Isn't It Interesting

I never get tired of God showing up. Never.

On Sunday night, hundreds of you joined us in prayer for our daughter's adoption case. You prayed that she would feel loved. You prayed that her caregivers would have extra strength. And you prayed that we would get the necessary document to move our case forward this week.

Well, I got a call from the director of our agency's China program this morning letting me know that the in-country staff says we should have everything we need by the end of THIS WEEK.

You GUYS! Thank you for begging God alongside us.

I want to say that I cannot believe it, but I totally can.

As soon as I got off the phone with her, I called Adam to tell him the news and he said, "Isn't it interesting how as soon as we share what our prayer needs are, God moves?"

Yeah, it is interesting. It reminds me that God WANTS us to ask great big things of Him. He wants us to come running to Him. Over and over again in my life--especially since we began our first adoption process--I have seen God wait. I've seen Him wait until we reach out to the world and ask you to join us in prayer to do something HUGE.

And I might wonder why, but I think I know. When we ask Him to move in God-sized ways, and when we do it in front of people, He alone gets the glory for moving the mountain. I can't claim victory over this paperwork glitch. HE CAN. And He can claim that victory in front of everyone who joined us in prayer or even just read about what was going on this past Sunday night at 8:30.

That is how we are called to live our lives, dear friends. We have to throw the spotlight back on God. That is where it belongs. Our victories are due to His hands moving.

And we are so thankful to have the opportunity to see God toss mountain after mountain into the sea for the good of our family and the glory of His great and powerful name.

So we don't have the paper in hand, but we should get it this week. Please keep praying with us.

With love,
Baylor

Will You Pray With Us?

Well, I suppose it would not be an international adoption without a bump or two along the way. Sadly, we have hit a big one. Ten days ago, we received a letter in the mail from our immigration officer. It is the letter you do NOT want to get. It's called a Request For Evidence (RFE). Basically, it means that the immigration officer assigned to our family's case thinks something in our family's file is lacking and he has, therefore, requested further evidence before granting permission for our daughter to enter the country as a U.S. citizen.

At it's core, an RFE is a good thing because it is the United States doing its due diligence to ensure that children being placed for adoption do, in fact, need to be adopted. We fully support that. What is frustrating for us is that we feel like what immigration is asking for should have already been in our daughter's file. A clerical error, more or less...at least that is what we are hoping. I'm not going to go into any more detail as to what our officer is looking for, as that information is part of our daughter's story and not ours to share. But suffice it say that we are STUCK and a little nervous. Our case cannot move forward until our officer receives what he is asking for, and what he is asking for is a critically important piece of documentation.

An RFE is a HUGE setback because there is no definite time frame as to when it will be resolved. We were really hoping to get the documentation we need to move forward some time last week, but that did not happen.

So we are, once again, turning to you. We are asking you to pray with our family to help bring our daughter home. Each day our case is delayed is another day our daughter spends without a family. And that reality breaks our hearts.

Tonight at 8:30 CST we will be praying for the following things:

-That our daughter would feel safe and loved every single day
-That her caregivers would have extra energy and patience as they go about their work
-That we would receive the necessary documentation THIS WEEK in order to move our case forward

These are ENORMOUS prayers. Each one will take a miracle. I mean that. And I am certain it is no coincidence that our church's sermon this morning was all about connecting with God through prayer, how He knows what we need before we ask, how He is able to do all things. And the part that stuck with me the most: when we pray according to His will, it will be done. God's heart is to set the lonely in families, to be a Father to the fatherless. Scripture shouts these truths.

So will you pray with us? Will you pray and ask the Lord to move these mountains? If you can commit to joining us tonight, will you leave a comment below, or on Facebook or Instagram? We love to see how the Lord moves when we come together before Him.

Love,
Baylor

LOA!

We are so, so excited to share that we have received our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China! What does that mean? It means that we have been officially accepted by the government as Lucy's prospective adoptive parents. This is an ENORMOUS milestone for our family! 

So what now? 

Now we fill out another heap of forms to get the different approvals required. Yaaaaay paperwork! 

