PEACE... and a promise!

PEACE....

It's Saturday morning, I have been thinking about this post for almost 4 days now. I know, nothing like getting right to it! Seems our lives have been full of that lately. But more than ever before, I am confident in God's opportune timing.

My whole life, I have been told over and over that God's timing is perfect. We have all heard that right? This year, those words, have become real and alive for me. Almost a year ago, we started down this road of adoption. Our goal: To bring a baby girl into our home as fast as we could. In reality, God had better timing. Things that should have taken 6 weeks took 4 months. Things that should have taken 1 day, took 6 weeks. The paperwork that was suppose to be done and ready to go, really wasn't after all. All of these things could have been a deterrent and been a frustration, I am not gonna lie to you, sometimes they were. But for the most part, I was at peace with how long things were taking.

Now that we are done, all we have left to do it wait... I am confident that God has planned this out perfect for our family. Things have changed in Ethiopia over the past year. We will now make two trips together to formally adopt Grace... and then return to pick her up a short time later.

The wait time for a referral went from 12-18 months to 6-8 months. The flights to Ethiopia have gone from $6000 round trip to about $1300 round trip.

You get the picture though... right? God planned for the delay in our paperwork... he planned for this to be a blessing to our family, instead of a stressful time.

More than anything, God has brought our family to a place of peace. With the realization that after asking and asking for peace, it hit me like a load of bricks! Ephesians 2:14 For HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE.... (emphasis mine) How can we be seeking and asking for something over and over again, when the moment we decided to follow Christ. To live our lives to honor Him, to accept His loving forgiveness... we had PEACE.

I am so grateful for that understanding and I am excited as we come to the second step in our adoption journey. This step is less work, but will require a great deal of PEACE. Waiting for a phone call asking us to accept the referral of a baby girl will seem like forever away, but in reality I am confident that God will use this time in our lives just as He used the last year. To prepare and make Himself more real, more known.

I am going to promise to blog more... there is my promise.

Some Prayer Requests

Hey ALL! I know its been a while and I am sorry for that... we are stuck in a paper trap of adoption and it seems like its never going to end! Ug.... Anyway, aside from that we are still responsible for loving, feeding, cleaning, etc. THREE already active boys! LOL... So we have been busy!

I am writing this afternoon because I could use some prayer as we move forward in sending out papers to Ethiopia. We have two papers left that need to be signed. One from the Police Department and one from my doctor.

Please be praying that these go quickly and smoothly. I have contacted the police department and no one seems to know what I am talking about and are very hesitant to sign anything in front of a notary. My doctor has also been less than helpful, lets just say this visit is not covered by insurance and they are charging me as much as they can to take three min to sign a paper. I am frustrated and a little discouraged but I am trying to stay motivated. Will you pray for me to stay motivated and not be discouraged?? It would mean the world to me!

Thanks again to everyone who has been getting coffee from our page.... http://justlovecoffee.com/search4grace

Its amazing and you are appreciated!

The Huff's *Posted today by the Momma*

Inspired this morning

Good Morning! I am feeling inspired this morning so I thought I would take a few moments before the kids get up and share where we are in the adoption of our baby girl Grace.

Well, we are still in the paperwork process! I know right, its so much paperwork. We have completed our Dossier (which is the packet that goes to Ethiopia) and have been so blessed to have a good friend do all the notary on it for free!! Thanks D.J.!! As soon as we get that back, make the copies, and send it to our social worker we are ready to go!! We will then have it authenticated by as many branches of the government you can think of, and then it will be off to Ethiopia!

I am a true believer in a God who if you ask, He will answer. So I am asking all my praying, God fearing, God honoring friends whom I am blessed to have, to pray with me. I want to pray specifically that God would move us through the referral process quickly. That although the standard wait time is over 12 months for a referral, that God would move in the situation and bring us our baby Grace quickly. Specifically that we would be able to travel before the end of this year to adopt her legally and bring her home. Thank you for doing this for our family and for Baby Grace. We love you all and are so thankful for all your support!

YIPPIE!!!

I am honored to announce that according to the United States Homeland Security we will be able to provide a stable and caring home for an orphan!!! What that means people, IS THAT WE ARE READY TO SEND ALL OUR DOCUMENTS TO ETHIOPIA!!!!

At this point, we have been cleared completely by the US Government, all billion departments of it, to bring a Non US Citizen into the country as a legally adopted child. It was such an amazing piece of mail to get today! The next step is to have a notary party, and hopefully to be able to send away all our documents Monday or Tuesday of next week to Ethiopia, where we will wait for a match... that is the part that we have no idea on the timing of it all. Looks like it still will be closer to the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011.

Some really great news also came last week, that attached to the National Health Care Bill, which I am not really a fan of for many reasons, on the very last page was a small miracle for our family. On the last page of a 906 page document, was the extension to the Adoption Credit that we had been so faithfully praying to continue. Some of you know, but most of you don't. There is a large Adoption Tax Credit that was set to expire at the end of 2010. With this amazing news, not only was it extended, it was increased by a few hundred dollars!! So thankful for that amazing gift of God providing for our family.

