Would Love Your Prayers

10 days!!! We leave for Ethiopia in TEN days!!!

This will be the first of our two trips to Ethiopia. On this trip we will finally meet our son!!! We will spend several hours a day with him at our agency's Transitional Home, bonding with him and getting to know him. We can't wait to finally hold him in our arms! The rest of the time will be spent sight-seeing, touring, visiting orphanages and delivering donations.

Most importantly on this trip, we will go to court. On January 18, we will appear before an Ethiopian judge in the hopes of making Elias legally and officially our son!

We would love to ask for your prayers for our trip. Whenever our family comes to mind in the next two weeks, would you please lift us up in prayer? The following are some specific prayer requests we have...

1. Traveling mercies: Please pray that we will not have any unforeseen delays or missed flights and that we will be safe throughout our flights and the time spent traveling in Ethiopia.
2. Health: Please pray that we will all remain healthy and will adjust well to the time change. We are especially concerned for our seven-year-old, Emma, who will be going with us.
3. Bonding: Obviously Elias has not been falling in love with us like we have been with him over these last few months. As much as I'd like to picture our "Meetcha Day" in slow-motion like a movie with us running into each other's arms, I know this is pretty far from reality. The families who have met him have all described his as very reserved and subdued and several times he's even cried when he's been placed with these families to receive a care package. We know he has a happy, content, even silly side to him, but we also know it may take awhile before we're able to see it for ourselves. We have been told by the nannies that he is uncomfortable around new people, which is exactly who we are to him right now. Please join us in praying that his heart will be open to us and that we can begin bonding together. Please pray that he will warm up to us and that our time with him will plant the seeds for us to grow as a family.
4. Court: In order for our family to "pass" court, we will need several different factors to all be in place. This is excruciatingly difficult in a third-world country without the efficiency or urgency that we're used to here. Specifically, we need the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWA), to write a favorable letter of recommendation for our family. This coveted letter is rarely written on time, and the majority of families do not pass court on their first try because of this reason. We would love for you to join us in praying that our MOWA is written on time and in our file before the judge! We are so longing to hear the judge say, "He is yours!" Once we pass court, we can then be submitted to the embassy which is the final step to bringing Elias HOME. The longer it takes us to pass court, the longer we will have to wait to bring him home. Please, please pray that we are able to pass on our first try, on January 18.

Thank you so much for continuing to support our family through your prayers! We are so incredibly grateful!!

~The Herwehe family