It has been a while since I have blogged. There has not been that much to tell. It seemed like our number on the wait list for a referral was barely creeping along. Our dossier has been in Ethiopia since May of 2012. I was actually starting to get a little discouraged. We have friends that had brought home their boys from Ghana and we were still waiting for a referral. All I have to say is God's timing is perfect.
God continues to pour out his blessings on our family. Back in April of this year I had been praying about a job situation. I felt like my place was at home with my girls and with our son that would be joining our family soon. After much prayer God opened a door and provided me with a job that allows me to be at home!
For months now we have been waiting for the 1st of the month, every month, for our news letter from West Sands Adoption Agency to let us know what number we are in line for a referral. On July 1st we received word that we were #19 on that list! We were ecstatic! We jumped 7 places in a month! On July 16th I got a call from our agency telling us that they had a referral for us of a child that would fit our family!!! She emailed me the referral with his picture and all of the other information about our son. Dwane was not home, so Mallory called him and told him to come home so we could open this email as a family. Waiting for Dwane to get home seemed like forever. Knowing that our son's picture was awaiting us in my inbox was almost too much! We opened the email to see the most beautiful brown-skinned baby I have ever laid my eyes on! He is around a year old and perfectly healthy. His name is Biya!
We accepted the referral and are now waiting for a preliminary hearing date. Our prayer is that we will be able to travel on our first trip by October. We would love to have him by Christmas! What a gift that would be!
I would like to share with you how perfect God's timing is. Mallory, our first born, pointed out that Biya was born around the time our dossier ended up in the hands of Ethiopian officials. He had Biya picked out for us from the beginning! How awesome is our God! Another example of God's timing is the financial provision He has provided so far. Our next payment for accepting our referral is a pretty hefty amount. We did not have all the money we needed for this payment. A dear friend had some money she had been praying about what God would have her do with it. She told me on the day we accepted the referral that she felt that God wanted her to give it to us! It has been amazing how God has provided so far! We are still trying to come up with fundraisers to raise the rest of the money needed for this adoption and I have no worries! My God is faithful and will provide all we need!
Please be in prayer for Biya's safety and that the courts will move quickly allowing him to be home with his forever family.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1