This was even more exciting, as it came on the heals of more news. This news was a little more shocking and not as exciting. With Ethiopia being a third world country, there are bound to be changes in the adoption program as they learn and grow within their own justice system. So in the last several weeks it has come to pass that not only will we have to travel TWICE to Ethiopia, once for the court date and once to pick her up, but BOTH of us will be required to go. So in our planning it went from one round trip ticket to for sure THREE and possibly FOUR! This was a huge shock to our budget and planning, but through it all God gave me such a peace about the change. He kept telling me, "I will provide that for you, don't stress"... and boy did HE!

Here is brief snap shot at what we have been so blessed with in the past few months, which I know was God laying the ground work for the change that was to take place in the financial planning of the adoption.

1. I had a job land in my lap! Not only is it something that I really enjoy doing, but I am blessed with an amazing boss who allows me to work from home most of the time. His generosity surpasses that of a boss, which is why for many years before this we have called him family. I am so blessed by the opportunity to stay with my boys, have a job I love, and provide financially towards the bringing my baby girl home to her momma.

2. My amazing, smart, handsome, hard working, handsome, driven, handsome... ok... ok... Ricky, had his year review at work, let me just say, I could not have been prouder. He could not have done any better since there was no room on the scale for him to get a higher score! I love this man, he lives his life to do God's work, to provide for his family, and to do all of that to best of his ability. I am so blessed to do life with him. So anyway, with that, comes a pay increase!!

3. Let me just say, Ricky also has an amazing boss who loves our family, and has requested from the head boss man, that my love be promoted to an Engineer 3 position!!

4. We have been in the process for over 9 months now to modify our home loan, tonight we got word that we were finally in the last stages of getting a modification and we soon would have a lower house payment with no damage to our credit score. Such a blessing and we are so indebted to Jimmy and the office for all their hard work on this long process. Thank you guys!!

So in short, well actually long, we have mostly good and some shocking news this last little bit.

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support through out coffee page !!!!

We love you all,

The Huffs *Written tonight by the Momma*

Some Additional News that has been posted

On our Agency Blog there has been a lot going on, so I thought I would up date ours too. About two weeks ago there were rumors floating around that Ethiopia would be changing their policy from only requiring parents to come once, when you pick up your child, to now have to go twice. This would be effective April 9th, 2010.... here is what the blog said on Friday....

Hi everyone -

The much hoped for meeting today between the adoption agencies and the Ethiopian court did not take place due to the court president (whoever that is?) not being around (not sure where he/she is) - the communication I received simply stated that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely due to the Court President not being available.

I was also told that there is now an "official" printed notice on the message board in the Court complex stating that as of April 9th, the new rule of requiring adoptive parents to be present for the court hearing, shall be put into place.

Please know that BCS will continue to advocate and try and work with the Ethiopian court and adoption judges to see if there is anything we can do to postpone and/or revise this new rule. We will keep you posted as we hear additional details.

Also, I will meet with Pam and Tendai once they get back in the country to see how this will affect our program and our in-process families.

Stay tuned and thanks again for your patience in this situation.

Please be praying for the additional funds for this second trip... it was not in the our original plan. We know that God is good, and that this is His plan. We are confident He will provide.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Brandi and Ricky

So many....

Tonight my heart is full of emotions...... because our adoption agency has two orphanages in Haiti, we have been well informed of the situation as it was unfolding. Both with the country of Haiti and with the process for the families who have been waiting month to adopt from Haiti. Tonight, as we learn the staggering number of children that will be left without families I just can hardly hold back the tears. I know God has called our family to bring Grace home from Ethiopia, there is not a doubt in my mind. So why do I feel my heart being called to bring another child home?

Our wait for Grace is looking like another year or more, these children need help now.... I just feel so overwhelmed.... so please as you think of us this week, please pray for clarity in our hearts.

Quick update on Grace... we are waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to approve our application still... seems like its taking forever!! But we did hear something that was exciting... friends of ours have family in Ethiopia near the orphanage where Grace will be from, and they are going and holding and loving on their friends babies while they are waiting to come to America... the thought that maybe someone we know and trust will be able to hold Grace and love on her brought mixed emotions from me... and I know when its time I will be grateful. At this moment though, I feel almost jealous of that time spent with my baby girl.... sounds weird I know, and I am praying for God to take away that feeling... thanks for praying my friends, its a process.

Paperwork, Paperwork and more Paperwork!!!

We got a call from our social worker yesterday, and our Homestudy is complete and has been singed off by the director of Bethany Christian Services. Which means.... that now it will be sent to Los Angeles to the Department of Homeland Security to hopefully meet up with our application to bring a non US citizen into the country. Once that is complete, and we receive yet another finger printing appointment (this will be 4 total) we will be well on our way to sending all our info to Ethiopia to be matched with our little girl!!! YA!!

I also wanted to answer a question that we have been getting a lot lately: Do we know who she is yet? And the answer to that is NO =( How it works is that once we have put a request in with the Ethiopian Government, we are then placed on a list. Once our name reaches somewhere close to the top of that list and we are matched with a little girl, then we will know as much as they know about her. Mind you, that could be very little. We will likely get a picture and some medical information but even that might not be accurate. So we are right now, just praying that no matter where she is, or rather WHO she is, that she is being protected by our loving Jesus.

Prayer Requests:

If you all could be praying that over the next two weeks, which will be a mad dash of paperwork, that is all goes smoothly? We have already been surprised by people's willingness to help once they learn that all of this jumping through hoops is to bring our baby girl to her forever family.

Ok so that's all for tonight!!

ps... maybe leave a shout out if you are following this?? Am I writing no one? LOL!