For whatever reason, I can't title my posts any more without the text changing to a foreign language...if anyone knows anything about how to fix that let me know! It has been way too long since I've had the time to post an update about our adoption let alone life in general. I'll start with life in general:

Sahara and I are currently in Arizona. We left last Friday to come out here and visit my parents for a couple of days. Two weeks ago, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been an emotional and exhausting journey thus far. There are some remaining questions about the cancer that cannot be answered until her surgery this Thursday, May 8th. Right now, we know she will be having radiation 4-5 weeks after the surgery date. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as our family treds through lots of new water in many different ways. The one cool thing about this new journey is how God has already spoken to us through a golf ball...that's right a golf ball. My parents live on a golf course out here in Arizona. The first day Sahara and I were here, we went out back looking for golf balls. We were poking through a bush and came upon a bright pink golf ball. I picked it up and it had the breast cancer sympbol on it along with the letters "HOPE" stamped right in the middle. We brought it inside and showed it to Mom. She teared up, but God brought us hope through that pink golf ball!

Our adoption
We don't have any big updates on the adoption right now. Brian has been working hard on getting some reading assignments and summary's done for our caseworker while Sahara and I are gone. I'll be sending those in the mail once we get back to town on Wednesday. Our caseworker should have our home study report to us this week which will allow us to turn in our Immigration paper work to our government. At that point we'll be in a waiting period for a good 2-3 months.

We are continuing to learn and dream and hope for what God has in store for our family. We can't wait to someday hold this beautiful little Ethiopian beauty.

We'll continue to keep you posted as things move along. In the meantime, thanks for your prayers and for checking in.

Jen