The fun kind of move

Hello! I have been absent from the blogging world for 3 reasons lately......#1, our life has been chaos with the move, the new job, and the start of the summer in Young Life camping, #2, we have had one internet issue after another (frustrating, but part of life I guess....anyway, they are resolved now....for the moment), and #3, we had nothing to report.....UNTIL NOW!!! We are moving again.....up the waiting list that is........and we are SOOOOO EXCITED. We were on "the list" for exactly 3 weeks with zero movement in the baby girl department and then on Monday we moved 2 spots. We were so excited! And then, I just got on the computer to update our blog and let people know that we had moved up and saw that we had moved AGAIN! YAY!! We are officially #9 on the baby girl waiting list at our agency and are so excited! We are also #8 on the sibling list.....so we will see what happens =) It is always so great to find out that other families have received their referrals.....we have had the pleasure of seeing that happen 4 times this week and it is so much fun. Several families have also passed court this week and it has been fun to celebrate along with them in our house.......it is so amazing to be a part of the adoption world and to see children find their families. It is amazing and awe-inspiring and makes me so glad that we were called to this journey in this way.....we feel so blessed. I am excited about forever tying ourselves to Ethiopia and to the plight of orphans around the world and seeing how that continues to play out in our lives.....we are already forever changed and I am sure we will only be even more so by the end of this leg of our journey.
We also received the sealed copy of our homestudy in the mail this week which allowed us to send our I-600A application (the application will lead to biometric fingerprints and processing) to USCIS (US Customs & Immigration) for a piece of paper called the I-171H. The I-171H is the "golden ticket" of sorts in the adoption world.....it is the piece of paper that says we are allowed to bring a child/children into the country from Ethiopia. When they get our application (and our check clears, of course) they will contact us to set up an appointment for our biometric fingerprinting (not really sure what all that entails.....we have already been cleared by the CBI & the FBI so I am thinking that God must be checking our fingerprints himself this time) and then we will just wait for our I-171H and hopefully watch more children be matched with waiting families as we move (swiftly, we hope!) up the waiting list! WHEW! The waiting is hard but it is made soooooo much easier by being able to watch the joy of others when they receive their referrals and in holding the knowledge that our God is soooooo BIG and children who were once motherless and fatherless on earth are being pursued and loved and brought home. Really.....what better way is there to wait than by being able to celebrate and pray and see the world changing a little with every match????
As for life at the ranch.......we are doing well and adjusting a little bit more every day to our new lives. I have to say that I think we are doing pretty well!! Nathan loves his new position and is doing a great job (if I do say so myself). The boys DEFINITELY love living our here where there are horses and sprinklers and dogs and mud. They are totally in their element and growing like weeds. Seriously......they surprise us every day with all they are learning and saying and doing. I am so blessed to get to be their mother.
Thank you all once again for caring enough to read about our journey and to pray for us and with us and support us. We could not do this without all of your love and support. OH!! We have scheduled what we are hoping is a huge garage sale to help us with costs for June 27th. If anybody in BV is reading this and would like to donate things or help or come shop.....let me know! Continued prayers would also be appreciated on behalf of a couple of families at our agency who have not passed court on their dates in the last couple of weeks......please pray for peace for the families and for swiftness in Ethiopia and that God will continue to be mighty. We love you! Hope you all have a great week!