Ethiopia part I

Father and daughter's first hug


Our first night together at the guest house
Daddy showing Rachel Sifan pics of her new home

Jordan LOVED the camara; both to take pics and to have himself photographed!

Rachel getting her hair braided by one of the sweet girls at the guest house.

I have so many things in my head I want to share, but I know everyone is waiting for pictures :-). It has been a wild first week as we adjust, so forgive me for taking so long!

We flew in at 11:30 am on Monday and had an eventful day. We got lunch at our guest house of spaghetti (we ate a LOT of pasta while we were there). The other family we flew in with went to get their little girl while we rested at the guest house. It was hard to rest, but proved to be a blessing in the end. The plan was to go meet the birth mom and pick up the kids the next morning. Mom lived 45 km outside of Addis which took over 2 hours to drive when you accounted for traffic and occasionally road blocks of horses and goats on the highway, lol :-). The meeting with mom was a wonderful experience and one I am so glad we had the opportunity to do. She was able to give us insight into the life our children had lived with her including seeing the home they lived in with her. We took pictures, but do not feel the blog is the place to show them. It was a home she was very proud of; she called it her "family home." She explained to us why she named them as she did and that she wished for them a better life than what she could give. It was a very emotional, spiritual experience. One that will always be in a category by itself. By the time it was over, we were emotionally and mentally drained.

We had our driver (who is employed by our agency) with us to interpret and the orphanage director from the kids orphange to show us how to find the mom. She told us that the kids were expecting us that day so when we got back to Addis, we went to pick them up. It was late and they were all getting ready for bed. The scene was not how I had played it out in my mind. It was dark and we have very few pictures (but lots of video) of the actual first embrace. We were disappointed that we don't have more pics, but kept telling ourselves that this is not about a "Hallmark card" photo, but about these kids lives. We went back to the guest house and ate a late dinner, played and got ready for bed. They went to bed the first night with full tummies, new jammies and a comfy bed. Jordan tossed and turned all night, but Rachel slept hard. The next day we went shopping for new shoes and a few souvenirs. It was a great bonding day.

On Wednesday we went back to El Olam and I am going to do that in a post by itself. I have a lot of pictures of kids both with and without families. I can't show them on my blog, but if you are interested in seeing them, email me and I will send them to you and give you more info.

We're Home!

Our family of seven together for the first time!

We arrived home on Saturday with lots of people waiting to welcome us! It was so great to see all the familiar faces and know how many people were praying for us and excited to see us. Rachel (Sifan) was giggling out loud when she saw how many people were there to welcome her home. It was good for her to see how many people already loved her!


We had a wonderful, emotion filled week and I can't wait to tell you about it. Brent and I both went to Texas A&M University for college. It is a school very rich in tradition. There is a saying there that describes this rich tradition. It says, "From the outside looking in, you cannot understand it. From the inside looking out, you cannot explain it." We felt like that was a great way to describe this past week. For those of you who have gone before, you understand what we feel and "get" why we feel it. For everyone else, I am going to do my best to convey all of our experiences of this last week. Trust me, I never understood this feeling either! Watch for more posts coming:-)


Things at home on the first day went VERY well. I hope to let you all know more as the week progresses. To begin with, there are SO many things that we take for granted here in America. You learn that even more as you watch your children experience so many things for the first time...ice, escalators, elevators. automatic flushing toilets, garage door openers, hair dryers, air conditioning in the car, water and ice dispenser on the refrigerator, ice cream cones...the list goes on and on. What a joy it is to adopt older children. We first felt upset that we had missed out on so much of their early childhood, but these new experiences are definitely helping to make up for this lost time. I hope that as you share in our life, you will be moved to also trust God and take a step of faith and experience life like you never knew you could! We are so blessed and feel so privileged that God has chosen us to walk this journey with Him.

The three sisters sitting together on the floor.

Hayley kissing her new sister on the cheek.

