per·se·ver·ance [pur-suh-veer-uhns]

–noun 1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.


Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

Dear Friends and Family-

This morning we received the difficult news that our court date had, yes, once again been rescheduled. The Ministry of Women's Affairs that handles the cases somehow "lost" one of the forms, and is requiring our agency representative to bring back the replacement form. The court date has been postponed until March 6, 2008.
If you are like us, you may be wondering, "Why can't they figure this out all at once??" We have no answers to that question.

We keep praying that God's timing would be perfect. We understand that He is answering that prayer, even though we may never understand His timing. Please pray with us that this testing of our faith would be considered a joy and that it might develop perseverance in us, and cause our faith to grow and mature, lacking nothing.
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

Another Delay

Dear Family and Friends-
We received a phone call late this afternoon informing us of yet another delay. We have been told that this delay is a result of the Ethiopian judge requesting another form from the orphanage director. We are not told what this "form" is in relation to, but we were assured that it is nothing that needed to come from us. All of the other court cases from our agency did go through today, just not ours. In light of the previous delays, we know that God must have a plan, even when we do not understand why. We are trying not to be too disappointed. The new court date is Tuesday, Feb. 26th. Please keep us in your prayers.
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

Faith Walk

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." I Cor. 5:7

This has been a faith walk kind of week for us. One that allows us to rest in the arms of our Heavenly Father, being comforted by the truth of who He is and His unchanging character.
We have a couple of updates for you. First of all, we received word today from our case manager that the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia has requested to postpone our court date until tomorrow, Feb. 20th. Apparently they have over-booked the court cases, and could not hear all of the cases today. Our case manager is planning to call us tomorrow afternoon once they hear that the court appointment has gone through. Although difficult to hear of another delay, we rejoice that it is only a one day delay, not a three week delay.

Meredith's gallbladder surgery went well on Monday. Her immediate surgery recovery took longer than expected as they had a hard time getting her to be able to breathe off of oxygen. Once she was awake enough to remind them that she has asthma, they were able to get her appropriate medicines to help her breathe. We were home by 3 PM, and she is continuing to slowly recover.

In other news, this last weekend we were able to visit with family and friends in Virginia. Jeff's parents and brother's family threw us a shower to help welcome Luke and Ben into the family. We were once again just awe struck by how much God has chosen to love us and our little boys through friends and family. In the last several weeks we have been overwhelmed by all of those who have chosen to help provide for us as we face all of our upcoming travel expenses. God is so faithful to provide for us when we step out in faith!

Please pray for continued patience with the red tape of government proceedings in Ethiopia. Pray that Luke and Ben would continue to stay healthy and strong as we wait for the day to bring them home. Please pray for continued healing for Meredith as she recovers.

Thank you so much for joining us in this awesome walk of faith!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

God's Timing

We just wanted to ask you to be in prayer with us for a few things. Meredith found out yesterday that she will have surgery Monday morning at 7:15 to remove her gallbladder. Please pray that all would go smoothly, and that she would heal quickly so that she can pick up and hold our boys soon! Please also pray that the pain she is currently experiencing would be under better control this weekend while she waits for surgery. We can see God's hand in the timings of our court delays through this process. All we can think is that if we had been in Ethiopia right now and Meredith was in this much pain, we would never have thought it was her gallbladder! We are so thankfull that we are able to get this taken care of before we travel. God is good.
Please also pray for our upcoming court date in Ethiopia, Feb 19th. This is the day the boys officially become our sons by Ethiopian regulations, and it has already been postponed twice! Pray that the paperwork would be to the judges' preference, and that there would not be any additional delays.
As you can imagine, things will be hectic around here, but we will try to update our blog if we hear anything on Tuesday!
Thank you for your prayers!
Jeff and Mer

Weekend full of Ethiopia!

Last week and weekend we were so blessed to just be surrounded by Ethiopian children! On Tuesday Feb 4th we were introduced to another family in the area who has four beautiful children. Number four in line was adopted two years ago from Ethiopia, with the same agency we are working with. This family has been such a blessing as we pound them with questions about travel tips! Their patience has been incredible! Then on Friday, we were invited to join them to celebrate their son's birthday at a local Ethiopian restaurant! For those of you in the local area who are brave, here is there website....check it out!(http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.biz)

Ethiopian food is served in a large dish that everyone eats from. The main staple in Ethiopia is called "injera", which is kind of a spongy flat bread. The main dish of meats, vegetables and lentils are served in a dish, and you just pull off a piece of injera and scoop of your food to eat. We loved all of it! We are excited to introduce our family and friends to this cultural treasure nearby!

On Sunday we were invited to share in the first birthday celebration of twin girls that were recently adopted with their 3 year old brother from Ethiopia. This family has also been such a blessing as we struggle through this waiting process. Their testimony of how God has worked in their lives is inspiring. The birthday party became a large celebration of Christian families in the Wake Forest/Raleigh area that have adopted, or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We were able to meet five or six other families and hear their "story".

God has been so good to encourage us through these encounters with Ethiopia this week! We have to soak it all in and learn as much as we can as we wait for our sons.
Thank you for your continued prayers!
Jeff and Mer

Court Date Rescheduled........Again!

LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. (Isaiah 25:1)

Dear Friends and Family-

Yes, the subtitle for this post is correct, our court date has been rescheduled again. Our choice of Bible verses may seem odd while we are facing such uncertainty. We know that God's plan for us, which was formed long ago in perfect faithfulness, includes not just the "good news" but the news that is hard to hear as well.
We were originally told that our court date was rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 8th. So you can imagine our shock to get an e-mail yesterday, Wed, Feb 6th with the news that our court date did not go through. We are still unsure, but somewhere there was a mix up in communication on the dates. Out of seven families, our paperwork was the only one that arrived in Ethiopia before the court date, but they did not have time to translate it all.
With that said, our court date is now Tuesday, Feb 19th (or so we have been told!)
Please keep praying for Luke and Ben, that in these days of waiting that they would remain healthy and safe. Pray that God would continue to remind our hearts daily that He is still in control. Thank you for your prayers!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer

Upcoming Court Date

Please continue to pray this week that our scheduled court date for Friday would go according to God's plan for our family. Pray that the new form would be acceptable to the Ethiopian judge and that the process would move quickly to allow us to travel soon! Pray that God would keep Luke and Ben safe and healthy as they wait.
Praise- on Friday we received word that we had received a $2000 grant from CWA Family Builder Fund. We had applied for the grant more than a year ago. We were humbled once again to see God provide at the exact moment that we need it. Those funds will help greatly with the travel costs we will soon encounter.
Thanks again for praying!
Believing Him,
Jeff and Mer