I finally made contact with Life International on Tuesday and we received a matching grant for $2,500! God is so Good! We have been so richly blessed! I am so excited to see what God has done and to share it with Everyone! I am so happy that God has given me this incredible testimony to encourage others to know that the Lord cares, He has a perfect plan and even if His plan feels strange, scary, or simply impossible: He is ALL POWERFUL, knows your every need, cares deeply for you and is so faithful in His provision!

Life International
www.lifeintl.org

It is a SUPER mail day!!! Less than 12 hours after praying my way off the edge of crazy abyss, I opened the mailbox, once again at peace with God's timing, expecting some benign junk mail. Then in a beautifully simple cream envelop labeled Shoahannah's Hope came a huge answer to prayer! We will be recieving $3,000 from Steven Curtis Chapman's adoption grant!!! Thank you Lord for your provision, you are so faithful!

Shaohannah's Hope
www.shaohannahshope.org
Don't be afraid to apply if your adoption agency is not on their list of "preferred agencies." Our agency was not listed.

Okay I am getting close to the edge again... about to be swallowed whole by the abyss of impatience. My phone calls go unanswered and unreturned, schedules conflict, unfulfilled promises, NO GOOD MAIL! Another day with nothing. I have to say though that I am a bit proud of myself as I believe I have lasted an entire 13 days without freaking out... though I feel like the summer heat has started to fry my brain so that I just stare blankly all day long as the children play. Some times I think this gosh digity dog (excuse my language) lesson in patience is killing the neurotic "spunk" in me and the only way to make it through is to make myself numb. But thankfully, it all comes rising to the surface again when I see a little braided head with big beautiful brown eyes and a sweet, shy smile. This week I finally got to go to International House, a woman and children's meeting for refugees in the area. Most of the families are from counties in Africa around Ethiopia (Sudan, Somalia, and Chad). I had to hold back the tears as the little ones arrived, I thank God that even though I try to numb myself to get through, I still have a passion for His will... a daughter from Ethiopia. Every time a fight back a tear, in my heart the Holy Spirit reconfirms to me that this the path God has set out for our family. A path that I would never have dreamed of taking but I am so glad to have this adventure.

Torrey's grandfather passed away. His death has been very heavy on our hearts this week. He was a very healthy 74 year old. He had some dental work done a little while ago and got an infection which spread to his back and to his heart. He went to the hospital a week or so ago with a backache not knowing anything about the infection. The doctor put him on strong iv antibiotics and he went home. A few days later he suffered a stroke stemming from the infection in his heart. He fought for about a week... he was out of bed and even shaving giving us hope of a full recovery. Unfortunately, he suffered a seizure leading to his death.
We will very much miss him. His legacy as a loving, wise father and grandfather will live forever in our hearts. Please keep Grandma in your prayers.
You can leave a message for our family at this link:
http://www.legacy.com/FortWayne/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=88715581
Thank you Early Childhood and JBQ Parents for the flowers.
Thank you also to Bonar Group for the card and meal from Heavenly Ham.