January #

We finally got our official January number on the last day of the month...
BUT earlier in the week we found out about 2 boy referrals so we are REALLY unofficially...

TOP TEN!!! WOO HOO!!! The official number doesn't reflect referrals until their acceptance paperwork is all in so that's why there is a difference. Doesn't matter to me because in my mind and heart we 10!!

In reflecting on this month I wondered if I had ever written about something I've learned and recently mulled over... expectations. I truly thought I had given this process to the Lord but I realized that one of the only things standing in my way is having my own expectations. We go through life having expectations of ourselves, of others, of what will or should happen and when these expectations aren't met we have disappointment along with a whole other array of emotions. Why have I not realized this before?!! I've needed to learn surrendering at a whole new level and to reteach myself not to hold onto these expectations of when the Lord will reveal His timing in our lives to know who our son is!! Of course, we have our hopes and dreams but it's actually felt so wonderful to let go and I've felt even more at peace since the Lord has convicted me of this. He continues to refine my heart and teach me to fix my eyes on Jesus as all else will fall into place according to His will.

And if that wasn't enough learning, I've finally confronted another area of surrendering. I'm a very emotional eater and to say that this journey hasn't been one of the longest emotional rollercoasters I've been on, would be turning a blind eye. All those ladies who said "The best part about adopting is not gaining the weight you would in a pregnancy" must not have been an emotional eater like me. I've FINALLY confessed that I've been turning to food for my comfort when I should be turning to my Lord as my source of comfort. I've been really convicted about the choices I've made with my diet and something I heard at BSF not too long ago is "conviction is empty without action". Well, I'm taking action and finally making better choices to take care of this body that God has blessed me with. Surrendering every single aspect of my life whether big or small is just what He desires of me. I've already experienced His peace that surpasses all understanding but with each twist and turn, high and low of this journey I'm amazed at how much deeper I can experience it.

The song on this Seeds of Family Worship Cd that is based on a scripture in Psalms has been running through my head almost daily the past week (you HAVE to check these CDs out to get scripture in song, memory and heart for yourself and your kiddos!) Thank you for letting me share my heart with you!

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

November #

The day before Thanksgiving we got our November number from AGCI

We are actually unofficially #17 so we've moved back twice since we were unofficially #15 but our official number has stayed the same. Seeing that #16 was a little disheartening but not surprising. We keep up with the movement and referrals on the list serv so we knew there wasn't much going on for refrerrals. Once again we rejoice with the families who got court dates, are traveling, getting cleared by Embassy, FINALLY getting MOWA letters... so things are still happening.

I've been in a funk this past week and unusually emotional. There is a lot going on in our lives right now and I have a lot on my plate - December is the busiest month for any musician - but I realized something yesterday. When we started this journey almost 2 years ago the first question everyone asked was "When will this be happening? When will he be home?" and I said without a doubt by Christmas 2011. I mean, we were told it would be 18 months process so that's a few months cushion. Well, once again this whole process has been completely out of our control (You think He's trying to teach us something here?). Throw all expectations out the window. Trust that God will know the perfect timing for our family. These are all things I KNOW but to truly trust and believe is another thing. I should cling to His promises that are unchanging and not my feelings which can be a bit wishy-washy!

So many of you have been such wonderful support - asking how we are doing and lifting us up in prayer. There were a few of you who commented on my last official numbers post that gave me great encouragement - thank you - I am thankful that God has put you in our lives and crossing our path.

October's official Number (yes, in November)

Back on Oct. 28th we got our October number update from AGCI

Sadly this is the number we posted the last time I did a number image but that doesn't mean things aren't happening! There has been a ton of great news this week for AGCI families with first court dates, embassy dates, MOWA letters finally being produced after months of waiting, news that people are really advocating for the children in the midst of southern orphanage closures, etc. We actually had moved to 15 but got bumped back up as a family before us lost their referral and was added back onto the boy list. I don't know all the details of how or why but it just breaks my heart to hear that. Again, not sure the situation so hopefully it meant the birth family was able to support and raise him in a loving and safe environment after all. But alas! We continue to wait and wait and wait...

