CLEARED!!!!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow! We got the email this morning that we are cleared to pick up Hadi. The tears of stress and waiting just flew out of me! We don't know any specifics yet on travel but hopefully soon. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support. The road is still a long one but at least she will be with us for it. We will keep you all posted. Thank you God!

Pray for November 9th

We are still scheduled for a birth parent interview on November 9th (at either 1:30 am or 7 am CST). Pray for him to get there safely and that our agency will not be late! Pray for the interviewer to be kind and courteous to his decision to give up his daughter. Pray for our case to be cleared that day (there has really not been a pattern on when they approve the case after the interview). Thank you all...oh and pray for our patience and anxious hearts.

Here are a few pics I got of Hadi. I love the face!

Take two!

So, long story but wanted to report that our birth parent interview did NOT go as planned. There was miscommunication from Ethiopia to here and the interview has been rescheduled for November 9th. My first thought was frustrated but again...we have NO control. We are trusting and hoping in God's timing. There is a chance for a miracle here to possibly go with our cousin and their family. What an extra blessing it would be!!! So...praying for a "Thanksgiving miracle" is how our cousin put it. For now, we wait....wait...maybe clean in there....wait.

God has truly showed up in the wait. I have received emails, texts, cards at just the right time. In the last week I have also been able to see the pictures of two precious babes being adopted by two very special friends living here. God is good...His timing is good...so we will wait. (Much of this impatiently :))

Here is another pic of Hadi with one of her nannies. We should be getting regular pics now that the courts have opened back up and parents are visiting more often. Look at that tooth. She looks like a fireball.

Please keep Hadi's birth parent in your prayers. Morning of November 9th (1:30am to be exact) is the interview. May the interview go without a hitch and may we get approved that day! We can hope can't we! Pray also for our cousin Megan and Scott and their precious kiddos to get submitted and pushed through Embassy quickly.

Until the next update...

Still Waiting....Keep Praying

We are so close! Hadi's birth father made it to the interview and even got to see her. We have not heard anything about the actual interview as this is done in private with the Embassy. Things are really shaking up in Ethiopia with adoptions and we are in the middle of it. (Really, our process has gone fairly smoothly compared to some.) We definitely aren't in the clear yet, but pray we are soon. Please pray specifically for the person who has our file in their hands. May they pick up that approved stamp and approve it....sooner rather than later. We are hoping sometime this week we get the go ahead. (Please keep Scott's cousin's family in your prayers as well...they are enduring some of the setbacks but hopefully will be cleared up soon)

I have included a recent pic of Hadi. She is so cute I can barely handle it!

God has got this but I find myself reminding myself of this daily. I don't know or understand the plan but I know HE IS FAITHFUL! We also found out there are 25 babies in the baby room and 10 more are arriving today. 35 babies is absolutely crazy!!! This isn't even including the older kids. This is the problem with a slow up with the government. Less babies going out but the same amount of babies coming in...not good. This situation really needs to be bathed in prayer. Thank you in advance.

Still Waiting...

It seems as the weeks and now month have gone by...the waiting gets much harder. Especially since the reasons seem unwarranted (from a human perspective) that we are delayed along with several other families, including Scott's cousin's family.

Currently the birth father is slated for an October 18th interview at the US Embassy in Ethiopia. This will require him to travel hundreds of miles to say what he has already said, under oath, two times..."He is giving his child up for adoption" This must be very difficult for him and is also very difficult for all people involved to get this man down to the capital. The US Embassy is trying to make sure there is no one in his family to care for her. (All this plays with my mind big time!)

Day by day the US Embassy is creating more work, resulting in very long delays for the adoptive families. There is a lot that goes into this but ultimately, the kiddos are the ones who pay for it. Less families picking up kids and more kids coming into the orphanage make for a hard situation too.

We ask for you all to unite with us in prayer to bring Hadi home...preferably soon! Specific prayer requests are:

• October 18th (evening and night of Oct. 17th here) Birth Father interview - pray he gets there safely, he answers questions and doesn't get nervous and mess up wording, quick interview, ending in approval quickly
• The many other families in this situation - the Embassy is threatening all cases to be prolonged for months
• Our hearts...(okay, so I'm the one freaking out!!) Pray that we have hope in Him...not in the situation. Hebrews 6:18-20 "...Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy ANCHOR FOR OUR SOULS. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us..." Pray for patience...the waiting is getting really hard. There could still be more waiting after the interview as well.
• Pray for sweet Hadi...the good I can see in all this is the bond that strengthens everyday between us. I miss her and with each day my heart aches for her. This is ALL good!
• Pray for all the kiddos in the orphanage. I know our agency just sent over formula as they have many new infants that are sickly.

Thank you everyone...God bless the Internet and blogs. Asking for prayer can be harder for me...so I've definitely felt God nudging me! We are one Body...we aren't mean't to do this alone.

We will keep you posted.

Blessings,

Jill & Scott

Keep on praying...

We received a little update in the last few days. We got an email from the US Embassy in Ethiopia saying they needed more documents and also a birth parent interview. This was all expected. The US Embassy continues to be somewhat frustrating in all this. Ethiopia has cleared her as an orphan and already interviewed everyone but the US thinks it should do all the work again. Therefore, this part of the process is taking SO much longer than it used to.

All this waiting is trying my patience BIG time. Scott seems to roll with the punches pretty well...shocker, I know. During this idle time my mind runs wild with what could possibly happen to go wrong. The optimist I am makes me scared! Good thing our sermon was on fear today!

Please continue to pray for our family, Hadi's birth family and sweet Hadi. Pray for quick interview dates and all the additional paperwork to get their in a timely matter. Our agency has been wonderful through all of this. We trust them and we trust the One who is in control. We will keep you updated.

In Him,

New pic of Hadi

First of all...NO...we haven't heard anything yet. The US Embassy is being very frustrating! We only hear this from our agency and other families in our group. We continue to pray the process through Embassy happens quickly.

Meanwhile, we received a new pic of Hadi. The clarity isn't great but I thought it was hilarious that she was wearing a tiara, her clothes are 3 sizes too small and she was standing...YES, standing! Oh my, I think I need to childproof better in case she is walking by the time we get her. Eventhough the picture isn't great, you can see where she is living behind her. Just recently they pulled out all the carpet. Who knows what was in it but currently, there is cement floor in the baby room. Not a good time to learn how to walk and crawl! Oh well, she still looks like a princess, especially with the tiara on her head.

We covet your prayers for our family and all the other families trying to get their babies home. Thanks again!