Summit 9 & adoption update

Two weeks ago, Arlan and I headed to Nashville for Christian Alliance for Orphans' (CAFO) annual conference regarding global movement & orphan awareness.  To say it was amazing, is a HUGE understatement.  The workshops were so informative, helpful & practical all wrapped into one...I went away thinking "regardless if we are adopting/fostering, it was great parenting wisdom!"  Some of the workshops we attended were:
The Multiracial Family
Nurturing the Whole Child
Becoming a Trauma Compentent Healing Parent
Inter-country Adoption Legal Matters
Attachment Parenting with your Brain

As we have now hit the 1 year mark into our adoption from Uganda, we are beginning to feel the timeline frustration.  We are still peaceful about our adoption but are/were beginning to feel a bit of a disconnect from our agency and the orphanage they are working with in Kampala to process referrals.  God gave us a huge encouragement boost in two ways in the past two weeks...gems of hope & "trust" right from Eccl. 1:1 and 1:11.  The first gem...

Summit was attended by approx. 2500 people over a 2 day span.  Our agency Children of All Nations out of Austin, TX, is not a Christian agency but speaking to our adoption counselor, she mentioned that most likely a few CAN representatives would be in Nashville; however, without an actual exhibit/booth, how would one random family (us) find a "few" CAN rep's...well, Friday night before the FINAL session of Summit was about to begin, two ladies come walking into the church and sit right behind Arlan and I...the one lady-distinguishable by pictures from CAN's website-happened to be the President/CEO of Children of All Nations!  Unbelievable!!!  Yet very believable with the God we serve!  We were able to introduce ourselves and chat with both the CEO and her marketing director.  They offered us a "glimpse" of an update with our Uganda program and orphanage.

 Arlan and I with CAN's president Snow Wu (on right) and Mary (marketing director) at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville

The second gem...
just yesterday, our monthly email update came out announcing that CAN is now partnering with two additional orphanages in Uganda with hopes to begin matching families soon!  Folks, this is SUPER encouraging as there are only 7 total families in our pilot program and we are number 5!  While we are holding this news loosely as international adoption-well, adoption in general-can change so quickly, we are pretty encouraged by this news!!!!  My husband uses the word encouraged...I prefer EXCITED!!!!

We continue to be prayerful that our little daughter will come home to us soon...thanks again for all of you out there who continue to support & encourage us through your love & prayers...we do feel them!