I look at the ticker on our blog right now and it says we've been in process for 1 year, 7 months and 1 week. That's two pregnancies right there. And we've been on the wait list for 1 year, 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days (not that I'm keeping track or anything!) So yes, when I look at the numbers it seems like forever but I know it could be much longer than we will eventually be waiting. I've been a little down about it this week as we approach the holidays. When we first started this process 19months ago we thought he would for sure be home by Christmas. That obviously won't be happening but as always I try to trust God's plan and timing to be better than our own. It still doesn't make it easy.

As we've been waiting this past month we started doing a few things for his room! The girls, Neil and I painted some canvas', used a little hot glue and Hungry Caterpillars decals to create these that will hang around his window:






We will continue to get things ready for him little by little but we also continue to get our hearts ready for him as well. Just the thought of getting that call with his name and picture seems so unreal and almost like it's something I just talk about but won't ever really happen. I know that seems so pessimistic but it's true right now. People ask questions and I tell them the process but it's like I'm just going through the motions of telling them... it still just seems so far away at this point. I'm so glad we have the girls to keep us busy and distract us because I know it would be infinitely harder if we didn't have children at home. It's also going to be infinitely harder of a wait after we get that name and first photograph of our son...Please pray with me that we will hear by March or April!

Yesterday Claire out of the blue said to Neil "Dad, I wish tomorrow we'd be #1" - we were talking about it and realizing that the girls don't remember a time that we haven't talked about adoption and baby brother. They are just as ready as we are =)

One Year and a new number

A year ago today we got our call with the greatest news - we had officially made it onto the waitlist. After months and months of paperwork and waiting, we had finally gotten to where we could relax a little bit. I remember it feeling like a HUGE sigh of relief and how the first week of not having anything to do for adoption paperwork felt wonderful. We were #69 and today we just moved up to #16 (i think!). A lot can happen in a year...

God has truly revealed Himself to us throughout this process. People always ask "If there are so many kids who need families why do they make it so hard? so expensive? such a long process?" Honestly, sometimes I wonder the same thing when we are having to jump through hoops over and over again. A lot of it is for the safety of the children but a lot of it seems excessive (ie. Pet Vaccination Records). But I will tell you that if we hadn't had this year's experience (or the total 18 months we've been on this ride) of totally relying, trusting, questioning, pleading, praying, praising, wondering, submitting and so much more, we wouldn't be where we are today.

Just as His word says in James 1: "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."

This period of waiting has been one of transformation but I know that our journey has just begun. Our son has already taught us so much and we don't even know who he is yet. I praise God for how He has continued to give us the strength and perseverance only He can give when we are feeling worn and weary. Over the past two weeks I have had one encouragement after another. God's word through my BSF lesson & sermon on God saying "Not Yet, text from Evening of Spiritual Harmony songs, a song sent to me by my sweet friend Ashley called "While I'm Waiting" and an article posted on our listserv entitled "God's Will for your Wait" by Paul Tripp. If you are reading this and going through a waiting period (waiting for a baby through pregnancy or adoption, for a job, for a answer, for direction, for recovery of an addiction or sickness, etc.) YOU need to click on the above links! They were a great encouragement to me and I know they will be to you as well.

Now on to how we celebrated our one year =) Now that we are in the teens the girls and I made a paper chain to help us count down. We have always written our number on a dry erase plate in the kitchen but this will be a better visual for the girls and they can actively participate by tearing off links as we get closer. Here they are showing off the chain that is now hanging in their bedroom.
Neil and I met for a little lunch date =) I bought us a little present and had Neil open it. It's a really great adoption memory book that we can start filling out while we are waiting! It's called "My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families" by Zoe Francesca and I really like it a lot! It has a lot of the elements of a life book that I've read about and researched.
We had a nice quick lunch between work and picking up the girls. Of course we couldn't get away without a quick pic =)
Thank you to EVERYONE who has been a wonderful support and sharing our excitement as we get closer and closer. Although we are moving up, we still aren't expecting "the call" until probably March or April which means hopefully having him home sometime during the summer. So we still have awhile as we continue to anticipate him being home. It is much more exciting though because I've really resisted any nesting or "getting ready" urges to avoid getting my hopes up too soon. I'm now looking at the empty nursery and thinking it might be time to start changing things around =)

Official September #

Last week on the 14th we got our official September waitlist number...

