TWO WEEKS!!!

I wish I could say I even looked that organized!  The truth is... I've been compliling packing lists, and creating packing lists, and reorganizing those packing lists, and creating shopping lists from those packing lists, and then breaking them down into each store's list.....  And so on.  But it's time - it's time I get TO the ACTUAL PACKING!

I can't even believe that two weeks from TODAY we will be getting on a plane to AFRICA!  Two months of preparation and it always comes down to the wire with me.

At least the nursery is finished.  Oh wait!  We've only had TWO YEARS to work on that and it is STILL a work in progress (although it IS rather close to being finished and I am getting really excited to reveal it to y'all)!!!

The clock is tickin' and I have SO much to do, so I suppose I should get to it.  Before I do though....  Many of you have been asking how you can pray for us:

1) May 9th is our birth mother's court date!  They have switched this date around several times so please pray that she has enough time to GET the date and make arrangements to BE there.  Please pray for her as this will be a very difficult time, legally relinquishing her rights as a mother.  Please pray for her health - that no illnesses will prevent her from making the long journey to Addis for this court date.  And please pray that all the necessary documents are there for this court date so that the ONLY thing the courts will be needing on May 23rd is our testimony.

2) Please pray for us as we prepare to travel, that we can organize our thoughts and prioritize our actions to get as much done as possible in the next two weeks.  Please also pray that we can prepare Monkey's heart for this separation.  Mama and Monkey have only had two nights apart EVER in his 2 1/2 years (and one of those was this last weekend).  I know that I'm not looking forward to it...but I'm an adult.  I can handle it.  I just am praying that I can plan enough activities to keep him busy enough at Grandma and Grandpa's house to prevent him from missing us TOO much.

3) We have our vaccination appointment tomorrow - please pray that we don't get any of the awful side effects that would put us out for a few (or several) days so that we can keep packing and spending some quality time with Monkey before we leave.

4) Please pray for our trip - that we will get REST on the flights, that I won't FREAK OUT (last international flight I had an anxiety attack) from my fear of flying, for safe travels, and for lots of AMAZING quality time and bonding with our new daughter!!!

5) Please pray for our MAY 23 COURT DATE!!!  We are asking for a MIRACLE!!!  Passing court is about a 50/50 chance and we are PLEADING with God that we can pass the first time in order to bring T home as soon as possible!  Please join us in prayer that that will be the case and that she will legally be our daughter BEFORE we head home to the USA.

6) Pray for T!!!  Our little lady has lost SOOO much in her short life already and is grieving in probably more ways than we know.  We are daily praying for her to develop a trusting relationship with the Special Mothers there to help her get through these next couple months, as well as eating well so that she can gain the necessary weight.  We pray that her heart will be open to us as her parents and that she will right away begin to trust us and bond with us as her parents.  We have been praying since day one that God would knit our hearts together in some crazy way that the moment we meet it would feel like mother and daughter rather than strangers.  Our lil T has a LOT of changes coming soon and we hope that she will begin to trust us as her CONSTANT in all the craziness.  We know that she is little, but we know that our God is GREATER and with HIM all things are possible.

Thank you so much for lifting us up and supporting us on this-life changing adventure friends!