Gotcha Day!

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares The Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you ...

Psalm 112:7 - They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in The Lord.  

Micah 7:7 - But as for me, I watch in hope for The Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.  

We got him!!!  Thank you to all of you that called out to The Lord on our behalf!  For those of you that haven't heard, we were fully expecting & anticipating to go straight to the orphanage after landing in Ethiopia yesterday (Aug 5th). We excitedly got off the plane, got our baggage, and were informed by someone from our agency that Micai had some sort of an epidemic...completely blindsided.  While we were blindsided though, there was a calm that came over me as I knew that the Lord wasn't. He alway goes before us. However, not knowing what it was, we were also told that the orphanage did not want him to leave that night. Again, it had never even dawned on me that this could be a possibility. We pulled up to the orphanage, and I felt sick.  We went in to see him and heartbreaking doesn't even begin to describe what we saw. Laying in his crib, he looked up at us with the most sick and helpless eyes I have ever seen.  I had imagined this day for so long and now I was experiencing a reality that was the furthest from it. Tears began to fill my eyes and it took everything in me to hold them back. I knew that me becoming a hysterical mess would do the situation no good. With God's strength, I went into "let's be grounded" mode :). We were all in agreement that it was the best decision for him to remain in the orphanage for the night.  We were only able to visit a half hour or so, because it was clear he was ready for bed. Beautiful peace set in as we walked away.  God is so gracious!  The thought that we would not be leaving Africa without him kept comforting me so much. We knew that this was God's timing and that He would see this through. One benefit was that were able to get some much needed rest last night though :)

We woke up this morning with high hopes.  I was reminded in my devotion & other scriptures that God had a plan, we needed to not fear bad news & trust, and that God heard our prayers.  We just needed to keep our eyes on The Lord...to not get overwhelmed by the situation but to just take the next step of obedience. We arrived to find him looking much better than the night before and fever free...praise The Lord!  We were praying for dramatic healing & so many of you were too...thank you!  God is so good!  We stayed the morning with him there, and felt that he was well enough to leave for good with us.  They gave us medicine to continue to give him, which we were so thankful for. We had an Embassy appointment at 1 this afternoon and all went great!  His visa will be ready to pick up tomorrow!  We came back to the guest house and took naps, a bath, & gave him a much needed haircut :). We had dinner with another adopting couple here, who were so great, and then it was clear he was ready for bed again. He is sleeping soundly in his pack and play right now, and we couldn't feel more blessed!  I don't know that it has officially sunk in yet. I just look at him in awe and amazement. While our "gotcha day" didn't go as we had planned, it was in God's complete control.  Still so beautiful and so ordained by our mighty & faithful God. I will close this post with a few pics from our day :)

This is me holding him in our new baby carrier in the orphanage this morning.  He fell alseep, and it was more than a precious moment :)

His first official haircut that we know of :) I know it's a little gross with the hair on the table, but we had to both be involved in the haircut, so it was kind of our only option to capture the moment :)

 And here is the sweet face that napped in our pack and play :) Can't wait to show him off to all of you!