We're in the teens!! And two nights ago we were moved to 17 after a 2 yr. old little girl was matched with her forever family. It's all still a little surreal for me to be in the teens. We will be making a paper chain to help the girls count down now that we are closer. I'm actually having to think of "what's next?" A lot of people have asked the same question so here is the run down:

- right now we are still waiting for our homestudy to be officially renewed. We've done everything we're supposed to after we completed our home visit on the 15th. Just waiting for our FBI clearance to come back so please pray for a speedy return! We can not get a referral without an updated homestudy.

- When we get in the single digits (YIKES!!) we will be starting our rounds of vaccinations for travel and finding an international pediatrician who we can have on deck to look at our son's medical history when we get "the call"

- We get "the call" which will include knowing his name, full history and first time to see his face on pics sent to email while we talk to our case manager.

- Print pictures of our sweet boy =) We won't be able to post pics on facebook or blog until after our US Embassy is passed which is the second trip.

-We accept referral after completing a ton of paperwork, paying a hefty fee and hearing back from the international pediatrician.

- Wait for another call for our court date. Then we will know when we travel. We won't be able to buy tickets until we get confirmation for our court date which could be only days before we have to leave.

- We (Neil and I - girls will be staying here) fly to Ethiopia for the first time and meet OUR SON for the FIRST TIME!! This still feels like light years away and another surreal moment I've been dreaming about for so long. Hard to even imagine how this will take place. On this trip we will spend time loving on him and the other kiddos at Hannah's Hope, learning about Ethiopian culture, hopefully have a birth parent meeting, delivering donations, connecting with other adoptive parents, learning as much as we can and most importantly, bonding, holding, wearing, kissing and loving our little guy as much as possible.

- We fly back to SA without our baby =( This will be so hard... then we wait for a US Embassy date in Ethiopia and fly back for that date for our second trip. There is usually very short notice for travel so we have to just be ready and buy whatever tickets we can. We are reunited with our baby and will never have to let him go again!!!

- We come home and start our cocooning and bonding as a family of 5 - THANK YOU LORD!!!

So there is the heads up on what the next steps of our process are =) As far as the wait, I've had a harder couple of weeks. I've just been more emotional than usual about everything. Really longing and missing him which blows me away... how can you miss someone you've never even met? don't even know his face or name? Oh but my heart knows him and this is almost an indescribable feeling. Once again the Lord is teaching me through this waiting period in my life.

This Monday marks one year on the waitlist and 18 months in process. This timeline keeps ticking with every passing day which grows the yearning to have him home even more. I've been super calm and at peace up until now but I've found myself a little more consumed with the wait lately. The other day I starting crying when I saw my sweet friend Kristin rocking her newborn baby boy in bible class - it just hit me! There are babies and pregnant people all around me which makes it even harder sometimes although I sincerely rejoice with each blessing that comes!

This past week I started my BSF for the year and we are studying Acts. There was a great lesson in how the disciples and Jesus' family waited for the Holy Spirit to come after Jesus had ascended to heaven. They were together praying and just simply surrounding themselves with other believers while they waited. What a great example to constantly be in prayer and have HIM as my focus during this time. What does HE want to teach me? What does HIS plan have for us? Do I trust that HIS timing is perfect and not my own? We've already grown tremendously in our faith during this process and I pray I can truly surrender to Him and His ways every single day while we wait and every day after the wait is over.

Official August #

So at almost 11 months on the waitlist and 16.5 months in process, we are officially #21!!! (started at 69)
not only are we excited about it being lower than we thought and us being close to the teens, it's also Duncan's number! Neil was lovin' that!

