An Update... bit overdue

Adoption is hard. Adoption is a huge sacrifice. The truth of those two statements, because we've experienced them for well over a year, make me humbly sit in awe of the gospel. With Easter around the corner, we are reminded of just a hint of the hardness and sacrifice that Jesus went through all because He loved us so much and wanted us (no matter how risky we are) to be adopted into His family.

What a Savior!! We have been, as many of you know, at a standstill in our adoption process. Well things are not at a standstill anymore. A few weeks ago we were made aware of the fact that there was a different agency that had waiting children in the DRC. We called-asked a million questions-and found out that they had a little girl in our age range waiting for a family. We prayed-fasted-cried-sought council-asked more questions-and decided to switch agencies and move forward in hopes of getting a referral for that little girl. This was a huge step of faith for us. It meant that we would loose money that had been paid to our former agency and we were not guaranteed to get that referral. Our goal however has always been to get our daughter home and the timeline with our other agency was not promising-we had faith that the little girl ,with this new agency, waiting for a family was Lydia. About a week later we gathered around our computer as a family and had our first look at Lydia. Yes, you read that right folks, we have accepted a referral.

Now, we are thrilled, but we are also guarded. We now are working on getting our dossier back in line (this agency's requirements are a bit different) so that it can head over to Africa and in so doing begin the process of adopting Lydia into our family. This new agency's timeline is different because they work with multiple orphanages. There is now a chance that our second daughter will be home with us in time to celebrate Jesus' birth!! Sooooo, my guarded self debated even sharing this, but we need you all now more than ever. We need your prayers. Lydia needs your prayers. Pray that we would be able to gather our paper work in a timely manner so that it can move along to DRC. Pray against frustration and discouragement. Pray that we will cling to Jesus. Pray that the process from there moves smoothly and that we will wait well. Pray that Lydia would be protected and provided for while she is far away from us. Begin praying for the transition for all of us. Most of all pray that the gospel will be made known through this process. Hopefully more updates will come soon! I will not be posting a picture here, but I will share a picture of her very proud sister!!

Lylah has told us that she is going to "protect Lydia from falling down the stairs" and that she wants to "hold her in my lap". She is also going to "teach her to swing". I do think she will be the greatest sister ever!!!