No news is...good news?

Today is an important day in the history of our family and for the country from which we're adopting!

Jenny and I celebrate 6 years of marriage today!

Happy Anniversary to my MUCH better half - thank you for 6 wonderful years.  I am so excited for what #7 has in store! I love you!

Today also marks the 52nd anniversary of DR Congo's independence from Belgium.  I "borrowed" the following from another website to give a little history:

IT HAPPENED IN 1960.

Before we’d landed on the moon, before Dylan went electric, before MLK took center stage and shared his dream. In the very heart of Africa, a traveling beer salesman voiced his vision of an Africa united. Its people liberated from 85 years of colonial rule.

HIS NAME WAS PATRICE LUMUMBA.

He rallied his people, and they took to the streets to demand their liberty. On June 30th, 1960, the Belgian King arrived in Congo to return the freedoms his kingdom stole. On Congo's Day of Independence, Lumumba told his people:

‌“WE ARE GOING TO RULE, NOT BY THE PEACE OF GUNS AND BAYONETS, BUT BY A PEACE OF THE HEART AND THE WILL…TOGETHER MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS.”

And then he was silenced. Six months after his inauguration, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated.

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We've been a bit quiet lately because we haven't had much to report.  No new pictures or information about our little girl, no update on when the judge in DRC will review our case.  We were told this would happen by the end of June so we're praying for news to arrive any day now.

In the meantime, we've been keeping busy - we finally completed all of our required training hours - 24 hours of training ranging from bonding/attachment and medical issues internationally adopted children may face to how to hold, feed, burp, and change a newborn.  It was informative - for the most part - and now that it's over we've completed all of our requirements! Now we continue to wait...

In mid-June we participated in our community's neighborhood garage sale to raise some more money towards our costs.  

We were amazed by the number of conversations we had with people whose stories include adoption.  Some people came specifically to our house after seeing our ad on Craigslist because they wanted to support our adoption! We made some money and got rid of A LOT of stuff including much of Jenny's teacher "stuff" that she's accumulated over the last decade.  

For those considering adoption, or interested in learning more about adoption and what this journey often looks like, the recently released Adoptive Families Adoption Guide 2012 is a GREAT resource.  

You can access the guide here or - of course there's an app for that! - you can download the iPhone App here. If you don't have an iPhone, I'm sorry. Get one.

We'll post again once we receive our next update.  Thanks again for your prayers & support!