News Update 3/11

If you're not already following this blog via RSS feed or by putting your e-mail in for instant notification when we update, you better do it now.....because things are about to get interesting and you don't want to miss out.

There have been a series of things that have gone on in the last couple weeks that we need to update you on.  And here they are...

-OK to make a LONG story short....we've been working jointly with two adoption agencies to make this adoption work.  Within the last couple weeks, there have been some events that have shifted that a bit.  We will now be getting our referral (picture of our child) through CHI (Children's House International) only.  Because of this shift we have had some phone calls with them.  Because of these phone calls, we have clarified a number of things with them.  Most importantly we have clarified, what they need from us (just a couple documents faxed to them)....and once they get those....we get a referral!  That's awesome.  (as you read this documents are being faxed!)

-You will remember that we recently traveled to Buffalo to get fingerprinted for the I-600....which is the US government clearance to allow us to bring a child into the country to be part of our family.  Guess what was in the mail yesterday?  OUR I-600 CLEARANCE!!!  This means that we can move forward full tilt!!!!

-What does this all mean?  It means that we're waiting around for a picture to show up of our child.  We're not talking months.....we're talking days to weeks potentially.  To clarify in case you missed it, a referral means we know age, gender, cuteness, etc. 

-So what does THAT mean?  Once we get our referral, the ball starts rolling with lawyers and paper-working being translated, and courts in Ethiopia.  We were given a rough time line, but I hesitate to share that....because we've been burnt by such timelines in the past.  Suffice it to say that a couple weeks ago I felt like we weren't moving much and now we're clicking along nicely.


Action for You:

1.  We need your prayers as always.  Obviously pray that the next few steps go smoothly.  Also pray that we are patient and don't jump the gun on what God wants for us in this time of waiting....that we would be reminded of who's timeline we're on.

2.  As I said above, if you're not getting notifications of this blogs update, you'll want to do that over in the right hand column.  I can't guarantee that I'll remember to put notifications up on Facebook all the time when a new blog post appears.  We don't want you to miss something awesome.

3.  From day one, we've felt that we are suppose to connect people with this adoption and with what God's doing in our lives in this time.  Please continue to share with others where we're at...particularly those who are a little less tech savvy. 

The Beard Conclusion

I should've probably posted this two months ago. Better late than never I suppose.

So you will remember that for November and December I put my beard up for auction. There were some pretty specific instructions...which confused a lot of people. Many people believed, that which ever fund had the most in it at the end would win...which was not the case. They were excited because the "Cut It Off" fund was winning by about 2000 dollars for most of the two months.

So here's what happened....with only a few weeks to spare a close friend of ours donated a size-able chunk of money to the "Save It" fund. Not only was this a huge blessing, it also saved a lot of confusion. As you can see as of he end of December when the contest ended, the "Save It" fund had just a slight edge on the "Cut It Off" fund. So for all those confused by the rules and hoping to see my chin....I'm not shaving!!!!!!

Someone jokingly suggested that I personally put in the money to save my facial hairs. Let me put that to rest right now...I didn't....and couldn't have, even if I had wanted to. Did I want to shave? No. But I was prepared to if it had gone that way. I wouldn't have offered it up if I wasn't prepared for that eventuality.

So was it a failure?  Far from it.  We raised more than 4000 dollars!!!!  That is awesome.  That is a nice step toward our goal of funding this adoption.  I would personally like to thank all those who donated.....to BOTH funds.  Thank you for supporting us and walking with us in this journey.  We still have a ways to go, but this really helped us along on our journey.

I hold no grudges to those who wanted to see me clean shaven.  I did feel bad for you though since I won't be bald chinned.  I know this isn't what you were hoping for, but the other day I cut 3 or 4 inches off the bottom.  It's much shorter now.  (actually no one has said one word to me about it....including Marjorie)  So it's not what you wanted, but it's something....


EDIT:  Since I wrote this last week, my youth pastor buddy J, noticed that I had cut my beard.  He's still the only one.