Although truly at peace with the wait and God's sovereignty to redeem everything, we are also very upset at the mis-handling of our case right now. Our main agency appears just as frustrated as we are and we are hearing talk swirling about switching agencies, going to Ethiopia and lobbying in person, etc.
This is a little extra frustrating because wanting to do those things has been on my heart for quite a while. I watch JH play and run and love and I ache to watch E and Y grow now too. They are well taken care of and my mama heart is so grateful, but the truth is many mistakes have been made to keep them from home. I don't know how much longer we can stay silent and trust our agency to be our advocate. We are our children's best advocate and legally our hands are tied. I hope next week brings some concrete answers about our case.

Notice the cupcakes in the shower for lark? We had Oxacan chocolate and blueberry basil from an organic bakery in Chicago. Katie introduced me recently to bakerella and look at this blueberry basil cupcake recipe! I can't wait to try it.
blueberry basil cheesecake cupcakes
Of course if any of you want to try it and let me know how they taste that would be great too...

Harvey's first day went really well! He ran straight to the classroom and waited (impatiently) for the door to open at 9!
He said the best part was the slide, but it was too hot. He did great and stayed awake in the car the whole way home!

Harvey starts preschool tomorrow....

I expected 6 weeks of silence as of this past Friday regarding our kiddos... But we did receive an email today saying that even though courts are indeed closed, they are trying to push our kids through this week. Our coordinator is asking us to storm the gates with prayer and I am unsure of how secure our standing is right now wtih the orphanage transfer. I wish I could tell you more about the situation, but I don't understand how they are being heard this week. I am truly praying God will be glorified and still so thankful He has the clock in His hand. This week may be the week I become a mama to 3!!!!!!!!!!

A prayer our chilldren are learning in Ethiopia.

Thank you God
for this day.
We love you.
We need you.
Be with us.
Protect us.
Bless our food.
Bless our thoughts.
And guide us
in your way.
In Jesus' name
We pray
Amen.

At fun with the fleet in Farragut...

Just so you know...
I asked JH what he and the boy were doing when they were lined up infront of eachother legs spread and he said "I don't know, measuring our feet or somfin"
I asked what was he saying to the boy in the train picture "Oh, see that piece, I was telling him the hook was broken"
I can't believe he remembers all of this/loves to tell stories about himself :)
Our case may be heard tomorrow...They also think a judge will be hearing cases 2 days a week during closure. Stay tuned :)

Definitely one of the treats of being JH's mom is watching him make new friends wherever we go. He met this boy at a park in Chicago and he was so friendly and immediately offered to share his trains with Harvey. To this JH replied " Thank you that is so kind of you!" How adorable is that?

Here is a slide show from our baby shower in Chicago for L and baby A. You can follow their blog here to pray over them and with them. We had a sweet time celebrating the birth of A.

We had such a sweet time in Chicago. JH Loves N and S! Thanks C family!

Off to chicago to meet baby Asher. Please pray for him and his family. You can read all about them here http://bearramirez.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your continued prayers! Todays update is that court will indeed be closing in 10 days. They will be closed for 6 weeks during which nothing would happen for us. It is possible our case will be "randomly" heard in the next ten days, but we are still unsure of our missing paperwork. Hopefully we will find out about that soon.
A possible scenario now is October court date and November travel...

Sounds like the kids could be missing some paperwork.
We are content knowing God's plan for our family will not be hindered by this. I can't imagine trusting my sweet children to anyone else. Thanks for your continued prayers!