Waiting on a Court Date

Last Friday, our adoption agency submitted our paperwork to the Ethiopian courts. We expect to hear this week or next our exact court date. I'm guessing July 15th but John is less certain. As excited as we are to finally get there, we are also worried about money. We need approximately $9,500 for this leg of our journey. However, God has shown throughout this adoption that we have no need to worry. He is a big God and He has provided throughout this adoption. The most amazing thing to me is the number of times the money has come from complete strangers. We are in Florida visiting with the grandparents. We are staying with my parents in Chiefland for a few days. This morning, my mom decided to take the boys to the park to get them out of the house for a bit. After wards they decided to stop by Hardees for a milk shake. When they were done, Feromsa went to throw his trash away. A man sitting nearby struck up a conversation with Feromsa asking him about school, etc. Feromsa was quickly joined by Bereket, followed by Joshua and my mom. Mom mentioned how hard the boys had worked, especially since Feromsa and Bereket didn't know any English 2 years ago and she mentioned that they had been adopted and that our family was adopting again. The man quickly gets up, yells to one of the workers. "Sister Rita, I need a witness" and then promptly walked out to his car. At this point, Mom wasn't sure what to do. Before she could decide, the man returned and handed her $55. He said that he was here from California conducting a revival and that they had a concert last night. During the concert they collected an offering for widows and orphans. So he decided to give us a portion of that offering for our adoption.

Now come on people, what are the odds? A man from California just happens to be in Chiefland, FL. He just happens to be holding a revival where they just happen to collect an offering for widows and orphans. The next day he just happens to be in Hardees. My kids just happen to be there even though my kids had voted for McDonalds. My mom just happened to insist on Hardees (even though she never goes against what the kids want.) Then this man just happens to strike up a conversation with Feromsa. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Surprise!

Our adoption is nearing its final stages. We wait to hear about our court date and to make our plans to travel to Ethiopia.  Now a court date means paying to travel to Ethiopia and that takes money - more money than we have.  Dottie and I were starting to worry because we have yet to hear if we received any grants and fundraising has come to a halt (there are only so many times you can beg people for money). 

As our worries mounted we were surprised Saturday to receive an unexpected donation from a family who has not only already donated considerably, but has also done a tremendous amount of work to help us in our fundraising efforts. 

Then this evening there was a knock on the door by a family who were looking for the pastor of the church next door.  Now if you are a pastor living in the parsonage next door to the church and someone comes knocking on a Sunday night looking for you, well, you begin to worry.  It turns out that this was a family who are friends of another family who heard about our adoption. These people, that we had never met, dropped by to hand us a check to help out with our adoption.

Sometimes, I even amaze myself that I worry at all.  Let me just say it, God is good.

Timeshare Points

A while ago we told everyone about timeshare points that my aunt is selling in order to raise money for our adoption.  The points are now listed on a timeshare selling site.  If you are interested, or know someone who may be interested, you can go to http://www.buyatimeshare.com/.  In the search area simply put in 064951 for our ad.  Please help us get the word out on this great deal. 

Thank you.

He has our approval.

Yesterday we received some pictures and videos of our new son.  We would love to share them with everyone but we aren't allowed to do that yet.  The pictures and video were shot by some friends who took over to Ethiopia a care package for him.  The videos were particularly interesting.  In one he was opening a birthday card we had sent.  It was one of those cards that plays music when you open it.  His face when the music started playing (Celebrate by Kool and the Gang) was simply priceless.  The second video was him talking to us (through a translator).  I found it amusing that in the short time he had to say something to us he chose to say that 1) he thinks about us much, and 2) that he knows I'm a pastor and that he knows much about God.  It was almost as if he was trying to get my approval.  Now I'm glad he knows much about God (well, that really depends on what he knows) but I hope he will know that we love him regardless of what he knows.  He already has our approval.