A Tali-girl Update

Wellllll, I ended up going to a case planning meeting for Tali today that I did NOT anticipate going to at all, because we thought that the case was definitely being transferred to Missouri. However, apparently we weren't informed entirely correctly...because I now know that it's not DEFINITELY going to MO. There's a chance that it'll stay in KS. A cool development is this: The court services officer (who kind of advises the District Attorney, the one who calls the shots) is a gal that I know from the early days at the ROCK. Used to know her well. She came to the meeting today and was stunned to see me... and of course, I was thrilled to see her! :) I asked her how much "say" she has in what happens, and apparently she has a decent amount of influence, which is really encouraging. Her opinions and concerns line up exactly with Stan's and mine.

Anyway.... today at the planning meeting they outlined for Tali's birth mom exactly what she will have to do to get Tali back....the list is long.... not impossible, but long. We each (including me) got an opportunity to express our concerns, as well as what we see as her birth mom's strengths. All-in-all I feel like the KS crew that is handling this case is doing a good job looking at it from every angle. If the case goes to MO (which my friend who is the Court Services Officer does NOT want to see happen), they will still very likely return Tali to her birth mom immediately....which is concerning.... It seems like MO is not doing a good job really taking all of her history into consideration.

SO! That's the update.... We are seeing a teeny tiny ray of hope.... In the last day and a half or so I have really felt like the Lord wanted me to keep praying for Him to have His way in Tali's life.... We've been asking Him to move mountains on Tali's behalf, whatEVER that looks like. So here we are again, asking you all to pray with us that God's BEST plan for Tali's life will play out in the coming weeks.... that He will fully and completely have His way. In the meantime, it looks like we will have her in our home longer than we thought.... don't know if it'll be a few days longer, or weeks, or months.... so we will keep trusting Jesus and hang on for this ride! :)

A couple of specific prayer requests:
-That if there are things that have not surfaced yet that NEED to be made known, that God would bring them into the light and make the people who need to know, aware.
-That the state of Missouri will NOT WANT her case. That it will stay in KS.
-That God would turn the hearts and minds of the key decision makers (the district attorneys and others) in Tali's case, that He will guide them in their decisions.
-That God will preserve Stan's and my hearts through this process. Right now we both feel good and have peace from the Lord...but this is definitely NOT easy for us!! :-/ Pray He'll keep us abiding in Him, minute-to-minute.
-***There is a hearing this Thursday morning at 10am that I will attend. Not sure at this point what types of decisions will be made.... it may be on whether or not MO will get the case. PRAY!!!***

Thanks everyone! We love you guys and we'll keep you posted....

Dana