Updated Info

The past week has been a process of running 90 miles an hour and after a ton of work by our AMAZING POA- we will be leaving to pick up Judah and Levi on November 25th!!! Due to the kindness of another friend in Rwanda, we also know their official birthdays as well and they are truly almost twins. Levi was born January 15, 2009 and Judah was born January 16, 2009. It is so surreal to actually be leaving in just a week and a half. There is so much to do! My dear, wonderful friends planned a baby celebration for today and we have been so showered with love- THANK YOU!!! The boys are going to be so smothered with love- they don't even know what's coming:) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH we are so excited!!!

A little more info:)

We have decided on names!!! For those of you who have seen the pictures, the one with his mouth open will be Levi Kwizera Dorband- Levi means "joined together in harmony" in Hebrew and Kwizera means "confidence & trust" in Kinyarwanda. Baby boy number two will be Judah Uwimana Dorband- Judah means "praised" in Hebrew and Uwimana means "belongs to God" in Kinyarwanda.

Our POA was able to tell us that Judah was found on March 26, 2009 and the nuns believe that he was about one week old at the time. That makes his birthday somewhere around March 19, 2009. He is coming up on his 8 month "birthday". He did not have any additional information for us on Levi.

They are amazing and beautiful and Adam and I are so in love with them!!! It is truly beyond words. Please continue to pray for the other families awaiting their referrals as well as for the other processes that need to take place for us to bring them home!!!

Dorband Party of FOUR

With trembling hands I am writing to let you all know that we have two new additions to the Dorband family. We received a referral for two little boys this morning. It went into our spam!!! They have the most captivating eyes and the most amazing little toes. This moment feels so surreal and while I can't post them on a public forum until we pass court- here is a little sneak peak! The letter only gave their names- no birthdays or ages or anything. We will pass along the info as soon as we know!!! Thank you for walking with us on this crazy awesome adventure. Now we are focusing our prayers towards a NOVEMBER court date so we can bring them home.

Sweet Dreams

I dreamt about our kids last night. I LOVE it when I dream about them:) We were at Home of Hope picking them up and I had the impression that it was the first time we ever saw them. They introduced us to the first one, it was a boy and his name was Levi. He rested his head on my shoulder and we whispered, Ndagukunda in his ear. We walked over to the other crib, but I woke up before I saw anything...I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't...hopefully we will know more this week. Veronique actually e-mailed me on Saturday to say that referrals would be coming very soon. I hope very soon means Monday and we would so appreciate it if you would continue to pray for a November court date.

Rumors about God...

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but I never got around to it, so here it goes. We are entering a series in our youth group called Secondhand Jesus, which is based off of a book by Glenn Packiam called "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith." There is a passage in Job after God himself speaks where Job exclaims,

"I admit that I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand-from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry-forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." - Job 42:5-6

One of the biggest myths or rumors in the Christian faith (and one I hear frequently regarding this adoption process) is this, "Everything that happens is God's will." This simply is not true. My friend Jerusha Clark wrote a book titled The Life You Crave- the promise of discernment and in it she says, "Not only does this fallacy wrongly deny the dynamic relationship between God and man, but it also fails to match up with our daily experience. For instance, it is absolutely true that God wants none 'to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives,' as 2 Peter 3:9 (NCV) proclaims. But it's also true that many unrepentant people DO perish. While we don't fully understand it (and I don't think we ever will comprehend this on earth), there is an authentic interplay between God, mankind, and the actions individual men take."

Well said Jerusha! I cannot pretend to understand the mysteries of this relationship between God's will and man's actions, but I do know this. While God does not cause every circumstance, He can and will work in us through our circumstances to bring Him glory. I will continue to place my trust and hope in a God who loves me and gave His Son for me.

Hope Deferred Again

Ugh- this is what our POA just wrote to us. We were under the impression (from The Minister herself), that she was already done with the files and the information simply needed to be scanned into the computer. According to Veronique, this is not the case. This is what he wrote...

"I went to The Ministry today, as you know calling does not make things work accordingly, it seems like she will not send the referrals this weekend. It seems like The Minister has not approved the referrals and so they can't be sent to the parents. I am so sorry for the delays. She asked me to call her on Monday because Friday they work a half day."

I don't know why I am suprised- I should have expected this. Please continue to pray that we can secure a November court date.

I heard this quote this morning and I believe it is timely, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." -Corrie Ten Boom

Keep Praying!!!

Thanks to our wonderful network of blogging friends, this is the word on the street...please keep praying that all the technology works so Veronique can get the referrals out before the weekend.  We also need continued prayers for a NOVEMBER court date.

This is what she wrote:)

"POA feels confident that your referral will come this week and said it will probably be Friday.  Veronique has reassured her that she is doing everything she can to finish up these adoptions before the end of the year and she knows the courts are not open in December.  Veronique is traveling upcountry some this week but should be in the office Thursday or Friday."