The Post You've Been Waiting For!

This week held even bigger surprises than the ones we talked about in our last post!

On Thursday afternoon, May 19th, (a day now forever burned into my memories) I got a call at school from our adoption agency that started something like this, "Sorry to be calling you at work, but I just wanted to make sure I got a hold of you..." The rest of the conversation was a blur. I remember thinking, "what? can this really be our referrals? is there any other reason AAI would be calling me at work? oops, I need to be listening!" The conversation lasted about 40 minutes, which has been yet another patience building exercise, because the entire time my only desire was to hang up, call Jon, and scream hysterically into the phone.

In two emails and about 20 attachments we have been getting to know our two sons. Asnake (meaning he outshone, outclassed, overshadowed, or became better than others) is a beautiful 9 month old boy who we having seen laying on Strawberry Shortcake sheets with big, alert eyes. His hands are out stretched toward the camera as if inviting us to reach down and begin playing with him. Soon, baby, soon!

The second email highlighted our older son, Eskinder (meaning defender of mankind) an irresistible 2 1/2 year old. In my favorite picture of him, Eskinder is clutching his name to his chest with a solemn and intense look on his face as if to say, "This is me! Don't forget me! I am Eskinder!". We won't. I also love zooming in on the bottom of his picture to look at his little toes in his yellow flip-flops.

The big question everyone asks is, what next? The answer is more waiting! (I bet you already knew that, didn't you?) We will wait 4 to 8 weeks to be assigned a court date that could be 1-3 months out from that point. Courts also close from sometime in August until late September or October. We may be able to complete the first trip before courts close (we are praying for a date before the closure), but it may be more likely that we would make our first trip after they re-open.

We are praising God about these boys, and have had a wonderful weekend calling friends and family with the good news. We are learning slowly that we need to stop making predictions and plans and let God work His story in His time. He is faithful.