And, of course, the big question: When do we leave? Well, today our social worker said to expect travel in 2.5-3 months. So it looks like it will for sure be early summer when our family officially grows by one more precious soul. 

Adam and I are just stunned. This is all happening so quickly. And it is INSANE to type that about adding children to our family. We are thankful to the core to our great and glorious God for His provision in our family. And we are thankful for you, too. So many of you have encouraged and supported us along the way. You have prayed for us, spoken truth to us, cried with us, rejoiced with us, and reminded us of God's unwavering faithfulness. Thank you. 

Many of you have asked how you can help over the coming months. Here are some things we have going on: 

1. Prayer. We so desperately need your prayer. Please pray for our daughter, that she stays healthy, that she stays safe, that she feels love every single day, that God gives her peace and prepares her heart to join our family. Please pray for Bradley and Asher, that the Lord would prepare their hearts for this great big change, that they would continue to know how deeply we love and cherish them both. Please pray for us, that we would rest in God's peace during the next few months, that God would renew our strength for the first few months home. 

2. Yard Sale: If you are local to the Birmingham area, we are having a yard sale on April 14. If you have items you are looking to get rid of, we will take them off your hands! We are accepting any and all donations, so send us your junk! 

3. Donations: We shared last week that we are breaking into new territory with this adoption and doing something that is so uncomfortable for us: asking our community to prayerfully consider donating toward our adoption. And you all have been so amazing. In just a few short days, you have donated 10% of our remaining adoption costs. WOW! If you are interested in supporting us in this way, you can click HERE to be taken to our fundraising page. 

Today, we are celebrating being one step closer to our precious girl! 

With love, 

Baylor 

Big News and BIG Prayers

Well....

While at lunch today, I received the most glorious message from our case manager.

We are being submitted to Embassy this week!

{cue the running around like a crazy woman}

You might be asking yourself, "What does this mean?"

In order to bring Bradley home, we have "clear" the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia. This is a final approval of sorts. It is literally the LAST thing that happens before we can go get him. And our case is being submitted this week. This is a HUMONGOUS answer to our prayers. We have been missing that boy every second since we left him, and now we are SO CLOSE to being reunited.

So, you know I have to ask you to pray with us about this. Please join us TONIGHT at 8 CST to pray over this next step in our journey toward having Bradley home with us of good.

Please pray that:

-Our case would be submitted on time and without incident.

-Our case would clear IMMEDIATELY (like within 24 hours)

-We can book our plane tickets right away

-Bradley comes home on or before his first birthday, July 19

These are big prayers, friends. In order for us to be at our Embassy interview next week, we have to clear right away. Please pray to Jesus that this will happen. If it does, our little man will have his first birthday at home with his mom and dad. I think he has earned it.

As always, if you can pray with us tonight, please leave a comment below, on Facebook or via email. We would love to be able to thank God for you.

With deep love and great joy,
Baylor

Becoming a Bold Pray-er

If you are at all like me, then there might be times in your life when you are afraid to pray. It sounds ridiculous, but I found myself feeling that way more than once on this journey to our son. You see, I had begged God to make me a mother for so long -- years-- and it didn't appear to be happening. 

The result, for me for awhile, was a severely weakened prayer life. 

I knew that God was hearing me, but I didn't see anything happening. So over the course of months and then years, my prayers became quieter. More timid. Weaker. Sometimes they were barely whispers. 

I reasoned with myself that if I wasn't really asking for anything major, then I wouldn't be disappointed when nothing major happened. Oh, how I cringe when typing that truth for you all to see. But, if my thinking is right, then maybe you, too, have felt this way at some point. You may feel that it is somehow safer to pray wimpy little prayers that don't really require God to demonstrate His mighty power.

Well, I want to encourage you (as a rehabilitated prayer wimp myself) to let that go. I beg you to let it go. 

We serve a great, BIG, mighty God. He designed and created the entire universe. He holds planets in orbit and still has time to paint the flowers. All of these details, literally EVERYTHING WE SEE, are resting in the palm of His righteous hand. And this very same God is holding you and me. More than that, He actually knows us. Knows the desires and longings of our hearts. Knows when we hurt and when we triumph. But most importantly, He knows what is the very best for us AND HE WANTS THE VERY BEST FOR US. 

