from Gabriel (which is what Brielle) is derived from and means "God is my might!" How amazing is that?!!! I can't actually post her name or pictures until we pass court which I hope will be sometime in July. We will be traveling for court and should find out exactly when in a couple of weeks. My heart has felt like it was about to be torn from longing to see her face and know who she is the past couple of days. How sweet of the Lord to bring our referral today. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. We get to celebrate with all of the Tarr family this weekend, and then my parents are coming into town next week for my Dad's and Carson's birthdays. What a glorious time of celebration. Please pray for Brielle's health as she is on nutritional rehabilitation for malnourishment and just recovered from pneumonia. I can't wait to be able to give updates as we get them. We are hoping one of the families traveling next month will be able to take pictures of her and a care package. Thank you for your prayers and support this whole process. We are so blessed!

We are Next in line for a Referral!

Well, as far as we know, we are #1 on the referral list for our baby girl. The two precious families in front of us both received theirs today. I can't believe it! I am so excited to finally see who our Brielle is, but I trust the Lord's perfect timing. Once we get our referral, we will travel to Ethiopia approximately 4-6 weeks later for our court date. We will then return home and wait 4-12 weeks for the US embassy to process their own investigations and clear us for her visa. We will then return and get to FINALLY bring her home with us! Please pray for all the details to go smoothly and for peace and joy as we continue to wait.

We are ON DECK!!!

We got a very fun email today from our adoption agency telling us that we are officially On Deck for a referral. This means we should expect to know who our daughter is sometime within the next 3 months!! It could happen this month, but since we are still 4th on the waiting list, I think it's safer to guess it will be next month for us. We'll see!! On a fun note, I got down a blanket I began knitting 6 years ago after I had Kendra and had put up on a shelf after only doing a small amount. I felt compelled to get it down today and begin making it for Brielle! It was so amazing to get the on deck email today as a confirmation that the Lord really was prompting me that it is time to start preparing for her. The time will be here before we know it.

On that note, I am so thankful we went ahead and got our necessary vaccines for the travel. Unfortunately it was 8 shots for me and 6 for Nathan! I actually fainted shortly after and still can not lift my arms in the air without pain, but it was a labor of love. :)

We will still most likely need to take 2 trips to Ethiopia unless something changes again. I doubt we will make the cut off date for only taking 1 trip. The Lord knows his plans for us, and they will be perfect!

We will be taking TWO Trips to Ethiopia this year!!!!

We just received the news this week that the Ethiopian government has made a new law this past week requiring that families appear at "court" to testify to their willingness and commitment to adopt their child. This means that we will need to now travel 2-6 weeks after receiving a referral for about a week and then return home while the US Embassy processes our daughter's visa.

The embassy has also stated that they are going to be doing more extensive investigations into each case due to some recent allegations regarding certain adoptions and agencies (not ours) that have been in the news lately. All of these measures will ensure that Ethiopia stays open and continues to be a great place to adopt from. However this means, our time between trips will be approximately 2-3 months.

There are parts of this news that is challenging in areas like finances and logistics. The hardest thing might be spending a week with our daughter and then not getting to take her home with us the first time. I know we will have a better understanding of the heart of Jesus longing to return NOW for His bride, but knowing that it is necessary and right for it to happen in its perfect time.

We are excited that we will get to meet our daughter earlier than we would have otherwise and will get to spend a whole week with her and the other children there. We will get to spend more time getting to know Addis Ababa and Ethiopia and will have life changing adventures I'm sure.

It's possible we could get our referral in the next couple of months, so we need to start getting our shots and thinking through the first trip, as the moment we get the Big Call, life will turn into a whirlwind to make all the arrangements and prepare in a matter of weeks!!

Our hearts desire is that we would be able to pass court before it closes at the end of August. While reading comments posted on our yahoo group, I've seen that you can pass court the first time or not for many times. It all just depends on things that are totally outside of our control. We rest in that fact that this will all happen according to God's perfect timing!

Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers. We are greatly in need of them!