Yesterday was a very fun day as a family. We decided to turn our fingerprinting appointment in Des Moines into a day trip. The appointment itself was rather uneventful. It took approximately 35 minutes and that was due to the fact that we had to wait our turn. We are now waiting for the approval letter from them and then everything is ready for Ethiopia!!! Praise the Lord that this is all done prior to us leaving for the Philippines. This will allow us to focus more fully on the mission instead of wondering what paperwork we still needed to find. :)

After the appointment we stopped at Altoona's new Bass Pro Shop. Jim had to stop if we were that close. It is a fun, family friendly place with lots to do even if you are not an avid outdoorsman. :) They have several very cool animal exhibits, a mock shooting range for kids, an ocean view bowling alley, and a restaurant that even features buffalo burgers. It was fun to be away just the four of us.

We are praising God for his provision for our adoption. He has provided in amazing ways. When we first started into this process the cost of adoption seemed overwhelming and I am continually reminded that God doesn't need me to bring our child home. He can do this all by Himself!!! We serve a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

We will soon start the process of "patiently" waiting. Pray that this time goes quickly and that God makes it clear to us which child is ours. We are praying that our child will spend next Christmas with us at home!! What a blessing it will be to share the birth of Jesus with our child!!

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas. Enjoy celebrating the birth of our Savior.

On Friday, we received our letter from the US government with our date for fingerprinting!!! We are so thankful, it is December 21st at 12:00. We have been praying that it would be before we left for the Philippines and it is! God is so good.

Our pastor is preaching a service on Waiting. It has been so good for us. It is hard to wait patiently. It was a good reminder for us that we are part of God's timetable and He will bring us to our child in His timing. God has been really working on me the last week, helping me to realize that I can't do anything to move this along quicker and I need to be present in where God has me right now.

God has been providing for us in mighty ways. We have been blessed and humbled by some recent financial gifts. It is very humbling to see how God will provide. He doesn't need us in this, He can and will provide. Thank you to those of you who have come along side us to bring our child home. Words are not enough to thank you! Hopefully one day soon, you will be able to look into some beautiful eyes and know that you had a part in bringing one more orphan home!

Also, thanks for praying for Trey. His surgery went well and he has two new T-tubes in his ears. Hopefully this will offer him some relief for several years.

Nothing really new on the adoption front. We continue to pray that God would give us clear direction and wisdom as we proceed. It is comforting to see how God provides!!

This Friday, Trey will be having a third set of tubes put in. Please pray that the t-tubes help and that he would eventually grow out of his ear infections. The poor guy has suffered a lot of pain and has had some hearing loss due to it. He seems okay with the process though, since he gets Sprite afterwards. :)

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my sister's house. She loves to cook and made an amazing meal. I thought I would post some pics.

Our family

My mom, me, my sister, Danielle, and my dad
Our turkey :)