Tickets for TWO please, not four.....YET!

Alright, alright, alright. 

BIG NEWS:

WE HAVE A COURT DATE, I REPEAT, 

WE HAVE A COURT DATE! 

Folks, Monday December 1st, we received our court date for the first week of February! 

WE ARE OVERJOYED! WE ARE PRAISING THE LORD!

"But you guys, weren't you praying for a court date for a miracle of a date before the end of the year?", you ask?


Well yes, we were! But we see (at least some of) God's timing in this- being perfect!!!!

Here's why we are praising God:

1.) Beau's slowest month for work is anticipated to be February!!!!!! (where we thought it would be December originally, and December is turning out to be super super busy for him. Yep, God knew.) If you know what Beau's job is- it makes a whole lotta sense.

2.) The holidays will surely help the days pass "quickly". Two weeks off of work for me? Spending time with family? Friends? Can't think of a better way to wish the days away. ;) We really are blessed to be home with family for Christmas, always missing the kids, but we are grateful for time spent with fam and friends. I'm a huge-massive-Christmas-lover, so I can see really having struggled with being homesick. Who knows.

3.) We are grateful to escape COLD weather for WARM weather! (Hey, it's the little things!)

4.) Remember our last post about the incredible miracle of an answered prayer? The one where friends blessed us with two round-trip tickets to AFRICA? Well, we booked those bad boys tonight!!! And we are getting to fly out of DES MOINES THIS TIME! PRAISE THE LORD, no six hour drive to and from Chicago. (major jet lag, anyone? Awful. Just awful that was.)

5.)  We heard what our court date in LESS than the three weeks we were told to expect to hear. That means, that we are on a roll, only from the Lord, that every single 'deadline' we've been given for something to happen in- has happened in LESS than the time given. For our USCIS results, finger printing, our home study completion, court date, even down to "how many days were expected for our little boy to warm up to me" when I visited....it's just been mind-blowing to see God break through barriers. He is the Ultimate Power and Authority. THANK YOU JESUS!

6.) BEAU WILL GET TO MEET HIS CHILDREN. SAY WHAT?
Oh my LANTA. I cannot wait for that moment. I think about it alllllllll the timmmmmmmme. I'm also super thankful to not be traveling alone this time. I'm super thankful for him to experience Africa- this continent that has had my heart since the 3rd grade.
So sweet.  Top three moments of my life? Walking down the aisle to him. Meeting our children. Seeing him, meet our children. Can you just picture that with me for a sec? Wowzers.

FAQs ANSWERED:

1.) Why are we taking two trips? 
- Our agency gives us the option for a long extended trip OR two trips.

- We have no idea how long I would be there by myself with the kids while we wait for processing of multiple steps.  * the Mr. is unable to be away from work for that 'long' of time.


- Also, it was rather expensive for me to stay with the kids for an "unknown" time, AND not be getting paid (while not working).
........Trust me, if we had the funds. I. Would. Never. Leave. Without. Them. (dude fighting tears as I type. Can you pray for that too? Leaving them again? oh. i cant. for the love of.)




2.) What will we be doing while we are there for 12 days?
- A lot of travel

- To my understanding: We will be appearing before our judge, with the kiddos in tow, and this is the appearance that the judge decides if we are their legal guardians. To hear approval, it can be 2-4 weeks. We can't apply for their passports, without that approval. Then passports can take 10-15 business days. When these are DONE, then we fly back to Africa. (We then finish a slew of other steps with the US Embassy there- I can't give you a timeline of that. But when it's done, THEN WE ALL FOUR COME HOME!) Pray we hear "YES/APPROVED".  Clear as day. No issues/problems/ifs/ands/ors/buts.
Pray that the judge, for whatever reason- gives us an approval in (God's timing of course, but) less time than anticipated. Same for passports- it CAN be done. :) 


- The days before court will be spent: recovering from the oh-so-lovely jetlag. Traveling to where our kids live. AND THEN BEAU MEETING THEM/reuniting with them/bonding/attaching.
Pray that this goes better than we could ever imagine- for His glory!


- After court: we will be praying like mad we have a super fast ruling. AND will be spending more time as a family, of course.










Okay. That's all she wrote for tonight. Hope this helps clear up some of the questions! :) Thanks for your excitement! Thank you MOST for your PRAYERS! We have DEFINITELY SEEN THE POWER OF PRAYER TO THE ONE TRUE GOD like never before these last 12 months of this process. Hallelujah, He reigns.