"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

We did not pass court

We did not pass court today. We are back to our original date of October 8. We got a very short note from our AWAA family coordinator this morning, and I am so thankful for her commitment to our family and to the children. I truly know that she and AWAA did all they could to make this date happen for us. Now we will wait out the "rainy season".

More to come when this all sinks in. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. It was a real blessing to have so many people encourage us this past week.

(Deep Breath) Here We Go Again...

OK. Here's the summary: We have to pass court tomorrow, Friday, because the Ethiopian courts are taking a two-month break from processing cases, and this is our last chance to get it done before the break!

Now people, we need to get real serious about the praying business. AND please, don't pray for patience... Everything we've done so far has taken longer than we were told it would already, and I think we've been pretty good waiters. WE JUST WANT OUR BABY!!!!

Please, watch the blog for an update on Friday. We will post the news and hopefully, photos when we get word. (I already have the photo collage ready!) You will read it here minutes after we find out! We have been hearing from our agency around 12:30 pm EST.

Thanks so much!! William & Susan

Grandparents: We will call you when we hear. :-)

Court Update

We just go this from our program coordinator:

Although the judge gave us an appointment for today she was not available. Another judge said she will look at your case on Friday. So back again on Friday. This will be the 7^th time we are appearing before the judge for the same case. If they don’t approve your adoption on Friday then it will have to be October 8^th.

It Is *Almost* Wednesday in Ethiopia!

Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us here in the EST. Soon, our case will be presented in court, and we hopefully, will be declared the parents of a precious, little 6 month-old boy!

Please, join us in prayer today as we anticipate this life-changing event.

Check back here tomorrow for news of whether we passed or not. We will post as soon as we find out!!

Thank-you! William & Susan

Update on Benaiah!

Every other week or so, the director of America World's transition home sends out photos, and this week with our photo, we got an update treat! I think she sent it because I had been asking about Benaiah's weight... He is so skinny!!

EATING

M***** is on Nan-1 formula which is for children under 6 months.

SLEEPING

M***** is a good sleeper, and wakes twice during the night for a bottle. He takes a couple of naps during the day.

SOCIAL

M***** is so happy, smiley, and loves interacting with people.

APPEARANCE

M*****’s skin is a beautiful shade of brown. He is petite, yet very strong! You’ll often find him doing some sort bending /stretching movement on the floormat…I have to keep him from rolling on top of the other babies! He gets around very well by inching himself along, like a worm. M*****’s hair is longer on top, a style which is often found on children coming from rural areas.

MEDICAL/SPECIAL NEEDS

M***** has been very healthy since he has been with us. He has not dealt with any sort of sickness.

MEASUREMENTS

Current weight: 13 pounds

Our apologies to the parents of the other babies who our guy is mowing over on the mats!!

Real men wear pink, by the way.

This report and the photo just make us want to bring him home more desperately!! Come on Wednesday!!

Keep praying!!

Slowest Week Ever

This week is creeping along... When will it be next Wednesday?

William and I had an evening out together -just the two of us! We hadn't been out since April, and I'm betting it we'll just have to enjoy our time alone traveling to Ethiopia for our next date!

We ate bison at Ted's Montana Grill. Of course, there is a HUGE bison head on the wall (appetizing, I know!), and when the family before us walked in, their little guy pointed and exclaimed, "Oooooh!! It's the big, bad wolf!!!" Too funny. We breathed a sigh of relief not to be seated near them since it is usually our bad luck to be seated near children (loud ones, usually) when we've made the effort to find another place for ours! (Thanks, Mema!!)

After Ted's, we got down to business and hit Target where we registered for things that we'll need for Benaiah. It has been 11 years since we have registered for a baby, and it is funny how the perspective changes when it is your 4th child. We not so naive to think that we need everything, and we also can't justify adding things that we think we won't be using for more children like we did the first time around.

Now, the whole bottle thing... We've not dealt with this much before, so we had to register for a lot of things that have made me cringe since joining The Militant Breastfeeding Cult years ago. I am going to try my best to get Benaiah to nurse, but that will have to wait until we get home and I sleep for a few days. In the mean time, he's got to eat something I suppose!