August 8th Post

OK, I am going to attempt to pull the posts from Facebook so I can have a pretty good journal for our family to have in the future. It will be a lot, but for those who haven't been following facebook, this will help catch you up.
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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Hey Everyone! We made it to Ethiopia on Thursday! Wow! What a different world! We have much to share about our trip already, but can't post on our blog from here as of yet! If we had internet capability like this in the states, we are so spoiled, I doubt anyone would use it. Am so glad to get some connection. Facebook seems to be our only outlet. We can't even send emails. I will try to post a little here!

We have seen some of the most beautiful sights and some of the saddest sights since being here. It will take me a while to process it all! The people, in spite of their circumstances are warm and friendly and seem to all be willing to work very hard to glean the little bit of a living that they can. The exhaust fumes were a big part of today for us and every day for most of the 6 million people in Addis Abbaba.


Addis is the city we have come to to pick up our new son Teshale. Our travel guide and driver know him and have share some about him with us. The travel guide is his English teacher and bible teacher. He says that because Teshale has had to learn Amharic (the native language) of the country, he hasn't learned a lot of english yet, but he is willing!

Yesterday (Friday), I was in a fog all day long, but we went to see some sites. We went to the Rock Hewn Church which was the location that 5 replicas of the Arc of the Covenant were kept. We also went to a local Museum, to a Lion Zoo and a nice restaurant. So far so good on the digestion, but it is early yet! Smile! We just keep pouring down the JP+ and probiotics in hopes that we will be able to bypass that!

Today I woke up feeling much better and more coherent. Our driver and travel guide went all out for us today since we said that we would like to get out of the city to see the country. It took almost 2 hours to get out of the city. We all fared pretty well for the trip out. We had food on our stomachs and some motion sickness meds in us. It was beautiful once we got out of the city. We saw many colored birds and sites too many to elaborate on right now, but the guides were dedicated. You should have seen the mud holes they went through to get us to the tops of these mountains. We were not in a 4 wheel drive vehicle either. We were in a minivan! (Smile...)

With only a few scratches to the van, we made it and it was worth it. The drive back was green of a different kind. It made me so appreciative of the fresh air that I often take for granted in America. The poverty here is beyond belief and the people live right in the exhaust and mud. I have much more to pray about after the past few days! Anyway, we survived the trip back and are looking forward to tomorrow. We will be going to a local church that has services in English. It is the one Teshale has been attending, but unfortunately, he will not be there tomorrow.

August 9th Backpost

August 9th

Today's update: We went to an English speaking church service this morning. The pastor amazingly enough was last assigned to a church in Appomattox VA, right down the road from us. He spoke a lot about not just believing in Jesus, but knowing... Him. He said if his mother hadn't taught him how important that was early on in life, he wouldn't have felt the need to venture over to a place like Addis. I am glad she
taught him about that, because that is what he wanted to bring to Ethiopia and he has done that. Many more like him are needed here to show people Christ's love and hope! After that, we went to a wonderful restaurant and had Pizza and Calzones.... It was great! Tomorrow is our big day to meet our newest son and Noah's little brother! It will be about 8 am your time so please keep all of the details in prayer!

I am sure we will all be excited, but I am sure that it will be tough for Teshale to sort it all out himself, but he knows his forever family is coming for him. I am just not sure he can conceive of what forever means with all he has been through. ...After we spend a few hours with him tomorrow, we will go get him Tuesday around 8 am your time. Stay tuned!

August 10th Backpost

August 10th

Ok Everyone! Day I met Brett - HUGE & AWESOME; Day we got married - AMAZING; Day we had Noah - The Ultimate - So we thought! Today, bar none, as a family was the most indescribably incredible day ever! Teshale is beyond words! He is well, see... for yourself, but just know that pictures don't tell the story! He is fun, funny and seems very happy to be coming to be part of our family! Well, the photos may have to
wait until this connection allows us to load, if it will even while we are here in Ethiopia. The ladies were taken to a spa where we got a pedicure and a sumo wrestling - oops, I mean a Swedish massage after wards. Those of you who have had one, may know what I am referring to. I was just about to excited to lay still, but managed! Can you believe both of those for several hours and only $35. I know! It was worth much more.

Afterwards, we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant that had music and entertainment also. A dancer even got Brett up and dancing! It was wonderful to experience some of Teshale's culture! Well, today was Meetcha day a...nd tomorrow is, you guessed it, Gotcha Day! After tomorrow he will be with us all the time! Praise the Lord, for He is Beyond Good!

August 11th Backpost

August 11th

Oh Happy Day! Teshale is officially with us and he is awesome! Oh, I think I said that last night. Well, he is! Noah and he have hit it off wonderfully so far. He so far is very easy going! We didn't have hot water when we got back and wan...ted to get him all cozy, clean and warm, so we waited for several hours, then decided we would just have to make due with water we heated in the kitchen and the cold water in the shower. We took him to the front desk to have them explain it all to him so he wouldn't just feel like we were assaulting him with hot water. He told her, just tell them to bath me with cold water, no problem! How easy can you get! We are loving it and feeling like he has a pretty good grasp on us being his family and that he is going to fly to the US to live with us. I am amazed at his flexibility and calmness through the whole thing. I believe he is at the best age for something like this. There is another Mom with us who picked up a toddler who hasn't stopped crying much yet. Oops! Brett just told me that I wrote assaulting him with Hot... water in the previous post. I meant Cold! Anyway, we will keep you posted as much as we can!

