HUGE NEWS ON THE ADOPTION FRONT

WE RECEIVED OUR REFERRAL!!!

Two days ago we received our approval letter (that was dated in October 09)...typically it takes 2-3 months between receiving approval letter and receiving referrals, but this morning I received an email from the Ministry in Rwanda with our referral info. As I type this entry, I'm looking at pictures of two beautiful children who will hopefully be part of our family very soon. I'll do my best to describe the experience, but there's no way I can describe in full detail the joy we've experienced this morning.

We requested two children, 1 girl and 1 boy or girl. Due to some revisions we had to make on our paperwork, we weren't sure exactly what our referral would be, but we suspected 2 girls. However, we are THRILLED with the girl and boy God is providing for us. We have received very little information so far, just a photo of each and their current names. NOTE: There are still steps in this process that must occur before the adoption is finalized...one important step is that we must "pass court", which is when our in-country legal representative will go to a Rwandan court to try to obtain a court ruling that the children are officially part of our family. Until we pass court, the children are not ours, and in order to protect them we are not allowed to post personal information about them in any public forum, so you won't see photos, official names, etc. appearing in our blog until that happens (which we anticipate will occur in January...but keep in mind that's just a guess, as we continue to learn the timeline can adjust drastically). In the days ahead, we will receive additional information (medical records, birthdates, etc.) for review. From what we can tell, the girl appears to be 3-4 and the boy appears to be 4-5...they are AMAZING!

We showed the photos to Josiah this morning, and he flashed a thumbs up and was excited. Then we emailed them to Nana and called Silas to give him the great news as he opened the email and saw the photos...he is so pumped up.

So much going on in our lives right now...and so much good for which we are thankful!