knowing a little more of the unknown

A little adoption update for those of you who don't hear me gush on a daily basis:

• we're waiting on our January 2nd court date in Ethiopia. If our adoption passes court (it's not unusual for a misplaced paper or missing signature to cause court dates to be rescheduled/postponed), we hope to be able to travel to Ethiopia 3 weeks later to get Peanut!

• Peanut is about 6 years old. When we got our referral, we were thinking she's 5 or 6.....but with a couple of families meeting and interacting with her, we are getting the sense that she's probably 6 or 7 (or just really tall!)

• Friends from our adoption agency, the Browns, got to play with Peanut in Ethiopia a couple of weeks ago while they were picking up their handsome son, Paul, and we were excited to hear that Peanut knows a little bit of English - colors, body parts, animals, rooms, numbers, etc.
  

• The picture we have of Peanut was taken in denim capris and a sweatshirt, but we're hearing that she wears mostly dresses. I don't know if that's her preference, or out of necessity, but I need to find some more little girl dresses before we go!!
  

• Temperatures are in the 70's in Ethiopia right now....it will be lovely to travel during a cold, Illinois January!!

• We are VERY close to having all the money we need to get to Ethiopia and back!! I have always trusted that if God called us to this, He'd also provide a way to pay for it, but, holy crack, $20,000 is alot of money!! We're waiting to hear back on a grant from Gift of Adoption Fund (that'd be a great thing for you to pray about!!) that would hopefully finish up what we need. This adoption is going to be a huge testimony of how God provides!!
  

• The rooms are almost ready - - we Sophia and Sarah Jane have been sleeping in their own rooms for the last week (I know, I'll post pictures soon!! I keep forgetting to take pictures in the daylight)

That's it for now...I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be a blur!