We Got a COURT DATE!!!!

I woke up this morning thinking, "today could be the day...Lord, please let today be the day." & that's what I prayed all morning long, "Lord, please let us get a court date today." I have been wrecked these last few days longing more than ever to meet & be with my son. After I ate lunch, I started to read for my class...got up & decided to get on my knees to pray. I prayed that God would make my heart in line with His will so that I would want what would most glorify Him. I told Him how much I longed for my son & told Him that I was still so sorry for not stepping out in faith before now. I got back up, sat down in my seat to start reading, & the phone rang...literally just like that boom, boom, boom! I couldn't even talk when Brandi told us we had our court date! {I had just sent Brandi an email yesterday having to deal with a conference call we were supposed to schedule & told her I was still holding out hope to get a court date before the closures, so she knew God was answering my prayer...so, so, so cool!}

Our court date is Aug 5th where we will go before the judge. The birth family will go on Aug 1...please hold both of these dates in your hearts & pray that things will go smoothly. We most likely will not have our MOWA approval letter & not sure how that will work out with the rainy season {whether or not MOWA will be reviewing cases during this time,} but our judge should clear us pending our approval letter. Then, once we get the approval letter, they'll send our case to the U.S. Embassy to get in line for a VISA.

Thanks everyone for praying!!! We are elated to say the least! I just want to hold my son! I'll deal with the rest later :)

Life Lessons & Prayers

well, i'm being brave & sharing an email on here that i just sent out to my lovely community group girlfriends. i'm sharing here because (1) i seem to remember being in a similar place on here before with y'all :) (2) we need all the prayers we can get! (3) - most importantly- To God Be The Glory!

Hi friends!
I wanted to email you all to in part confess & share one of my main life lessons I am relearning, & then to ask for your prayers. Last night we found out that a family that got their referral a week before us got assigned a court date for Aug. 1. {let me back track & also tell you that we have learned this week that the court closing isn’t systemized – like all things in ET - & usually occurs within the 1st & 2nd weeks of August but varies from year to year on exactly when.} With that news, we have a renewed sense of hope that we could actually get to court before the rainy season!

I then began to research to see how many families were between the family that got assigned & us {not that it even really matters bc again, no systems in ET} & was lead to a blog of one of those families. After reading their referral story, the Lord really convicted me of how I am putting him in a box. This is a lesson that I am learning over & over in this adoption. You see, in adoption {at least for me} I think you try to manage your expectations to keep from getting heart broken over & over. Brokenness came for me in March when I figured out that we weren’t going to get our referral when I expected, & I had even been preparing myself for the possibility of brokenness to come again if we don’t get him home by the end of the year. However, in that “managing expectation” mode, I had began to loose faith in what the Lord will do...not what He can do, but what He would do for Matt & me & our family. It brings tears to my eyes because I know the Lord loves me & I know He knows the desires of my heart, but I decided to only ask Him for what is a “reasonable” miracle. I think I even told a few people that it would be a miracle beyond miracles if we made it to court before rainy season & that we would be doing great if we made it to court in Oct. So that’s what I denounced my God to, getting me to court in Oct & never even considering asking to get in before the closure.

I looked up some verses last night & came upon Job 17:11-15 with v. 15 being “where then is my hope- who can see any hope for me.” This one cut me deep...what kind of witness am I being if I, “the believer,” don’t even have enough hope to ask for the hard stuff?? What an amazing testimony would that be if the Lord did get us in before the closure?!

So, here is what I’m asking of you all, my beloved friends. Will you please join us in praying for us to get a court date before the August closure? The Lord is good regardless of when we go, but He has called us to ask {Matt 7:11- "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"} {side note - the last time Matt & I asked our CG to pray with us back in March when we were broken, it turned out to be the evening before our little man was born!}

Much love & much gratitude,
Amelia