Good Morning Friends and Family!

Psalm 105:1

¹ Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done. New Living Translation

We have great news! We have been assigned court dates! It is an amazing story!

Please know that we are so grateful for all of your prayers! It is to God's glory that

I can write this email this morning!

Just some background and a little explanation as to what the process will look like!

Sorry it's a long story but you do need the details!!

Our documents/papers went to the court for approval on/about July 29. At that point

we were praying that we would be assigned our court dates before the court shuts down

for recess. The recess starts August 6 and goes until the beginning of October. So you can

see why we were hoping to hear something. We could plan our flights (tentatively) and

take care of some other details.... In my mind it would have been such a sweet piece of

the whole pie! Well needless to say, the 6th of August came and went with no word

for us. I surrendered "my plan" to the Lord and resolved in my heart that this is the

way it has to be! God has a plan and He will be glorified through it! I was really ok with

waiting if that was what the Lord was doing! As I prayed I did have this conviction from

the Lord that was telling me "Just watch what I am going to do" Of course I wanted

so desperately to shout that from the roof tops! "Hey, the courts may be closed, but

God is still going to do something!!!" I think I told a few people of my thoughts but really

just have laid it to rest over the past couple of weeks.

On Monday, Roger and I were talking about him scheduling his last week of vacation. He

has to take it but can reschedule it if need be. So we talked about what the turn around time

might be once court opens again. Could we possibly be told of our court dates and have

only a few weeks to schedule flights and get there? I decided to talk with our agency on Tuesday and find out any info that I could. Basically, yes, it could happen but most likely there would

be a bigger gap in the time span between finding out and actually traveling. We talked about the time table and ended up in a place of "waiting". I am good with waiting for what is best...I just have a hard time sometimes when I think about us being here and Bedilu being there.....just waiting! That said, Roger was going to give up (switch) a week that he already had scheduled. The week of deer hunting. He decided that he probably wouldn't go for the whole week. So that would open that week for someone(a lot of guys want that week, especially one guy he works with) and then he would reschedule both weeks earlier in the fall.

Now, fast forward to Wednesday! As I was working on an email to someone I received one from our case manager from our agency! The subject line read~ Congratulations on receiving court dates! I looked at it and said, out loud, oh my no way.... what ..... oh my....I can't believe it!!! The kids said "what??" I told them "we have court dates!!!" I actually tried to check to see if we received this email by mistake..... how could this be?, we just talked yesterday about it being October before we would know anymore! I didn't realize it at the time but our case manager had also left a voice mail on my cell phone. I wish you all could hear it! She said that she had good news for us. WE had been assigned court dates. She was amazed! She said that the judge had been so busy the last week that the court was open, she never got to the 100 cases sitting on her desk. She decided to go back in and resolve those 100 cases so the work load wouldn't be so much when she came back! Amazing...a miracle! This just isn't supposed to happen!! It shouldn't have happened by our standards!!!!!! God is so faithful! She also said that this was unprecedented....it has never happened before that a judge would go back and work on cases after the court had closed! She was joyful as she left her message!! Oh I cannot express my love for God! I am in awe of how He speaks! That I could hear Him! Oh how awesome is He! A great reminder that He is always at work! Even when we don't see it... He is everywhere all of the time... we are not...we are only in one place at one time...and can only see what is right in front of us... That is why we look to Him and not to our circumstances! He is mighty in power!

Below I have copied the plan and what each court date involves! Also I have a prayer list! Thanks so much for all of your support!

Praise God!! You go God!!!!! I knew it!!!! I just knew He was going to do something!!!!! He did!!!

1 Samuel 3:11 (New International Version)

¹¹ And the LORD said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

· The first hearing date will be Thursday, October 21, 2010. At this time the Ministry of Women’s Affairs will submit their recommendation concerning your adoption to the court, and the judge will interview the responsible parties for relinquishing the child(ren) for adoption.

· Your second hearing date is scheduled for Monday, November 22, 2010. At this time prospective adoptive parents need to be present in Addis Ababa to give consent to the adoption before the judge. There is some flexibility with this date if it creates a conflict for you, but you must request an alternate date from the court and wait for a response.

Prayer Requests

~Please pray for Bedilu! That God would prepare his little heart to meet us! That our hearts would melt together when we meet! He might be scared...pray for peace for him!

~Please pray that we pass our court date on October 21st! If/when we pass this date we will be able to confirm our flights and prepare for out trip!

~Please pray as we continue to contemplate taking Sam and Jacob with us on the first trip! Lots to consider and think about where they are concerned. Pray for their hearts to be moved by the Lord!

~Please pray for our travel arrangements....that God would just line everything up!

~Please pray for other details to be taken care of..... vaccinations, visas, paperwork, etc.

~Please pray for all of the orphans in the world....we know that God has a plan for each and every one of them!

Love laurie

for the hebbe family!

Good Morning Everyone!

Well on July 6th 2010 we officially accepted a referral for a little boy.

His name is Bedilu Soddo. He is about 3 years old.

Oh my heart hurts for him....he was found by police in March and

brought to the orphanage in Soddo. He was apparently abandoned.

Not sure why....

He is 35 inches tall and about 35 lbs.

Amazing to see how God has put all of the pieces together in this whole

journey. I am taken back and overwhelmed by His goodness. I mean

really..... His Goodness. Our God is a Good God!

I won't have time to send more info out this week with us being at

Lifest but I wanted to share the news and give you all a pic. to hang

on the fridge! =)

Please continue to pray for us! Pray for Bedilu and all of the orphans

in the world....God is at work for them all of the time!

Dear family and friends!

 

Just wanted to give you a quick update.

Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia!  Yeah!

A big milestone on this journey!

 

All of the authentication and certifications went smoothly and

without trouble.  We should be approved (with a letter) by the

Citizen and Immigration Services Department by late this

week or early next week!  I am in contact with the officer

reviewing our case.

 

The next step is the referral stage!  That involves waiting! 

We will be offered children based on our preferences and

place in the process.  The agency really focuses on finding the

right family for each child...not so much on fulfilling our desires

just to have more children.  As it should be!  When we talk

with case managers about "preferences" we really have to take

a realistic look at what will be best for our family so that the

child(ren) will be placed in a home that is best for them! 

Alot of things fall into play when it comes to getting a referral.

Timing, gender, and especially age. We will see what the Lord

has in store for us!

 

Please continue to pray for us! We really do appreciate your

support so much!  I will keep you posted on our next steps

and any changes!

Hi everyone!

 

It seems like it has been quite a while since our last email.

Well we have reached a new stage in our adoption.  Our

dossier (documents, home study and approvals) are now

on their way to Washington.  They will first be authenticated

by the United States Department of State. Then they will

go to the Ethiopian Embassy for approval here.  That process

should take about 1 week.  Then the whole package will

head to North Carolina to our agency.  From there it will

be sent over to the agency office in Addis Abbaba. 

 

So far things have gone fairly smooth.  A few snags but nothing

too serious.  After the document stage we enter the referral stage.

This means that we wait for children to be presented to us

for adoption.  Because our age group is older ( 2 - 4 years) we

will most likely have opportunities sooner for children that are

"waiting children", as compared to people that want an infant

or a child under 1 year.

 

We are also in the process of gaining approval from the USCIS.

United States Citizen and Immigration Services Office.  This

is where we apply for approval to bring an orphan(s) into the

US.  Next week Friday we are schedule for our fingerprints to

be taken in Milwaukee.  They will use our fingerprints to do

background and criminal checks.  This is verify that we are

approved to bring children to the US and to our family!

 

It is funny....today as I was sending our dossier off I was thinking

about how fast things changed for us.  For so many years I didn't

understand how or why I had the desire for more children.  Why

was my heart longing for this and yet my husband wasn't on the

same page as me....I didn't think he was even reading the same book.

But the Lord is good. Even when we don't see what He is doing...

He is always at work.  He has it all planned out.  And we wouldn't

want it any other way.  Just at the right time for Him, my husband

came around.  All because the Lord pulled the release!  He knew

what needed to happen and where our hearts needed to be and

what child(ren) were to become a part of our family...all in His

timing.  There isn't anything that isn't under the timing and sovereignty

of the Lord!  Praise Him!

 

We appreciate your prayers more than you will ever know!  Please continue

to think of us as you pray!

Please pray for:

• The processing of our dossier!  Complete and uncomplicated, no snags unless                      it brings more glory to God!
• The orphans in Ethiopia and all over the world!  God cares for the orphans and the widows! He has a plan for everyone of them!
• The child(ren) that will become a part of our family, their safety, their health and their healing of the possible loss of parents.
• Our family to join together in preparation for this addition.  Sam and Jacob haven't really invested yet...as I have done most of the leg work.  It will become a reality soon for them when they start to see pictures and hear of the lives of waiting children.
• Praise God for the friends and support  that He has provided our family!
• Please pray for peace and complete trust in the Lord to provide all things required for the adoption!

As we wait we take comfort and confidence in God's Word

1 Samuel 12:16 (New International Version)

 ¹⁶ "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about
to do before your eyes!

We will keep you posted on future updates!

Dear friends and family,

We are excited to share some news with you! Some of you may already know but for those of you who don't hang on!

Roger and I are going to adopt a child or sibling group from Ethiopia.

Most of you know that I have always wanted more children after we had Sam and Jacob. Roger was convinced that he (we) were done. I think that I have been praying about this for about 10 years. Funny thing happened....when I stopped talking about it and let the Lord do the talking my husband responded in a huge way! Amazing!

Our hearts were both led to children in Ethiopia! Really through different avenues. Once Roger gave me the ok to do some investigating I came to Ethiopia and fell in love with the children there. For Roger it was a bit different. He felt led to adopt from a country where the children might not be able to know Jesus. Ethiopia has several major religions but people/missionaries have been persecuted for sharing their faith in Jesus. So while I continued to give him information on the different countries and the domestic adoption options, he already kind of knew in his heart that Ethiopia was the place.

The process for international adoption can be a long one. There is initially a TON of paperwork and just about everything has to be certified, notarized and perfect! We have to be "approved" for adoption through a process called a Home Study. Our adoption agency is in North Carolina, Christian World Adoption and our home study agency is in Appleton. We pretty much have all of the paper work done and should have our home study completed by the end of next week. Then everything gets sent to the US for approval and then to the Ethiopian Embassy for approval.....after that it goes to Ethiopia to the agency office over there.

Then we wait......and wait......for a referral. That is where they find a child/ren that they think our family will be a good match for. We should get pictures and a description of the children.

We are open to a single child, siblings, and either boys or girls and are looking in the 2-4 yr. age range.

We will keep you all posted as things move along. We ask that you would pray for us in several ways.....

~please pray for our paperwork to be processed without any "glitches"

~please pray for the children that the Lord has planned for our family, their health and protection

~please pray for our family that God would prepare our hearts for these children

~please pray that we would trust God to be the one in control of all of this.....He is in control so we don't have to be!

~please pray for us to have patience in the wait!

We will keep updating as much as possible! If you have questions please feel free to email and ask!

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

peace,

Every Day is a Gift!
Roger & Laurie Hebbe