Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Raining In January



Well believe it or not it was raining in Northern Wisconsin this week. It's been unseasonably warm but I for one am not complaining. At the top you see a cute picture of Elizabeth from Christmas. Of course all my children are cute, but couldn't resist posting this one. Next you see the current status of our bathroom. It's functional and looks great - just waiting on the vanity and the trim... but hope to have that taken care of before we return from Liberia. Lastly we found a new vehicle for our expanding family. Our current van only seats 7, but since we are soon to be a family of 8, needed to find something to accomodate us. And we had been searching and pricing them for awhile, but when my current car started acting up, felt it was time to take care of that. It's meets our needs and had a good price, so Friday night we go to pick it up.

Please Pray * Please Pray * Please Pray

Since I last posted, Kim and I finally finished the last 4 credits of our 18 required by Wisconsin for adoption. We still don't have our Visa appt the week we are in Liberia, and unfortunately have heard several "not so good" rumors come out of Liberia regarding the US Embassy. Originally Alma (the US Consulate) was supposed to be on vacation from Jan 1 - 15. So we scheduled our bio family interview and received confirmation that it would be January 22nd. Then as the 1st approached we began to hear that her vacation was changed to the Jan 11 - 30. First we couldn't get confirmation, and then we couldn't find out whether they were going to continue with the scheduled appointments. We confirmed the new dates of the vacation were true, but an assistant was going to continue with the appointments. Then today we've received unconfirmed reports that the assistant's husband has died and so the assistant will be unavailable (understandaby so). Still trying to confirm the validity of this information which is a very, very difficult proposation we've found. I spent some time on the phone with an assistant to 8th Dist US Rep Steve Kagen who will be faxing the Embassy on our behalf to plead our need for these Visa appts. But if the Embassy truly becomes closed down for 2 1/2 weeks, there are a couple families who were scheduled to travel and get their children during that time. Now they will be pushed back and where does that leave us...... ON OUR KNEES. We have no where else to turn. The Lord will hear our cry, and in His perfect time Gabriella and Josiah WILL come home. The other kicker is that our Home Study expires on Feb 8th, the day we are supposed to be flying out of Liberia. If we don't come home with our children on that day, all of us will need new physicals, and our home will have to be re-certified.

So if you feel compelled to pray we would deeply appreciate it. We are trying so desperately to keep our eyes fixed on Him and not our situation. Thanks again for your faithfulness to us.

P.S. Our church has scheduled a special time of prayer for us and Josiah and Gabriella on Friday January 18th from 7:00 - 10:00. We are so excited about this opportunity to be encouraged and uplifted and lay it all before the Lord. It's open to everyone, so if you're within driving distance, hope you can make it.

7 comments:

Brandi said...

Praying with you! I hope there is someone who can find out what's really going on in Liberia right now! aaagh, I know how frustrating it is. . I spent a number of nights waking in the middle of the night to call and connection is horrible and SO hard to understand!

I love that your church family is doing a time of prayer, that brought tears to my eyes!

Julie Redman said...

we are praying along with you and we will when your church does also. glad to have your bathroom done? we are still fixing up 2 rooms in our house and hopefully will be done soon. your daughters pic is adorable.
julie

Becky Avella said...

Are you sure that you will need to update your homestudy? Our homestudy expires in February, too, but we were told that once you are finalized in the Liberian courts, you do not need to do an update to your homestudy. This is probably something you've already checked into, but I thought I'd just mention it.

I will be praying for you.

<>< Becky

Anonymous said...

Kim and Dale,

Why so hard??? We don't know. With both Nikita and Amar there was delays, "silence" and calls to congressmen. The "labor" was long and hard but so worth it. We are praying with you for a break through.
Your friends,
The Petermans

S and K said...

We'll be praying for you and with you from afar on the 18th!

Love,
Katy

missy said...

I'm going to mark the 18th on my calendar and pray extra hard with your church family. 3 of my girlfriends from church in Virginia did that for me while we were waiting for Levi. It was such a sweet time that I will never forget. I'm so happy that you have that support.

Not much longer now.

Love, Missy

missy said...

Praying extra for you today along with your church family. I pray it will be a time of sweetness, peace, communion and worship for your family. Maybe through it, someone else will hear the call to adopt.
Love, your friend,
Missy