Court Date!!!

(Mary's update from 11-11-10)

Nov. 11, 2010

For some reason we aren’t able to access Clint’s blog here in Ethiopia, but I will go ahead and give a report and we will post this update to facebook at least before we fly out tonight. Today is the much awaited court date!!

We arrived to our court appointment this morning along with five other families that are adopting through CHI. After walking up several sets of stairs, we arrived to a very crowded waiting room area feeling much anticipation and wondering how long this process would take. We’ve heard from other’s experiences it can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 hours, let’s just say that we were all really hoping for the best. Not too long after we had arrived, our group was notified that we were to leave and come back in the afternoon. Everyone felt a bit bummed, but at least we were able to go straight over to the Thomas Center to spend time with our kids until we were to return to court. We returned to the court at 2pm and were so happy to begin the wait for our names to be called. One family at a time was called in before the judge. Out of our 6 families, only 2 of families received the report: “it’s final”…. And PRAISE to the King of Kings we were so blessed to be one of those families!!!!!!!!!!! It’s FINAL!!!!!!!!! The Sprague family is legally a family of 8 now!!! Please be praying for the other families who were given a Nov. 19th date of waiting for a final approval letter from the MOWA.

All I can say is that it feels too good to be true…. I’m amazed! We are rejoicing and excited to board the plane tonight and start the journey back to Kansas. Our daughter is doing wonderful… we so enjoyed our time with her again today and got more video and pictures to mark this special day. Our son is still at the orphanage in Adama, but he will be transferred to the Thomas Center tomorrow along with another boy. Wish we could have stayed here just one more day to be there when he arrived, but know that very soon we will get to return to pick him up for good. Please be praying for him during this transition, that he would have favor with the nannies and other children at the Thomas Center. Pray for our safety in our flights home as well.

Once back in Kansas we will post some pics…. But for now, you’ll just have to wait a few more days to see the wonderful gifts the Father has just blessed our family with. We are overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord. May our lives always tell of the faithfulness of our God and bring HIM the honor and glory due His Name! His works are wonderful, we know that full well!!

Psalm 89:1 “I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.”