Jehovah Jirah

Last Thursday we had our first court appearance.  There were so many emotions swirling around leading up to last week.  I was anxious and then I'd be at peace.  I would take it all back and be emotional and then I would surrender and trust.  It was nuts.  But last Monday we began the week with a huge sense of peace and it stayed with us... and is still with us.  We had finally allowed our hearts to work through the "what if's" and came out with the decision that we were all in... no matter what.

Thursday morning we woke and took our time getting ready, reading the Word and just laughing together.  We have decided that if people could get a glimpse of our time when it's just the two of us you would not for one second think there was anything remotely cool about us... we are such nerds...

Anyway, I digress.  So we headed out to court, spirits high and feeling a peace that truly passes understanding.  Everything we had been told to expect was that we would really get no answers... and our life would be scrutinized from now until the next  hearing... we were ready. 

We arrived and met up with the girls Grandma to wait for our turn.  We waited and waited and had some fun just talking about the girls and planning out the holidays. 

Finally it was our turn to go back.  I still felt so peaceful even as I had no idea what was about to happen.  Our lawyer walked back with us to a room where a social worker was waiting.  I was expecting a tired, overworked, cranky woman who would have no interest in our case other than to get us out as quickly as possible... I was SO wrong.  When we got in the room there was the sweetest girl in there.  She was excited about what we were doing (miracle), answered all our questions and even wanted to see pictures of the girls.  She put us at ease and was able to show us the next step which is SO much easier than we had anticipated. 

We had been told we would have a social worker digging into our life for the next month... the Christmas at Liberty month... the busiest time of the year.  Well she informed us since all parties are in agreement that we won't have to have that happen.  Score one for us!!  She also informed us that because of the situation with the girls birth mom (which we're not explaining here) and several other factors including who our judge is that she was 99% sure our case would go through with no problems. 

Well can you say miracle???

The last miracle of the moment was we were told our next court date would most likely be after the holidays because of ... well the holidays.  We told them whatever they could do would be fine and we left there with a second court date of DECEMBER 1ST!!  That is less than 1 month after our first AND it is the day before my last day of work.  Amazing!!!

So I've had a lot of confusion about what this court date was for.  No, this is not an adoption hearing.  This is a custody hearing.  Because of a lot of details I won't go into here we need to get custody of the girls first and build up a history and then we will file for adoption in the Summer/Fall time frame.  So this means that we will kinda be the girls "foster parents" until the  adoption in finalized.  They will live with us full time and we will provide for them.. but they won't have our last name until we go to court to adopt them. 

After a lot of prayer, legal and pastoral  council we felt this was the best way and God has confirmed that over and over!

So I hope that answers some questions about the legal side of things... hopefully!  Please be praying/thinking about our Dec. 1st court date.  That is the one where the judge makes a ruling on the custody.  We are at peace and moving forward with confidence.  He is our Jehovah Jirah.. our provider.  His grace has been sufficient.

Be Blessed!