We all have tickets,

but we don't know if we will get to use them. We are so hopeful that things work out this week that we purchased tickets for everyone. Joshua has a ticket to leave DRC on August 22nd and we have tickets to meet him in New York on August 23rd. The perfect situation is that our paperwork arrives by Friday. Worse case, our lawyer (who is traveling to bring home two other children) will do everything she can to work out the details with the Embassy and bring Joshua home.

This should be such an exciting time for us, but instead, it has been filled with deadlines and uncertainty. We are so out of control that all we can do is hope and pray that things work out. We have been so wrapped up in the details that I sometimes forget we may have a new child next week.

We are going to update our blog almost daily during this process. As of today, we need the following prayers and intentions for this week...

Wednesday, please pray for smooth travels for the families and patience in their hearts as they wait to meet their new children.

Friday, please pray specifically for safe travels to the orphanage and good news today. This is the most important day for us. Our lawyer will be contacting the Embassy to see if she can bring Josue to the capital and ultimately home. Please pray for a good decision. Pray the Embassy has compassion for our situation and allows us to bring Josue home with the paperwork they have. Pray our lawyer has the strength, mind fullness and courage to complete this process (she is awesome, we have no doubt!). Lubumbashi is 5 hours ahead, so keep that in mind during your intentions. Lastly, pray Joshua has a good meeting with the families and is receptive to them. They will be his family for the next week and we have no doubt that he will be well cared for.

This has been a complete roller coaster for us. We want to be excited and hopeful, but calm and realistic. We are taking one day at a time and will update our blog on Friday with the latest news. There are a lot of unknowns, but we are planning to travel to New York next Friday to bring Joshua home!!!