Well, it only took 2 1/2 hours and 2 reboots to load these to you! Hope you enjoy them! Wow will I never complain about slow computers in the US again! Smile! (This was referring to the pictures below posted on August 22nd of us first meeting Teshale).

August 12th Backpost

August 12th

Another Awesome Day with the Boys! Today was hang out and play day until 1pm Embassy appointment to get Teshale's passport. That was about 2 1/2 hours in a waiting room, but the kids did real well with Lego building and playing! After 5 minut...es of questions, we were out of there and off to Teshale's FIRST restaurant ever, we think! He got to see a large fish tank and ate very well for dinner.

By the way, we found out he doesn't like green peppers! Smile! Hopefully that doesn't mean he doesn't like any green veggies. We shall see though! Veggies aren't a common thing for most to eat around here. Fruits are a little... more common, but we have been advised not to eat any fruit you can't peel. We have been fortunate so far with the stomach stuff, so our Juice Plus+ is having to be the fruit and veggie servings until we get back to the states. That is a bit challenging for our bodies because we normally eat lots of salads, fruits and veggies. It doesn't seem to be bothering us too much to have to go without, especially when you see thousands... and thousands in the streets who probably never get any real nutrition. Please pray for these people and all of the countries that aren't as fortunate as the USA.

America is truly in a minority for food and so much more, no matter how bad our economy is!!!! Tomorrow we go to visit a couple of local orphanages. Friday is a Free day that we haven't decided what we will do yet. I am just so anxious to get... Teshale back to his new home and bed! The poor little guy has missed naps for the last 3 days!

Backposting to catch our blog up to date.

August 14th - Back Posting for Journal Record

OK, I am going to attempt to pull the posts from Facebook so I can have a pretty good journal for our family to have in the future. It will be a lot, but for those who haven't been following facebook, this will help catch you up.

One last post before our return trip to the states: Sorry I didn't post last night! We had no power or hot water when we got back from the Orphanages. It was just as well, as it will take me a while before I can begin to express my feelings a...bout that experience. All I can say is that it is a sight no one wants to see, but everyone should see. I only pray that I don't soon put it in the back of my mind and will continue to pray that God gives us some more ideas on how to help with such a HUGE _________________. I can't even give it a word. No one word would due! Brett and I just came back with the kids and told them to play while we laid on the... bed with our hearts and heads aching. Enough said! Please pray for these little ones and the limited number that care for them.

Today was our free day! We got Teshale's passport and VISA! Yeah! We can take him across the border! We then went to a Coffee Factory! I am not a big coffee drinker myself, but this was Great! We also got to tour the factory! That was ver...y interesting! Then we went to lunch, came back to the guest house and watched "Robots". Teshale is only interested about 1/3 of the way through, then he isn't too interested in listening to the English yammering. We then went out in the court yard and played soccer for a couple of hours. Our boy has some moves! We said goodbye to 2 of the four families we have been with, ate dinner, then called it a night.

Tomorrows schedule: Shop a little close by for some Amharic speaking kids videos, have lunch, nap, go to airport at 6:30pm, then fly out a little after 10. We are hoping that will time our sleep well with the time change. We will arrive back in Ro...anoke Sunday afternoon and are really looking forward to many firsts with our little guy. He has said he is excited to be flying to the states with us tomorrow!

What a big world is awaiting him! Blessing to all that are following! Thanks for your prayers! Hopefully we will be posting to our blog more than here when we get back. If you do not have our blog and would like to have the address, please just let me know!

Hello All, I know everyone has been wondering why we haven't posted to our blog. It has been a little hard to know how to begin our first post since we weren't able to post to this blog while in Ethiopia. That and fatigue have hindered our posts!

We are doing Great and slowly getting caught up from jet lag, emotional drain from all we experienced over there...etc. I am so bummed that I wasn't able to post while in country. I was able to post to Facebook, but I am using this as our journal for Teshale to have to look back on, so may end up pulling some of the posts over here. Sorry not to be able to update those of you that only have our blog. It was an amazing trip and Teshale is a wonderful fit for our family! He seems to be adapting pretty well. The language barrier is the source of any challenges we have, but he is so eager to learn English, it won't be long before he is proficient. He has a great laugh, a great sense of humor and he LOVES Daddy! He seems to take to Noah and I really well also, but we can see where we are on the pecking order pretty clearly and we don't mind. We are so blessed to have him.

Praise the Lord - We go to Ethiopia on Wed - Aug. 5th!

Yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeee! It is confirmed! There is an embassy appointment for us! We will be going to get Teshale this coming Wednesday! I am beside myself! We can now breathe! It felt a little bizarre getting tickets without confirmation that we really do have an appointment for the final step to get our new son! Our tickets arrived Fed Ex today and we still hadn't heard anything to be positive up to that point, but we just heard from our adoption agency that we have a Green Light to go this week! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! We will be attempting to post while in country, but my computer is Vista and gives me a lot of trouble so don't know how well that will go! Well, I had better keep on packing!

Our July Update Arrived yesterday!

