January 18, 2013 -- A pinch of good news....but we will take it!

A touch of good news! Ted called again this afternoon and talked with someone who said they are just waiting on 1 more stamp (chop) on our paperwork and our first decree should come sometime next week!!  Time will me our enemy to see if we can get the final decree and get out of here by the end of the month!  I am considering buying a plane ticket next week sometime and then I will cancel it at the last minute if we do get to leave here sooner!  I will have to pay a cancellation fee, but it's worth it at this point.  We are all looking forward to some good news next week!  And praying we get the decree by Tuesday!!

We have had many family, friends, and even strangers ask what they can specifically pray for so here is a list.
1. 1st decree to come asap!
2. final decree to come asap!
3. Pray for the final judge to move quickly and have compassion regarding our case
4.  Pray for the mail system to get them to us and not lose them (seriously).
5. Help all the paperwork to be properly done so there is no delay in the steps to come
6. Pray for the medical evaluation to go smooth, passport info to go smooth and to get a meeting quickly with the AIT over here.
7.  Pray for clarity for me (Lindsay) on whether to book a flight to Hong Kong or not??
8.  Pray for peace for the duration of this journey
9. Our families who are holding down the fort on so many levels right now and have continued to do so very unselfishly.

We truly cannot thank everyone enough for the prayers, thoughts and kind words being shown to us.  Thank you to the small group that came to our house and prayed around it - that meant the world to us.  Thank you to everyone who came to Elite and prayed throughout the night.  We heard there were over 200 people that attended it.  Thank you to our family members who have fasted and prayed on the hour, every hour for the past few days.  I can only imagine the exhaustion and intensity in your prayers.  We cannot even begin to describe the overwhelming feelings that we have each and every day.  We know God IS working in mighty ways, even though he seems very silent to us right now.  If there is anything we have learned in the past 2 years, it's that God is always working -even when we cannot see it.  We will continue to keep everyone posted as we hear any news. Thank you all and God Bless!

 Grayson smiling of course!

 Playing in the walker

 Love his face in this picture :) "Not another picture mom!"

 Starting to dig the foundation on the new orphanage!!

 building a make-shift office in the garage for the next year!...Don't ya love the pretty window they put in!

 Movin' some dirt!

My little penguin :)

 My little penguin sticking his tongue out!

 The Nanny and Grayson praying for our first decree to come!

Me washing the bottles at night.