The good news, and the bad news...

We received wonderful news yesterday!!! All of the required medical paperwork came back for our oldest son. Both boys are very healthy and free of communicable diseases! Praise the Lord! Now that we have that information, we are just waiting to hear when the court date is, and the following travel dates. We are still praying for January. Our bad news is that we also found out that our agency will close its doors this coming Friday and not reopen until January 2nd!!! That means, even if we have a court date, we will not hear about it until after the holidays. That was difficult news for us, since we are waiting every day with baited breath to hear any news. Praise God that He is still in control! Thank you Lord for two healthy boys!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

Blessings Showered Down

This last weekend was full of so many blessings! Jeff's parents came to NC for a weekend visit. Just before they left they said, "We don't feel like we need to worry half as much about you two down here in NC by yourselves. We can see now how loved you are by those around you!" That is the truth!!! God has been so good to richly bless us with friends and church family that have just taken us in with one big Southern hospitality hug! On Saturday a few of Meredith's coworkers threw a shower for her. We were overwhelmed by how generous and thoughtful these coworkers were, only having known Meredith for four months! Sunday the showers of blessing continued to fall, as our Sunday School Class at church also threw us a shower! We continue to stand in awe of how God chooses to use others in our lives to provide and wrap us up in His love!!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

Some Even BETTER News....

Just wanted to send a quick update- While we were waiting to hear news about if the boys were moved to the foster home or not, we instead received the updated medical records and physical paperwork on our youngest son!!! That means he has been in the foster home since before Thanksgiving! Most likely our older son is also there as well, but we have not received the paperwork on him as of yet. We were not expecting the medical results back until after Christmas, so once again....we are one step closer to bringing the boys home. All of the paperwork looks great, he is a healthy little boy, PRAISE GOD!! Once we have the medical paperwork back on our oldest son, the agency can apply for the official court date! What an amazing Christmas present to us! Please keep praying with us that the rest of the paperwork will be completed quickly, and that God would continue to comfort us while we are a part from our sons!

Some good news

Thank you for continuing to keep our growing family in your prayers! It has been a long month with hardly any news! The next step that we have been waiting for is the boys to be moved to the transition/foster home in the capital of Ethiopia,which is run by the adoption agency. There has been a waiting list, but we did hear news from our case manager that the boys were scheduled to be moved on Tuesday, November 27th. We are still waiting on confirmation that the move occurred. Please pray that they would be comforted in the midst of the move away from the only surroundings they have known at the orphanage. A huge praise is that once they have moved to the foster home, they will be getting complete physicals and better medical care. Of course it also means they are one step closer to coming home with us!!! Once they have completed their medical physicals, the agency can apply for a court date to complete the adoption in Ethiopia. We will then be able to travel anywhere from 3-8 weeks after that. Yes, it is difficult to not know the exact timing, but God is still so wonderful and in control!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

We are expecting a boy.....two of them!!

Like cold water to a weary soul, is good news from a distant land.
--- Proverbs 25:25

We are so thrilled to announce to you that we have received news of our soon to be children! We do have pictures, but due to privacy regulations and concerns, we have been asked not to share pictures until they are officially ours!

We are the soon-to-be parents of two little boys!!! They are 7 months, and 14 months, so we will have quite a houseful! Although we had applied for siblings, our case manager told us that it has been several months since they have received any sibling groups, and these two little ones need a Daddy and Mommy! These two boys are coming from the same orphanage and same area of Ethiopia. So in God's perfect timing, they WILL be brothers!

Please continue to pray for our family. We are so humbled that God would allow us to be the parent's of these precious little ones! At the same time we are a bit overwhelmed with the idea of needing two of everything! Since these boys are not biological siblings, we will also need to send in more paperwork fees to the adoption agency. Please join us in praying that God would provide for these unplanned fees.

Please also pray for our boys. Pray that God would keep them safe and healthy and that the rest of this process would move quickly! We do not have a set timeline at this point as we must wait for the boys to be moved to the CWA foster home in Addis Ababa. Once there, they will have better medical care and provision, and the agency can apply for a court date. Once they have their day in court with the agency power of attorney they will officially be our children and we will get word as to when we can travel to pick them up (generally 2-3 weeks later). Our prayer is that this will occur during Jeff's Christmas break from school. Please join us in prayer, believing God for this desire of our hearts.