These pictures make us really smile! It is so good to see Teshale look so happy! Praying that it isn't too hard for him to be taken away from his friends now that he is starting to feel happy and having many of his needs met. Fortunately we have been connecting with a few of his friend's families so that we can possibly connect through webcam or by phone once we get him home!

Teshale's Birth Certificate!!!!!

We received Teshale's Birth Certificate today! Wow! Exciting to see it in writing with our names on there as his official parents. We did receive word today that we are very likely to travel Aug 5-15th. This will depend on whether an extra Embassy Appointment can be opened up for all of the families that will be needing to travel then. This is for the finalizing paperwork so we can bring him home! Please surround this in prayer!

Also, please pray for my Mom, Ellen! She has been going through excruciating pain right now as a result of impinged nerves in her back. She has had a lot of trouble with this over the past year, but is currently waiting for an appointment in August to get an epidural to help with the pain. Somehow, the pain meds she has been prescribed are making her very sick and on top of that, the pain seems to be ramping up. She can barely walk - has been needing the use of a wheel chair lately. If you know my mother, that is NOT her. She runs everywhere she goes with gusto! Please keep her in prayer. She is a long way from all of her children and we wish we could be there to be of some kind of comfort for her. Please pray for her wonderful husband Milt also as he is helping her with all of this. I know from my own experience, it is awfully hard on a husband to have to see their wife in so much pain! She might be able to get her epidural Aug 3rd, but I'm praying for sooner!

Thanks for your prayers!

No Travel info. yet! Keep Praying!

Sorry to say, No travel info. yet! I will post as soon as I know! Keep Praying! Lord Willing, we will have him with us one day!
Mary

Please Pray for our Travel News - Hoping to learn about it tomorrow!

Thank you to all who have been faithfully following our adoption process. Many are wondering, when is the travel date? We are too! If MOWA came back Friday raring to go, we should have some kind of word on when we will be traveling tomorrow. It almost feels like we are awaiting Court decisions all over again! Smile! Not really! We have been taking advantage of this time, trying to clean more...etc. It won't be long after we get back that school will be starting, so I hope to use this next week to finalize some packing and work on school planning. That was the hope for last week also. I'm guessing God knew I needed this much time to get a little better organized. We are planning to homeschool our newest little guy as well! I am truly looking forward to it and think Noah will be a big help! He is very excited! Did I say Very? He is way beyond that!!!!!!

Anyway, please pray that our travel isn't delayed by anything else. For some reason, there has been limited space available for travel, which may impact when we are able to travel. A family who went over last week have found themselves in a challenging position. Their paperwork didn't arrive for their children's visas in time for them to catch their flight. Ethiopian Air says they can accommodate them on Aug. 26th or something close to that. This is a family of 9. Please be in prayer for them. I guess there are flights going, but difficulty with outgoing flights being booked.

As I told Noah yesterday and I have to keep telling myself, "we will not get Teshale 1 day sooner or one day later than the Lord wills it." We will do all we can, but we are learning to rest in Him. He has been so very good to us! Stay tuned! We will let you know as soon as we do!

In Christ,
Mary

Updated Video

We updated the video to include some additional photos and improve the video layout. Enjoy!

Pictures and Update about Teshale from July 14th

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Wow! What a blessing and HUGE gift the Logue family gave us this week! They picked up their sweet little guy last week and delivered a package for us to Teshale. They sent us almost 20 pictures that we are treasuring! It also looks like they spent a good little bit of time with him and helped make sure that our letter we sent was translated to him. Even though his first language is Sidamo and the transition home staff speaks Amharic, they say he is picking up the language quickly and they feel like he was able to understand the letter pretty well. This was really important to us as we really wanted him to understand that we are trying to get to him as soon as the Ethiopian government will let us. With the delays we have experienced, we don't want Teshale to think we aren't coming! It sounds like he was very happy to get the letter and small gifts. We are so thankful for all of the families who have been so willing to take packages for us. It means the world to us and hopefully communicates a little bit of our heart to our little buddy!

Noah made it to his camp this week and although the first day was lots of thunder and rain, he said it was better than he had expected. What a blessing for me to have the week to get some things done and know he is in good hands and having a blast with some of his dearest friends. His favorite parts were the "100 ft drop water slide and riding the bus (we don't get him out much - smile!)

Pace Travel Update and Prayer Request

Please pray for the Reed family. We were hoping to be traveling with this precious couple to pick up their darling 3 month old, Juliana Ashure. We just got word that their sweet little one just went to be with the Lord this morning. The couple have a 4 year old little boy who is also crushed by this blow. The family has been to the Ukraine and come back without a child in a previous adoption attempt and now this. They were so close. Please lift them up in prayer as they need a tremendous amount of it right now!

Also, I know everyone is wondering why they haven't heard about our travel date. Well, that is because we don't know it yet! We were hoping it was going to be next week, but as it turned out, Monday following our Wonderful "Court Passing Day July 3rd", MOWA (the Ministry of Women's Affairs) decided to close down for 2 weeks of restructuring. We know that with all of the problems we have had so far with them, that this is much needed. It would have been nice if they would have waited until the Courts close down August 1st, so it wouldn't be hindering those who are anxiously awaiting court dates, but that is not the way it worked out.

Anyway, we are doing fine and just so excited that we have Teshale as an official member of our family. We will be blessed to go get him whenever God sees fit. We are also praying that the MOWA closure is helpful for the families that come behind us. I am sure this is a daunting job to handle so I don't want to be too frustrated with them. God alone is helping me with that! Nothing Angelic on my part I assure you!

