A cake for Baby Quilla from one of our news producers at my station!
So sweet!

WE LEAVE SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We are so excited!! We got the call yesterday and we sprung into action immediately. Even though things were not confirmed, Brad and I had talked about how to handle it if we did get to go. Sweet Brad is taking today off from work to clean and get things in order for his mom's stay at our house. She arrives tomorrow morning! Please pray for TT's safe travels, for our safe travels, for great weather, smooth flights, uneventful travel, and on time travels. ALSO, pray now that we pass court on the 8th. That will be HUGE! It's a major milestone for our adoption to pass court.

Brad's great aunt Teenie and Mammy called last night to say how excited they are for us. I totally choked up as Teenie told me all the people she had asked to pray for us. Of course, our families are praying. My friend Kelley in California has activated her prayer chain. My bestest friend in the world Katie and her family are praying for us. Our church family has us wrapped in love and prayers. The America World yahoo group is praying, our local adoption friends are praying, I know so many of you are praying. Honestly, people...it makes me tear up just thinking about it! THANK YOU!!

So, ever since last Friday when we found out we might be traveling on the 4th, we've been prepping Zeke about our trip and the fact that he'd be at home with TT. We've also talked to him about making good choices while TT's in charge. He asked us if TT could give time outs. We said yes, if you make bad choices TT can give time outs. We have told him that TT will likely have treats for him and when we bring up TT's arrival, he always says, "And cars and trucks?" He's so sweet. It really struck my heart last night how hard it's going to be to leave my sweet Zeke for a little over two weeks. I know he'll be in excellent hands but I'll just miss him, plain and simple. Thank goodness for Skype!

No Decision

The judge is still deciding whether we can be in court on July 8th. I am so hoping and praying we can be there. We are supposed to find out tomorrow morning. It's a miracle that all of our plane tickets, including the plane tickets for Brad's mom, are still on hold. We feel like that was a very good sign and an important detail. We will find out tomorrow morning what the judge has decided. Shortly after I heard this news, I decided to fast until sundown, asking God to give us a favorable decision on this matter. We are really longing to see our girl and to get this court business done. What the judge is deciding is whether she wants the birth families and adoptive families to be in court together. We really want to meet Quilla's birth mom so please pray that we will get to be in court with her. So...more waiting and praying...

TENTATIVE COURT DATE-JULY 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got THE CALL today that we have a TENTATIVE court date of July 8. We are putting plane tickets on hold today and will know Monday if we can buy them. Please, please, please pray that we get to go!! More later!

Court Papers Filed!!!

The birth certificate arrived and our papers were filed for a court date late last week! THANK YOU JESUS! We are so happy and can't wait to get our actual court date. We should any time between now and next Friday (July 2nd). We may not have much notice on when we go so we are starting to think about getting ourselves in gear now. Several families found out Tuesday that they have a court date of July 2nd. With less than a week's notice, they are heading to Ethiopia!! I'm so happy for them!! I will post as soon as we get our court date!!

BELIEVE: Claiming Victory Over the Junk

God sent me three angels last week via email. First, my mom reminded me of a great saying that really encouraged me during the wait for Zeke:

Because
Emmanuel
Lives
I
Expect
Victory
Every time

BELIEVE!

So, yes, I believe that God is victorious and sovereign over this current wait.

Also, two of my Internet buddies sent me encouraging emails about how they are praying over this hold up. Thanks, Katie and Kelley!!!

Another blessing: We got several donations at church today for our upcoming trip to Ethiopia! Praise the Lord! Our church has also agreed to assist in covering the cost of taking extra luggage (filled with donations!) on our trip. So, I pray that we will be overflowing with donations when the time comes (in July!!!) to travel. If you are interested in donating, you can email me at zekeandlilysmom (at) gmail (dot) com to find out what we need. We're taking donations to our agency's transition homes. We're also collecting donations for Into the Streets, a ministry for streets kids in Addis Ababa (see the link on the side). So, I am focusing on these donation drives instead of worrying about when we'll hear something. More time waiting means more time to collect supplies for these kiddos who really need them!

Brad Comes Home!

Brad is coming home this afternoon from Chicago (scroll down for his photos from Chi-town). Hooray! Zeke prefers dad to tuck him in at night, though we've had some sweet snuggle time. One night this week, Zeke reached over, put his hands on my face and brought me in for a kiss. He rarely does that so it was just super special! He knew Mommy needed it. Of course, the battle royale that followed over getting him to sleep was craziness. He was up past 10PM one night this week. He's been sick (though he's much better now), and I guess not having dad there has just gotten him off his bed time routine. Poor little guy. He had to get up very early this morning because I had to be at work early...so he should sleep well tonight!

Yeah...still no news. I don't even want to get my hopes up for next week...Can't stand another week of no news.

Hear the Crickets Chirping?

That's the sound of no news. We have no news on birth certificates and no news on court. Honestly, I'm beginning to prepare my heart for the possibility that we may not get to travel for court until after the closures. That's how discouraged I feel. I'm exhausted from praying so much over this...

Zeke and I are by ourselves this week. Brad's in Chicago for work (see photos below). Lucky duck. He's already had some Lou's pizza. He's promising to bring back treats for everyone--including Quilla. *sigh*

Brad's digs

Postage stamp room