Keeping Busy While We Wait

Updates:

• No travel date yet. 
• We painted and decorated "Grady's" room.  It looks so cute.  I'll post pictures later.
• The suitcase for the orphanage is full of clothing and small toys thanks to my sister's help.  THANK YOU Edith for your donations to Grady's orphanage.  I'll post pictures later.
• Madison and I went shopping for Grady's clothes.  We had a lot of fun looking for cute stuff.  I asked about 10 moms with little ones which size would best fit a 3.5 year old.  We ended up getting size 4 shirts and size 3 pants.  There was consensus among the moms that the shirts run small and the pants are just right.  We'll see once we try the clothes on him. 
• We have a name.  His first name will be his given name since it is all he has known for 3+ years.  We can not share it yet on-line for privacy issues with the country he is from which we can not share either. I can tell you that his name in Greek means - strong; manly; courageous.  His middle name will be Asher.  We will probably call him Asher.  The name Asher comes from the Hebrew origin.  The meaning of this name is:  fortunate; blessed; happy.  In the Old Testament, Asher was Jacob's 8th son.  He was promised a life blessed with abundance.  My prayer for our little Asher is that he too would be blessed with abundance...abundance of happiness and love.

Prayer Request:

• Continued prayers for funding our adoption
• Continued prayer for Asher while we try to get him home.
• Continued prayers for a travel date in December.
• The government is once again voting to stop adoptions in Asher's country.    Please pray that the vote will not affect special needs adoptions or adoption in progress.  The vote is suppose to take place the week of Dec. 13th.  Read details below regarding the vote according to embassy website.

"The ___ parliament is in the process of voting on a bill that would suspend all intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements with ___, including adoptions from the United States.  The bill passed a first reading and vote, but must still pass a second reading and be signed into law by the president.  The second reading could take place in the next few weeks.  If the bill passes the second reading, it may be signed into law as early as the end of 2010.  The draft bill appears to include suspension of all adoptions in progress. The Department will post updates as information becomes available."