Right now we are waiting to hear from Lutheran to schedule our home visit (round 2) to renew our homestudy that expires already in September. We had about a week where we thought we weren't going to have to renew after all but there was some kind of communication lapse between Lutheran and AGCI so we do have to renew!! Just as an FYI for those who are in process/waiting in Texas, you have to renew when your USCIS immigration expires - not 12 months! Please pray for our backgrounds checks to come back quickly!!

A lot of questions arise around this time of year in regards to the Ethiopian court system closing for 2 months. This will slow things down a little but it doesn't mean there won't be referrals, travel for final trips/embassy and more! I posted a great Q&A from AGCI about the closures for those who are interested!

Court Closure Q&A
Q: When do the Courts close?
A: The Court closure occurs each year for approximately 2 months in August and September. The actual dates of closure and reopening vary from year to year.

Q: When do we find out when the Courts close?
A: The dates for this year’s closure have not been released. Typically, we do not receive advance notification of when the closure is to begin and end, but our staff at Hannah’s Hope do notify our office as soon as possible after they hear word.

Q: Why do the Courts close?
A: Many refer to this time of year in Ethiopia as “rainy season.” It is definitely true that Ethiopia experiences a good amount of rain during this time of the year and it can make getting to work a bit tricky at times. However, we can also look at the Courts closing for a recess period as the staff’s opportunity for a vacation.

Q: Do the Courts still accept new cases and issue court appointments during the closure?
A: Every year is different in exactly how the Courts operate during the closure/recess period. In some years, they have been completely shut down. In other years, the Courts accepted new cases into their “cue” then once they reopened, court appointments were issued. Even last year, we were able to submit new cases and received a few court appointment notices, but the appointments were not set to occur until October. Unfortunately, it is not clear how the Courts will operate or not operate during this year’s closure, but our staff will continue to submit new cases until the Courts no longer accept them.

Q: Is MOWA also closed during the period of time the Courts are closed?
A: The Federal Courts of Addis Ababa and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) are separate government offices, though they must work in partnership to complete adoption cases. MOWA does not typically close while the Courts are closed. We are hoping that given that MOWA is supposedly processing around 10 cases a day, they will continue to review cases and issue opinion letters to the Courts during this court closure period. Historically, though, we have seen that the motivation of MOWA to process cases and issue letters during the court closure has been low, since the Courts were not open to process the cases.

Q: Will the Courts process MOWA opinion letters that are issued during the closure?
A: It is not clear at this time if, during this court closure, the Courts will process the letters from MOWA for cases that have already completed court appointments. It is our hope that these letters will continue to be processed so pending cases can be approved, but again, right now there is no clarity on this.

Q: Can families still travel for the second trip and complete a visa appointment with the US Embassy to bring their child(ren) home during the closure?
A: _You bet! The visa appointment is conducted at the US Embassy, which is part of the US government. The Embassy has historically been open and processing cases and visas during the time the Courts are closed. We have seen times in the past where the Embassy processes fewer cases during the closure time, but the US Embassy holds complete jurisdiction over its processing of cases.

Q: Can children still be assigned and admitted into Hannah’s Hope then referred to their forever families during the Court closure?
A: Yes, children can still come into Hannah’s Hope through government-licensed orphanages and referred to adoptive families while the Courts are on recess. One thing to keep in mind is that a great deal of investigation and follow up work must go into each child’s history before a child can be referred, and this can slow things down a bit at the front end of a child’s process. Overall, there is never a set or average number of children who will come into Hannah’s Hope and/or referred to their forever families in any given month, and August and September are no exception.

July Number

I can hardly BELIEVE that our July number is...

