An update from Ethiopia

Monday morning as we were leaving for school this came in from our cousins.

Since Samuel arrived a little over 2 months ago, we have been blessed to see God do so much. His arms no longer shake or tremble consistently in the way they did. His sleep patterns have improved and lengthened, and his eating has certainly increased. He has grown a good bit from that time and we have seen the Lord bring about His joy in Samuel's life. One particular weekend, after a week of really praying for the joy of the Lord in Samuel's heart, we had two specific prayer times over him concerning different struggles that existed. Specifically, he often acted as if he was behind a veil and could not relate to us much at all. With this, he made virtually no eye contact and smiles were non-existent. But we really felt God gave us specific ways to pray, and we know you were much involved in this as well. After the prayer times we praised God as we saw immediate change. Eye contact began to be more frequent, a few smiles began to pop up, and he began to interact with his surroundings like he hadn't before, like a veil had been lifted. Our nanny who helps with Samuel here even came in the day after these prayer times and said, "What happened, he is so different." We praised God for what He had done, and we continue to today. Each day we try to look back over all the Lord has done already in his little precious life, and thank God for His plans and all that we have seen Him do on Samuel's behalf. Again, thank you for joining us in prayer amidst this all.

It's an incredible amount for such a young and small little boy to be enduring, but he is still progressing well. God is certainly carrying him through this. They are not sure what his prognosis will be as to long term effects, but they told us that many of his symptoms would show as what is described with Cerebral Palsy. He continues to get stronger and each day is just a day we hold him up before the Lord for God to give him exactly what He knows Samuel needs that day. God certainly looks down on him with a special love, and we continue to trust the Lord for His best in Samuel's life.

An exciting part of Samuel's journey however is that on the same day his full diagnosis became clear, we learned that our cousins in California had begun the full process to adopt Samuel permanently into their home. They are fully aware of his diagnosis and feel a special love and a call from God to take this step. Please be in prayer for Samuel and their family as God brings their journey's together. Please be praying for all the details and timing of their adoption process, as they are eager to embrace him as a family and to watch the healing that this kind of love can pour in. We know nothing else to do but to thank and praise God for His perfect plan for Samuel and for this special development in the family. He could not be loved anymore already by the family God has raised up and we are in awe of how the Lord brought things together in such timing with his diagnosis. The same day the world would try to deliver Samuel a blow, God answered with His love. And as we know, love never fails!

I'm in awe of the fingerprints again...