Jordan sporting his new sunglasses he got as a gift at the airport.

Thanks to all of you who came out to welcome us and for bringing the welcome home gifts for us. I am not sure who gave what, but we really appreciated it all! We are so blessed to have so many loving and supporting us right now. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Last Goodbyes

The internet connection is very poor right now. We have been trying to get online with no luck. I woke up and couldn't sleep so decided to try again; was about to give up and then I got on.

Here's an overview of the last couple of days...........

There is one other family staying at the same guest house as us. All the other families are staying at the other guest house. Today we went over to the other house in the morning and visited with the other families. Then we walked to a restraurant with them for lunch. After that we rode with 3 other families to go pick up their kids at the CCI transition house. We went along because we were stopping by our kids orphanage to drop off donations and say goodbyes. Once again, it was very hard. It was good closure though. The kids took their backpacks and showed their friends their new things. The most precious thing was that they gave most of their new things to the kids there. We took LOTS of pictures.....one of the older girls took my camera and took pictures of everyone! The other families came in and loved on and played with the other kids. It was great. At the end, one of the other men prayed with all the children before we left. A few of Sifan's friends made her cards and gave her their picture and the director's phone number so she could call them. After that we went to the transition house and filmed and took pics as the other families got their kids. It was very sweet and I am glad we got to go. On the way there we saw Korah-awful. We are back home now and plainning to rest, eat and play. The trip is definitely life changing. It will be hard to go back to the way things were.


We had our embassy appoitment and everyone passed with no glitches so it was all good. We met another adoptive family there who will on our flight to Dubai and to JFK. Also, there's another family who will be on the flight to JFK too. Today we ate at a restaurant that had an electric hand blower to dry hands. I showed it to Sifan.....she had never seen anything like that and thought it was so funny. Later, I borrowed a blow dryer from someone and she was scared of it. She jumped back and then laughed at it. So funny to see how many things we take for granted that are new to them :-) Tonight we went to eat at an Ethiopian restraurant that has cultural music and dance. It was an experience. Somehow, since I was somewhat familiar with ET food I became the expert and had to order for everyone :-) Also, we went to the Addis Ababa zoo. Let me just say it was an experience! Nothing like what you would envision a zoo to be. We took lots of pics and will show and tell you about it later.


Today, we are driving 100km outside of Addis to see a very old church that has been carved from one stone. It is next to a large gorge. One person said it is like the Ethiopian grand canyon. I think it will be neat. It may be a little hard on the kids, but I think it will be good for them to see some of their country as they have never been able to.


We fly out Friday night at 7:30. There is a short layover in Dubai and then on to NYC. We have a long layover there. The flight on Saturday may be get in as early as 4:30 PM. You can check our flight schedule on Delta. From take off it's about 2 hour flight.


On Saturday, we will be HUNGRY for some good comfort food :-) The kids are eating anything we put in front of them and ALOT of it.


I need to go ....you probably won't here from us again until we get to JFK. Can't wait to see you all........


Love,

Update

We are unable to connect Brent's laptop to the internet here. Fortunately, our guest house has a laptop they let us use. Because of that we cannot send pics so you will have to wait to see them when we get back.

Yesterday was much less emotional. We did some shopping, bought some traditional clothes for the girls and some shoes for Sifan and Jordan (BTW....we asked her if she liked the name Rachel and she seemed to like it so I think that is what we will name her: Rachel Sifan and his nickname is "Yordi" so we have been calling him Jordan or Jordi). Jordan picked out some teenis shoes that light up and he is SO proud of them!

We were unbelievably tired yesterday afternoon so we just rested. It had rained and we had gotten wet and I was FREEZING so Sifan and I curled up in bed and she wrote things on paper and we looked at books and pictures. She knows quite a few english words and seems to also know letters and sounds as she has sounded out english words she has seen. Jordan, on the other hand, is in no hurry to learn english. He just smiles when we ask him to say something :-)

We all slept much better last night (didn't sleep at ALL the first night). I think we had too much to process from Monday. I would wake all night and just cry; I can't wait to tell you all about it when we get back.....I need to show you pics so you can fully appreciate the whole story.