And the same time we checked email to get that number there was an announcement of another referral so we are now sitting at unofficially #23!! We are elated and so encouraged by the number of referrals that went out this past week. It's amazing how much it continues to move when we were all so worried about everything drasticly slowing down. So far our agency hasn't seen that and they are still quoting us 18 months for our waitlist time. We have been on the waitlist for 9 months and 3 weeks.
The courts close in Ethiopia starting at the beginning of August for 2 months for the rainy season. We don't know the exact dates until it happens. Closing court doesn't neccessarily slow down referral movement since Hannah's Hope (our agency's transitional home) isn't to capacity right now. It will slow down the process for those waiting to travel for their first trip for their court date. We will see how it affects our wait time. Please pray for it not to slow things down too much.

People ask us how we're doing and right now we are doing fine. We really feel at peace with our wait right now but ask me next week and I may have a different story for you =) It's a little emotional at times but we are truly trying to savor this time to prepare for our little guy. Honestly, it's amazing how at peace we are most of the time and the only explaination for that is God. He has given us so much through this process and we are amazed at how much He continues to confirm His plan for our family.

The girls are getting more and more excited as we move down on the list and move them into the same room. They pray and talk about "baby brother" all.the.time. It's so sweet and right now that might even be one of the hardest parts - them not understanding and anticipating this brother we've been praying about for as long as they can remember.

Official June Number

Yup - you read that right - 30. Not the number we were expecting when we were having a party over here about two weeks ago when we unofficially entered the 20's. Anything can happen! Some of you are asking what? how? Well, there were some families on the girl and sibling lists who opened their parameters to the boys list. When that happens families are placed on the waitlist according to paperwork date so if they had their dossier in before us, their placement affects our waitlist number. Although hearing we are higher than we thought, we praise God He is opening others hearts to more children!

The latest we've heard from our agency is that although the MOWA is said to be only preparing 5 letters a day, they aren't seeing the affects of it yet. The families who have gone to court since the March 8th change in policy with MOWA have continued to pass court at the same rate (this is where the delay would happen). AGCI has been amazing with communicating with us and encouraging us to wait to see how this policy is changing the timelines before we estimate or even jump to conclusions. They have really helped put our minds and hearts at ease with the continued talk of things slowing down.

May number

Got our official number today! (as of 5/23, we are #30!) It was one less than we thought it was so that was a pleasant surprise! We were 34 in April so although slow movement, there IS movement. This is always encouraging as we have now been on the wait list for 7.5 months (in process for a little over 14 months). Our caseworker sent us an email with our number along with the news that they are now estimating wait list time as 18 months. This is not what they currently have seen (the last referrals were at 11 and 10 months) but what they are estimating with the slow down and more detail and time taken on paperwork/investigations to make sure the children are truly orphans. The MOWA is being much more careful with each child's case to make sure nothing unethical is taking place. The US Embassy in Ethiopia has also been taking a little more time on a case to case basis.

We continue to trust God's timing for our family. Meanwhile we are working on big transitions in our house to get ready for the big transition of traveling and bringing brother home - potty training (Eden has completed this one - even naps and nighttime!! No more diapers!!), moving the girls into the same room, Claire starting kindergarten in late August, Eden and I having some one-on-one time we've never had before, working on the baby's room. We are also continuing to read as much as possible on adoption and Ethiopia - I'm close to cooking my first Ethiopian dish! We are staying busy and anticipating a really great, fun summer together. Savoring each moment we have together.

Official April #

Our official April waitlist # is.....

Yipee!! That was 2 less than we thought we were - always a good surprise =) Things haven't seemed to slow down yet but we will feel it when all the kids at Hannah's Hope have referrals and everyone is waiting for court dates. No news on how the policy is really going into affect. We are just waiting and about to start heading up a garage sale, dog sitting, lawn watering and marathon/half marathon team gathering =) While we wait, I'm also reading a few books on adoption, finding international pediatricians, researching vaccinations and ready to start my ethiopian cooking! It'll be here before we know it (the power of positive thinking!)

