Our Ever Changing Talo!

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:26

Our son is ever changing and we are amazed at God's work in him. From the first pictures of him at 25lbs with just such sadness in his eyes, we now see a joyful little guy who is up to 30lbs. Goodbye to the 2T clothes we had bought and hello 3T! He may be way too short at 32 inches for the 3T but our little man is gaining weight quickly and we are overjoyed to be buying bigger clothes!

As you can also see it looks like they gave Talo a haircut! I was so sad to see his curls gone, I loved them so much! But it will grow back and we can't wait to see it grow in even healthier than before. This is something else we read in our update and I know you will be blessed by it.
"He is so sweet! He smiles a lot. He has become very active and sociable. He likes to run and wrestle with the kids. He has a nick name, Alazar (Lazarus in English). He likes it when the nannies call him Alazar. They gave him this name because he was so thin and sick when he comes to the Transitional home but now he is fat and healthy so they say God has raised him from the dead like Lazarus in the Bible."
Isn't God just truly amazing, that He would chose to place Talo in our home just blows my mind. We are so grateful for him!

Here are just some other updates from this week. We actually have our TRAVEL DATES and we will be headed to Ethiopia on Saturday September 12th and flying out from Ethiopia on Friday Septmeber 25th.(more on this later, please just pray for us to be prepared for our trip and for Talo to be prepared for us to come). AHHHH! So exciting on 2 weeks away!

Another blessing this week was the gift of a car seat! I was so blessed to get to go out with a great friend of mine and she wanted to buy us a car seat for Talo. So off we went and I got to spend the day with her and her boys (1 1/2 year old twin boys who are so sweet!) and I left with an amazing gift! Thank you Tananya.

Here is Jon trying to figure it out! I wish Talo came out of the box with the car seat!



God also did amazing things by blessing us with money which we have been using to purchase all the things one needs for a toddler. Clothes, shoes, food for our trip, sippy cups and so much more. Here are all the cards that came in this past week. Jon's brother drew the one with the two parents and little kid. I love it Ben! Thank you to all the women at work who gave so much, you guys have been wonderful to us. Also Thank You to our extended family who has sent us cards and to my Aunt and Uncle who gave us a bed and dresser for Talo. We are so overwhelmed by God's provision.

So, people keep asking what else we need and truly we just need money. We have about $8,000 in travel cost from our plane tickets and hotel fees and in country travel. So for those of you who have asked that is really what we need. We will update you all again soon. To God be the glory He is doing all of this!!! Oh we just Love God and love our Talo~!

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Introducing God's Grace to Us!

Praise be to the LORD! We passed court today and here is our son Talo (His Ethiopian name which we are keeping!)He is almost 2 1/2 years old.

We already see God at work in his little life as these are not our first pictures of him. Here are the first pictures we saw of him back in June.

We just prayed so earnestly that He would feel God's love and that God would heal the grief in His little heart. We prayed that he would attach to the nannies at the transition home and he has. Our update states that he gets jealous when the Nannie has to take care of other children. And it is evident from his smiles that he feels God's love! Oh We love him so much! This is the miracle of adoption!

God was so amazing last night in how He works as I talked to my dearest friend Lauren who prayed with me over the phone as I cried. Jon and I had been praying endlessly together but I still felt just like God didn't want us to pass court yet, like he wanted us to go through another hard time. I wasn't angry at God I just felt like "what if it's God's will for us to have to wait longer." Then Lauren prayed that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. She prayed how God has already chosen Talo to be our son. It is decided in Heaven before the world began that we would be a family. But on earth there is sin and human error and roadblocks. So when she prayed it would happen on earth as it is in heaven. I knew without any more doubts that it was God's will to bring Talo home. Passing court makes Talo legally our son, and I had been relying too much on the actual court forgetting that God had already chosen Talo as our son. After praying she read to me this verse out of Isaiah 30:18. I know this verse is going to be so much for Talo as it was God's promise to me that He would bring Talo home. I had asked God to speak to me through his word and he did! God did Justice and how wrong of me to forget that God longs to be compassionate and gracious to us!

"Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long for Him." Isaiah 30:18

The first time Jon saw Talo's picture he was at work and he had music playing on his computer. As he opened Talo's picture to see his face for the firt time this song began. God is so good!

We did not Pass Court But. . .

Well, as I am sure many of you already know we did not pass court on Friday. One of the people involved in our little guy's case did not show up. So we began another time of waiting. Hearing the news that we did not pass court was so hard and we did cry and wish we had passed. However, we had prayed for God's will to be done and fully believe it was. But then I wonder do my prayers make a difference? Is God hearing what we are crying out to him for? How do I pray in Faith knowing that God is going to do His will and that it may not be my will.

As we seek God every day we both can see how He is deepening and strengthening our faith in Him. We are learning that truly no matter what we may want His will is always perfect and always best. Our hearts burn to have our son home and take him everywhere; the ocean, long walks, hiking, traveling to meet our relatives and so much more. Yet even though this is our passion and desire God has said wait. Wait and trust me and yes keep praying. Because even though I may feel my prayers did not make a difference the Bible and truth of God's Word tells me he does hear and answer our prayers. Emotions can not determine the truths of what I KNOW to be true about God.

Satan may come and try to make us doubt. He may come and try to plant worries in our minds about what lies ahead for us in our life with our son. However, these are only false emotions and attacks from the enemy and we are blessed by the Victory we have in Christ. For God says. . .

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Before court we just prayed that God's will would be done and that whatever would bring Him more glory would take place. So to God be the glory and to God be the glory because He has given us a new court date! Our case will go before the judge again while we sleep tonight and the LORD will decide when our son comes home. It is in His hands.

As I felt discouraged today I knew I needed to just praise God and this is the song that I sang! God is so amazing and we love Him so much. To Him be the Glory!