Thank you dear friends for praying for us, and encouraging us, we are so grateful for you. It is so obvious to us God's work in this entire process, He is so good! Please continue to check back, we will be updating this blog as often as we have news. Once we have a court date, and everything is official, we will also have pictures to share!

Believing Him,

Jeff and Mer

Courts are open!!

As of last week, all of the courts in Ethiopia are open. We are praying that our adoption process will begin to move faster now that the court hurdle has been taken away. The next step is still just waiting for that phone call to tell us who our children will be! Psalm 86:9-10 says : "All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wonderous things, you alone are God." We are praising Him today that He alone is in charge of our family and He can do great and wonderous things!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

October 2007

Ethiopian courts are supposed to open on October 11th. We are praying that things will begin to move along faster once they open again. Please keep praying!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

September 2007

We are nearing the end of September and thought we would send out an update on the adoption process. Really though, there is nothing to report. All has been silent in the Ethiopian courts this month, and we have not heard anything. Although that has been hard, it was expected that we would have a long wait. So we are thanking God for extra time for Jeff in his studies before our family doubles in size!

If you happen to watch any world news, you might have noticed that Ethiopia had its Millennium celebration on September 11th! We still don't fully understand why they are on a different calendar, but it was fun to say "Happy New Year" to each other in September! The difference in the calendar is rooted in the Coptic Orthodox Church. For more info see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6978629.stm

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. Just recently we came across a verse that has held special meaning to our wait on God's timing. The verse is in Romans 4:20-21 and is referring to Abraham's wait for his promised son. It says:

"He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform."

Believing Him,
Jeff and Meredith

August 2007

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and words of encouragement as we enter into this stage of more waiting!

When we last updated you in July we told you that our Dossier had been sent to our Adoption agency for review and that it would be on its way to D.C for approval and translation. Well, we received word from our adoption agency shortly after, that the Dossier was ready to go and did not need any corrections (a huge praise).....but they had not received all of our payments for the fees!!! You can imagine how frantic we were, since all the money orders and checks were in the same envelope as the Dossier! After some investigation, the agency found almost all of the cashier checks but had misplaced our money orders for the Embassy fees!! At first, we were very upset about the delay. I called the Money Order company to get them to cancel the money orders and reissue new ones only to find out that the original Money orders had somehow been voided by the gas station where we had purchased them! After many hours of phone calls, everything was sorted out and we were given a refund. Finally the new money orders were on their way! It turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. If the adoption agency had not misplaced the money orders they would have been sent on to the Embassy in Ethiopia as voided, no good, money orders....which would have set us up for an even longer delay; not to mention it would not look good for our records! We stand amazed how God can intervene and work in such mysterious ways. We were upset that the agency had lost the money orders (which according to them has never happened in the history of the agency), yet God was using this incident to bring our attention to an even bigger issue!!

We just received word on Friday (August 3) that our Dossier was approved and authenticated in D.C and translation was complete. Our Dossier was in the mail to Ethiopia as of Friday night!!! This means we are one step closer!!!

Please continue to pray with us that we would be patient and wait on God's timing, and that He would keep our children safe and healthy in the meantime.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for our family. We love you and are excited to share this journey with you.

Because of His love,
Jeff and Meredith

James 1:27

July 2007

We would like to take a moment to update you, so that you will know how to pray for us and our soon to be growing family. Last Saturday (June 30th) we were finally able to send in all the necessary documents (our Dossier) to our case manager for our adoption, which is a huge praise! From there, it gets reviewed and sent to Washington D.C for approval and authentication. It is then translated and sent to Ethiopia!! So from here, there is a lot of waiting.

We have been told by CWA staff that we could receive our referral (i.e. the pictures and names of our children) anywhere from immediately to 4 months from now. Obviously, we are hoping for "immediately" :), but more importantly, we are praying for God's timing and plan. We would ask that you would join us in praying for that as well. Please pray that we would have the patience to wait on God and His perfect timing for our family.