Fortunately, when we found out we wouldn't be traveling, we were able to mail a package off to a dear family in Ohio who will be picking up their child this weekend and hand delivering our 4th package to Teshale, probably Tuesday the 14th. It was helpful knowing he will be able to get something from us soon, since we hadn't sent anything since last month. We also enclosed a letter that we pray can be translated to him. We wanted him to know that we are wanting to come get him as soon as the Ethiopian Government will allow us to.

Anyway, we will know more on the 27th or 28th and will post anything new that we hear as soon as possible. We appreciate everyone's faithfulness at sticking with us through all of the details and ups and downs. Please keep praying! That is what has brought us this far!

Awesome links and songs!

Check this little guy out on the first link. I think he is 7 or 8. This inspired Noah. Both links are so powerful! "God, please help us make a difference in this world and especially in the lives of the children."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cco_IlYuqN0&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4-gOqqlB8

Post from our Adoption Agency blog

Please read this story.

Mary

A post from our Adoption Agency's blog

Now that I am home I will be blogging about my past days in Africa. On the last night of our Visiting Orphans trip, I asked every team member what was their most memorable moment. Here is mine:

We spent a day at one of the many Mother Theresa Orphanages in Ethiopia. This orphanage has about 400 kids with HIV. The number is staggering and a very small percentage of these children are ever adopted. It is one of the most hopeless places we visit as a mission team.

The guys played football, aka, soccer with the older boys while most of the women led the children in songs and arts and crafts. While I was working with one set of kids, a team member named Audrey cried out my name. When I turned to see what was the matter, she was trying to help a little 4 year old boy out of a ditch. He had been pushed by another child head first into this rock ditch and blood was running all down his face and onto his hand, while he cried in pain. Without thinking, I picked him up immediately and rushed him to the clinic that was on this large compound. I was with a volunteer who worked there and she asked me if I had any open wounds. I had not even thought about that. Not once did I hesitate to not pick him up because he had HIV. Thankfully it never crossed my mind!

However, in that moment, the danger of this virus and the threat of it scared me. I quickly realized there was no concern as I did not have an open wound, and I laid my head against his bloody head and tried calming him and comforting him. It seemed to work. Pretty soon the nurse took him and laid him on the table. He was crying as she pressed on his head. She uttered something to him in amharic (the national language of Ethiopia) and he quickly stopped crying. I was amazed as she put disinfectant on his sore and he didn't let out a peep. I myself would have been crying and carrying on!

I asked her what she said and my heart broke with her answer. She told him, "If you keep crying, I will not help you and you will get an infection". So, no matter how hard she pressed, he did not let out a sound. You know this tiny boy wanted a Mama during this time. Someone to let him cry. Someone to kiss his wounds. Someone to reassure him he will be okay.

Most orphans NEVER have someone to pick them up when they fall, or to kiss them, or to comfort and hold them. They either go uncomforted or are hushed like this nurse did to him. I excused myself from the room as for me even, it was too painful to watch. Pretty soon, he found me in the multitude of children and grabbed my hand. He was such a quiet and shy boy that even the interpreters couldn't get him to talk, so I don't know what he thought. But he did manage to say that his head was still hurting. Then all the sudden he left with all the other children to go to lunch. He didn't look back..he just walked away. That was a sad moment for me too. I realized that they are used to visitors coming and going and never seeing them again. He didn't even bother to say good-bye. Why bother...he doesn't seem to have any hope.

Later that night I laid awake in tears as I realized he could have had a concussion and no one looked into that chance. I was so worried. So, my husband and I prayed for him until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I wish I could tell you his name. I am more than ashamed that I do not know it. He just wouldn't talk though.

This is one reason why I love my job as our Development Director. I get the chance to work for a fundraising campaign that does bring orphans some hope. Our Orphan's Ticket Home campaign works tirelessly to help bring more children home. I love knowing that even though I was unable to bring this particular child home and could only be there for that one moment in his life, I can still help other orphans find their way home through this campaign. If you are inspired in any way by this blog post, please pray about giving to this campaign. You can do so at www.orphanstickethome.org.

Until They All Have Tickets Home,

Amanda Lawrence

Director of Development

Where are we not with getting ready to go to Ethiopia?

Sorry it has taken a couple of days to post! We have been reeling from our awesome news of passing court and our home is a flurry of activity, almost as if we haven't had months to prepare for this. I don't know about everyone else, but nothing gets me motivated like someone lighting a motivational fire under my behind! Smile! It is amazing what you can accomplish on lots of adrenaline! I can hardly sleep and it's not caffeine! "I'm just too Excited to sleep"!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes! I know everyone wants to know when we go pick up our little wonder. Well, we do not know yet about our definite travel dates. We pray it will be next week! Please pray for packing. We were able to get some items from Gleaning for the world for the orphanages over there and are trying to figure out how to pack it. They gave us some school supplies, diapers, wipes, some medical supplies and many more items that I couldn't begin to tell. I am just starting to see how we might be able to pack.

Others have asked how they can contribute.

1) First and foremost, we can use all of the prayer you can send our way for the details. We wouldn't survive without it!

