Our Paperwork is in ETHIOPIA and we Have a REFERAL!!!

(Here we are mailing our paperwork in and then we were off to the beach. We were so exhausted that we feel asleep at the beach for two hours!)

"Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised He was able to perform." Romans 3:20-21

God is more than able to perform what He has promised! Last Monday the 22nd all of our paperwork called the "Dossier" arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! It was an amazing answer to prayer and has increased our faith so much! We haven't posted in so long because things have been totally crazy but in many good ways.
(This is us at Staples, copying all the documents. Actually Jon copied while I watched!)
First we give God so much praise because he provided all of the money we needed to mail in our paperwork!

(This is Jon organizing our paperwork! I had lost all sanity and organization skills at this point. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful and calm husband! He is going to make a great Dad!)
The adoption costs roughly $30,000 (this includes airfare and travel) however we started the adoption with about $7,000 in our own savings and just prayed and trusted God would provided the rest. Well the rest He has and is providing. After the fees when mailing in our dossier we have now paid roughly half of the $30,000. So, after a little math you can tell that this money has come from God! He has used so many people in our lives to provide this money and we are so grateful to you all. Your generosity is amazing and we are so thankful to you! Thank You to all who have given to bring our little one home! If you could join us in praying for the rest of the funds that would be amazing! We still are short the other half but fully trust that just like Romans 4:20-21 says above- we will not waver in unbelief but grow strong in faith!
(Here is all the paper work, an original set and 3 sets of copies)

Second we have amazingly exciting news! We have received a referral of a child!!!!
In adoption language a referral is the child that is matched to you and once you accept the referral the process quickly moves forward. On June 10th even before our paperwork hit Ethiopia our agency called us with a child that they thought we may be interested in. They knew that we were open to toddler age and they told us about a toddler age little boy!!!! We were in total shock that God had brought us a child so soon, nervous because we do not have the rest of the money needed, and overjoyed all at the same time!!!

We wish we could post a picture of him and tell you his name and more about him but until we pass court in Ethiopia our referral has to remain confidential. So if you could join us in praying for Him and praying for us to pass court that would be so amazing! Passing court is our next step. What happens is our Dossier is taken by a representative of our our Adoption agency to the Ethiopian court and it is officially determined by the judge that this little guy is our son! Passing court means the child is legally yours! So once we pass court we will be able to travel and bring him home!Right now we are still awaiting our court date, once we know we will post it so you all can be praying.

I feel like my writing is just rambles and hard for you all to follow. But if you are reading I am sure you can sense that my mind is racing with words and emotions and it is so hard to put them all down into a neat little post because this isn't a "neat" little thing. We have a picture of our son to be an He is halfway around the World. Being taken care of in the loving hands of our Father in Heaven who knew before the World began that someday we would be His parents. What an honor we have received. This is the miracle of adoption! All Glory to God!

Please pray for us as we continue to wait!