A COURT DATE

So it has been A LONG time since I chatted on here about our family's adoption from Ghana.

The biggest and best news is that we just received a court date...OCTOBER 18th.  Please be in prayer for these things:

• Pray that the remaining costs for travelling are raised.  
• God is faithful and so far we have been able to pay all of the adoption ransom for our son.  We are still in need of our travel funds for the 2 trips to Ghana we will make in the next 4 months.  If you'd like to help, you can donate here.  Thank you.

• Pray that court will go smoothly and the judge will grant us a full and complete adoption.
• Pray that we will be able to submit our I600 form at the US Embassy in Ghana (This makes the rest of the "bringing him home process" go more smoothly.)
• Pray for the 10 days that we are in Ghana and our other children are here at home.
• Pray that we will bond with our son as he will be with us the entire time we are in Ghana.
• Pray that the time will go quickly until we can return to bring him home.  (typically 3-4 months)

Now for explaining about our son Emmanuel.

The last we shared here we were referred to a little boy named Noah.  A few months ago we learned that the area of Ghana that Noah lives in has been closed for adoptions.  After investigating this thoroughly and praying over it endlessly, our family decided to accept another referral. We are sad that Noah and the other children in his region will have to wait to be adopted, quite possibly for years.  But we know that God loves those children so much more than we do and He knows what is best for their lives.

So we accepted the referral of a little boy named Daniel.  In Ghana as they were setting our court date, one of Daniel's family members came and chose to adopt Daniel into their family.  We were surprised by this news, but rejoice that Daniel will have a loving family in his country.  

Within minutes we received a photo of our third referral, Emmanuel.  AND NO, we aren't making these names up.  These really our these little boys given names.  We laugh that they are all Biblical and that now we are adopting the Son of God.  We are sure this is NOT a coincidence, but further proof of the story that God is weaving in their lives and ours.

We didn't anticipate court this soon, but here we are.  Gabe and I will travel October 14-24 and have court, file our I600 at the Embassy, spend 10 days with Emmanuel, and then travel home.  Then we wait for the US government to determine that he can come home and we go back to Ghana and bring him home.  That wait is typically 3-4 months.

Throughout this process, amazingly, we have been filled with peace.  We have seen God work through our lives in adoption in the past.  We know that the winding path He is guiding us on leads to our son and for that fact we remain hopeful and steadfast.  God will not allow anyone but the son that He predetermined as a Brown from the beginning of time to enter our home.  Doesn't get much more peaceful than that.  He knows what He is doing and we rest in that.

As we have more information and are able to share it we will.  For now, please pray for our family and these times of transition.

We pray that you are able to rest in God's peace daily.