William & Charis

Thank you all for your prayers yesterday. The home study went great. The worst part of the home study is the build up to it. It is always nerve-racking when someone judges you. But, this really was not bad at all.

The social worker came to our home and interviewed each one of us separately. She asked questions about the respective makeup of our families, what our parents were like, and what our marriage is like. There was nothing to it. Now we just have to wait for her to finish writing it and to turn it in to our adoption agency.

We have also come to another big conclusion lately. We met with some friends a couple of weeks ago who adopted their first child from Ethiopia. It was great to talk to them and to hear about their experiences. But, also they re-introduced us to adoption agency we had looked over before.

Arise Adoptions is a small, local agency that only places kids from Ethiopia. Arise seems to be reliable, more affordable, and faster than any other option we have looked at. We love that is it Christian.  We love that it is local.  And, we love the community of support at Arise. So, we are excited to move ahead with our application.  Pray they accept us!

So, I guess that is another big announcement in this blog post:  we are adopting from Ethiopia.  I don’t think we have posted that on here yet.  We have had that in mind for a long time, so it is almost assumed for us now.  But, don’t think we have posted it on the blog.  So, Ethiopia it is!

Finally, we continue to be amazed with how the Lord is providing for our adoption. On Sunday, some friends of ours gave us a very generous gift for our adoption.  As it turns out, their gift is exactly what we need to cover our application to the U.S. Immigration office, our fingerprinting fees, and our application for Arise! What a gracious God we serve!

Please continue to pray for us. Now that the home study is complete, we can begin moving forward with the adoption agency and with grant applications. These are both very important for moving forward in this process.  Pray for speed and favor with everyone involved.  Thank you!