March Numbers

In the midst of all the MOWA news, it has been a great time of referrals for our agency!! The past two months our official number was #47 and today we got news that our official March number is:

What is even better is we are unofficially #37!! There are three families that have gotten their referral and accepted but haven't completed all their paperwork for it to be reflected in the official number. That's almost half way and as of today, we have been on the waitlist for 5 months, 2 weeks and 4 days...but who's counting?! Can hardly believe it's almost been a year since we started this amazing journey. God has done some amazing things in us and transformed our hearts like I never even imagined... and He's no where near done!

We got an encouraging email from our agency. Looks like things are still a little up in the air but the slow down will probably not be as drastic as stated in the most recent policy. Here is an excerpt:

"As you know, over the past week AGCI has been working in collaboration with Joint Council, other licensed Adoption Service Providers in Ethiopia and the US Department of State to get clarity on the proposed changes instigated by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs that would have drastically reduced the number of adoptions processed by their office.

We have spent the entirety of this week and last connecting with our own Foreign Staff, participating in caucus calls led by Joint Council and the US Department of State, and independently collaborating with other Adoption Service Providers to get clear and accurate information concerning this matter. Your grace and patience has been so appreciated during this time! What we know as facts are:

-MOWA posted a notice indicating as of March 10th they would be reducing the number of adoptions processed through their office to 5 cases a day.

-Within days of this announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members from the ministry have been terminated.

Today we want to update you on the feedback we received yesterday from our foreign staff in Ethiopia, which was confirmed in a discussion with our adoption colleagues in a Joint Council caucus call later in the day.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full effect.

We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the recent posting by the US State Department this morning at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Based on the information we are receiving, MOWA is concentrating on processing the current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their jobs.

AGCI and our trusted colleagues look forward to collaborating to ensure adoptions move forward with the highest level of transparency possible. It is our commitment to carefully, ethically, and mindfully complete the adoption process on every level for orphaned children. Our hope is that as we do this in collaboration with other licensed agencies, we can also help to eliminate future concerns by MOWA and continue to build trust between their office and the adoption community at large."

AGCI has been amazing to work with through all of the changes! They have been wonderful about communicating and being very transparent. The listserv is beyond supportive and a lot of times my therapy as I see God working through the people He has connected me with.

Through all of this, the most common question asked is if we will be changing countries. Right now we feel SO strongly led to Ethiopia that we will not be changing countries no matter how long the wait it (unless they would completely close everything). Mulling over the idea of waiting possibly years has brought to mind the positives of how this will affect our family - we will have no problem saving for our second trip (that's what we are working on right now - isn't that amazing?!), the girls will be able to really remember and possibly be even more affected by being older when brother comes home, both girls will be in school (unless I need to go to homeschooling), we have the possibility of changing our parameters to adopt an older child (through our agency we have to keep birth order and 10 months difference so the older Eden gets, the older he can be) and the idea of an older child has been pressing on my heart more and more lately. We will see where God leads us as we continue to wait and pray for His plan to be clear to us.

February #

Our number didn't change this month - still sitting at #47 even though there was movement. We're not sure exactly what happened but numbers can change up or down. It could've been another family who was only on the girl or sibling list was added to the boy list and had their dossier in before we did. We were disappointed to see this number again but we continue to trust that God's timing is perfect for our family. He knows exactly who our son is - we are just so excited to know who he is too! There are a number of families traveling this weekend to bring their kids home so it will make new room for new kids to come into Hannah's Hope.

December #

Got our official email today with our December number:

Not much movement from November's 51 but that's part of the waiting game! Some months there are a lot of referrals and some there aren't. They are waiting for families to bring their kiddos home before they can bring more kids into Hannah's Hope (AGCI's transitioanl home). We thought we were #49 but found out a family already on the girls list was added to the boys list and they had their dossier approved before us so they bumped us up by one.

We are waiting patiently but I will say this is the first month I've really thought about this waiting game and where it will put us when we get to bring our little guy home. From the beginning I was praying that he would be home by next Christmas - a year away - but I'm not sure if that is realistic. We'll see... I'll keep praying and trusting that God's timing is perfect. Anything is possible with Him and His plan is better than we could ever imagine.