Sad News~ Ethiopian Courts don't open until October 12th

Hello all, today we are sad in the Brown household. Today we learned that the courts will not open until October 12th and our court date was scheduled for the 7th. This does not mean we will be heard on the 12th, this means we will find out our new court date on the 12th. Our spirits are down and we know our little girl is missing us so much. We understand that Gods timing is always perfect but sometimes when it effects your child its hard to bear. We will keep you posted on any further developments.

Our prayer requests:
1.) We get a new court date ASAP and be able to bring Lila home by Thanksgiving.
2.) Please pray for Ethan, he has had swine flu since Sunday and is still trying to get better and go back to school.

God Bless,
Holley

Lila's Hope~ Feeding Orphans In Africa

Hello All, I hope everyone is having a great week. I know that most of you got the email that I sent out about our non-profit organization that we have started called Lila's Hope. Our purpose is to feed orphans in Africa. We have created a website for the organization and you can go there for details. We are starting with feeding Lila's Orphanage called El Olam Orphanage and then would like to branch out to others in Ethiopia. Our first goal is to buy El Olam a refrigerator so we can keep fresh food products cold since they are way more cost efficient than non-perishables. The average cost of one is approximately $600.00. After we gather the funds for a refrigerator we will begin a weekly grocery purchase. God Bless and give what you can, no amount is too little. Please see the website more more information and details.

Lila's Hope Website Link
http://lilashope.blogspot.com/

We will also always have the link on the top right side of our blog.

God Bless,
Holley and Andrew

Welcome To the Brown Family Blog

Hello All! This is the Brown family blog! Andrew, Ethan and I are doing great and have some exciting news! We are adopting a beautiful 4 -year-old little girl from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We are so excited and can hardly wait for her to be home with us in Texas! We accepted her into our family on June 14th and then left for Africa the next week to meet her. We have named her Lila Grace and and had an amazing stay in Africa getting to know our little girl. It looks like we will be able to travel back to Africa and bring her home around the 1st week in November. Our court date in Addis Ababa is set for October 7th, so please pray that we pass court the first time. Ethan is so excited about being a big brother and is counting down the days until her arrival.

Ethan is now in 3rd grade at Mossman Elementary and loves his new school. He currently enjoys piano and tennis lessons and is currently quite a little fisherman....he is teaching us a thing or two with the rod and reel! :)

Andrew is keeping busy with his business and still flying as a Captain for Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He got his 737 type rating and is hoping Southwest Airlines will start hiring soon. He still loves landscaping the yard and tries to find time to go mountian biking with the guys.

I am currently teaching a 3rd grade class until our little one arrives in November. I love teaching at my new school and have a great class. Ethan, Andrew and the three dogs are keeping me very busy.

We are all so excited about Lila's arrival. We cant wait for her to get here and are getting things ready for her journey to Texas. I will keep you posted on our family news and be posting at least once a week.

God Bless,
The Browns

Our Prayer Requests:
1.) Pray that Lila has a sense of peace in her heart that her mommy and daddy are coming soon.
2.) Please pray taht we pass court in Addis the 1st time on October 7th.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows- this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families to love them.

Psalms 68:5-6

I also wanted to let you know that at this time we are unable to post pictures of Lila. After we pass court and she is legally "ours" we will post pics so you can see our little love.