The problem is that sometimes my best and God's best are not the same (NOTE: His best is always better than mine). So when my prayers aren't being answered in the way I feel they should be, I like to throw a little pity party or maybe a temper tantrum. I'm too quick to feel ignored, forgotten or left behind. I'm too quick to forget that the Lord can see so much more than I will ever be able to and that He alone is WORTHY of my trust. 

I look at our journey to Bradley, and there is a part of me that wants to shout: COULDN'T THIS HAVE GONE A LITTLE FASTER, LORD? I MEAN, WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SWEET CHILD FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS! 

Very gracious, no?

That part of me is inclined to feel angry, frustrated and impatient with what God is doing in my life. But then I look at who I am now compared to who I was when we started down this road. And as I look back down the path, I see that the Lord has used this incredible this called adoption to help me see Him more clearly than I ever have. 

He took away every other support I could have managed to prop myself up on till only He remained. And for a good, long while I retreated into that prayer wimpy-ness. I didn't want to be hurt by another "No" from God. 

But little by little, bit by bit, the Lord restored my faith, my trust in Him, my {now} rock solid belief that He is exactly who He says He is. Through that, I have come to learn that I can ask BIG things of my BIG God. He can handle it. In fact, I rather think He delights in it when we ask for something enormous. Why? IT SHOWS THAT WE BELIEVE HE CAN DO IT. 

What better demonstration of trust in someone than to ask that person for help? When I am carrying something that is too heavy for me and I start to lose my grip, I call out to Adam and beg him to get his rear end over here and help me. Why do I do that? He is physically FAR more powerful than I am. I trust in his ability to carry something that is too heavy for me. When I would type emails to parents and I wanted to make sure my words and tone were right, I would ask Anne Carter, the other English teacher on the hall. Why? I trust her ability to advise me. 

So when I have a problem that is far to big for me, doesn't it stand to reason that I should go the the One who is INFINITELY more powerful and more able than I could ever be? Not only that, but I also know that He loves me and will do what is best for me. 

This newfound prayer boldness does come with a catch, though. Bold praying does not guarantee the result you want. Not at all. But when we absolutely trust the One we are asking, we can rest confidently that a "No" is just the placeholder for a bigger and better "Yes." God is not out to crush us or string us along with false hope. He LONGS to be gracious to us, but He also knows more than we do. And so we have to trust that His answers, whatever they may be, are coming from a place of love. 

And ask others to pray with you and for you. I could not count the number of people who have prayed for us at different points along this road. Our families, our small group, spiritual mentors, friends. The list could go on forever. Be bold in asking people to surround you with prayer. I have seen the most amazing things happen when I have been brave enough to really put our needs out there and specifically ask for prayer. Look HERE to see what I mean. It's really quite unbelievable. 

So I want to encourage you to press in and press on if you are praying through something tough. Hang in there and stay faithful. God is not ignoring you. He has not abandoned you. He is working all things together for your good. Seek His face and you will find Him. 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him."

Matthew 7:7-11

Love, 

Baylor 

Do You Want to Go to Africa?

About a year ago, Beth Moore did a promotion on several of her books where you could download them for free if you had a Kindle. It was like 8-10 books. Ummm...yes, please. So I downloaded them all and then proceeded to let them sit, unread, on my Kindle. Being a middle school English teacher doesn't leave a ton of time for leisure reading. But yesterday, I decided to start one of them.

Believing God.

She writes about the difference between believing in God (merely that He does exist) and actually believing God (that He is who He says He is). In the first few chapters she tells the reader that she has prayed something very specific for those who read the book. She has prayed that God would do something miraculous in the lives of the readers early on in their journey with the text to remind the reader of God's might and that He is exactly who He says He is.

I read that yesterday. The same day that we set aside each month (the 19th) to pray specifically for Bradley all day long. And I had been pleading with God. Begging Him to do a mighty work so that we could meet our boy soon.

Those same prayers kept me from easily drifting off to sleep last night and kept me in bed longer than usual this morning.

