Adoption is Awesome!

Well, here we go again! As many of our friends, and certainly our family, know, we are in the process of adopting our third child. He is an adorable 4-year-old from Ethiopia named Yoseph Simon (we call him "Joseph").
Our newest adventure started in December 09 when we filled out our application and sent it off to Holt International. Over the following 8 months, we took care of much of the paperwork and the homestudy, but by August '10 we had not quite completed our dossier. After receiving some info that seemed to indicate that our wait to be matched with a child would be longer than expected, we agreed to just trust God and be thankful that we had more time to save for the travel expenses of two trips to Ethiopia. Within just two days of that decision, we received a phone call at work from Holt informing us that they had a child to match with us and would we please get our dossier completed ASAP. Talk about a 180!!!
Per the phone conversation, Margaret was informed that he was 3 1/2 years old and that he would be 4 in September. An email would be sent containing information about Joseph and some photos. As Margaret drove home, her thoughts were spinning and the big question was, "Could his birthday possibly be September 11...a day already special to us because it is "Gotcha Day" for Jack and Beth and because it is Margaret's mom's birthday?" Unbelievably, we found out that, indeed, Joseph's birthday is September 11! We had no doubts then that he was meant to be a part of our family!
So, our lives suddenly clicked into fast forward and we hustled to get it all submitted. Now we are expecting to have Joseph home with us as early as May or June '11. Margaret is headed to Ethiopia in just two days to attend a court hearing in the Ethiopian Federal Court. And she will get to finally see and hug and play with the son who is already in her heart! Grandma Pat graciously offered to travel with her since Mitch is currently on active duty orders with the Air Force. He will finish his tour right before our next travel date which is yet to be determined.
Unfortunately, we cannot post facial photos of Joseph until he is relinquished to our custody and currently the only photos we have are of his face and upper body. But when Margaret returns, there are sure to be photos of her visit, so please check in again!
Please pray for:

• Safe travel for Margaret and Pat
• Peace of mind and emotions for Jack and Beth who will be staying home with a dear friend part of the time and with Grandma Louise part of the time
• Mitch's safety
• That Margaret will get everything done on the to-do list before she leaves!

We hope this new blog finds all of you well and blessed!