Happy Valentine's Day!

One year ago today, Joseph and I were having our Valentine's dinner at a local Mexican restaurant dreaming together about the referral we were expecting to receive in the coming days. As we crunched on our tortilla chips washed in white queso dip, we hoped it would be the last Valentine's Day without our little one home.

We left the restaurant with giddiness and a little extra pep in our step from filling our bellies with chips and queso. As we wound down for the night at home I had this feeling I should check our email one last time, so I woke the sleeping Mac and opened up our Mail app. It turns out our agency had just sent our referral - in case you don't know what a referral is: it is the official documents on a child sent for you to accept or decline moving forward with this child as your own.

There she was. Tiny. Serious. Skeptical. All of her pictures looked this way. But, she was also beautiful, precious, and instantly ours! She was 16 months old at the time of referral, and our sweet little Valentine. We did everything we could to get our documents signed and sent back as quickly as possible stating she's ours! We were determined from that moment on, no matter what, we would care for her, love her, and provide for her as a mom and dad.

As many of you know, the following months left us questioning whether or not it would be possible for us to bring her home. In May of last year the U.S. Dept. of State had issued an alert that Ethiopia had stopped processing adoptions. But, the Lord moved mightily and adoptions resumed soon thereafter. Still, the waters of inter country adoption in Ethiopia had been muddied, and it seemed at any moment they may shut everything down.

We worked from a position of confidence, not in ourselves, but in the Lord. We felt sure that He was going to bring our daughter home, though we had no idea how He would do it.

On December 16, 2017, we landed home in Raleigh with our daughter in our arms. We know and can testify to the powerful arm of the Lord. He stretched out His hand, undeniably, and moved two governments out of the way. Many of His children cried out to Him in prayer and fasting on our behalf, on her behalf, and we can say without hesitation and with full assurance, the Lord heard the cried of His people and the Lord brought our daughter home.

On January 9th of this year, the Ethiopian Parliament voted to ban inter-country adoptions leaving many, many vulnerable orphans without the hope of a forever family. We can't wrap our minds around it as much as we may try, but we know this - the Lord will exefcute justice for every single one of these orphans. Their oppressors will not be forgotten.

This Valentine's Day we're giving lots of hugs and kisses to a very special little girl, and we're crying out to the Lord to move on behalf of the many orphans still left without families.

Eliza Talitha Thigpen - "Beautiful Little Girl of Ours" 

Please consider joining us in supporting organizations like NewLife Ethiopia. They are doing some tremendous work in Ethiopia caring for orphans - they cared for our daughter until we could bring her home!

They currently have a campaign going - for every dollar donated through today a donor will match 100% (up to $1000). Please be a Valentine to an orphan in Ethiopia! Donate through this link: https://newlifeethiopia.org/2018/02/06/double-the-love/

Happy Valentine's Day!

-Joseph, Laura, & Eliza