And while I was still laying there (scrolling through #textswithmymom on Instagram, in case you need a good laugh), my phone rang.

It was Lesley, our case manager. I sat bolt upright in bed.

Me: "Hello?"

Lesley: "Hi, Baylor. How are you?"

Me: "I think that depends on what you are about to say to me."

Lesley: "Do you want to go to Africa?"

Me (through lots of tears): "I really, really do!"

So guess what, people?

WE ARE GOING TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET OUR SON!

The call came at 9 this morning, and I am still shaking.

Oh, but for God's goodness and grace! I posted YESTERDAY asking you to pray. God brought me to a book that I had at my fingertips for more than a year YESTERDAY. We prayed for Bradley all day YESTERDAY.

Oh, my heart. How big and how great our God is.

Adam, of course, was at work, and I was not about to break this news over the phone. So with VERY shaky hands, I attempted to iron a shirt and put on some eyeliner (I'm not looking my best) to drive to the hospital to tell him.

And, as the Lord would have it, several of his wonderful co-workers were back in the offices, and he was not. So I quickly explained what was going on, and they paged him back and hid around the office with cameras.

And then... This...

So we are leaving for Ethiopia in three weeks. And we will finally get to hold the boy we have been praying for for more than three years.

My heart is full.

"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 

'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' 

and does not doubt in their heart, 

but believes that what they say will happen, 

it will be done for them." 

Mark 11:23 

Love, 

Baylor 

Ten

Today is a hard day. This whole past week has actually been rough, but today especially. Bradley is ten months old today. That is ten months of his sweet life that we will never get back. Ten months that he has spent away from his family.

We have been his parents for six of those ten months, and sometimes (like today) it feels like we will always be parenting from afar.

Right now, we are waiting for an approval letter from MOWCYA (the branch of Ethiopia's federal government that deals with adoption/orphan care). Once we receive this letter, we will be issued a travel date four our court appearance. So much of my heart is so heavy and frustrated with all of this. We just want to be with our son, and while we are so close, it feels so far away.

I know I have been doing this a lot lately, but I am going to ask you to pray for us and for our son again. And I am going to ask you to pray for us today.

-Please pray that we will receive our MOWCYA today and our travel approval by the end of the week.

-Please pray that we travel in mid June so that Bradley can be home by his first birthday, in two months.

This is a big prayer. It is a bold one. But God is big and He asks us to bring Him our bold requests. So I am asking you to join with us in praying today, the day that our son turns ten months old, that he will be with his family soon.

Love,
Baylor

Humbled Awe

I am sitting on our back porch in humbled awe. We serve a great and powerful God.

Each morning, I come out hear to drink my cup (or two) of coffee and pray. As you probably know, most of my prayers center around a little boy on the other side of the world. I sit right here and ask God to protect him, love him and bring him home to us. I ask God to move our case forward so that our son can live with his family and know the deep love of his mom and dad.

And over the weekend, I asked you to join me in those same prayers. So many of you responded with emails, texts, Facebook massages. You shared that post with your friends. And then I believe hundreds of you linked arms with us on Sunday night to pray for Ethiopia, adoptive families and our case specifically.

Adam and I sat in Bradley's room and prayed these same things, too.

Dear friends, I received a message this morning that our preliminary hearing has been scheduled. And it is SOON.

I can't share the date here, but if you are just dying to know God's goodness, just send me an email. I'd love to tell you.

This isn't the hearing for which Adam and I will travel, but it is the next (and last) step to get to that point.

I don't have words. So many of you prayed with us and for us. You went to God on our behalf. And He answered in a POWERFUL way. All I can tell you is THANK YOU. Thank you for being part of his story. Thank you for giving of your time and your prayers for our family.

I would ask that you keep praying for Ethiopia as a nation and for our case specifically, that we will travel soon and have Bradley home by June 27.

