My Birthday Prayer

Today is a special day at our house! Yes, it is my 31st birthday, but something even more special than that happened today!


Can you guess what this is???

Here's a little better clue:

Yes, this is our COMPLETED dossier all ready to be mailed off to our adoption agency TODAY, on my birthday!!!  :)

In case you don't know what in the world a dossier is, it is basically just a huge pile of paperwork that includes everything about us and will be sent to the Ethiopian government to begin processing our adoption on their side. Everything in it had to be notarized and it includes things like our home study, police backround checks, tax forms, bank statements, birth certificates, passport photos, dr's forms, employment and reference letters, etc. etc. etc! Phew- I am just glad to be done with our part and be sending it off finally! It was definitely a lot more work than anything we had to do for Korea!

There is ONLY ONE more thing we will have to wait for before it can actually be sent to Ethiopia and that is immigration approval. We should be getting our fingerprint notice really soon and then we wait for the USCIS to approve us. After we are approved, our dossier will be on it's way first to Washington D.C. and then to Ethiopia!
It  is a huge milestone in the adoption world and what a perfect day to send it off! Yes, even with all that is happening regarding Ethiopian adoptions, we are still walking by FAITH and continuing on this journey that GOD called us on. We will keep taking each step until He closes the door.

We took a short trip to the coast this past weekend to celebrate my birthday and to just get away for a few days. It was pretty low-key, we did some shopping, eating, and walking along the beach. It was a bit chilly so we didn't spend too much time by the water, but it was just good to be together as a family. I hardly took any photos but here are a few of our time away.

Elliana was NOT very excited about the freezing cold water so Daddy held her most of the time!

These guys just got back last weekend from an awesome time with their Papa and Grandma. They went on a very fun and exciting Disney Cruise and didn't seem to miss us one bit for the 11 days they were gone! What a blessing to have such fun and generous grandparents who love to make memories with all of their grandchildren. I'll have to post pictures soon.

Look what the boys found! Gross!

A far away picture of my family...

And of course always thinking of my family who is far away...

This year my birthday wish, or should I say prayer, is that our awesome God will move many more mountains  and work many more miracles in the lives of His people. He is the Father to the fatherless and the defender of widows and I pray that I would rest in that truth this year. NO MATTER WHAT. 

I pray that His glory would be revealed throughout all the world and all generations and that He would allow us to be a part of His awesome plan and purpose for the world. I pray that I would know and rely on the LOVE that He has given me through Jesus. And that He would use every single difficulty this year to mold me and shape me into the woman that He created me to be. A woman who although weary and broken, follows hard after Him and a woman who although has many regrets from past mistakes, lives freely in Christ and is clothed in righteousness that He has given.

And of course my biggest prayer is that our family will ALL be together on my 32nd birthday, one year from today. ALL 8 of us. 

It seems absolutely impossible at the moment as I look at all the circumstances, but I walk by FAITH not by sight. 

He is GOOD. ALL the time. 

Thank You Lord for 31 years of LIFE. 

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the skies.
 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
   your justice like the great deep.
   You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.
 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
   People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
 They feast on the abundance of your house;
   you give them drink from your river of delights.
 For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

Continue your love to those who know you, 

                         your righteousness to the upright in heart. 

Psalm 36:5-10