Anyone that has gone through an adoption (domestic or international) knows that there are many times of uncertainty and times when delays and setbacks occur. Yesterday was one of those days...

As we were preparing some of our paperwork for travel we realized that Courtney's passport still had her maiden name.  Not sure if we just overlook it early on or if we thought it would be OK, but our adoption agency finally advised us to go ahead and get it amended.  So this we sent her passport in this morning for expedited processing and hope it gets back to us in time.  If it doesn't we'll be making a trip to Chicago to visit the Passport Agency.

In addition we learned that the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs was closed last week.  To get Noah's passport and visa going they need a letter from this Ministry in Ethiopia so that means no progress was made last week.  Our travel which was originally being planned for mid-May is now getting pushed in to late May.  We still don't have plane tickets bought so late May is still not certain.

Anyways, yesterday was a hard day for us.  Especially for Courtney as she was counting down the days to when she could see her baby boy.  It was Noah's 6 month birthday last Saturday, and every week Courtney thinks about how Noah is growing older and bigger without us!  We continue to trust in God and know that he is in the middle of all this and the timing when everything will happen will be perfect. 

On Sunday at church Pastor Tony talked about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Daniel 3.  I love how they respond when the king threatens to kill them by throwing them into a blazing furnace.  They say:

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

I love the part where they say "But even if he does not..." That is how we want to respond through this adoption process.  We know God is in the middle of it all, that He is placing Noah in our family and wants us to be his parents.  We know that God is a father to the fatherless and loves orphans and children.  We know from the bottom of our hearts that this adoption is what God wants for our life and that He will prove himself faithful and answer our prayers.  However, even if He does not answer our prayers or make this adoption happen, we will still choose to worship, love and serve Him with our entire lives.  We have given our lives to Him, and our love for Him surpases our love for each other and even the love we have for our baby boy in Ethiopia.