It is impossible to ignore God's hand in this. Time and again in Scripture He tells us to call on Him, to cast our burdens on Him, to seek Him, to ask great things of Him. And He tells us to do these things so that He can be magnified and glorified. It can be tough to hang in there sometimes; I am a walking testament to that fact. But He can be trusted. He is good, and He loves us, even when (maybe especially when) life is looks impossible. That is Him setting the stage to do something incredible.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Malachi 3:10

Love, 

Baylor 

Please Pray with Me

As I have done so many, many times before, I am going to ask every person this post reaches to pray with me, with us. There is a group of adoptive parents who pray together on Sunday nights at 9:30 CST. We pray for all different things: families waiting on a referral, families waiting on paperwork, families waiting on court dates, families waiting to go get their children. Each of those things is so important, but you will notice an obviously common thread.

WAITING.

That is what SO much of the adoption process is about. And as you know, that is where we are right now, too. We are waiting on a preliminary hearing so that we can be in line for our own court appearance. So many steps to get to our boy.

So I want to ask you to join with us tomorrow {Sunday} night at 9:30 CST. I want to ask you to pray some VERY specific things, not just for us, but for all families and for Ethiopia.

-Last week, Ethiopia experienced a terrible tragedy when 30 Ethiopian Christians were killed by ISIS in the Middle East. Please pray for comfort for the people of Ethiopia, especially for the families of those who lost their lives for their faith. Pray that the Lord would use this event in a powerful way in Ethiopia, to open eyes and hearts to His truth and His redemption.

-Please pray for a deep sense of urgency in the government officials who process adoption paperwork. Ask God to lay it on their hearts that each piece of paper represents a child who is away from his/her family. And pray that that reality will spur these workers into swift action.

-Pray for the families who are waiting on all kinds of things: referrals, paperwork, hearings, travel. Ask God to give their hearts rest and peace.

-Please pray for our family specifically. We are struggling right now. Please pray that Bradley is safe and being well loved and cared for (all of our photo updates indicate that this is happening!). Pray for our family's case specifically, that we would be issued a preliminary court date this coming week. We are also praying (begging) that Bradley will be home with us by June 27, the day my brother-in-law gets married.

I have been praying and pleading, and I am asking you to join me. If you are on social media of any kind, please feel free to share this post with anyone you think will join us. We need every last prayer we can get. And if you can join us tomorrow night, please let me know somehow. Leave a comment, send me an email, anything. I need to pray and thank God for you.

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Many of us are familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, and these verses follows right on its heels. A dear friend put this chapter and these verses in context for me a few weeks ago. At the time that the Lord spoke these words through Jeremiah, Israel had been in captivity for decades, crying out for deliverance. And this was God's assurance to them. I can identify so much with that idea. I have felt like a captive to this process, to this time of waiting to be a mother for so many years. Crying out to God for deliverance all the while. I am praying, and I know He will listen. 

Love, 

Baylor 

BIG Prayers Tomorrow

Thank you SO much to every single one of you who has committed to praying for us and our son and our adoption tomorrow. Adam and I will be praying at 4 A.M. (CST) tomorrow morning if you would like to join us. But we will GLADLY take your prayers ANY TIME!

Here is what we are praying for:

-Courage for all parties involved, one in particular

-Compassion for all parties involved

-Swiftness in decision making

-GOD'S FAVOR. This one is the big ask.

Now, you are probably wondering, when will we know what comes of all this praying? And I don't have an answer for you. My guess is that it will be a few weeks. But believe me, dear friends, when I know, you will know.

Thank you for partnering with us and being willing to go before the throne of our Father on behalf of our sweet, sweet son. He has s one SERIOUS fighters in his corner. And by that, I mean YOU!

Love,
Baylor

We Need BIG Prayers

Hello, dear friends. My heart is so deeply awed and humbled by you and your commitment to us and our adoption over the last almost three years. When we set out on this journey on April 10, 2012, we had NO idea what this path would bring. And now here we are. Close. So, so close. And I need to ask for your partnership again. I need to ask you to pray with us and for us.

With adoption privacy regulations, I cannot share here exactly what is going on, but I can tell you that it has the potential to be hugely wonderful and to move us closer to our boy.

I am asking that you pray for God's favor in our life and in the life of our son. That the step we are currently on will go smoothly. That you will give courage and wisdom to all parties involved.

