We so appreciate all of your prayers and we wanted to make sure that we tell you as much as we can share about what is happening here.  Basically, when we arrived at HOM (House of Moses) yesterday, we were told by the social worker there that in order for any of the children to be officially approved for adoption, some further research must be done.  Now, while that was sad to hear as we are eager to move through this process, we are not discouraged and we will continue to pursue our child.  We will continue to go to the orphanage each day and play with the children there (they are soooooo adorable!).  The social worker from the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and the social worker from HOM had a meeting today (a miracle in and of itself – we were initially told that meeting wouldn’t happen till Tuesday!) to discuss case files and we now have a meeting scheduled with the DSW social worker on Tuesday (Monday is Labour Day here).  Please pray that the social workers have wisdom and that they will conclude that the best way to care for one of these children would be for us to be their forever family.

By the River Thames & the London Eye

I’m sitting on the plane en-route to Lusaka. This is a ten hour flight that left at about 7pm in London an should arrive in Zambia around 6am there…definitely the longest flight any of us have ever been on! I should probably be sleeping…I think I might have slept about 1 or two hours on the flight last night and I know that tomorrow will be a full day…but I can’t even think about sleeping right now. In a few short days, I’m going to meet our child and welcome them into our family forever…I feel like I could jump out of my skin! My heart is racing a mile a minute. When I showered before getting on the plane yesterday, it felt eerily like the shower I took after my water broke with Jeremiah. I remember thinking…this is it…we’re going now…I’m going to meet my baby at the end of this! Well, while this adoption journey has been significantly different than when Jeremiah came into our family, but, at the end of this very long trip (at least I wasn’t in labor for 3 days…that would have been brutal) I get to meet my baby!

On a completely different note, we had a great time during our layover in London today. By the time we got out of the airport, we only had like 5 hours to explore, but it was really fun! We took the Underground to Westminster and we saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the River Thames, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and St. James Park, and Buckingham Palace, and even had time to sit down for a traditional lunch of fish and chips and shepherd’s pie. Now, given the Royal wedding is in 2 days in Westminster Abbey, we didnt get to see inside any of those places, but it was fun to give Steve and J their first glimpses. Yes, the wedding of the century really will be just that, given all the ground work we saw today!

My child, this process has been full to the brim with unknowns and even as we sit here now, we only have speculations of what the next few days will look like. But there is one thing that I am 100% sure of…I love you more than I can even describe and I can’t wait to hold you in my arms!

So, we could have easily spent today very depressed, having been looking forward to time with our families this weekend, but instead, we tried to remind ourselves that God is in control…even when things seem out of control.  This afternoon we trekked toward downtown St. Louis and made the obligatory “if you’re in St. Louis” pilgrimage to the Gateway Arch.  It is HUGE!  I have to admit…I didn’t really think it would be that big, but maybe it is just because it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a really big monument (we do live in FL now…there is nothing tall!).  We had a good time though, just walking through the park, enjoying time as a family of 3.

Last night, on our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel, we saw some pretty serious devastation…traffic lights completely bent over, guardrails wrapped around poles, downed trees, etc…but it was pitch dark, so I don’t think we really grasped the full scope of what had happened.  We knew that the airport was without power and parts of it had been destroyed, but had no idea how far-reaching the effects of the tornados really were. Until, we went to a nearby church tonight.  We pulled up to this mega church that had obviously bought out an entire strip mall and was using every inch of it well.  Lets be honest, there are certain expectations that go along with that…a thriving children’s program, lots of lighting effects, high quality music, etc.   Well, what we didn’t learn until we walked inside was that they had no power.  The sanctuary that seated about 2 thousand people was completely dark except for a few emergency lights up front.  It was hot in there and they had no children’s programming because of the lack of power.  My first thought was…we are tired, let’s just go back to the hotel and go to sleep.  Thankfully, we didn’t leave because this is where I really began to see a glimpse of why we are in St. Louis and not with our families this weekend.

First,we were reminded that church is not at all about “the show”.  It’s not about great lighting and slideshows and sound.  It’s not about seeing the people around you.  It’s about Christ and bowing before His throne in worship to the most high God.  Second, Easter is not about beautiful Easter outfits, baskets of candy, or egg hunts.  It is about celebrating the resurrection of our SAVIOR!  Third, we had the privilege of worshipping tonight with a church in the midst of suffering.  Instead of canceling services because there was no power and people in their community have lost their homes, they came in droves to worship with no frills. Worship tonight was not at all pretentious, it was pure and real and from the hearts of a people for whom many unknowns lie ahead.  I felt like God was allowing our understanding of disaster and devastation to come full circle.  We have spent significant time in post-Katrina New Orleans, but we were not there right after the storm, in the very beginning.  I feel like God wanted us to experience this natural disaster so we could gain even more insight into the lives of people we have ministered to.  It was not an accident that we happened to be here this weekend.  We knew that our journey to find our child would be an adventure and this is just the beginning.  So, while my first inclination was to be sad that we are not with our family or in Zambia to celebrate this Easter, I am thankful that the Lord has stripped away all of the glamor and has drawn me back to the reason for it all…Jesus!

I feel like the days are flying by and my to-do list is still a mile long!  But, today, in addition to celebrating Palm Sunday with our church family, we had the unique privilege of getting to send our friends, Esty and Andrew Downes, off to Uganda at the Sarasota airport.  There was quite the celebration at the airport as we prayed and encouraged this beautiful family.  Can’t wait to meet baby Rissa Downes who will hopefully make her US debut in a few short weeks!  What a blessing it has been and will be to walk this adoption journey with other families in our church…thank you, Lord, for orchestrating your perfect plan that was certainly not our plan!

So, we had a very exciting day yesterday! We confirmed where we are staying while in Lusaka, we got in contact with a girl in Lusaka who we think will be invaluable in helping us navigate our adoption, and we bought plane tickets. Yes, after weeks with absolutely nothing happening, all this happened in one day…thanks, God!

So, here’s the plan…next Friday we fly to Newark, NJ (yes, that is the closest we could get to Philadelphia and Friday is the closest we could fly to Tuesday when our flight actually leaves for London…oh well…we took it). We will stay the weekend with our family in Pennsylvania. The Larkins will be joining us in Philadelphia on Tuesday and we will all fly out Tuesday night (April 26th) to London. We get to London on the morning of the 27th, we will have 9 hours to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, grab lunch and get back to the airport for our flight to Lusaka on Wednesday night. We will finally get to Lusaka early Thursday morning, the 28th. I can’t believe that in 2 weeks we’ll get to finally be in the same city as our child!

So, please pray for us over the next 9 days as I transform an office into a nursery, pack, organize, clean, shop, make preparations to be gone for up to 4 months, plan the fall women’s retreat and give my undivided attention to our 2 year old who already is sensing that things are about to change in a big way! Yes, J, they are…but for the better!