Our Dossier is en route to Ethiopia!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Galatians 5:9

That's one of our all-time favorite verses, one that we keep taped to the bathroom mirror, scribbled on our to-do lists and Daytimers, and written on sticky notes to each other. The Lord is obviously big on endurance. We're supposed to be able to grow in our ability to persevere in pursuits, and He in turn promises to make it pay off in spades.

That said, after all these months we have an exciting praise report to share. We prayed over, kissed, and sent off our Dossier to the adoption agency in early June!

Here are all the documents, and then the whole bundle ready to go:

Thank you for praying that this leg of the process would not be fraught with delays as we've experienced so far... We are thrilled that it was approved with ZERO corrections, amendments, or additions! Praise the Lord because that was no small miracle! From the adoption agency, it was sent to the state capitol for authentication and we were notified that on the 26th it was sent to Addis Ababa for translation! We are thrilled that this initial phase is finally finished.

Now the wait for a referral begins! We've been told that it will be 2-6 months. Christmas seems far off, but ultimately the timing is in Christ's hands.

Prayer requests:

1. First and foremost, pray for our precious little daughter to whom we've not yet been introduced. Pray for her health, her caregivers, her emotional well being, and for her birth family.
2. Please PRAY that our dossier is kept safe and nothing gets lost or damaged. We've asked the Lord to send angels along with that precious package.
3. Pray for Marg, Ricker, Jackie & Evangeline as they prepare their hearts for a little sister.
4. Lastly, please pray for us as we consider how we may contribute to the orphanage where our baby will live for a few months until we take her home. We're asking the Lord to show us what He wants us to do. Our original plan was to bring supplies and gifts when go there as a one time thing, but we're also thinking about committing to go back there on a mission trip with others to build needed facilities, or a school, or help care for children, or birth or adoptive families... who knows? So, please pray for us on that front, too.
   

Anyway, while all of this was going on, June was chock full of busy happenings:

Evangeline decided to walk for real, no more of this crawling and cruising bologna. Now she's tough to contain. Just in the last few days she's become a woman on the move! It's hysterical to see because she's such an itty bitty peanut for her age. She looks way too little to walk. A few weeks ago she still needed assistance, now she's g-o-n-e! Another fun item: Jackie WON his tennis tournament. WOO HOO! And, Marg graduated from 8th grade, so she is an official high schooler... How is that possible?!?

Our new little niece, Charlotte Ruby McClure, was born June 14th and she is such a muffin! Our brother and sister, Buddy and Becky, as well as nephews Johnny & Lincoln already adore little Charlie. And, Johnny's thrilled that he convinced his parents that "Woobie" should be his baby sister's name!

Our McClure family shared a very special birthday party for Papa's 88th on Father's Day. It was truly a delightful time with 52 of our family. We celebrated Papa's birthday along with Papa & Grams' 65th anniversary and Auntie Will's 60th birthday. What a happy, happy time!

We also enjoyed a couple of fun family field trips, one to see a stage play and the other to the San Diego Zoo with the Welch family.



Coolest news: our new teacher, Miss Briana, who is sharing homeschooling with Laurie started this month! Briana is a recent Biola grad who is on fire for Jesus, and we are SO thankful that the Lord has sent us this wonderful young woman.



As we've said the last few months, THANK YOU to those of you have continued to pray for our beloved grandparents Ray Ortlund, Anne Ortlund, and John McClure. Our God is in the business of miracles and we've already seen so many for our grandfolk. It's really wonderful! If you'd like an update on their improvement, leave us a message in the guestbook or email us.

Speaking of the guestbook, would you take a minute to sign ours? (Top right of this page) We're looking forward to sharing sweet messages from friends and family with our little daughter someday. Thank you!