need to clean the kitchen...but...would rather blog

One year ago, today, we received news from our agency that we had passed court: our request to adopt Micah was granted by the Ethiopian courts. Many of you remember how agonizing Feb 2009 was for Vince and me.
To read my court posts from Feb 2009 click here.
This was one of my favorite posts to reminisce...God is, indeed, this faithful:
2.12.2009
from Psalm 49,
Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

verse 3..."My mouth shall speak wisdom"-- even when the outcome of my circumstances is undetermined, and even when the desires of my heart are delayed, I will seek to make sense of it all only by God's wisdom

..."the meditation of my heart shall be understanding"-- I will only be satisfied to view my life through God's eyes...I will rest in God's promises

verse 4..."I will incline my ear to a proverb"-- I will only seek God's counsel and God's comfort, instead of being driven to despair by man's opinion and hopelessness

..."I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre."-- I will chose 'thankfulness' at all times; I will sing and dance as my Heavenly Father sanctifies my faith, because His love is perfect

verse 5..."Why should I fear in times of trouble?" I shouldn't. I am loved by the Father, redeemed by His Son, and protected by His Holy Spirit

It took 4 attempts for our agency and Micah's orphanage to provide all documentation requested by the ET judge who presided over our case. It seemed like with every court date, what the judge originally requested was suddenly insufficient, so she'd ask for something else. In hind-sight we are beyond grateful for this judge's thoroughness, because there is now (or ever) no question about the legitimacy surrounding Micah's orphan-status or adoption. This is especially important to us, in-light of accusations about fraudulent adoptions with another agency. I have confidence in the integrity of our agency, the US Consulate in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian courts. Each of these agencies conducts independent investigations into each orphan's case.

News about our second adoption is slow-coming. We are still in the home study process -- we are currently waiting for our AL background checks to be completed. Once that part is complete, the process should speed up significantly. We'll have one, last home visit with our social worker, and complete other random paper work.
At this point, I'm not sure what we will do about our existing I-171H approval. It's due to expire in May, so we need to either request an extension, or, apply to open a new case. Our current I-171H will permit us to bring one child home from Ethiopia...but...we are prayerfully considering changing our request to two children. (Boy, will we really need to sell ALOT of t-shirts).