Update!

It has been really hard for either Heather, or I to update anything here on the blog. The internet on the other side of the world in Ethiopia is awful. Even worse over the last couple of weeks. So Heather has been unable to post anything. My main internet is through our ipad, and once again, it won't let me post anything for some reason. So I have had a lot on my mind that hopefully I will posting in the next few weeks. Some thoughts on adoption and life in general in Ethiopia.

However, I wanted to give an update on our status.

I, Adam came home on Jan 31st. Right now it is my plan to return to ET around the middle of March or so. The day that I left, we finally passed court for our boy, Yosef. It took about 7 weeks or so for him to pass. He is still in the transition home as we are really uneasy to taking custody of him yet as his case seems more difficult. We have taken custody of our two girls, Eyerusalem and Mahlet, as of Jan 4th. It has been an awesome time for us to be there in ET getting to know our girls. So many times, we have been able to use a translator to get to the root of different issues. Also, it is more of a familiar area for the girls as they learn how to be a part of our family.

All three of our kids were submitted to the US embassy at the same time last Wed. The embassy is supposed to take around 10 days to decide what they are going to do with our case. There is a chance (albeit SMALL) that they could just clear us and request an interview with us. There is a MUCH greater chance that they will schedule an interview first with the distant uncle who relinquished the kids. This will likely take another month or so. There is also hopefully a very, very small chance that our case could be sent to Nairobi to be investigated which could then take who knows how long. Right now, we are hoping and praying that we will ALL come home as a family of 8 around the end of March.

Here are some ways to pray for us.

- Obviously the whole embassy issue.

- Heather and our 3 other girls visas are all expiring in a couple of weeks and they are going to have to go renew it, hopefully.

- Heather is T.I.R.E.D. Thankfully, her parents are staying with her right now, but this time of us being apart is really wearing on both of us, especially her. The kids are draining every little bit of energy she has.

- For Heather as she parents 5 of our children right now. Though we wouldn't change a thing, our new girls are HARD! Our 11 year old threw a full-blown tantrum the other morning for over 2 hours because Heather cut her balloon string too small! The nerve of her:) Our 7 year old won't leave Heather's side.

- We know that there are some real deep issues and hurt for our girls and pray as we work through these. During the tantrum, our daughter asked Heather to just hit her so that she would be punished already. :( Heather told her that is not how we do things and she is going to need to learn to talk through some of these issues.

- Pray for our girls English to continue to improve.

- Lastly, pray that our Heavenly Father would continue to sustain us. He has to this point, and we see His hand at work. We trust that He is in each and every situation.

Well, I am sure that is enough for now.