The Barrow Brigade: Small Update

We received some new photos and an update of our sweet boy yesterday! We also have little bit more insight on what is going on with our case...although we hope to know more by the tomorrow.

I have to start by saying that I am so thankful to God for the peace that only He can give! I still have moments where my heart literally aches with anxiousness and this is when I have to return to Him....and rest in Him. He is VERY real and the work He is doing in our lives is VERY real.........one thing I am learning is that, this can't truly be seen until we reach a point of TRUE surrender! Once I reach that point, it seems that true peace from Him starts trickling in.....nothing beats the feeling of this confidence and peace!

So, on to the update....July and August are slower months in Ethiopia due to vacations for embassy workers etc.....therefore, they have cut the normal 10 children per embassy appointment to 5 children. Because of this, obviously those spots are filling up much quicker, and pushing travel times and embassy appointments later and later for many families. July 13th is filled, and there are only 2 spots left for the 27th, last I heard....but this was a couple days ago, so that could have changed by now. We are probably looking at traveling in August, or possibly even September. Our updated information STILL has not reached the NVC and now the embassy in Ethiopia has brought up an inconsistency in our paperwork....I am assuming this is nothing we have done wrong, because we haven't been asked to change anything yet. I hope to find out more about this today...... I feel like, COME ON!!!! Will you just cut this out and let us bring our son home!!!!! UGH!!!!! Obviously I need to be praying about this some more....I am getting all fired up again just typing about it.

So on to the update of Hailu! One of the staff at the foster home said that he has been spending a lot of time in his bedroom drawing and writing in the book we sent him......they said that he was quiet and shy but that he is always willing to play if a child comes in and asks him. This is a different description of his personality from when he was at the orphanage. They said there, that he was involved with all the small children, helping them read and write in English and that he was always outside playing soccer and exercising with his friends etc.... I said to Mike, that I wonder if this is a way he is "connecting" with us.....we sent that book to him and maybe when he thinks of us he draws in it. I did write in it ,that I would love for him to draw in it and write in it, and he could show us what he had done when we came to get him. Maybe not, but this is just a thought that crossed my mind since he seems to be more to himself and more quiet than described in the months past. I don't know......but one thing I DO know is that he is quite the little artist!!! They sent a picture of him drawing as "proof" that he draws really well (:
He has two uncles that are amazing artists and cousins that love to draw and are really good at it too! He will fit right in with that! Isaac said to me...."It seems like all the boys in our family can draw good except me" I told him it is because that is what they love to do and they practice all the time.... and it is a talent that God has given them. Isaac has never really been interested in drawing or coloring....he seems to gravitate to anything having to do with a ball or nature.....it will be fun to see if Hailu will bring out a new interest in drawing for Isaac.

Ok, so here are a few of the new photos of Hailu, and photos of my brother's artwork......just a little bragging all around (: My brother Dan does concept art and my little brother Jon is a painter.