FINALLY!!!!

Thursday, July 26, at 2:15 p.m., we found out our son (Jakob Marcus) will be born on or around September 25. This week we will head to Christian Family Services (CFS) to meet the birth mother and talk about her situation and ours. As you can imagine we're excited and hopeful for that day and the days ahead.

One area of concern is the judge for our case. This particular judge is one who makes sure every "t" to be crossed and every "i" to be dotted to the nth degree. Granted, we like that; however, he has brought Kim's diabetes into question and has requested Kim's diabetic doctor come to the court proceedings to testify as to Kim's medical condition now and in the future.

We're trying not to worry about this as we know Jesus has it all under control (so we don't have to), but it's still hard not to think about yet another stumbling block as we've come so far.

We could definitely use any extra prayer you have for the following:

1. The birth mother, Jodi, who we will meet Tuesday; we're sure she's most likely as nervous as we are
2. The judge in our case that he would see fit to grant us this child
3. Our lawyer who will be helping us through the process
4. Kim's diabetic doctor, Dr. Orr, who we will need to testify to verify Kim is in great health
5. Peace for us as we wait
6. The financials to come into perspective

Friday, we went to our church with friends Paul and Ann to catch the Jeremy Riddle concert (www.jeremyriddle.net). It was a powerful evening and just what we needed after the great news received Thursday.

Saturday, we executed Marc's mother's surprise 60th birthday party that Marc and Nic have been planning for a few months now. Finally, we can talk about it on our blog!!! It went very well from start to finish. Granted, the plan kept changing on us throughout the day, but when we brought Delene to the party location everything worked out fine. We invited friends and family from her school years all the way up to present day. At the end everyone received the opportunity to share funny and silly stories from experiences had with her over the years. Marc and Nic want to especially thank friend Tracy and their Uncle Willey and Aunt Sandy for their help through this. Thank you!

Today, we also arranged to have a family photo taken of all the family in town for the party. It was great to have everyone together for this as our cousin Tony will soon be heading to Middle Tennessee for his junior year of college.

Tonight, we ended our weekend the way it began, worshiping with our Vineyard family at the 6 p.m. service.

We know the weeks ahead are going to go quickly, but we also know we have a pretty amazing set of family and friends, not to mention a powerful God behind us as we take the final steps of pre-parenthood.

We hope to have an update for you all Tuesday after our time with Jodi and the CFS team.

Thanks again for being faithful to our blog, your prayer and continued support. We're almost there!

More soon.