REFERRAL!!!! We know who they are!!!!

We are so blessed to announce that last Thursday, May 13 at 2:40p.m we got what is known in the adoption world as "THE CALL". I was just heading out the door to go pick kids up from school and James was fencing out in the middle of No Where, which equals no cell signal...aaagh! Our family coordinator said we could wait until I reached him if I would like, but I knew that would mean another day so I sent him a quick text hoping it would reach him... knowing I couldn't wait. I also had to give mom a quick call and ask her to go get the kids at school. It was a crazy 60 seconds or so. As I returned to my conversation with our coordinator I heard those 5 words we had been waiting 7 months to hear, "This is your referral call!" My heart just about lept from my chest! I listened intently as she described a precious brother and sister from Ethiopia in need of a home and family, tears began streaming down my face and my heart filled with praise to the Lord. The moment I heard their sweet names I knew they were the children God had been preparing us for. As we wrapped up our conversation she told me she was sending all their referral documents complete with pictures in an email right away and that I could call with any questions, then we hung up.

The moment we hung up I fell to my knees and began thanking and praising the Lord. As I have said before, this adoption is His and I am in awe of the love He has lavished on our family through it! We are immensely humbled that He would entrust His precious children to us. Praise His Beautiful Name!

After a while I was able to pick myself up off the floor although my heart continued to feel like it was going to leap from my chest. I tried to call James leaving him an emotionally charged message that he probably couldn't even understand, followed by several more texts that looked something like this... Referral, Call Me ASAP!!! I considered trying to go and find him and contemplated what I should do about that information on my computer, should I look without him, I certainly wanted to. After a couple of frantic phone calls with family I decided to take a deep breath sit down and look at those sweet pictures.

Oh I wish I could share them with you, they are adorable, the perfect fit for the Rogers family. The same feeling I had when I first looked on the faces of Clancy and Emma after they were born, absolute love at first sight!

Later I drove to town to pick up the kids at moms, as I was driving I got a phone call from James. He had gotten my text and was racing home, the cell signal wasn't good so we agreed I would get the kids and meet him at the office. Once there we surprised Clancy and Emma with the news and pulled up the pictures on my email. There was a few seconds of silence as we all stared at those sweet faces, in that moment our family was changed forever.

We have officially accepted the referral for these precious kidos which means that our adoption agency will now begin working on a court date for us. This court appointment will happen in Addis Ababa Ethiopia most likely sometime in the next 6 weeks for which James and I will travel over meet and officially adopt 4 year old******* and almost 5 year old******. After we pass court we will be permitted to share more information with you all and look forward to that day! After court the children will remain in the AWAA transitional home and we will return to the U.S. to wait for a period of 6-12 weeks for an appointment with the embassy. We will then return to Addis for our embassy appointment and get to pick up our babes and bring them home!

Please continue to pray for the Rogers in America and those in Africa as we wait on the Lord to unite us.

THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS JOYFUL DAY!

When Life Gets Hard

When life gets hard it is easy to feel we are alone in our struggles. All of us are facing a battle of some sort, it may be physical or financial, even mental or emotional. Whatever painful thoughts come to mind when you are alone in the quiet bring life to the battle you are facing. I say this because my heart is heavy with life and I know yours may be as well. If you are like me your mind races with what you can do to "fix" the problem or change your circumstances. The Lord spoke to me this morning and strengthened me for another day, I pray you too are encouraged by what He said... "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."Exodus 14:14