And I am asking that you pray these things really early on Monday morning. We will be praying at 4 A.M. here in Alabama, and we would love for you to join us. I know it's early. As someone who HIGHLY values her sleep, I am genuinely sorry about that. If that is not possible (no judgment here), I would ask that you pray on Sunday night.

If you can commit to doing this, I would love to hear from you. Our goal is to share with our son exactly how many people have been a part of his life and his story even before he came home. You can leave a comment or shoot me an email (bay.knott@gmail.com).

Thank you, friends.

Love,
Baylor

Obsessive

Apparently I'm obsessive. Who knew?

Oh, wait. You knew?

I feel like we are getting close, like REALLY close. And I have been obsessively checking my phone and my email all week this week. As in refreshing my email every three minutes and refusing to be anywhere without my phone, lest it ring and I not hear it. Some referrals went out last week, and based on those, it looks like it could be us VERY soon. My heart races and pounds just thinking about it. After all we have endured over the last two years and seven months on this adoption journey, I can hardly believe that this day is coming.

It is honestly a bit difficult to put this out there to you, to admit that I feel (for the first time…ever) like we are actually close. It's a risk. Because what if we aren't? What if things stall out again like they did exactly one year ago? What if we are waiting for months and months and months more? And the answer is this: I don't know. I don't know what it's going to look like or how long it is going to be. All I know is that I FEEL like it could be soon. And that is a first for me.

So I am petitioning you again, dear friends. Will you pray? REALLY pray?

Will you pray that it is soon? That I will be able to finally write the post that I have crafted in my head over and over again? That I will be able to share the best of news with you? That the day will come when there is one less (maybe two less) child(ren) in the world waiting for a family? That Adam and I will FINALLY know what it is like to look at a picture and say, "That is my child."?

I am trying so hard to trust God in the middle of this craziness, to rest the in the truth of His goodness. And I am so, so, SO ready for Him to write the next chapter in this beautiful story. I am ready to see the goodness of His promise come to fruition. Ready to love this little life. Ready to teach this little one all about the great God who brought us together.

"They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." 

Isaiah 61:3

Love, 

Baylor 

Praying Together

Hello, dear friends. Things have continued to be sloooooow on the adoption front. And it is doing a number on my heart. I want to see God move mountains! So I am going to ask you to join with us is a specific time of prayer this coming weekend. We would love for you to partner with us in the following way:

At 11:30 A.M. (CST) on Saturday, January 25, we invite you to pause with us and take 15 minutes to pray for the country of Ethiopia, for international adoption and for our family.

Prayer focuses (foci?) :

-For Ethiopian adoption officials, that God would soften their hearts and that they would move with a true sense of urgency to place children with their waiting families.

-For the children waiting to be matched, that God would protect them and let them know that they are loved and prayed for.

-For the waiting list this month, that referrals would go out before the end of January. I will be specifically praying for nine referrals before February 1.

-For waiting families, that God would give us the strength and faith we so deeply and desperately need.

-For our children, that God would somehow let them know that we love them and are trying so hard to get to them.

-For the birth parents of our children, that God would give them comfort in knowing that the children they brought into this world will always be loved and that they, the parents, will always be held in a place of honor in our home.

We believe in the power of prayer. And we would love for you to be a part of our plea to God this coming weekend. He listens when we cry out to Him, so let's cry together and loudly. Let's fall before the throne of God Almighty and ask Him to do something only He can do.

If you will be joining us in prayer on Saturday, please let us know. We would love to know about you and be able to thank God for you. You can leave a comment below or on Facebook, or you can email us.

"For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."
Matthew 18:20

Love,
Baylor

Praying for Paperwork

Every now and then, I like to come to you all with a specific prayer request and ask you to intercede for us or for our children on the other side of the world. Today I want to ask you to pray for something a little different.

I am asking, begging, pleading for your prayers over paperwork in Ethiopia.

In our monthly update last week, I told you that we have only moved three spots in the last four months. This has me feeling like the walls are closing in. I have talked to our program director and case manager in recent weeks and expressed this concern. We have been told that the issue now is simply waiting for documents. Let me explain what that means.

