Silas Jabali's Adoption

Our family began our day yesterday with an early morning wake up to rush to children's court where we had our very first appointment to proceed with Silas Jabali's adoption. Jabali has lived with our family since December 23rd of last year. This beautiful boy came to our family through a wonderful Children's Home known as His Cherished Ones in Nakuru, Kenya. www.hischerishedones.org


His life has been nothing short of miraculous and we are touched that the Lord would see us fit to be his parents. However, there is still one major detail left in the completion of Jabali's adoption, the legality of it!
As we left home, early Friday morning (when some of you may have been waiting in Black Friday lines) we contemplated what to expect during our court room session. We had no idea what to expect.

Pope Frances

Unbeknownst to us (along with our lawyer and the rest of her clients for the day) the court had cancelled due to the Pope Francis' two day visit into Nairobi. Standing outside the court gates with our friend, we laughed as our lawyer explained that there would be no hearing today.
Now this may seem like a major disappointment but we saw this as a huge blessing! Why?
Well, exactly one year ago, there was a newspaper release that President Uhuru put a stop to all foreign adoption in Kenya.
Click here to see the original article-> Daily Nation article for foreign adoption 

At this point our paperwork to adopt was already turned in and we were waiting for an approval. Disappointed, we began to call around to ask for more information in which we were told that the moratorium was unconstitutional because there was no approval from parliament. So our agency proceeded to approve and place us with our son. After Christmas there came an official letter back dating the original presidential announcement to November 28th. OH NO! We already have him! Now what? Again we were reassured that few internationals that were in this small window of placement and our cases were expected to be        handled with all the necessary considerations.

Well, a recent conversation with our lawyer told us to "brace ourselves". Our court may not look upon our case favorably because of the cloudiness of this ban. Still we had peace from the Lord. Our lawyer expects the foreign adoption ban to be lifted very soon. It would definitely be better to go to court without this foreign ban hanging over our heads!
Worse case scenario? Our case will be rejected and we wait and try again.....
Best case? Well, we all know that answer!
So we ask you to pray for this ban to be lifted and for the courts to look upon our case favorably. Our hope is to visit the United States as a family for a few months in a year or so, so Silas Jabali can meet the extended members of his family for the first time!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you to everyone who prayed and contributed to our new car

As we approach Thanksgiving our family reflects on this year and we have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for a healthy, thriving church we have been blessed to be a part of for the last six years, for a car that can safely carry our family, for friends that have shared in ministry together with us this year, for continued opportunities to share the gospel with those whom we meet and a home that is being expanded. We are so excited to be sharing a multinational Thanksgiving this Sunday at a friend's house. We always love spending this time of year with friends from all over the world!

Dear friends who do various outreaches such as deaf outreach and relief and ministry in S. Sudan

Thankful for the small things

Visit with grandma!

Our ever faithful care team who keeps us in ministry in Kenya

Jonathan has spent the last two weeks in the U.S. to attend his sister's wedding. Although the trip was very short he was able to see many friends and of course, lots of family. The trip was a bit of a whirlwind between trying to run necessary errands like getting his driver's license renewed and shopping for stuff the family needs (and wants!).

We just wanted to give you a short update on our happenings since it has been a while since we have written.

Jonathan is currently teaching at the Bible college twice a week and we are working on the finishing things we need to get done before we officially leave Living Water Christian Fellowship by the end of the year.
We ask that you stand with us in prayer because our health issues continue to persist relentlessly it seems.
We ask for you to pray for Living Water's leadership, for wisdom and guidance.
We ask that you would pray over our vehicles as we are having lots of car issues that keep coming up due to an accident where a bus hit the back of our car.
We ask for prayer as we start a new church plant down our road at the beginning of the year.
Our first court hearing for Jabali's adoption is this Friday!!! PLEASE pray for this! The Pope is also in town that day and will be holding a mass just two miles away so that means LOTS of traffic, people and a possible cancellation of our long awaited court date!

Our replacement back door after the accident