ashley's obsession with red hair *THIS IS IT*

in case you didn't know, ashley has red hair.  and its not something she particularly liked as a child.  at all.  when you're a child, you want to fit in and be the same as everyone else.  with only 2% of the world's population sporting naturally red hairs, blending in can be difficult.  once she got past the junior high years (*shiver*), however, she loved her redheaded-differentness.  and as a mother, she always wanted to pass along her "valuable genetic material" to one of her children.

well, seeing as ethan is our only gene-bearer and he has ever so slight strawberry in his locks, we really didn't think a redheaded cain was in the cards.

but it was an on-going joke of ours that our ghana baby would be the one to have red hair.  its perfectly logical.

this leads us to our very excellent and exciting news:
WE HAVE BEEN MATCHED WITH A CHILD IN GHANA!!!!

*screams*
*fireworks*
*beating of drums*
*more screams*
*tears of overwhelmed unbelief*

yes, we have a face and a name.  we have a few details and PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES.   even a video!!!  AHHHHHHH!

because this precious little one is not "ours" quite yet, we have to restrain ourselves, however.  we will not be able to post any pictures until after our court decree.  but do not despair, that will be sooner than you think.  here's what we can share:

*screams again for good measure*
we will have our third SON.  he is a little 10 month old BOY with the best pouty lips and chubby chubby cheeks.  ethan had some sweet chub on his cheeks, but this african prince has brought the cheekiness to a new level.
he is currently residing in an orphanage and has been there since he was about 3 months old.  he will continue to be cared for by the orphanage until we come and claim him as our son forever.
he will need some medical attention when he comes to the US.
he has red hair.
DID YOU CATCH THAT?  HA!  he has RED.  HAIR.  for reals!  does God have a sense of humor or WHAT?

a few more things we'd like to share with you:
ghana has a three month waiting period for adoptions.  if we lived in country, we would be able to foster this little guy for 3 months and then request a court hearing.  since we do not live in ghana, we will instead demonstrate our ability to support him by paying for 3 months of his care.  this money is included in our "country fee" that our agency helps disperse.

if everything moves super smooth, we could have a court date as early as march.  AHHH!

after our court date, the visa and passport documentation needs to come together.  this will take about another three months.  so.  if every "i" is dotted and "t" is crossed, we could have our little man home as early as may or june.  EEEEEEEK!

but we DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP.
this has all come together super fast.  WAY FAST.  we technically have not even finished our dossier...our names were never on "the waiting list."  Lord-willing, we will have our dossier in the mail on FRIDAY.  here's the thing: we need to pay a lot of money RIGHT NOW.  normally, we would have 6-18 months to pull this together, but God in His providence has moved everything forward very quickly....and we are SO thankful for that!  (on a sidenote, He did the same thing with josiah's adoption.  we were told we would wait about 6-18 months and we waited THREE WEEKS.  time crunch on fundraising again!).  would you please pray that God would provide the $10,650 we need to pay our remaining fees?  yes.  that's right.  $10,650.  we have already paid just about that much so, really, we are half way!    we serve a mighty God and we know that if this little one is meant to be with our family forever, mountains will be moved.

we will also be continuing our fundraising to help pay for the $6000ish we will need for our airfare, visas, and other travel expenses.  again, GOD.  MOVES.  MOUNTAINS.  its just money.  a child is a million trillion thousand gabillion times more important and eternally valuable than any amount of loose change we can scrape together.  we truly believe this.

if you feel lead to join us in changing this little boy's life, we would be happy to send you our mailing address or you can visit our donation site here: www.gofundme.com/cainadoption

this is happening.
you are helping.
pray.
share.
pray some more.

did we mention that he has RED HAIR?
:)