In order for a child to be eligible to be adopted, there is a mountain of documentation that must be both gathered and approved. During the court closure this year, some things about the pre-referral paperwork changed. In the long run, it will be better, but it does mean that things are going to  be slower at first. Basically, the government is requiring more paperwork up front, and then the court system (on the regional level) must approve all of the paperwork and ONLY THEN is an adoption agency presented with a referral for that child.

The hold up is happening at the pre-court approval phase.

Would you please pray with us that God would move what seem to be mountains and get this paperwork together? We are desperate for good news on this front, and it has been so long since we have has any. July was the last time we saw any real movement. We are weary. We are exhausted beyond words. We need you to pray with us that God would move in a powerful way.

Please pray that needed documents would be found and approved with great speed. Please pray that we would see that gush of referrals everyone says must be coming. Please pray, that my some true miracle, we see our children's faces before the end of the year.

I cannot thank you enough for your prayers. This has been a long journey, way longer than we thought it would be, and you have stuck with us. Thank you.

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks receives; 

the one who seeks finds; 

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Matthew 7:7

Love,
Baylor

A New Prayer

As we continue to move forward in this adoption journey, I am starting to sense a change in my prayers over this process. Up until very recently, my prayers had been very much about the process itself. That it would go quickly, that we would trust God, that we would move a certain number of spots, that we would see our children's faces soon. But now that we are getting closer to the top of the list, and we face the reality that our children are very likely alive and living somewhere in Ethiopia, I am starting to feel the need to pray differently. And this need manifested itself at an unusual time over the weekend.

I spent some time crying on my run this past Saturday. Every time I run, I try to pray. Usually, I spend time thanking God for all He has done and is doing in my life and praying for my friends and family. One thing I always do is pray for our children and their birthmother. I pray that God will protect them, let them know they are loved and wanted. I pray that He will somehow give our birthmother a sense of peace, that somehow she will know that the children she brought into this world will always be loved and cared for, no matter what, that she will know that I honor her and that as I raise the children she carried into this world that I will teach them to do the same.

This past Saturday, I felt the need to spend extended time in prayer for our kids. And I ended up praying a prayer that I never thought I would have to pray, a prayer I do not want to have to pray. A prayer that left me in tears.

I prayed that my children would be able to eat that day, that someone would bathe them, change them, that someone would hold them and comfort them, that they would not be alone or afraid, that no one would hurt them, that they would somehow know that their mother was praying for them with all her heart.

And I was completely overwhelmed by this prayer I had to pray. It is not one that any woman should ever have to pray. But it is a prayer I am compelled to pray. A prayer I will continue to pray until my children are home.

As these changes continued to be prompted in my mind and in my heart, I am starting to realize that we are about to enter into a season where I will have to trust God even more fully. And, honestly, I did not really know that was possible. I thought for sure that there was nothing else I could be asked to surrender, nothing else at all.

But now this.

My children are out there somewhere. Up until now, all of this had a very "one day" feel to it. I wasn't sure if our kids had been born yet, but at this point, they most likely have. They are living and breathing and have needs. But I don't know if those needs are being met. And so I am having to trust God with the very lives of our children. I am having to trust Him that they will be fed, changed, bathed, comforted, everything. And I have no control over it. I can't even know IF it is happening.

I just have to believe.

And so we enter into this new phase of trust, of deepening faith, of belief that God is exactly who He says He is.

So if you have been praying for us, and I know SO many of you have, would you please pray for our children? Please pray that they are taken care of, that they feel safe and loved, that they know we are coming just as soon as we can.

Love,
Baylor

Will You Continue to Pray with Me?

Ok, so I think we are SO close to sixteen referrals for the month of July. And when I say close, I mean that I am fairly certain we are sitting at FIFTEEN referrals right now.

Can you believe it?

We are just ONE away from the miracle we have been praying for this month!

Will you pray with me that between now and Thursday just one more referral goes out?

How amazing would it be to see God move like this? Especially after so many months of minuscule movement.

I am praying every single day, and I sincerely hope that you will join me.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7

Love,
Baylor