April 3,2009

Hello Friends!

As I begin this email I’m reminded of the popular quote “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray”(or something like that)….and so it goes in our case. As it turns out, the siblings that we were hoping to adopt, Priscilla and Emmanual, were taken out of the adoption program. We heard that their mother did not sign the papers to relinquish them for adoption. Our hearts were heavy upon this news several weeks ago, as we had felt emotionally attached to them so quickly. We continue to pray for them, knowing that our Father has other plans for their future and our own.

But God is GOOD…ALL the time, and His ways are higher than our ways. So after prayer, some family discussion, and a sense of God’s leading we’ve decided to move forward with another sibling pair, Emily Constance (10) and Jonathon (2). Their picture is attached! We are anxious and excited about welcoming these two lovely children into our home. Shayley is eager to have a sister who will be close in age and play games and dolls with her, and Reece is equally thrilled to have a younger brother (finally, someone for ME to boss around he’s probably thinking!).

We have finished submitting all of our paperwork now (homestudy, Ghana Dossier, immigration papers, etc etc) – can I get an AMEN!?! So now we wait…and wait…and wait. We wait to be approved by US immigration to bring an orphan into the States, we wait on the Ghana gov’t to approve us to adopt two of their orphans, you get the idea. So when will we be able to bring our kids home? There are several factors involved including the amount of work for both US and Ghana gov’t employees and number of people applying for adoption here and in Ghana will determine how quickly (or slowly) we will hear from them. But we are confident this is all in God’s hands and HIS timing.

With that all being said we could really use your prayers right now! First, we ask you to pray that GOD’s WILL be done, not ours – we are open to the fact that God can close doors in this process and this has been humbling for us. Please pray for our patience in this process as we continue to rely on God for guidance. You can pray for me (Rebekah) as I deal with doubt and fear, and I’m realizing that Faith is a much bigger word than it appears! Also pray for Emily Constance and Jonathon; we have heard and read that the conditions at Christ Outreach Orphanage are bleak, food is always scarce, many children sleep on the floor. Pray that God would soften their hearts and prepare them for a possible move from their culture and what they know as ‘their family’ in Ghana. We’ll leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit to reveal to us all as to what else we need prayer for in this journey J.

We don’t have a clear picture yet as to when we will travel to Ghana, but it may be as early as this spring/summer. We’ll keep you posted on how you can support and pray for us and the beautiful kids we hope to bring home. Thank you for all your encouraging words, emails, and questions…we promise to keep you posted along the way.

In His adventure together,
Mo, Bekah, Shayley & Reece

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31