BIG NEWS!!!

We received our referral on Monday!!!

For those who aren't familiar with the adoption lingo, the "referral" is when you are officially matched with the child you are going to adopt.

We were sent some pictures and videos which I am not allowed to post (if I see you in person I can show you:), but he is absolutely adorable. I still tear up every time I look at his sweet face. It blows me away that God knew before He created this precious child, before this child became an orphan, before we even started this process and through all the bumps and curves in our adoption journey, that THIS is the child he was leading us to, that this specific little guy would be our son.

Of course now that we have a little son waiting for us, it is so hard to wait to meet him and to hold him and to bring him out of the orphanage and into our home and family. It kills me to be missing his babyhood milestones and not to be the one to hold him and kiss him when he cries and all those other things that mommies are supposed to do. Our paperwork is already with our attorney in Uganda, and there are some more paperwork steps we need to go through, but assuming all goes fairly smoothly, we are hoping/expecting to travel in January or February.

The estimated time in country for the adoption is 4-6 weeks. Scott and Javen and I will all go over for the first 7-14 days for court, and then because Scott can't miss that much work, he will come back to the states while the rest of us stay behind to wait for the paperwork and visas to be finished so that we can come home. I cannot wait for that day!

We are naming our little son Malachi. We have always loved that name, and I think it is so fitting for this baby because I just love the underlying theme of God's incredible faithfulness and abundant grace that resonates throughout the book of Malachi in the Bible. Malachi is believed to have been born around February of this year, so assuming that is fairly accurate, he will be about 10 months younger than Javen.

We covet your prayers over these next few months. We are of course praying overall for a fast and smooth process, safe and healthy travels, etc., but here are three specific things we are praying for right now . . .

-For Malachi's health and safety in the orphanage

-For the women who are loving on and caring for him in the orphanage (it's a Christian orphanage)

-For our paperwork to be processed quickly - in particular that the officer assigned to our case at the USCIS would move on it quickly.

Thank you for praying for and rejoicing with us - we can't wait to introduce Malachi to all of you!