to our surprise, we saw at 5:40 am this morning that we are on the cause list for thursday! {that's tonight, folks!}

here's what we think is true:

this is more of an update from what’s happened this week rather than a prediction of what’s ahead for us. our friends have had 3 hearings since we had our last one on april 9. at one, the judge spent 2 hours looking over every document with the attorney. as you know, the judge has never done adoption cases and this would be her first international case. the second one, she requested two documents that need to be obtained from the orphanage. but she did give verbal orders at the second. that’s great news.

we are hopeful that when the judge hears our case tonight, that our lawyer will represent us well and have all the documentation present. we are praying that there is nothing missing or lacking and that both the judge and attorney are in agreement for orders to be granted. if not, there would be another hearing scheduled for further review. her timeline is much shorter now!

i was reminded on Sunday as we sang, that God has never left that court room undefeated. He, by nature, is victorious.

here’s our specific prayer to the Undefeated One:

God, we are certain You have had Your hand on this case long before it entered court. We know You delight in hearing us pray and trust in You. As our case goes before the judge again, we ask that You cause the judge to hear our attorney completely and that the attorney represents us well. Grant us favor in their decisions. May there be nothing lacking or missing or misunderstood. Cause the judge to issue us orders. May all involved be overcome with Your peace, power and presence. All the glory goes to You. In Your powerful and matchless Name, we pray. Amen.

we should know something by midmorning tomorrow as to the next step. we do know that once the judge grants verbal orders, they have to be written up in a formal document. that will be the last step in court and with this judge. we humbly ask you to pray alongside us that this potentially could be the hearing tonight for our verbal orders where the judge grants us this adoption of k.

we are grateful for your prayers. invite your children, your small group, your social media folks in on this prayer over this hearing tonight. i love how God seeks us out to rescue and redeem and restore. even if it means leaving the 99 for the 1. tonight there's 1 He's fighting for! her name is k.