waiting

Our dossier was delivered 5 weeks ago today. The wait has not been quite as hard as I had thought, although we have really just begun. Make no mistake I want these kids home ASAP! Yesterday was an absolute blessing for our family. We gathered with well over 100 people (adults, biological kids and adopted kids) who have adopted, are adopting or are interested in adopting from Africa. We met the Snead family who brought their son and daughter home from Rwanda just 4 months ago (a 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son). They recently moved here from New Mexico and by far our conversation with them was our favorite of the day. We learned SO MUCH in such a short amount of time... of course we are planning on having them over for dinner to pick their brains some more very soon. There is a possibility that their children will have lived with "our children" in the orphanage, like in the same room! Another great opportunity we had this weekend was to sit down with the Couch family and spend time with them. They graciously had us over for dinner Saturday evening. They have 3 biological kids, 2 adopted from Ethiopia and are waiting on #3 from Ethiopia. It was another time to deepen a friendship and absorb what they have to teach us from their adoption experiences. To be surrounded by so many people who "get" adoption is just plain exciting... better than celebrating a birthday by far! People choose adoption for many different reasons, for us it was God's call to care for the orphan. We have 3 kids and live(d) a pretty comfortable and easy life. We chose to step out of our easy/comfortable and what we would call selfish lifestyle and give two kids a home that really need it. It is not anything we want praise for, I can assure you. Many have said, "what a sweet thing you are doing", I don't really like that comment. We are thankful for God's grace on our lives and are simply extending what we have been given much of. This is an exciting journey. God has directed each step and we can't wait to see what these children will teach us and how our lives will be forever changed. Many thought and still think we are crazy to add more kids or to do something that costs "so much" when Rusty had recently had a job change. We have loved and cherish this time of trusting and placing our faith in our heavenly Father like we never have before. I can say that I am enjoying this obedience. Walking by faith can be scary but when God is not only with you but for you, who truly can be against you? I think I have rambled on enough. We did not have our camera at the African Fellowship but here are a few links if you want to see some pictures from our exciting day...
Sallee
Kristi

And to answer a few question...

• Aubrey is going with us!
• We do not expect to hear anything before fall/winter and that is still estimated.
• What do we do now? Pray, fast, educate ourselves as best as we can and love on our kids at home now!