HOW GOD WORKS THE MIRACLES TO GET HIS KIDS HOME~

Things around our house are moving rather quickly this past week!  We wanted to share some amazing news that only God Himself could ordain.  First, we got an email from JSC Foundation saying that one of the grants that we applied for had been APPROVED!!!  We were being GIVEN $10,000 for our adoption!!!!  That put me in tears and just praising God for his goodness!  He is totally and 100% faithful in bringing His kids, without a family, that are fatherless, into a family to give them a hope and a future!  For those of you who say that the reason you can't adopt is money, please know that YOU CAN, HE WILL PROVIDE FOR HIS CHILDREN!!!!  He is doing this in our family and we started out with zero with the enormous amount of approximately $44,000 to raise!!  As our pastor said it this week, HE is providing the funds for two kids half way around the world that don't even know they have a mom and a dad yet!  That IS OUR GOD!!!
Then, more great news just 48 hours after we got the message about our grant, and just TEN days after we were submitted to the Ethiopian court system, we got a call telling us that we had a court date!  This wasn't the most shocking part-we have to be in Ethiopia in TWO weeks!!! AHHHH!  WHAT are you kidding me!?
The week of good news just kept going-the day after this, we found out we were picked to receive a NO-INTEREST loan for $7,500 from another organization, Pathways to Little Feet, that we had applied for!
So, with all of this unexpected news, we quickly booked tickets and we will be flying out May 31st for our court date of June 5th.  Our kid's birthfamily court date, (where their family member has to appear to permanently relinquish them) will be May 29th-our hearts will be breaking for them as we go to bed that night to sleep, because while we sleep, they will be before a judge severing their rights to these kids-because they know that if they stay there, they will suffer in poverty for the rest of their lives without a mom or a dad, probably growing up to live on the street....how heart-wrenching is that!?  Adoption is ordained by God to make a tragedy into something beautiful, but because of the loss involved, it has a very sad and grieving side to it as well.  We are thrilled to be able to give these kids a hope and a future in Jesus and raise them the best we can to know and serve Him! 
So, we should know by the time we leave whether or not the birth family appeared and if their part is complete, or if the court system needs anything more from them, paperwork, etc.
Our trip will consist of us going over, meeting the kids in a group and playing with them for a couple hours (they may not know that we are their parents-we don't know what the orphanage is telling them, but we did ask them to begin preparing them if they could).  The next day will be court, and the next day, we will go back to the orphanage and TELL THE KIDS THAT WE ARE THEIR PARENTS!!  CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS?! 
I SO think of God and how he adopted us into His family and how HE knew way before we did, that we would be joining Him, but we had NO clue until it happened....this is how they will be.  We know, we are more knowledgeable than they are, and we are about to change their lives, just as the Lord changed ours!  AWESOME!
Every single step in this adoption has been completely fast-so different from Seble's!  It is unreal how fast this has went, I mean, we JUST saw the kids on a waiting child listing in JANUARY!  That is unreal-we leave NEXT WEEK!!!  So crazy!  Some friends at work were asking me if we had anything for the kids yet-beds, clothes, "what about socks", etc.  I said NO!  I don't!! -it's like going into pre-term labor without wipes and diapers! :-)  We are not ready, but after this trip, we will get ready and figure all that out and I know it will be ok! God Himself has carried us this far, He has this all handled and we rest in Him. 
Thank you all again for the support, love, financial support, words of encouragement and prayer!  We are continuing to fund raise as we still have our second trip to go back and pick up the kids, that we need to raise the funds for, but we know that He will provide for this. Our huge yard sale is coming up this weekend and it has gotten out of control big, so we are really hoping that we get a lot of people!  It is at our house all weekend in Silverton.  We hope to see you there!!!  We feel very loved and can't ever thank you all enough!  Continue to pray for us these next couple weeks-we can really use it!  Love you all-