Finally a Court Date!

Well, 2 months after receiving our referral for Nestie, we finally have a court date! This Monday, the 10th! Please pray that we will pass court and that the Congolese authorities will declare us her parents. We will probably not hear anything for 2 weeks or so but that's okay - our caseworker said no news is good news :) Starting Dec. 10, if we pass court, we will begin our 30 day wait for our CONA. During this 30 days, her birth family has a chance to appeal the court's decision. At the end of the 30 days, if no one appeals it, we will get our Certificate of Non-Appeal and then a birth certificate with her name and our last name! We are hoping to travel in late February or early March. I'm attaching a picture of a pumpkin that Josh's dad carved in honor of Nestie :) Thanks for your prayers!

One Month Down

Well it has been one month since we received our referral of our precious baby girl! Sometimes it's hard to believe it's already been a month an sometimes it seems like longer. Where are we right now? Last week, there was a birth judgment hearing to determine that she was actually born because her birth wasn't registered in the first 90 days. We should hear in the next two weeks that that is complete and find out our court date which will hopefully be at the beginning of December. Also, our dossier is on its way to DRC as we speak!! We are optimistically praying to travel sometime in February but realize that that may not happen. Will you pray with us that the court process will be quick and that we will travel in February or earlier? Thanks!

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Today is "N's" first birthday. In a way it is bittersweet. We are thankful the Lord has sustained her life for this first year yet sad that we can't celebrate this special day with her. She probably doesn't even know that it is her special day. When I think about Abbey and Hannah's first birthdays and the HUGE celebrations we had with many friends and family, I am saddened that we can't have that party for her too. Hopefully we will be able to adopt her and this will be the last birthday she celebrates without a family.

In other news, we found out yesterday that we will still get our Show Hope grant after all!!! We are so thankful for the Lord's provision for our adoption! Lets bring this little girl home!! Thanks for praying!

One HUGE step forward, one GIANT step back...

So, we heard back from one of our grant applications today that we cannot be approved for a grant because they only work with non-profits and ALBB is a for-profit!!! What???!!! We had no idea that there was such a thing as a for-profit adoption agency.

What does this mean for us? The $5,000 Show Hope grant we were rewarded will most likely not be able to be used because they only award grants to 501c3 agencies. I called them and the lady I needed to speak to will be out of the office until tomorrow.

We are not switching agencies again. This agency has proven to be very ethical and trustworthy. This just means that instead of the $4,000 we thought we needed to accept the referral, we now need about $8,000 ($9,000 minus a generous donation and some money I got today from selling jewelry)...this is needed ASAP. I'm so tired of talking about/trying to raise money...

Will you please pray that I will not get discouraged?? And that I will trust in God's perfect provision for our adoption?? Also, will you please pray that He will provide this money ASAP so we can move forward in this process to bring our daughter home??

Thanks

Referral Time

We have some exciting news!!!! At about 10 Saturday night, I opened my email and saw the words, "Referral Time" in the subject line!!! We were shocked! Two weeks before we had been told it would be 1-2 months until referral and it was only 2 weeks!! I still feel like it's kinda surreal...we've been in this process for so long and now it feels like we might actually get to finish it :)
So, our referral is for a beautiful little girl who will be a year old on October 11!!! I wish I could post her picture but I can't yet.

Would you pray that The Lord will keep her safe and healthy until we can brig her home? Also that the rest of this process might go quickly? Hopefully 4 months? Average is 4-6 months from now.

Yay!!!!

Hand in Hand

We found out yesterday that we were approved by Hand in Hand for a matching grant up to $2500!! Praise The Lord!! That means everything donated up to that amount will be doubled! If you are interested in donating this way, you write the checks to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption." Do not put our name anywhere on the check because of the non-profit aspect of the agency. Oh, and your checks will be tax-deductible! Then, mail the check to Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Joshua Koenig Family, 18318 Mimosa Ct, Gardner, KS 66030. If anyone wants to purchase a tshirt or any of our other fundraisers you can write a check to them for that too and it will be doubled :) It has to be postmarked by November 8. Thanks for considering!

Also, we had a yard sale today and made $341!! Thanks to everyone who donated stuff and/or time to help us out! You are greatly appreciated!

According to our social worker, she is hoping to have a referral for us in the next 6 weeks :) BIG SMILE!!

Oh, and some dear friends of ours came home with their girls this past Monday from Congo!!!

Oh, and one more thing - our next fundraiser is a pancake breakfast on Saturday, October 13. If you can come, RSVP by Friday, October 5. Thanks again!!

Little Treasures

Well, after 12 days of the Little Treasures sale, we made $576!! Praise the Lord! I finally figured out how to upload pictures with my phone so here is one of our booth. I'm not sure what order they will put these pics but I'll also include a couple of our trip to Frankfort. Oh, and an update. We mailed our dossier last week so now we are officially on the waiting list again!! One of the pictures shows our massive 3" stack of papers that we sent in! Please pray with us that we will get a referral soon. Thanks!