SUBMITTED!!!

Hubby and I put a movie on after the kids went to bed last night and in usual fashion, I fell asleep on the couch!  I woke up a little after 2 AM and decided I better head to bed.  I grabbed my phone and followed the pattern as of late, opened my email app and pushed refresh, knowing that our future is hinging on an email.  It was 2:14 AM our time and 2 emails rang through - one of them was a Facebook notification and the other.....the other was what we had been waiting for!!!  I was SHOCKED and so incredibly excited to see our email from Embassy stating they had received our case - - we have been SUBMITTED to the US Embassy!  We have waited 6 weeks for our documents to make their way to the embassy and we are so very excited to be at this next step in the process.

So - NOW WHAT???  Our case has been submitted to the US embassy for processing.  We should hear in the next week or so that our case has been processed and ready for the next stage.  We are anticipating a BRI (Birth Relative Interview) which will take place a week or 2 after that and then we should be cleared to go pick up our son!!  We are hopeful to travel within the month!

We not only got submitted today which brings us a HUGE step closer to bringing our son home, but we also got copies of ALL of our documents that got turned in to Embassy.  Included was Nahome's birth certificate!!!!!  This document had a pic of his not so happy face(He looks very nervous), his name NAHOME JOSHUA KROHN, and us listed as his parents!!!!  Brought tears to my eyes to see it in black and white and so official!  It still feels so surreal that we are blessed to have him as our son - that God chose us to be his mama and daddy!

Please keep praying:
~ Pray that our paperwork is all complete and shows what it needs to show to move through the embassy process smoothly and quickly.

~ Pray for Nahome's mom as she will most likely have to make the long trip to Addis (again) to testify about her/our son (again).  Pray for her heart and her safety!

~ Pray for our hearts and minds as we wait.  Pray that He prepares our hearts and our kids' hearts (including Nahome's) for the changes to come!  Pray that the transition would go smoothly for everyone and that attachment would come quickly and healthily!

~ Pray for our finances - we are still recovering from taking our kiddos with us on the last trip.  We know that God will provide, we just aren't entirely sure what that looks like yet.  (If you'd like to help out don't forget we are the Give1Save1 fam until Sunday - head on over, make your donation, then spread the word - Give1Save1 - )

~ Please continue to pray that we would surrender every aspect of our family to God and His plan for our lives.  That we would be gracious followers of His will and that GOD would receive ALL of the GLORY as we walk along this crazy journey we call LIFE!