After a month of writing, I am back. :) A lot has happened in one month. We have started a new calendar year, we have been to the Philippines and back, and we are anticipating an ice storm tomorrow. You have to love Iowa in the winter.

But the most exciting news is.... we received our letter from the fingerprinting appointment. I think I had the paper in my hands for maybe 20 minutes before mailing it to Bethany!!! The last document needed for our dossier to finally take the long journey to Ethiopia. The journey to bringing home our child.

Here is where we are now, I spoke to our adoption agency and they said they would get our state seals on our documents and have our paperwork to the national office in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Friday. There our papers get reviewed again, then off to Washington D.C. for authentication and then over to Africa.

We are continually reminded that this is God's journey. That He has us!!! Just this last weekend while at church, someone approached us about what we owe in our next step in the process. We told them and they shocked our socks off by saying they have it covered. Yes, you read right, we have our money ready for when we receive our referral. God has given us such peace about every step and now He has given us this early blessing of providing before we even need it. We know without a doubt that God has just the right child for us. We continue to pray that we will be able to bring our child home in 2010.

Some additional prayer requests are... that we would get a referral quick, that we would pass court in Ethiopia the first time, that God would continue to provide, and that God would prepare all 5 of us for the changes that are coming. We also pray that God's name would be praised! One last thing, tonight as you tuck your child into their warm bed, after eating a hot supper, and taking a hot shower- please pray for the many orphans in Haiti. Pray about your part.