Prayers. Peace. POWERFUL!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement! This week has been a great testimony to the power of prayer and the peace that can come even when the circumstances aren't great. It has been a great week!

Yesterday we got some great news.  The Bethany team in Ghana thinks they will have the paperwork that we need by next week.  That was not at all what I was expecting and I feel very hopeful and thankful. We will still have to wait for the approval and request a visa interview (currently scheduling about 2-3 weeks out).  After that, we can go get them and bring them home. Yaya!!!!!

Today we got the most amazing gift through a wonderful volunteer at the orphanage where are children are living right now. She sent these lovely photos and we are soaking them in! Until we get to pick them up we will regularly look at these photos and pray for our sweet kiddos! Thanks for coming along side us in prayer and life. We are so blessed!

Feeling sad and frustrated

After waiting patiently (OK, not always patiently) to hear from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for 4 weeks we finally get THREE letters in the mail today. They are all red. Red is not good.

We have to provide some more information before they will grant citizenship for our sweeties. I will not go into details but let's just say these documents will not be so easy to acquire. The Bethany team in Ghana already works such long hard hours and now we will be asking (begging) them to work longer and harder to try and come up with documents that don't currently exist. Blah!

Please pray for us. Pray for the team in Ghana as they work so hard on our behalf. Pray for our sweet kids who are very eager for us to come and get them. They call once a week and in their very limited English they only ask us to "Come!" Breaks my heart. every.time.

Meanwhile their beds are ready, their siblings are ready, their mom and dad are more than ready.

God please grant us the peace to walk this path a bit longer. Please be with Naa, Solomon, and Ebe as they work hard to help get the proof that has been demanded. Please help everything to go quickly and smoothly. Please hold Debo and Gabriel close and let them feel your love and comfort and care. Put in their hearts a knowledge that they have a family who loves them deeply and a Maker who loves them even more. Please put people in their lives to cuddle them and hold them. Please be with the orphanage staff and volunteers and give them strength to love our kids and the others. Please bless this process and sustain us in the days and weeks ahead. Amen.

Enjoying Summer

Well, our summer kicked off with quite a bang with a trip to Ghana to meet our precious additions. It's hard to believe we have been home almost 6 weeks!  We are so anxious to return and bring our babes home. For those who haven't seen it yet here is the video of our favorite moments from the first trip.  The songs are particularly special to us so turn up the volume and enjoy!

When we left for Ghana, Liz and Cael were still in school and when we returned summer was in full swing.  So naturally day #1 back in country consisted of a trip to Whitewater. ;-) I love watching the kids ride all their favorite water slides for the first time each summer and I enjoy relaxing in the pool chair as they hurry to the next adventure.  This time we were all quick to say things like, "Gabe will probably love this slide" and "Debo Grace will probably love this play area". We enjoyed pointing out how our family will fit on the big raft all together for the Bahama Bobslide and how we might pair off for some of the other tube slides. There is no question our sweet Ghanaian kiddos will be amazed and overjoyed at the sight of Whitewater. (perhaps a little over stimulated?!?!) We hope and pray they will be home to enjoy it this summer but if not we have a lot to look forward to next summer.

Following vacation bible school and a relaxing week at home and Whitewater each day we loaded up the car and made the drive to Rochester to visit old friends and neighbors. Highlights included visiting and playing with great friends, going to the Viola Gopher Parade, eating at favorite restaurants, playing a favorite parks and celebrating our new kids with a family adoption party.  We felt VERY loved and blessed by our sweet friends in Minnesota. It was surreal to consider this was likely our last family vacation as a family of four. We are so excited to fill the mini van with two more sweeties and start making memories as a family of six. 



When we returned from Minnesota the kids enjoyed a week at Creative Arts Camp, a day camp at our local church. The week capped off with a musical performance and Liz nailed her solo. It also happened to be our 15th wedding anniversary and we are so thankful for all the blessings of the past 15 years.

The kids and I made a drive down to Jacksonville last week and had a great time with friends and family.  We greatly enjoyed Christ's Church Freedom Fest complete with musical performances from Francesca Battestelli, Luminate, Sanctus Real, Matthew West and Michael W. Smith. The 2-day event was so much fun and ended with some great fireworks. Our  4 days in Florida ended with an AMAZING adoption shower thrown by my twin sister and two of my sister-in-laws.  It was such a wonderful night.  We celebrated Gabe and Debo Grace and were overwhelmed with thoughtful gifts, food and decorations. So blessed!!

 

 

We returned home just in time to celebrate a VERY rainy July Fourth with Adam. I got the bunk beds painted and the new quilts on the bed so now we are TOTALLY ready for these two to come home!!!

UPDATE on the paperwork: We got an email Monday that our officer will be processing our paperwork next week.  Please pray with us that everything is in order and there are no delays. Two of our fellow adoptive families have been asked for more evidence. It is so hard to wait and be patient! IF WE GET APPROVAL NEXT WEEK we will request a visa packet pickup for our children.  They will have a visa medical done and get passport pictures taken.  When that is complete we will request a visa interview for our children and when that is completed then we can go pick them up. So excited!!