We have news...

...kinda.
While we are still waiting for our referral and haven't heard much from our agency lately, we did get good news from another source!
We heard from ShowHope last week and we found out we were selected to receive a LARGE grant from them.  Larger than I had prayed for/hoped for/expected!  With that news, and with all of the various ways we've been trying to raise money, we have the remaining fees covered for a referral for one child!
We are now saving for travel (2 trips to Ethiopia, lodging, meals, etc...) and in case we get a referral for 2 children.
Our agency announced a couple weeks ago (as did other agencies) that they are closing their Ethiopia program to new applicants until things speed up.  Like any other speed bump we've encountered in the past 6 months, it at first makes you panic, but then I realized that our agency does this anytime a wait is longer than they feel comfortable with.  Every once in a while, they have to do this with their Korea program (which is their largest and most  successful program) because the wait is longer than they prefer. Like every other situation that has occurred, we're trusting our agency and God 100% in the situation.  Yes, we're bummed things are going slower than we hoped for, but the end result is going to be completely worth it!
In house news, we are still only able to use/live in 2/5 of the house, but we do have a new, beautiful, non-leaking roof!  We're just waiting on insurance to get the rest of the house live-able and then we'll have an almost brand new house! I'm anxious to get things put away and have a nice, clean, organized place, but it will come hopefully soon.

I think that's it!  One of these days, I'm going to post pictures, but the computer that I need for that is packed away somewhere.
Thanks for checking in!
~Katie