Our First Huge Invoice

As of this morning, Holt International has approved our home study and we now have a $3,000 invoice in our hands for our dossier fee! Seems daunting, yes....but GOD HAS PROVIDED!!! I have no words to express my awe of God...for something I thought was impossible, God has met us and provided for our every need. It is a great reminder that adoption is God's idea in the first place. Great is Thy faithfulness!

We have State Approval!

One more baby step happened in our journey this week. We received State approval of our home study on Monday...so that means that our original copy of our home study will be sent to Holt and we await an invitation to take our fingerprints for Immigration. After that....our dossier can be finally sent in and we wait for our referral. "Lord, please be with our little girl....hold her close in your arms. We love her and miss her so much."

Benji's New Albums

I'm so excited that Benji has been able to record 2 new albums this month. These are the first that he has recorded since we've known each other...so it's really special to be a part of this process with him. He's had over 600 listens since last Saturday night, but few sales so far. We're praying that God will use this not only as an adoption fund-raiser, but a way to reach out to our larger community. And even if they aren't a successful fund-raiser, I know that God will use this in a very special way in our daughter's life.  She is so very loved and cherished already....by her adoptive earthly father and her Heavenly Father. To God be the Glory!

If you'd like to listen to or purchase Benji's new piano solo album "Waiting", please go to http://benjigoodrich.bandcamp.com.

We've Received Approval from Holt!!

We just received word that Holt International has approval and accepted our home study!! One more step in the process!! Now our home study will be sent to the US immigration office and we will wait to be invited to take digital fingerprints. Once that is approved, we can send in our dossier to Ethiopia and get on the list!!

Lord, thank you for each and every step and for opening each door in your perfect time.

On another note, Halloween was super fun last night with Isaiah and all the kids in our Life Group from church. Here's sweet photo of him as a firefighter...I kept thinking that hopefully next year we may have 2 little ones to take trick or treating!

New to Blogging

So many people have mentioned to me that I should start writing a blog about our family's journey. I've never been a wonderful writer, but have finally decided that it would probably be a good idea...if not for me, but so that others can join us in prayer, and that someday our daughter will read this...her story, our story, God's story.

 As you may or may not know, God has placed adoption on our hearts in a big way. This has almost always been the case throughout our marriage, yet He has finally given us a time. Do it now! So, we're stepping out in faith and are now in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. We decided to pursue the process in January;  applied to Lutheran Family Services (home study agency) in June;  applied to Holt International (our International agency) in early August; completed 24 hours of International Adoption training in September; finished our Home Study last week (October) and are now waiting for approval from Holt and the US immigration office. After we receive those approvals, we will send our complete Dossier to Ethiopia and finally get on the waiting list for a little girl--ages 0-2. We are so excited and it is so difficult to wait, but we trust in the Lord each and every day. We are praying that by this time this year, or sooner, our family will have grown from 3 to 4!

 Adoption is very expensive due to agency and orphanage fees, legal and translation fees, training, home studies, document fees, and especially travel (we need to go to Ethiopia twice next year). Yet, we know that our God is the God of the impossible and adoption was HIS idea in the first place. He sacrificed everything for us to bring us into His family. We often think of Him as the ULTIMATE birth parent and adoptive parent.

Ethiopia alone has nearly 5 million orphans. Half of their entire population (over 80 million) is under 20 years old. God has called us to this amazing and beautiful country to reduce that unfathomable number by at least 1. Can we fix the country by adopting their children? No. But we can give at least one child a family.