Introducing Ephrem!

We are so thrilled he is officially our son and can't wait to hold him. We are once again praising God for the way He has worked in this adoption.
If anyone has ANY travel suggestions/packing tips especially for toddlers please let me know. Did you take the malaria meds? Also, if you would like us to take pictures for you please email me at bevanryan@gmail.com.

It's Official!

Mary just called and we made it through court! We travel May 11th. Wow, that's fast!

Court Date!

Yesterday I noticed that another family had received a court date for April 22nd. I couldn't believe it. I told Brent I was going to pray that we too got a court date for next week. He told me not to get my hopes up. To which I replied, "My hopes are up! They were up for our referral and they are up for this too!" BTW I am a notorious pessimist. So, all this "hopes up" stuff is very unusual for me. I proceeded to do my quiet time and beg God in my prayer journal for a miracle: a court date next week. I was near tears as I drove to work...Knowing that it was possible, sensing that God was stirring this urgency in me to pray because He was about to move, feeling convicted for taking my eyes of God in comparing our journey to others, tired of comparing wait times, vowing to take a blogging/FBI fast for the week. This waiting thing is soooo much harder than I realized.
So, I'm sitting in my dyslexia training, checking my phone quietly every so often to see if Mary had called with news of our court date. It would be pretty unlikely that we would have a court date after only 12 days, as she told us to expect a wait of 1-3 months. But I had that stirring. The same stirring I felt about 2 weeks ago as I began to pray for a quick referral...I checked my phone at 2pm and there was a text from brent: "We have a court date!!! April 23rd!!!!" I couldn't believe it, but at the same time I could believe it. My God can do anything.
I've been learning about God's Sovreignty and how He uses our actions and prayers as a means to His ultimate end. I know that He stirred my heart to pray for a miracle because a miracle is what He had planned. Once again, I'm in awe and humbled at the way God has orchestrated our adoption process.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for for our little boy. We will continue to pray for his well-being, and a smooth court date (sometimes families do not make it through on the first round).
To God be the Glory!!!!

Cardboard Tears...

Here is a video our church played on Sunday. Many of the people in it are dear friends we met when we first started attending the Stone. These stories are amazing and encouraging. I can't help but think about our birthmother and how much I desperately hope and pray that she too will be able to "flip her cardboard sign over" one day and tell of God's healing in her life.

Cardboard Stories from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Referral!

Yesterday we got our referral call after waiting for exactly 3 months and 3 weeks. I'd been having a feeling it would come soon and was rather obsessive about it for the last few days. Everybody says the call comes when you least expect it. I thought that would be impossible. How are you never expecting it? But's it's true...At 5pm while I'm doing a Jilian (Biggest Loser) workout video I was only thinking of surviving the 27 minute workout torture I had subjected myself to. I was about 5 minutes in when the phone rang. I thought for sure it was brent. When I went to the phone and saw an (817)number I still didn't get it. Don't all referrals call from an unknown number? I decided to answer it anyway. It was Mary!! She asked me if this was a good time? was brent around? I couldn't believe it. As I'm talking to her I'm still completely out of breath from my workout. She then told us she had a referral and I started screaming on the phone.Then I called brent but he couldn't understand what I was saying b/c I was screaming. He just kept asking me if everything was ok. After this came a confusing few minutes as Brent and I tried to coordinate getting together to receive the referral info. He was supposed to go straight to band practice at 6 and 5pm traffic would be too bad for him to come home. So, I decided to go to his office. Of course Miley came as well (when I put her in her kennel to leave she started whining and barking, which she never does, so I let her go. It's her family too). Anyway, I raced to brent's office, we put Mary on speaker phone and learned all about our beautiful almost 19 month old boy!! I can't post pictures or any info. until after our court date. We're still in complete shock as this was a pretty quick referral time. We are praising God for this child and are once again in awe of His providence and goodness.
So, what now? Our court paperwork will be gathered and we will receive a court date in 1-3 months time. Hopefully we'll make it before the rainy season. We are so excited and humbled that God would give us the privilege of raising this amazing boy.
Praise His Name!