CWA runs several foster-type homes in Addis (the capital) for children once they have been referred. For example, once we receive and accept the referral of our children, they will be moved from the orphanage where they are, anywhere in Ethiopia, to one of these CWA run foster homes for additional medical care, etc. to prepare them for the adoption process. These CWA homes are limited in the number of children they accept due to space and staffing. So, if the homes are full, our children have to wait for available spots in the home before the CWA staff can petition and apply for a court date. We just received word from the director of CWA that until recently there was only one judge in Addis processing court applications, but there is now two! This means that cases can be processed quicker!!! Translation: the quicker other children get their court cases completed, the sooner there is room for our children in the foster homes, the sooner we get to bring them home!

We are very excited by this news, but somewhat saddened by additional news. Ethiopia is on a different calendar than we are and they celebrate their new year in September. They are also a few years behind in their calendar.....so this September they will be celebrating the new year 2000!!!! Due to these celebrations, the courts will be closed as of August 6th, and no more adoption court cases can be processed until the courts open again. Traditionally, the courts stayed closed for Aug/Sept....but there is no set date for the courts to open at this point. Please pray with us that the courts will open quickly, and that when they do open that they will still have two judges so that cases will continue to move quickly!

Once our children have received a court date, they will receive additional medical exams to clear them for their trip to the US. We will then receive notice of an Embassy appointment. The agency has said we will usually have 6-8 weeks notice before the Embassy date, at which time we will travel to Ethiopia and bring them home!!!

We are sorry to fill you in on all the technical details, but we are hoping that as you read this you understand why we have no answer to the question "when do you get to bring them home?" It is very hard for us to not really have an answer. Based on the info we have now......anything could happen. We could get an immediate referral, there could be two spots open in the foster homes, and we could get a court date before the courts close on August 6th, and then we could travel in Sept/Oct.....or we would wait for a court date in the fall and travel late fall/winter, or possibly even next Spring. As you can see, it is a very difficult question!!

Here is how you can pray for us:

-Please pray, that above all, our heart's desire would continue to be for God's plan, not our own.

-Please continue to pray for our children and their current caregivers. That God would provide for their needs, and continue to hold them in His arms.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. We are so excited to share this journey with you. And yes, we will let you know as soon as we do get that referral!!!

Because of His love,
Jeff and Meredith

June 2007

We have received many questions about what has been going on with our adoption, so we figured it was about time for another update. The reason you have not heard from us in awhile, is the main themes we are learning of waiting and trusting! It has just been months of praying and waiting!!
Last week however we did receive our 171H!!! (Translation: That is the document needed from our government to be able to legally bring home orphans from another country. It is also the document that required us to get fingerprinted.) We were not anticipating receiving that document until late June or July at the earliest, and it showed up in our mailbox last Saturday! Now we just continue to wait for the referral to find out who our children are.....and the approval from their government! A huge praise in all of this, is that a few days after receiving our 171H, we were notified by our adoption agency that the US has increased their fees pretty substantially for the 171H process, but because we are already approved we will not have to pay the increased fees! God is so good.
Another praise report is that yesterday we had a huge yard sale to help pay for some of the fees. Generous family and friends in the area donated items for the sale. Even though we (and especially Miss Clara our dog) are very glad it is over and we can somewhat get out house back (everything has been stored in our living room for the last two weeks in preparation), it was such a blessing to us. We were able to raise enough money to pay for the embassy documentation authentication fees, about $350!!! God is so good! Another, unplanned highlight from the sale was that we were able to get to know several of our neighbors, whom we had only said greetings to in the past. We are praying that God would use us, and our family in this neighborhood for His Glory.
Prayer requests: Please continue to pray for patience and God's timing in all of this. Please pray for our children, that God would be keeping them safe, and readying their hearts to be a part of our family. Jeff will be starting summer classes on July 9th, please pray for sanity :) and continued joy in our marriage with the always present stress of school. I have two job interviews scheduled for the coming week, so please be in prayer for guidance as we seek what would be the best fit for a job for me. (i.e.. our prayer is that I will be able to stay home as much as possible with our children when they arrive).
Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement!

By His Grace,
Jeff and Meredith

June 2007

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and encouragement. When it rains, it pours, so we have a lot of things to be grateful for this week!

