A Last Minute Holiday...

Ok...so other countries aren't like ours. They can call a holiday the night before and close every governmental office. Israel's case was not heard because they did just that....called a Muslim holiday last minute. Our case worker hoped it would be heard tomorrow...which is in the middle of the night tonight our time.

The agony of this part of the wait is so tense and nerve wrecking, but we have friends that have had to endure four court dates before a yes was given. Deep breath....

Thank you for praying. Keep checking back and perhaps tomorrow you will see a great announcement with Joshua's smiling face.

Love to you!
Kurt and JoLynn

Tonight is the night!

In the middle of the night sometime, somewhere in the courts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a judge will look over our paperwork and decide if Joshua can be our son. We will find out tomorrow during the day his answer. Thank you for praying for favor for Joshua. We are ready to be new parents!

If Julianna does not get a quick court date, we will travel to get Joshua in November and see Julianna, but have to leave her there. I, JoLynn, will return by myself for her when she gets through court. We just can't make Joshua wait any longer. It's been an extra long process for him. How heart breaking it will be for us to see Julianna and not be able to bring her home, but we know that God is orchestrating this process, not us. It may be that Joshua needs some one on one time to bond with us for a bit.

Thank you for praying with us about all of these things. We are still praying about a vehicle and will hopefully be finishing a room in the basement before Julianna gets home.

We finally see a flickering light at the end of this long, long process. It's been over a year since we saw that shining face of Joshua on a photolist and heard God say, "This is your son....watch what I can do if you trust me." Thousands and thousands of dollars later and another child added and we are down to court dates and travel expenses. God is amazing!

We are having an adoption fund raising service, Saturday, October 25th with music from our worship team, Intensity, children's dance, our children's music team, Tesfay, special speakers, Gaylon and Robin Pelton, adoptive parents of a baby from China, and a concert by Eternity Focus. We are looking forward to this great time of awareness and celebration.

The kids sent Joshua more pictures of them and his new house and one of our cats. Here is a couple of those pictures. We cannot imagine how he is processing all of this in Ethiopia. He has known about us since March of this year. Please pray his court date passes tonight!

Your prayers and support have brought us to this place....the eve of court for our first child. It's humbling and powerful! We appreciate and love you all!

Kurt and JoLynn

It's a Countdown!

We can barely believe we are in the countdown to Joshua's court date! 20 more days and we could be new parents of our boy, Joshua Israel. How exciting! We will find out around that same time how quickly they can set a court date for Julianna. We are still praying to be able to bring them home together. Two trips sounds absolutely exhausting!!

God has been amazing to us recently. We can tell He is accelerating things as we draw closer to bringing our kids home. We figured we would have to live on a little less as far as clothing and those things with five children. Through people handing very nice clothes down and some garage sales that were complete jackpots we now look in our kids' closets and realize that they have never had this many nice clothes ever! What a blessing!

Some friends of ours gave us a crib that is nearly new for next to nothing. We've found car seats and strollers and pack and plays at friends' garage sales. Its been amazing! We are all ready furniture wise except for a high chair. Isn't God wonderful? We are still praying about a vehicle.

My sister got married in August to the most wonderful man from Uganda. He has lived in Houston for many years. His sister came from London and was just a precious person. What a wedding, beautiful to the eye, touching to the soul, and absolutely anointed! The reception afterwards was close to a worship service at times, dancing to Israel Houghton! We had a blast!

We all miss Amy so much, but are happy for her new life. Hoping for some nieces and nephews soon!

Thank you for praying! How exciting to dream about Christmas this year, our home filled with excited children, two of which will change our lives forever. We are blessed.

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn