Patience My Child....

Our agency director comes back from Ethiopia this week.
Will we get any new information?
Will the quiet wait continue?

We don't know them, but we miss them.

More love from Ethiopia--

Today we received notes from the girls. Jaclyn (our Hopester friend) sent us drawings and letters that the girls made for us, while she was at Bethel. G's is written in English and is so sweet and full of -I Love Yous. M's was written in all Amharic (the language of Ethiopia).

Tonight we attended a worship concert at our church, put on by a local university ministry. As soon as I walked through the front doors of our church I met a beautiful Ethiopian student. She was so happy to know of our adoption and was excited to translate the letter for us! God is so good! Our super-techie pastor-and his super-techie phone captured it all on video-Love it!

Yodahe reads it first in Amharic and then translates-- Go HERE to watch.

New Pictures and Long Distance Hugs...

Bethel Orphanage, Ethiopia, Africa


A fellow "Hopester" (another woman adopting from our agency) just got back from Ethiopia and took a surprise trip to Bethel Orphanage, where our girls are! She came back with precious pictures and a few more glimpses into who our girls are. This long wait would be unbearable without these little pick-me-ups and reminders that our girls are waiting too. It's not just us.
Here's the email I got from Jaclyn about our girls (THANKS AGAIN JACLYN!):

I was at Bethel to work on Sponsorships for the other children there and interviewed each kid a bit. Here is how each of your kids answered my questions:

Becky-
G told me she was 7 years old, her favorite color is orange and she loves to eat pasta.
M said that she is 8 years old and yellow is her favorite color. Her favorite food is oranges. Both of your girls were ALL SMILES! They are happy happy little girls. Neither one of them seemed shy but G was a bit more outgoing. They really put a lot of effort into your surprise. Each of them went page by page through the books that you sent even though they were the same. They did have a tiny spat over who would go first. G won.

The little spat cracked us up! Looks like we might have another beautiful strong-willed one! :)
Got this later in the day too:

I forgot to mention in my email that I also hugged both of your girls and said it was from mom and dad. They were so happy and told me to tell you that they love and miss you both. They also said to hug Jack and Grace for them.

Our hearts are longing....

Fun while we wait...

61 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Scoring:

0-24 - Very Poor (Failure)
25-41 - Poor
42-58 - Average
59-75 - Superior
76+ - Very Superior

Areas where I failed:

Fails to sew on buttons or darn socks regularly.
Wears pajamas instead of nightgown.
Doesn't want to get up to prepare breakfast.
Has a pleasant disposition in the morning--not crabby.


Areas where I passed:

Faithful and true to husband.
Good sense of humor--jolly and gay.
Is of same religion as her husband.
Neat housekeeper--tidy and clean.

Areas that cracked me up:

Tells risque or vulgar stories
Puts her cold feet on husband at night to warm them.
Seams in hose often crooked.
Slow in coming to bed--delays til husband is almost asleep.
Shoulder straps hang over arms or slip is uneven and shows.
Serves dinner but fails to sit down till meal is half over--then wants husband
to wait for her.

Boy have times changed!

It's a small, small world...

I woke up to this email on Monday morning. Just a little pick-me-up to remind me that others are watching, listening and waiting along with us! We are not alone on this journey....nice to "meet" you MB! :)

Dear Family:

Hello. My name is MB and I am from Ohio, USA. I spent the past 4 months working at an orphanage in South Africa, Africa this past summer. Two days ago I was in the airport in Dakar, Africa when I met another American who was wearing your necklace. I instantly asked her where she got it and she told me your story of adoption. I immediately came home and searched the net. But all I could find was this email address. I was wondering if you could direct me to the link where I could buy this necklace.

I hope you know that you story is literally being told all over the world. ( i heard it in africa, she heard it in america...). Thank you for falling in love with these two children and good luck in your adoption. Its always a hard road to go down but one day it will be official and you will see how worth it it was.


God bless.

never too small....

"If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito." African Proverb


Our Missions focus this year for Vacation Bible School was an organization called BITE BACK. The BITE BACK campaign is mobilizing youth around the country to purchase 300,000 mosquito nets to protect African children from malaria. We thought this was fitting, as our VBS theme was Amazon related. This cause is also near to my heart as malaria is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. Malaria contributes up to 20% of under-five deaths. That is just CRAZY to me-- malaria is PREVENTABLE! BITE BACK says that when a bed net is treated with insecticide it is effective in blocking mosquitoes from transmitting malaria. How effective? The nets can reduce the mortality rate from malaria by 20%.

So - we made it our mission to share this craziness with the kids of Harvest and our visitors. All the kids made a goal of purchasing 50 mosquito nets through BITE BACK- that's $500!! While some had doubts, I knew to not put God in a box- or these kids.
At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children"... Matthew 11:25

I am still unsure of the final count, but after the offering on the last night we had raised $578!! We hit our goal and then some! 100% of the money will go to BITE BACK to buy 57 mosquito nets! Praise Jesus! Why do we so often doubt the provision of the Lord?



On the adoption front: we received hard copies of the girls medical forms. We weren't expecting them so it was a nice surprise in a big Fed-ex envelope! Still just waiting on that all important court date. Hopefully that news will come soon...very soon.

Venting....

It's Vacation Bible School week at our church! A friend and myself have been working hard planning and preparing for this fun and eventful week. We pray that many kids will come to a richer and deeper understanding of the gospel and the grace of Jesus.

Being around all the kids learning, singing, laughing, creating, makes me long for our girls. I want them to be at VBS! I want them to learn and laugh and sing! Here! With us!!

Is this ever going to happen? Why is this taking so long? Please-we want a court date! Argh.