First of all, I (Meredith) had an interview yesterday morning with a local hospital, in the oncology/hospice unit. I was really impressed with the nurse manager, she seems like a very solid leader who knows her stuff! She also followed that saying "I know how important your adoption is, so we will be very supportive and flexible with your hours." That was our biggest prayer with the job situation, that I would have a boss that understands where my priorities will be!! So, I will be able to work full time all summer and into the fall before we travel to Ethiopia, and then I will be working only occasional weekends! What an answer to prayer, God is so good. He has given me the desire of my heart!

Second, yesterday in the mail we received news that we have been selected to receive a grant of $3000 to help with our adoption from Shaohannah's Hope Foundation. If you are not familiar with Shaohannah's Hope, please check out their website at: http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/PageServer
Shaohannah's Hope is an organization that was started by Christian songwriter and artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth. They have six children, three of which were adopted from China. They have a heart to help Christian families open their homes to orphans. Their organization also helps churches develop their own orphan care ministry/fund. It is a fabulous organization, and we will be forever grateful for how God has used them in our family!

Thank you for your continued prayers, please don't give up on going to God's throne for our family! Please join us in praising God for the outpouring of His blessing we have received. We can't wait to see what God is doing in all of this! We love you!

By His Grace,
Jeff and Meredith

March 2007- Praise Update

We just got home a few minutes ago from our fingerprinting trek to Charlotte. The trip was not wasted, as we were both fingerprinted without any trouble. The cuts on Jeff's fingertips ended up being healed enough that they were not even an issue! Thank you so much for your prayers! We could tell God was at work because we were cautioned by others to be prepared for a three hour wait, but we were in and out in a little less than an hour. On top of all that, the people there were extremely nice and helpful. Thanks again for your prayers, and words of encouragement! Jeff and Mer

March 2007

We have an urgent prayer request to share with you. On Saturday at 2 PM, we have an appointment for INS/FBI fingerprinting for our adoption application. This stage of the adoption is the one that takes the longest to get the approval, and is VERY critical. We have to drive to Charlotte (about 3 + hours away). We were very grateful that it was scheduled for a Saturday so that Jeff and I would not miss school or work.

The problem is, that Jeff cut up his fingertips at work today. If the fingerprints do not come through clearly, they will throw them out and make us start again, which would be another trip to Charlotte, at a not so convenient time.....it would also delay our adoption by a few months. We can't reschedule the appointment this late, and if we do not show up they will cancel our whole application with INS, and we will have to start over again!!!

We know that God is in control, and His timing is perfect. So if this is a snag from Him, we will rest in that. But, if you could please pray with us that Jeff's fingers heal QUICKLY and that they will still allow a clear picture of his prints!!! It sounds like a silly prayer request, but we know He is able! Please also pray with us for safe travel to and from Charlotte on Saturday. Thank you!!!

In Him,
Jeff and Mer

February 2007

We just wanted to send a quick update. We had our home study visit today with the social worker and her husband. It went well, although it is always hard to be under a microscope! They gave us a lot of information to consider and discuss further, but overall it went well. (No white gloves or anything!!!! Miss Clara was even well behaved! :))
Thanks for your prayers, it means so much to us. As soon as the home study is complete we will be sending in the paperwork (Dossier) to the agency and then we wait, and wait, and wait some more! We will keep you updated!
Thanks again!
Blessings,
Jeff and Meredith

February 2007

We want to thank you for the overwhelming and encouraging e-mails that you have sent us over the last few weeks! It has meant so much to us! We are printing them all out and keeping them in a notebook. We hope that one day our children will be able to read them and understand how much they were loved and prayed for before we ever knew who they were! God knows! He knows every hair on their head!
We also wanted to update you on the process for bringing home our children from Ethiopia! We have completed almost all of the initial homestudy paperwork. It has been a grueling process with hours at the computer, which has been especially difficult with Jeff trying to complete school work at the same time! We will have a visit from a social worker on Saturday, February 17th for our actual home visit. After that is complete, she has four weeks to complete the home study, which we will review, as well as our case manager from the adoption agency. It will then be notarized and given to us to include in our dossier. On Saturday, February 24th, we will be headed to Charlotte (about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Raleigh) for an all day, mandatory adoption seminar with CWA. The dossier is basically the paperwork that Ethiopia requires to prove that we are a good choice for parents. We are in the process of putting together this very critical document now. It is a lot of work, but with every paper we fill out it gives us joy knowing we are one step closer!! Parts of this dossier are sent to the state to get authenticated, and every single item must first be notarized. It includes things like: physicals from a MD, financial statements from our bank and employers, certified copies of birth certificates, passport photos, family photos, etc. Once the dossier is completed and reviewed by the agency, it is sent to D.C to be authenticated there. Then it is sent for translation, and then off to Ethiopia!! This whole process should take about 4 months. Once the dossier is approved, we will get a referral (i.e., pictures, names and maybe a little medical info) on the children they have matched us with. (probably at least another 2-4 months). After that, there is a court date in Ethiopia (which we will not be at, a POA will represent us). After that time (approx. 2 weeks-2 months) we should be able to travel to pick up our children!! Sorry, I don't want to be long winded, but many people have asked us these questions, so we thought we would give you a brief run down.

