It's there...God's perfect timing.

Well, as of 12 a.m. according to FEDEX records, our dossier is in Ethiopia!!! It may even be in the hands of Girmachew, America World's amazing go-to-guy based on what "International Shipment Release" means (I guess based on the busyness of the ET staff, sometimes packages of dossiers sit at the post office for a couple of weeks before they actually get picked up). This is just one piece of amazing news in a whole bunch of encouragement for the week. Besides our dossier, two AW families had successful court dates (allowing us to ooo and ahhh over their children's pictures and AW to begin making travel arrangments) with 5 more families scheduled for court tomorrow after a treacherously long wait. Anyway, after a LONG time with no collective action, the last month has been amazing.

However, even more amazing for me than all this news is what happened at women's prayer night yesterday. Once a month, a small group of women meet from several different church bodies to share, eat, and pray as the Spirit leads (that "as the Spirit leads" part had to do with the prayer, not the eating). It's like no other prayer time I've ever been involved with (and in 31 years of church activities, I've been involved in A LOT of prayer time!) and it has been life to me for years. Last night was a special night of ministry for me. Some of the women had some amazing revelation from God. It's really too personal to put out there in cyberspace, but let's just say that I realized for the first time that my incredible love and passion for Africa is not just a "cool something," but actually part of my CALLING. And I don't use that word lightly. Karl and I both are CALLED to Africa! It's so simple and makes so much sense as I look at the path God has had me on, but I don't think I would have ever used such heavy, significant language. No matter what the future holds (and with God, there are A LOT of different options out there!) my journey is closely linked to the people of Africa. Most recently, of course, our journey to our precious little one is how our love for the African people is being realized, but even this amazing, incredible, mind-boggling adoption is only a piece of the very large puzzle that is God's plan for our family, and for me personally! What life this brings!

So, today, I am embracing Africa. Not only does this mean that I'm purchasing two REALLY cool shirts with that beautiful continent on the front (see Gibson and Kidd family links!), it means that I am rejoicing in the fact that God has called me--this crazy white chic from the most affluent (and might I say materialistic) country on earth--to put my faith into action through prayer, activism, and whatever else the Great Composer of my life asks me to do!

Danielle

(I hate to ruin the moment, but I can't resist a stab at my own hypocrisy: did I just talk about buying something and America's sick materialism in the same sentence?!? I have such a long way to go!)