2) I am not sure where it is going to go, but I feel God is telling me to let you all know that if you would like to contribute little cars, rubber balls, hard candy, (yes, I am requesting hard candy for those of you who know me) and little items that I could give to the kids we encounter at the orphanage or in the streets. Everyone that goes over feels like they wish they had more to give to attempt to brighten these little kids days.

3) Also, we are not sure how much the shipping will be to take these items with us, so shipping financial contributions is another way that people are welcome to contribute.

Please don't feel obligated to contribute. I have just had many asking how they can help and I wasn't sure what would fit or what we would be able to take until now, so was a little afraid to put anything out there for fear of a mountain of items.

I just went out and bought a big bag of dum dum suckers, some rice crispy treats and some gummie snacks. I wanted to get more healthy items like granola bars, but was concerned for nut allergies.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

Praise God we passed court! Teshale is an Official Pace!!!!

Praise God we passed our 4th Court Date today! Thank you so much to all of you for your encouraging prayers of support! Enjoy our introduction to the newest member of our family! Happy 4th of July weekend!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Awesome Way to Intro their new son!

Had to post this family's introduction to the newest member of their family. This is the video they put our once they passed court! Get a tissue and Enjoy!


http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=8f89e7801a2774953778a6&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Treasures of the Day

Well, as each day passes since our last court date, Tuesday the 23rd, I get a little more composure back! (Smile) We truly are doing great and looking forward with great anticipation to getting our little buddy in Mid July. Incidentally, our court date was given in error. It is not July 2nd, it is now July 3rd (Friday). The only thing that kept us from passing last week was the Orphanage Director not being there. Lord willing, he will be there this week and all will go well! If not, we will survive again, praying that I will do it a little more gracefully this time! (Smile)

Great things happened today! We contacted a local organization called Gleaning for the World earlier this week and told them that we had been praying that we would be able to do more than pick up our child when we go to Ethiopia. We said we are praying for a way to try to have a little bigger impact with helping the other orphanages over there when we go and we were wondering if they might have some items that we could possibly take. They were so sweet and gracious. The head of the organization, Pastor Ron Davidson said, "sure", then gave me the name of an Angel who cares for their inventory and said "call her and she can tell you better what we have". We called the Angel named Jean and she said, "I don't know if we have what you need, but you are very welcome to come and take what you find that would help."

Well, Brett, Noah and I went out this afternoon and found so many items that will be a total blessing to share when we go over there. As a matter of fact, she had a couple of bags of items that had come in the day before. She said, when it came in, she said, I thought it must have come in just for your need. It was lots of craft and school supplies. Praise the Lord! He is so good! It will be so awesome to be able to deliver these things. I know it will do a lot for our 8 year old son to be able to be a part of it all.

I was just thinking today what a blessing it is, not only for us to be able to have a new member added to our family, but also for us to be able to have the gift of what I know will be a heart and eye opening trip for our family. We have always been blessed beyond belief and I am praying that through this, God will open our eyes and our hearts to a larger ministry for Him. I know He doesn't need us, but I am so humbled to know that He wants to used us, even when we are such a mess like I so often am.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

Round #4 - July 2nd

Court Date #4 is scheduled for the 2nd of July. Thanks for all the prayer support! The case was closed yesterday, which should mean that we would be put at the back of the line for new court dates, but it sounds like the judge met us 1/2 way! Our court date could have easily been several weeks off. Thank you God for all the little ways you calm us! I should have more information about tentative travel soon. Thank goodness we are working with a travel agent that works with adoptions. This would be much more miserable otherwise! Stay tuned!

Failure #3

I am writing this right now, not because I feel like discussing any of this at the moment. I am pretty frustrated to put it mildly! I am writing this because I feel like I need to give our prayer warriors an update! Thanks for the prayer!

All was completed with our paperwork and we would have passed, but the Orphanage Director is required to be there and was too sick to be. I am sorry for the director, yet the judge doesn't sound willing to just hear from them another day this week. She wants to close our case and get a new court date, probably a couple more weeks away! Too frustrated to say how I really feel and know it won't glorify God, so I will sign off for now! Please pray for us to not get too frustrated and for court to pass before they close August-October. I know I need a lot of prayer right now!P

P.S. Please pray for Noah in particular. He has been soooooooooo very patient throughout all of this and I know when I pick him up from Vacation Bible School at 12, he is pretty much assuming a "Yes, we passed".

Waiting for Round #3 on June 23rd

Hello All,

We didn't pass today! Yes, this is disappointing, but we are doing fine. There was progress to note. The relinquishing family members did make it to the court and were allowed to give their testimony so they will not have to travel back for the next court date, which is June 23rd. The main reason stated for not passing today was that MOWA (the ministry of women's affairs), which is understaffed, was unable to get their part of the paperwork to the court in time. Yes, this is why they call adoption "paper pregnancy". All the paperwork has to be done before the delivery! Smile!

So, as I said above, the new court date is next Tuesday, which incidentally will be the 20th Anniversary of my father's death. I believe we will see a PASS on that date! It is currently a bitter sweet day for our family as we are joyful to know that Dad went to be with the Lord on that day, yet we miss him dearly here on Earth and the 23rd is an amplified reminder of that. I believe God, in His usual Goodness wants to give us more reasons to celebrate and be joyful on the 23rd. His timing is Perfect!

