J Cooper Photography

First off…THANK YOU for sharing in our excitement with us!  We have had a WONDERFUL weekend celebrating with my family.  Words cannot describe the COMPLETE JOY we have in knowing that we have a precious baby boy waiting for us in Ethiopia!

Many of you have asked…”Now what” so I thought this would be a good time to fill in a few gaps about our next steps.  We would really covet your prayers over the next several months as we wait to travel to see our beautiful boy!

1.  FINISH THE PAPERWORK.   We received all of the official paperwork this morning.  I spent the entire afternoon Friday working on writing up our transition plan so that has already been finished!  How’d I do that with the littles running crazy you ask?  Naptime for the littlest…popped in the movie “Annie” for the girls…filled up two bowls of M&Ms…and told them “pretend I’m not here”.   Worked like a charm

We met our social worker this afternoon to have her sign the referral paperwork…then I rushed to Mr. P’s work to pick him up (the brakes on his car went out on the way to work…$800 later…OUCH!)…and then rushed to our bank to get everything notarized before 5:00.  Mr. P ran in at 4:55 to ask if a notary was still around and a nice man behind the counter announced that he would be happy to stay a few minutes to help us out.  What a HUGE blessing!  When we sat down and started to spread out all of the paperwork we found out that he was also an adoptive Dad and had a heart for the fatherless.  He had several great stories to share about how his life had been touched by their adopted son…so cool!  Then he stamped the first document.  My eyes focused a bit harder…I cocked my head…and looked a bit closer.  SURE ENOUGH!  His notary date was EXACTLY the same as Daniel’s birthday!  Once we were done at the bank we rushed to the Fed Ex store to try to meet their final 6:15 pick-up…and WE MADE IT!  All of our paperwork is on its way back to our agency and then onto Ethiopia where the special mother’s will tell Daniel that HE HAS A FAMILY!  (of course we won’t really have a clue…but it is a beautiful thought isn’t it!!)

(Mr. P caught this photo on his phone for use…check out the sweet UPS lady in the background…she was SO EXCITED to help us get one step closer to our little man!!)

2.  PRAY FOR A COURT DATE:  We may have missed this window of opportunity already…we’re just not sure.  The Ethiopian courts close for most of August and September during their rainy season (the roads become impassible at times).  This closure causes a backlog of cases that need to be seen in court.  We are praying that our file will be opened in Ethiopia before the courts close and we will be issued a court date for this fall.  It is a long shot…but God is BIG…and we are trusting in His timing.  It is likely we won’t receive our court date until the courts open back up.  It’s likely that our court date (and FIRST trip) won’t be scheduled until AT LEAST October..and maybe longer.  THAT IS A LONG TIME for this Mommy to wait folks.  Which leads me to….

3.  PRAY FOR PATIENCE:  We want what’s best for our little guy.  We know God has His hands directing and guiding the entire process and we are trying to rest in that.  We are going to be keeping ourselves VERY busy this fall as we wait!  Between my photography, our kid’s schedules, and crazy house projects, I am helping out the Kansas City Matilda Jane trunk keeper for the season to make a bit of extra money for our travel!  So sign up to host those parties people…let the fun begin

4.  PRAY FOR GROWTH:  We can’t stop looking at Daniel’s pictures…he is absolutely beautiful and perfect to us!  But he needs to grow and get really great nutrition over the next few months.  We are very confident that he is receiving wonderful care at Hannah’s Hope…but we are longing to have him home.  We are praying that God will strengthen him and protect him while we wait to have him in our arms!