One Year Ago....

On October 10th, 2011, we sent in our first applications to start this journey. What a year it has been! A year where the Lord has taught us more about Himself and the Gospel than we ever could have imagined. A year of learning to trust the Lord when you have no control. A year full of highs and lows. A year of learning about how the Lord provides when you follow His calling. A year where we have learned about the amazing love and support of our family and friends. It has been a year we will never forget! And a year that we cannot wait to tell Aven about one day!

Our case was submitted and ACCEPTED to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this morning. Praise the Lord!!! What does that mean? That means that the Embassy will review our case and eventually clear us to come get her! We still dont know for sure when we will be going to get her. A few things will happen. We will get a couple more emails updated us on the progress of them reviewing our file. Then in a week or 2 they will more than likely schedule an interview with the person that found Aven when she was abandoned. The interview will take place probably 4 weeks from now. On the day of the interview we will get EITHER the "All clear" to come get her, or they will decide they need more information on her case and send her file to the USCIS office in Nairobi, Kenya. Usually that takes around 2 weeks to clear! So, our biggest prayer right now is that our file will not be sent to Nairobi. But most of all we are praying that the Embassy will clear us in record time! We are looking at 4-6 weeks more than likely. One of my sweet friends that has been walking this journey with me, was cleared by the Embassy last week after only one week and they did not request an interview with the "finder" of her child.....Just sayin'! It can be done! Who knows...maybe we will get the all clear in a week!  We are praying for each person that will look at our file! S

And lastly, Yesterday we got a call from an organization called Caroline's Promise. They are awarding us a grant of $2,500 towards our expenses to bring Aven home!! Praise God!