Approximately 36 hours until we hear how our Court Case turned out!!!!

Well, once again, we are excitedly waiting for our court results. We should wake up Wednesday morning to find out if we have passed court and our son is an official Pace.
We thank all who are praying. Just to give you a little glimpse of what we are learning about our new addition. Below is a note from the sweet family that took our latest goodie bag to our son when they were picking up their child. She took a couple of pictures for us and our son looks wonderful! It sounds like he is a playful, fun little boy. We have one of those already and pray that the two will make a great heart connection!

She wrote:
Your little boy is a hoot! He was very shy when we first met him, but then when we started playing, he was so very funny. He loves playing with balls and really loved my husband.

We so enjoyed your little T! The pictures really don't show his personality, but our son's didn't either- you will so enjoy having a little older child, especially one who likes to play like your's!!

Stay tuned for the Wednesday update!

Prayer Request for all going through the court process right now!

Seven days to go for our court case to be heard! It will be Wednesday, between 3 and 7 am our time. Many other families that were caught up in our same paperwork issue last month have passes through their new court date, with many still coming up over the next week. One in particular needs urgent prayer. They have a child who somehow got caught up in previous orphanage trying to adopt them out. I guess the couple decided not to complete the adoption, more than likely because the child has some health issues. A family working with our adoption agency really wants the child, but because of the other attempted adoption, it is all being held up in court. Please lift the Setliffe family up in prayer. The decision has been deliberated for more than 4 weeks already and the child needs surgery and other needed medical care. Please keep those prayers flowing! I know they appreciate it very much! To be continued.....

New Court Date - June 17th

Yeah! The new court date is June 17th. Now we just need to pass it! If we pass that date, then we should travel over the 4th of July. It looks like travel would be July 4th through 11th. We are hoping to travel a couple of days early to meet other members of our son's family. Please continue to pray!

No New Court Date Yet!

Sorry for not posting more! We are doing well and just trying to focus on getting our house in order. Truly time is passing for us very quickly! As is always true for me, I can never get as much accomplished as I would like, but I'm learning through all of that process too! As Noah continually reminds me ... "I am a work in progress". Praise the Lord, He isn't done with me yet! I need some upgrades! (Smile)

We still do not have a new court date yet, but God knows when it is and we are at peace with that! A prayer request would be that we are able to pass court before the beginning of August. We are not going to be distressed, even if it does go longer, but we are praying that court passes before August because if it doesn't, we will be faced with a delay from August - the end of Sept. The Ethiopian Courts close for a 2 month break and do not reopen until October. We didn't even dream that we could have to think about being effected by that when we first sent our paperwork over, thinking we had plenty of months, but it may be something we have to be prepared for. I will post again as soon as I hear anything! Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Fresh Joy

Wow! After our learning about the court case being "closed" until further notice today, my son and I decided to have a party of a different kind. No pity party here! We sang praises to the Lord, went riding bikes in a torrential downpour, hitting all the deepest mud puddles at least 15 or 20 times. Once we were all cleaned up, we ate Crab legs (my favorite) and macaroni and cheese (Noah's favorite) and played games. What a way for God to restore your perspective and bring fresh joy! He is so good!

Plus, we were a lot less rumpled once Brett arrived home. The only downside was that Dad couldn't join the party!

Thanks again for all of your prayers!

More Hurdles to Jump before we pass!

We are disappointed but not surprised this morning as we just received information that we did not pass our first court date. Not only did we not pass, we were not even presented. The case was marked "Closed". A document that we jumped through hoops to update last week will arrive to them in a few hours, but wasn't able to get there in time for court. Faxed copies wouldn't appease the judge. This document by the way was accepted for the last 10 months then changed on a dime last week. Does it sound like there is something working against us? There is and it is the devil. He wants to keep us stirred up with little peace.

My desire is to be aggitated beyond belief, not because we didn't pass, but because of the reason that our case wasn't heard. I was prepared for a "No", but would feel a little better if it was for a good reason like maybe the relinquishing relative couldn't make it to court or maybe some information was missing that still needed to be collected. This situation just feels like antagonism and breaks my heart that power politics may be playing a roll in this, rather than putting the good of the children first.

As it stands now, the document will be delivered and looked at on Wednesday, again this will be in the middle of the night for us here in the US. I asked if there was a possibility if our case would be heard tomorrow. The answer was, "doubtful because so many have been canceled for the same reason." There is no way that the judge can catch that many cases up tomorrow. The next court cases being scheduled are after June 18th. Unfortunately, the relative that relinquished our child lives 7 hours away and probably showed up for court this morning. I don't know if he would have been able to stay over night to be able to be there in the morning, so more than likely, they will be inconvenienced to have to come back again for a later date.

Please God, give us your ability to pray for those who seem to be pulling all the strings right now and who seem to be antagonistic to this process. Please give us your eyes, your heart and the peace that you are in control and that your timing is perfect. Please be with all of the families that didn't pass yesterday and today because of the same thing and may you somehow be glorified through this situation! Please grow us in ways we aren't expecting and use this time for miracles! Praise God for He is Good All the Time!!!!

Thank you for all the prayers! Keep praying!

Tonight is the night for the next big milestone!

