Dear Friends and Family, 
        As most of you know, we have been in the process of adopting from the Philippines for a couple of months now. We are are excited to share with you today some new developments in our process! We have been working through our home study as steadily and quickly as we can, and by the end of this week it should be safe to say we will be at least 50% of the way done! The paperwork won't end there though, because once our home study is completed we will then qualify to apply for a plethora of adoption grants around the country, which proved to be SO helpful our first time adopting. 
       Today we would like to share with you more details of something that has developed in our process, quite quicker than we expected. Back in December we began looking at the list of children given out by the Philippines, which comprises a multitude of precious kids all over the country that need a home. They range in minor to major special needs. There was a little girl that caught our eye and we requested more information about her because her story and needs spoke to our heart. We learned that even though we were just beginning our home study we actually COULD apply for her because we have good standing with our agency and the country. Excitedly, we took the first step to apply for her around Christmas, which was to have an international pediatrician review her case and give us a review. When we did this, we were faced with some possibilities about her health that made us question whether or not we could be the best family for her. With sadness and discouragement and some confusion we took a step back to pause and pray and wait on the Lord. If you've done this international adoption thing before, then you know that this is such a faith walk, and reliance and trust in God is an absolute necessity in this process. 
       Through January we have waited and prayed and asked 2x for medical updates on this little girl and have received nothing. Nothing from the Lord, nothing from the country, just nothing. We have been working through our home study but quietly praying daily that God would speak and tell us if we truly were to walk further in faith to pursue this little girl. And Praise God we can now say that He has spoken. On Sunday, Joseph went to church alone and was unexpectedly moved by the sermon and his heart was suddenly stirred significantly for this little girl. When he asked the leaders and other men to lay hands on him to pray for wisdom and clarity, he was overcome by the Holy Spirit and began weeping so uncontrollably he could hardly speak. In his heart and mind, her face was all that he could see and he knew beyond a doubt that we were to walk forward and push past the concerns over her special needs and to walk in faith for this little girl. He knew God was removing any barriers to our pursual of her, and he came home overcome with emotion and shock over his amazing experience with God. We will share more about her as time goes on, but for now please know that she is very malnourished and in need of parents and medical care. She is one year younger than Arabella. 
       It will still be a long road, and we have to actually apply for her and wait for the country's approval, and we pursue her with the knowledge that they may actually not choose us as her family. That is in their control. But we know that God is ultimately in control, and we will walk in obedience to whatever He has called us to no matter the unknowns. This week we have over 50 pages of paperwork to complete to apply for her, we have short notice social worker meetings we must complete, and lastly we have some financial needs we need to work out because now some big fees will be due sooner since we are pursuing her for sure now. 
       If you have read through this, we thank you. Thank you for the taking the time to be invested in our journey as adoptive parents, each time will be so different and we appreciate your love and support. Please pray and consider donating to our adoption so that we can help one more orphan have a loving family to nurture and guide her through this life. We praise Jesus for His guidance and love and graciousness in our weaknesses, and we can't wait to share more with you as we progress in pursuing this precious little girl. 

With love, 
Joseph and Katie Murrey