51 days until court and counting : )

Only 51 days until court. Things are starting to get exciting around here. We've lived in our house for over 5 years and have only painted 3 of the bedrooms. My goal is to get a fresh coat of paint on everything before travel - partially due to having to rearrange bedroom assignments.

This last weekend saw the "extra" room painted and cleaned. We were then able to move most of our den in. Had a couple of great neighbors come over and move the big stuff. And then had a neighbor give us some leftover paint. Woohoo! So now we have a combination den/toy room. We also had to figure out how to go wireless with our computer. Wasn't too hard and obviously it is working because I am typing this in a different room then our modem. :)

Our Adoption Journeys Cookbook has been selling really well. Lots of interest and a great way to spread the joy of adoption. The 4 stories that we included are wonderful accounts of very different journeys.

As if preparing for this life changing event wasn't enough, all the fall activity is starting as well. Normal things such as my teaching, homeschooling, gym & swim, & AWANA are all getting started. And we are adding speech for all and soccer for 1, which has turned into for all since I, in a moment of insanity, volunteered to coach Cameron's team.

But life is good. God is good. May your life and mine be full of His wonderful blessings through the good times and the hard times.

Today was the day!!

We found out today that our court date will be October 15. We were also able to set our Embassy date for November 19th. The embassy date is the one that we have to be there for, but we can't do anything as far as travel goes until after we find out that we have passed court.

The good news is that we don't have to wait to know when the dates are. Praise the Lord! Sooo much to do to prepare. But what a great thing to prepare for.

One of the families in our agency is travelling this week to pick up their little one. We should be getting more pictures of our two. It is so neat to see their progress. They both look so much better than when they were brought in to the care center. Very excited that in less than 3 months we will get to meet them face to face.

Maybe today.

Last week our paperwork was filed by our agency at the Ethiopian Courts. We might hear today or tomorrow about a court date. We have been told that the courts will be closing from August 23rd through September 15th. This is a much shorter time than in the past. At this point we are hoping for a court date sometime in October and to travel sometime in November.

Our exciting news is that our Adoption Journeys Cookbook is done. We are very pleased with how it turned out. We've included four other adoption stories in addition to ours. It also contains almost 300 recipes from family and friends. Thanks to everyone who helped with it. If you would like a copy, let us know.