Tonight is the night! As we sleep tonight, our court case will be being heard. Thank you all for your prayers! We are so excited no matter what the outcome of the court no matter what it is! Of course we are praying for a "Pass", but we are trusting in God's timing for it all and just know that this is one step closer to bringing our sweet new son home! I can't wait until we can post pictures to introduce him to everyone! Blessings to All!

Thank you Charles for this verse I will cling to today:
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Court is almost upon us!!!!!!

Tonight, we finally finished painting the bedroom for our new child and hope to go get his bed tomorrow! It is so surreal trying to picture how our new son will view all of these things that are so foreign from everything he has ever known. If you think about it, we all grow into everything we are now used to. I imagine it will be a bit of shell shock and overload for him when he first comes into country. We tried to be pretty subdued with the bedroom, yet light. Maybe I will put some pictures on here when we get the furniture in it. Taking a look around our house trying to see through his eyes makes me want to hide much to help prevent to much overwhelm. We still have much work to do before he come! What a wonderful reason to get your home into better order!

One weekend left until our court date on the 26th. Please keep us in prayer, along with the judge and the family member that has to show up at court. The family member who relinquished our child must be present at court or we do not pass. This family member lives 7 hours away and may find it very difficult to make the trip for many reasons. Please pray all goes smoothly! I will be putting out an update with a yes we passed or no we didn't on Tuesday sometime. Thank you for your prayers!


In Christ,
Mary

What can 1 person do here in the US to make a difference? A LOT

Friends and Family,

Please read the following post with an open heart. I also encourage you to ACT on behalf of these babies. You may never go to a foreign land and you may never feel the urging of the holy spirit to open your home and heart to an orphan. BUT!!! YOU can make a difference in the life of a child. YOU can be the hands and feet of Jesus from your own home.

Famine and poverty are increasing the rates of malnourished infant babies in Ethiopia. Children's HopeChest has worked with the America World Adoption Agency (AWAA) on projects in Ethiopia and Russia over the past five years. This request came to us from their transition home where they are receiving severely malnourished babies into their care. This month, in honor of mother's day, I want to raise $12,500 to provide specialized baby formula to this transition home for these malnourished babies.

A malnourished baby cries in his mother's lap at the Médecins Sans Frontières intensive care unit near the southern town of Sheshemene. Radu Sigheti/Reuters. [Tom's Note: This is not a child from AWAA's transition home.]

Here's a view from the ground from Duni, an Ethiopian woman working for AWAA at their transitional home:

Even though I grew up in Ethiopia, I never knew just how badly babies suffered from malnutrition until I returned to Addis and started working at the AWAA office there. The children at our Transitional Home come from very remote areas. Their families are unable to feed themselves let alone their children and usually relinquish them to their local orphanage when it becomes evident their children will die if they don't.

It is hard to see malnourished babies, so tiny, with just skin and bones. I remember the first one I saw, we will call her Gracie. She looked like an old woman in a baby's body. She had big eyes that seemed so wise and testified to what they have seen in the short months Gracie has been alive.

That was a few months ago, since then we have admitted many more babies in such condition. And looking at Gracie today, I can't believe she is the same baby. I knew she was a beauty but it really came out once those cheeks filled up. She is still tiny but the pound she has gained in the past week has made a world of difference in her appearance.

I look at the others and feel the same way I first felt with Gracie, dejection and fear that she may never make it. The right type of formula for such babies is hard to come by. In fact any kind of formula is expensive and hard to come by. We have babies who need this today so we work tirelessly to get the best formula possible for malnourished babies shipped from the US.

It is not fair for a baby to have sad eyes like Gracie's or for a baby to cry out of hunger and not have that need met.

Worse yet, it is not fair for a baby to die because of malnutrition. And yet, that is what happens daily in Ethiopia. Today, I am praying for the babies lying still in their cribs. I am praying I will see them feed soon (they are now on feeding tubes). I am praying that their tiny lifeless legs will slowly fill with flesh and will wiggle and play like normal babies do.

Here's what we can do to help. CHC will raise $12,500 to purchase what is known in the U.S. as "Nutramigen" formula. This type of formula is necessary because traditional formula cannot be digested by malnourished infants.

You can participate by making a gift of any size. A gift of $30 will buy and ship one can of formula to the chidlren in need. Right now if you give $30 it will be doubled to $60! The first $500 we raise will be matched dollar-for-dollar. If we hit our goal, we can send 400 cans of formula to starving infants in Ethiopia.

PRECIOUS LIVES WILL BE SAVED THROUGH YOUR GENEROSITY!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE! Please put "Ethiopia Formula" in the note section of the donate page

Awesome Video by Sara Groves- "I Saw What I Saw" song inspired by her trip to Africa

Enjoy this video by Sara Groves. May it touch your heart as it did mine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdP6PqsbJY

Learn Some Basic Amharic Phrases

Hey Everyone, I just found a link that really gives a glimpse of Amharic and how it is pronounced. If you have interest to learn a little to connect with our child when he arrives, this is a great crash course. http://ethiopianadoptiontravelogue.wordpress.com/?s=Amharic+Phrases .

