A post by Mary Eby
Wow! The past few months have been crazy. So, on December 7th, our coordinator at the adoption agency called Mom. Mom wasn’t going to answer it, because we were busy when the phone rang. But I told her she should, and she did. The coordinator told Mom that she had received part of a file of twin three-year-old girls. She said they matched our family perfectly, and she knew she had to tell us about them. There was just one big surprise- they’re in Nigeria, not Haiti. Prior to that phone call, we didn’t even know where Nigeria is on a map. After a few hours of prayer and consideration, we decided they were a part of our family, and we wanted to adopt them. However, since all of our finished paperwork is in Haiti, there is a lot to be done to move it to Nigeria. For the past little while, we have been waiting to receive their full file, as it was not yet finished and they wouldn’t give it to us until it was. Finally on March 3, we received the girls’ files and pictures. We wrote our Letter of Intent to adopt them, and on March 24 the Ministry in Nigeria stamped our letter. This stamp begins our year-long wait before we can travel to Nigeria. We don’t know why it’ll take a year; that’s just the way it goes. But at least during part of this year we will be kept busy switching over all our documents to Nigeria. Once we are given the go-ahead to travel, we will all go to Nigeria to live there with the twins for 6 weeks. After this, we will leave and go home without them for 4-8 months while everything is finalized. Then, we travel back to Nigeria to bring them home.
So it’ll probably be about 2 more years before they’re home. It is so hard to wait, but we are trusting God with it. We already love them so much, and can’t wait for the day when we finally get to meet them. They are so cute! We have not yet decided on names, and unfortunately, we aren’t supposed to share any pictures online until all of our paperwork and such is in Nigeria.
So for now, we are waiting and hopefully going to start more paperwork soon!
Have a great Easter remembering what Christ did for his elect:
“Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'”
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,’ And He said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'”
Luke 23:32-34a & 39-43
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, ‘This man is calling Elijah.’ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God.'”
Matthew 27:45-54
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.’ And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.'”
Luke 24:1-9
There's Always Room 