Praise God!...and pass the ammunition..

Praise God! With everything that is in my being I have wanted to give God the glory He deserves for the amazing blessings He has given us and Sat. night we did just that. In the presence of friends and family we sang and praised and lifted His name high. I can think of no better way to honor Him! Along with that we were able to put together some funds that will go towards blessing Selah's orphanage with some much needed supplies. Thank you again to all who helped out that night, it was a lot of work, but in the end God got the glory which was our intention all along. The video of all those sweet babies with their forever families turned out amazing and I will work on getting you all copies of that.

I have to say thank you again to my sweet sisters and mother who drove all the way out from Nebraska to rescue and love on their overwhelmed sis. I will truly never forget seeing Laurel, Elaine and Momma walk into the church. With every step of this adoption journey God has moved in a mighty way to bring me comfort when I most needed it. You were His answer that day.

Sing it sister!

Ryan on the keys.

Bonnie, Diana, Me...

The Truman's with little Gracie...one less!

Another praise we have is our court date, it is Oct. 19. On that day Selah will officially become a Carson. On that day she will be our daughter. What happens after that is we get an embassy date. That will be the time when we actually travel to Ethiopia to get Selah, get her a visa, and bring her home. That will probably happen in mid to late November. Between now and that time there is still much to be done. And we continue to ask for prayers....

I'm not usually one to get all John Eldredge-y about things, but there can be little doubt in my mind that we have been facing some spiritual battles since we have accepted out referral for Selah. I think many of you will understand where I am coming from. Oh sure, we face battles everyday for many things...our children's hearts, our faithfulness and our devotion all the way down to our time and attention. But when we start to obey God, listen for His voice and live out loud for Him or when we give Him glory for something so obviously out of our control, such as an adoption...the evil one will not like it. And when he knows that one less child will perish on the streets of Ethiopia and that someday she will have a powerful testimony to share...he will not like it. And when he sees that lives are being changed on a global scale and Christians are becoming the hands and feet of Christ, as He asked us to do...he will not like it. I often fall prey to the many disguises and tricks of the evil one. I become complacent, lazy and I'm not keeping my guard up. But lately he seems to be moving out of the shadows to do out and out battle...and I do not like it. So it the spirit of John Eldredge and more importantly Ephesians 6:10-20 I am girding up my loins so to speak. We do not have to be afraid, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be ready. Beth Moore would be proud to hear me say..."GET THEE BEHIND ME, BUSTER!"

Please Come!

Ethiopia Night of Prayer and Worship

Saturday, August 22

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Light and Life Community Church

Lakewood, Colorado

(220 S. Yarrow St.)

Dear Friends and Family,

This coming Saturday we will be hosting a night of music and prayer followed by fellowship over Ethiopian coffee and dessert. Donations will benefit the Sele Enat orphanage as well as the Eden Project. If you are in the area and would like to come, please do! We would love to see as many of you as can make it. It would be so awesome to raise our voices up to God in prayer for Ethiopia and in praise for all his many blessings. Thank you so much for continuing to support and pray for us. We already owe so much gratitude to those who have helped us put this great night together. We can't wait to have God show up and bring him glory!

Love - Ryan and Anne Carson

Sele Enat Fundraiser, We Need Your Pics!

WOW! What an incredible couple of weeks this has been! I can't believe how busy this summer is. Summers are supposed to be full of down time, you know, lazy afternoons...HA! And we only have a few days left. AHHHH!!! A couple of weeks ago God sent a might-ily smite-ily of a hail storm that turned my sweet suburban neighborhood into a war zone. Since then we have been lost in a sea of debris and insurance claims. We have finally gotten control of the mess, but are just now getting a handle on the cost of repairs. One simply amazing thing that has come out of all this is that Ryan's 2004 Honda Civic was declared a "TOTAL LOSS" by our insurance company. First of all, I love that term. So many times I have declared the stuff in my life a "TOTAL LOSS" when really it was just minor damage and all I needed was a little TLC....Okay, well because his perfectly usable and fine car is totalled the insurance company will be sending us a nice little check to us for the value of the car. Not the total value mind you (oh no, they would never do that, unless you want them to take your car). BUT, probably just enough to finance our plane tickets to Ethiopia with one extra coming back. You have heard the saying "when God closes a door, He opens a window". Well, this time He smashed a few windows and opened the door. That's just how He rolls, folks.





Our next big thing coming up is our fundraiser for Selah's orphanage. Just so you know, she is actually no longer at the orphanage, but is now in the transition home.


Here is what we are doing:

Ethiopia

A Night of Prayer and Worship

Saturday, August 22

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Light and Life Community Church, Lakewood, Colorado

Please join us for a fun night of music, Ethiopian coffee and dessert

My very wonderful and talented husband, Ryan, will be sharing some of his piano compositions, and we are going to sing our lungs out in praise to the God Of The Universe!! It will be soooo good! But, I do need some help. I am putting together a couple of videos and would love to have some pics from families who have adopted. Some of you have already shared your beautiful photos with me and I so appreciate it. It think it is going to be very powerful. No names will be used, of course. Please let me know if you can help out. I understand that searching through your photos and emailing them to me can be time consuming. If you like I can simply use the photos you have already posted on your blog. I just need your permission first. If you prefer to email them, my address is: annabo_99@yahoo.com. I would be glad to send a copy of the finished product to you. The program I am using offers the videos for sale if you would like to purchase one.

And lastly an update on Selah. I recently received a short video of her (thank you again Hannah) and she is beyond beautiful. We have fallen totally in love with her big brown eyes and tiny little mouth. She truly is tiny. She looks to be about four to six months, but may be as old as eleven or twelve. Sadly our case in on hold indefinately. Courts will be closing on August 21 and reopening the first of Oct. We have not received our court date, which means we may not even get one until after courts reopen. What does this mean? We may not have our sweet girl in our arms until November or later. I am trying not to think about it too much. It is difficult to even say. Please continue to pray for her. She has been struggling to maintain the little bit of weight she has. We just need her to get a little stronger. Please also be praying that God will do a mighty miracle and we can go get her sooner than expected.

Thank you friends, we love you!