Help Us Raise Awareness

Hey Everyone, As our family is traveling down this road to adopt through Africa, it is increasingly weighing on our hearts to help raise awareness of the huge need that Africa has. Please check out this website. https://www.mochaclub.org/mochaclub/welcome and the other links I have posted on our blog. I am daily trying to find more ways to get the message out that small things that we in the US can do, even in our challenging economy today, will make a huge impact on those in Africa and other less fortunate countries. Just look what $7 will do! We recently watched a movie about Mother Teresa and I will never forget the scene where she was sitting in what would probably be called a board meeting with those who were managing her ministry that had been growing so much, she had finally succumb to allowing management. She didn't ever want that. She believed it (her ministry) should stay simple and let God do the rest. In the scene I am referring to, everyone at the table had a bottle of water sitting in front of them. She asked someone around the table how much the bottle cost. I believe they said about $3. She said that that would enable a child to go to school for a year or a semester, then she disbanded the management group and went back to simple and as we all know, God used her mightily throughout all of her efforts. $3/$7/$10/$20/$100 can do so much and yet it is nothing to us in the US. Please search and consider how you might be able to support Africa or some other country that has so little and is so desperate for our help. And stay tuned to our blog if you are looking for more ideas of how to get involved. As I find more, I will attach their link. More than anything, please pray for those who suffer, who are homeless and those who may need a family.

A Post from the Times Online

I found this today while searching looking at another adopting families blog...

The Ethiopian peasant farmer and his wife shuffled painfully into the orphanage. They were in the last stages of Aids and had only weeks to live. However, they were happy. They had heard the Franciscan nuns had found a home for their three children and had come to say farewell.
“I am so happy, they are going to stay together,” the father, Solomon, whispered as he embraced a middle-aged Mormon couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. “Now, I can die peacefully. They will go to school in America and have a future. It is good they leave here.” As they embraced their two daughters, aged 8 and 6, for the last time the tears ran freely. Their four-year-old son did not appreciate the significance of the moment and ran off to play with friends.

Sister Luthgarder, a seasoned veteran of such heart-rending adoptions, explained: “It is sad, but it is so rare they are kept together and so I am happy.” Only a week previously a brother and sister were separated: one going to Norway, the other to Canada. “The new parents said they would take them to see each other every year, but inevitably they will grow apart,” she said.
Only a fraction of Ethiopia’s burgeoning population of orphaned children, now put at five million, find their way to Kidane Meheret Children’s Home. Even fewer leave and they are certainly the lucky ones.

A few miles away, dozens of children sleep in drains at night and beg by day at the sprawling central bus station. They face constant dangers.
“Some are forced into prostitution, some are sold by relatives after their parents die, they are kept as maids and often abused,” said Dagmawi Alemayeau who runs an organisation, Forum on Street Children, which tries to fight trafficking. Most of an estimated 50,000 children on the streets of the capital, Addis Ababa, at some stage pass through the bus station where he has his office.

“Traffickers go to the rural areas ... there are places where you can even buy a baby for as little as $1,” he told The Times. He always keeps an eye open at the international airport where so-called “uncles” can often be spotted boarded planes to Gulf states with teenage girls.
Across the rest of Africa, a combination of soaring populations, growing poverty and the HIV-Aids epidemic has led to a huge increase in orphans.
A UNICEF report estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa alone there will be more than 20 million by 2010.
Cash-strapped governments on the world’s poorest continent are overwhelmed. They can afford only a handful of government run agencies. Despite an increase in foreign adoptions, some well-publicised like those of Madonna and Angelina Jolie, who has adopted from Ethiopia and Cambodia, only a tiny fraction of these children find new homes overseas.
Organisations like UNICEF and the UK’s Save the Children Fund are opposed to foreign adoptions, advocating instead that the children be placed in extended families or locally adopted so they grow up within his or her own cultural identity.
They encourage would be parents to send money instead to help look after the children in the country of origin. But they are often accused of a head in the sand approach to the abuse the child may face and ignore the fact that by so doing they often condemn the child to a life of grinding poverty and no education.

“Adoption is sad, very sad but the whole issue is sad, a life of neglect, and abandonment, grinding poverty and abuse is sad, adoption is often the lesser evil especially as the people who come here are good and very carefully checked,” added Sister Luthgarder who finds at least one new born baby a week on her doorstep.

I am convinced that we are to do what we can for even just one....(or two!) Thank God for the opportunity to reach out to the fatherless.

1st Posting

Well, it is taking a major effort to get our blog going. It isn't too terribly hard, but does take some time. We really could have made this easier to follow if we would have started posting at the very beginning of our effort to adopt. However, since we didn't, I just have to jump right in or will never get started. I will try to fill in the gaps after I get a few posts going to announce where we currently are.

Our family has been on a journey to adopt for a couple of years. February of 2008, we entered the Ethiopia adoption program. March 19th we received our referral from America World Adoption Agency. It didn't take any time to decide to accept! He is a precious little one and we are so excited to be so close to going to get our new addition! We have prayed for this little guy for a long time. Noah has prayed for him as long as I can remember.

We received a tentative court date for May 26th. We don't have to be there, but what that means is that once we pass court, we will be given firm travel dates to go pick up our son. The court date is the part that makes our son officially ours. Currently our tentative travel dates are June 20 - 26th.

Please keep all of the details in prayer for us so that all goes as smoothly as possible. Many do not pass through court the first or even second time for various reasons (paperwork missing, someone doesn't show to court ...etc.). That is all pretty much out of our control, but not God's so we will accept His timing!

Well, it is past time to start school with Noah, but I just had to get something going here.