FINALLY!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

We are so thankful to be able to announce that this morning we were finally approved and are officially the proud parents of our new twin boys, Joshua Emanuel and Josiah Abenezer. Jessica screamed with joy when we told her and Christopher was really excited that, finally, his brothers are a for sure deal.

God has blessed us in this process in so many ways and we are so grateful for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. Walking through a journey like this with your friends and family close by, definitely makes the setbacks easier to handle.

We don’t have an Embassy appointment date yet, but we’ve booked our flights departing June 27th and returning July 23rd. Yes, we will be in Ethiopia for almost a full month. It just turned out that we couldn’t get the flights to fit our plans exactly, so we know that God must have some wonderful things in store for our extended stay. We already know that we will now have more time to see the country. We are also hoping that we can spend more time in the orphanage, just loving on the other children there and supporting the staff in some way. Jessica is very much hoping for the opportunity to help out in a mission hospital that a friend of ours works in. We’ll also make an overnight trip to the village where the twins are from.

God has sustained us through the long wait and we praise Him for His faithfulness. “My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.Wait for the Lord; be strong, and take heart, and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14

As we celebrate this precious day, we leave you with this: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Praising Him,
Heather

Postponed...

April 24, 2008

Currently, Addis is experiencing power outages every four days for 12-13 hrs. per day. This is causing no small problem with communication, as you can imagine! As we last updated, we had a court date yesterday and, because of the power outage, we were forced to wait until this morning to hear about the outcome. Unfortunately, we were postponed until May 8. As soon as we learned of the postponement, we got on the phone to change our plane reservations. That, my friends, is not an easy task and the later we fly in the season, the more difficult it will become. We are about to enter the rainy season and travel is more difficult during that time for many reasons.

For some reason, unknown to us, MOWA ( the government office which overseas Ethiopian adoptions) has requested additional documentation from the region in which Joshua and Josiah are from. While we’re disappointed, we know that this is not a surprise to the Lord and trust that He knows exactly what is needed. Thank you so much for your prayers over the last few days and weeks. We’ve had tremendous peace, which can only come from Him. We refuse to allow this to steal our joy in what God is doing through this process. As I picked Jessica and Christopher up from school today, I anticipated many tears. Our daughter completely blew me away in her response. Jessica said, and I quote, “Well, that just means that God wants us to wait a little bit longer and that He has it all in control.” She even told one of her friends the exact same thing when they expressed their disappointment that we hadn’t passed on the first try. Go Jessica!

We did get some clarification on the twins’ orphan status when we talked to Sue today. We were under the impression that the twins’ parents or close family member would be required to attend the court hearing. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that will not be the case with our adoption, due to the circumstances in which the twins’ were relinquished. So, that is a praise that we are thankful for, simply to eliminate more grief for their family. Someday, we’ll explain the circumstances, but for now, we want to honor the twins’ story by allowing them to be the first ones to hear it. Until then, trust us when we say that they have a remarkable story to tell.

Please keep us in your prayers on the evening of May 7th and thru May 8th. Because Addis Ababa is 7 hours ahead, we know that court will be opening up around 2am our time (in Texas). While we don’t know the exact time that our case will be heard, we know that your prayers will be heard by our Heavenly Father. We are praying that there will be no more delays and that we will receive good news (QUICKLY!).

We have a court date!!!!

April 14th, 2008

We finally have a court date!! We received an email from our case manager, letting us know that our adoption will be presented to the judge on April 23rd. After waiting for so long, it’s such a blessing to know that we will finally have our day in court.

On this date, our agency’s Ethiopian staff will present our case to the judge. We are not anticipating any problems, but we also know that the road we’re traveling is bumpy at times. We are asking our faithful friends and family to join us in prayer on the 22nd and 23rd. Because Ethiopia is ahead by 7-8 hours, we expect that just as we are going to bed on the 22nd, their day will be about to begin. Sometime during the night, our case will be presented to the judge and he will make his decision. Please join us in praying that there will be no surprises and that we pass court on the first try. I doubt that we’ll sleep at all that night and anticipate that we’ll be on our knees in prayer.

After the adoption is approved, our house will go into “warp speed”. There is MUCH still to do and very little time to get it all accomplished. We’ve anticipated our travel date to be somewhere near May 23rd. So, we’ve booked our flights and, through some generous friends, were able to secure our round-trip tickets. We fly out of Austin on May 23rd, arriving in Addis Ababa on May 24th and return home to Austin on Sunday, June 8th.

e’ve made many Ethiopian friends along the way and are excited to meet their families while we are in Addis. Another really cool “God-thing” that we discovered is that Matthew’s childhood Dr. (and family friend) and his wife are currently living in Addis Ababa, doing mission work over there. We’re excited to know that we have friends from College Station that will be living in Addis while we’re there. I’m especially thankful that we’ll have access to medical care through Dr. Segrest, should we need it (though I’m praying we DO NOT).

God has known all along about my fear of going to a third-world country with my diabetes and this is one more way that He has shown me that He has every thing under control. One small corner of my heart was still afraid to travel to Addis and God whispered into my ear. “Child, I am the Most High God and I will take care of you.” I also have to snicker a bit at the fact that I secretly thought I could keep those thoughts all to myself. As if the Lord doesn’t know what I’m thinking…nothing could be further from the truth.

Thank you for keeping us and our journey in your prayers. As we near the end of this part of the journey, we are humbled to know that friends like you have made this journey with us. Joshua Emanuel and Josiah Abenezer WILL KNOW how God used every one of you to bring them home to us. I can’t wait to share their story with them about how much they were loved before we ever even knew who they were.

We’ll send out an update as soon as we hear something from our case manager. She has warned us that they don’t always receive word immediately, so it may be several days before we know something. Please remember to pray for us on April 22nd and 23rd.

A New Pediatrician to see

February 14th, 2008

We met with Dr. Kimberly Albert today, who will be the twins pediatrician, to have her review the medical results with us. Not only did she give the twins a glowing review, she also shared with us that she has twin boys of her own and could relate to what we would be experiencing as parents once the adjustment period ends. We have felt God's hand at each step and this was just another confirmation of His approval and love for us in all this.

I snickered when she said "You know, they're going to be partners in crime." I seriously thought she was JOKING! until she said "I'm very serious. One of them will try to distract you while the other one conquers what he was after." Well, that's definitely something to think about!!

Heather

2nd Medicals are in!

February 8th, 2008

We received the final medical information on the twins today. What a blessing it was to read how healthy they are. Their height and weight place them in the 75th percentile of American children. As you know, our biological children are rather tall as well, so this is just another confirmation that the twins must be Flippens.

I had to laugh when we walked in the door to the house this afternoon to find the medicals in my inbox. See, the funny thing is that I have, literally (I kid you NOT), been waiting by the computer for DAYS, waiting for the medicals to come through. It wasn't until we left town Friday morning to go on a medical mission trip to Acuna, Mexico AND I was away from my desk for the first time in days, that the information FINALLY came through. I know that our God has a sense of humor. I can just picture Him watching me anxiously waiting for that email, then it comes through the second I leave. Literally, the email came at 6:40 Friday morning, as we were leaving the house to head up to the church. Of course, I was without email or phone communication until we returned this afternoon. Ha!

Needless to say, we were seriously excited to see those second medicals today!

Heather