Praises:
-So far the paperwork has gone smoothly, each person we have needed to contact has been so generous in helping us out. We even have a friend who is a notary that will help us get all the forms notarized!
-God has been so faithful in giving us strength, right at the moments when we need it most. He has used so many of our friends and family to bless us with words of encouragement!
-Ethiopia will be changing their adoption laws soon, but it looks as if none of the laws will affect us negatively in the process.
-Every contact and communication we have had thus far with the adoption agency has been VERY positive. They are a team of wonderful people who are very knowledgeable and a true blessing to us.

Prayer Requests:
-Please pray that the home study visit (Feb 17th) will go well, and that the social worker would write a favorable report for our adoption of siblings.
-Pray for continued patience and strength. Some days we are just overwhelmed by the complexity of it all. Please especially pray for Jeff as he tries to balance a full school load, work, and the extras.
-Pray that the rest of the dossier would come together in God's timing. We, of course, want to rush everything, but we know that even if their are delays or setbacks, it will all be according to His timing!
-Please continue to pray that God would be holding our children for us, being their "Daddy", while we wait to hold them too! Pray that He would keep them safe and free from harm. Pray that God would give the workers in the orphanage strength and wisdom as they care for them.
Thank you so much for your love for our family and your desire to hold us up during this process. We love you!
Blessings,Jeff and Meredith James 1:27

January 2007

We wanted to share some exciting news with you! We have sent in an initial application to an adoption agency (Christian World Adoptions, http://www.cwa.org/)!!! We have applied to adopt siblings from Ethiopia!!!!! Based on the info we have received it should take a total of 8-11 months from today to be bringing home our children! The next step in this process will be to complete a home study and begin the INS forms necessary to complete the adoption. We are thrilled, overwhelmed, anxious, and a host of other emotions right now. Why Ethiopia? Well there are a variety of reasons including eligibility to adopt, cost, wait times, but most of all the need. According to UNICEF, one in six children die in Ethiopia before they turn five years old, and it is estimated that there are over 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone!!

We are sending you this e-mail to share our news, but also to ask you to pray. We are looking for family and friends who will commit to pray with us throughout this extensive process. We know that we will not be able to go through this process alone. This is a huge step of faith for us and we will need every prayer possible along the way!!! If you would like to become a prayer partner with us, will you please reply to this e-mail and let us know? We will be setting up a Prayer Partner list, and e-mailing updates of prayer requests and praises as they become available. If you know of anyone else who has a heart for adoption or for Ethiopia that might be willing to pray for us as well, please feel free to pass the info along. God has already answered so many of our prayers and we have just started the process!

Prayer requests:
Please pray that God will continue to give us wisdom, strength, and patience throughout this process!!!
Please pray that God would prepare our hearts and home for the family He has planned for us!
Please pray for the caretakers in the orphanage in Ethiopia, and pray that God would compassionately hold our children in His arms as their heavenly father, keeping them safe and healthy while we anxiously await them.
Please pray that the home study process and paperwork would go smoothly.
Please pray for our marriage, that God would strengthen it and draw us ever closer to Himself, so that in His strength we will be able to withstand whatever struggles we are sure to face.

Talk about a great adventure!!!! Here we come! Thank you so much for your prayers, we love you and are excited to have you be a part of our family in this way!

Jeff, Meredith, and our soon to be children