We hopped out side tonight.  I say hopped because our legs were frozen together.  We don’t get a lot of snow in Texas so my kids felt it demanded attention.  It’s about 27 degrees out and about 18 degrees with the wind chill.  Forget the clothes, the wind went through our skin!  I think everything inside of me just finally thawed out and I can use the restroom again.  Hot Chocolate (with marshmallows) is a magic cure all.  The kids had fun though.  I got a half dirt snowball thrown at me by my oldest, but hey…they say there are tons of minerals in dirt….so I’m really healthy now.

 

Oh ya! Anna made snow/dirt angels.  I love it!

 

Through all this cold and gray skies (I actually enjoy the cold too!) we really do have a lot of joy.  It was confirmed today.  We’re expecting!  No coronaries please! It was confirmed we are on the waiting list for our littlest Marr.  Our Immigration approval came back!  Now the official wait begins! 6 to 12 months until a referral and then 1 to three until we bring Becca or Noah home! My heart smiles at the thought of next Christmas.

 

We wanted to tell you again how God worked in receiving our Immigration paperwork approved so quickly.  Though we know we shouldn’t be surprised…we were still.  Prayers have an amazing affect, God listens and we truly know this is His will.  Dawn (our adoption advocate) called us and said, “I can’t  believe it, it’s back!”  It’s going so much slower for everyone else (approximately 4 months).   It came back for us after five and a half weeks.  God is working.

 

Let’s break it down (smile)…

We were able to have our last adoption visit for Max count as our new Home Study visit because of timing.

Everything (all paperwork came back quickly) for the Home Study and Dossier.  This can be the biggest hassle.

The invitation to come get fingerprinted by immigration was supposed to take around two weeks, it took four days.

We got our fingerprints done on October 19^th.  It is taking approximately 4 months right now to receive approval back.  We received official approval on November 28^th, five and a half weeks later.

God is awesome!

Today was a wonderful day in so many ways.  If I just felt physically better, it’d be great!  Our friend arrived back from Baghdad, Iraq today.  He spent a year there and we praise God for his safe return.  I just sat down and cried from relief for Mark, Michelle, Matthew and Macey this morning.  They are complete again!

 

Well, anyway we drove down to our agency this morning to turn in the last of our dossier paperwork! Yeah! Everything is out of our hands now.  We just have to mail off a few things Wide Horizons needs and we just wait. 

 

You may wonder why our agency is “Hope International” and we have to send things to “Wide Horizons”, but this is actually an interagency adoption.  Hope International is not accredited in Ethiopia, but works with Wide Horizons (who is accredited) to complete our adoption.

 

We now wait on the U.S. government, which as you know, can be semi unpredictable.  They have to approve our immigration paperwork.  It’s been taking up to 4 months, though we know that is an estimate based on what’s happening in the current atmosphere, not God (smile).  So….we will see how long it takes.  It’s all in God’s hands.  As soon as this paperwork comes in we are on the waiting list (yeah!).

 

This is the big step we’re waiting for!  THE LIST……………..

 

Please Pray:

*That God is with our child and their biological family in the trials they are about to face

    and that He gives them a peace that only He can give.
*That God continues to bless this adoption and He has His hand on every aspect and
 pore.
*Specifically- That He blessed our Immigration approval with speed (that it comes in soon), that He helps us to financially get things in order and that our child is held in our arms soon (as only He knows is best).
__________________________________________________________

 

Thank you so much Elizabeth and Amy for writing our references!  You rock! In all your insanity you took time to make ours a little better!

 

Thank you also to Lisa (of our local police department) and to Dr. Abel, Dr.Chandler, and Dr. Fische for all the paperwork you did for us!