We are planning to go back to El Olam today to take our donations and for the kids to say their goodbyes one more time. I know it will be VERY hard for all of us. I am going to try to take as many pics and get to know the kids who are still waiting as best I can to relay that info to anyone who has questions. There is one girl who ran out of the room when Sifan said her goodbye. Apparently they were very close. A few minutes later the director told me that she still has no family. I started to take her picture and then the director brought her 3 brothers over to also be in the picture. The sad part is that she is just as sweet and precious as the others, but she is less likely to find a home because there are 4 of them. I am hoping and praying that someone can open their home to these four children and as a bonus it would be awesome if they were in the Nashville area so our kids could continue to be friends :-)

The kids and Brent are outside playing and I need to go and join them. We are trying to soak in every minute, but are SO ready for our own beds, shower, ice and sweet tea!

In Christ,

We have the kids!

Hi Everyone,

I could write for a very long while, but don't have the time so it will have to wait. I cannot wait to share it all with you. It has been an AMAZING day! If you truly want to know God and feel HIS presence....adopt! I have NEVER experienced anything close to what we did today. We flew in from Dubai this morning, then had a break at the hotel for a little while. After that we drove to a town that took us about two hours to get to with all the traffic (both cars and goats and horses :-) so we could meet the birthmom. We then drove back into town after dark and went to pick up the kids. They are SO precious! My heart is full of joy and aches at the same time. It aches for their precious mother who made such an unselfish sacrifice and it aches for all the kids we left behind at the orphanage tonight. I can't wait to tell you everything. We didn't have much time with them, but they are excited, happy and HUNRGY! Jordan immediately started looking for food and helping himself to whatever he could find.

Will write more later.........

On our way!

We are sitting in the JFK airport in the international terminal having dinner. We will be boarding in just a little while to head to out. The last few days have been so emotional and encouraging. We have received so many phone calls and notes and even visits from friends and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you ALL for each part you have played in this journey. We have felt your prayers. "No weapon forged against us will prevail." "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Please continue to pray and we will keep you posted on how things are going as best we can.

Blessings...

We leave in just 4 days and the reality of that is still sinking in! Satan is working double time against us and God is working triple time FOR us. It has been a huge encouragement to see all the faces of those that have brought stuff by for us to take to the orphans at our kids orphanage. I am hoping we have room to take it all, but if we do not I will pass it on to another family who will be leaving soon.

I know that we have been covered in prayer this week as I am totally at peace and have not experience any anxiety attacks (that I can be prone to when things are stressful). I wanted to share with you what has been my source of strength these last few weeks.

A few weeks ago I had the awesome opportunity to have 2 staff members of our church and one of their wives pray over me. Prior to the prayer time I had been feeling VERY oppressed and finally realized it was because I was believing too many lies the enemy was telling me. As my sweet friend prayed over me the Lord gave her some verses to give to me. They are in Isaiah 54:11-17:

O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. 12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all our walls of precious stones. 13 All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace. 14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. 15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. 17 And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.

Neither she nor I had ever experienced something like this as she was literally speechless in her prayer for a few moments and then felt as if a teleprompter went up in her mind with these verses on it. She had read these verses at some point, but they were not ones she knew well which made it all the more miraculous!

Many of you who know me know that I had my left foot completely reconstructed last year and that I am still recovering from that surgery. When we started the adoption process we thought that it would take a year or so and that I would be completely recovered by the time we got home with kids. God had other plans! Because of the issues I am still having I limp sometimes and still cannot run. The enemy was having a heyday reminding me that I could not parent 5 children and instilling fear in me.

In the first half of Isaiah 54, he compares the nation of Israel to a barren woman who at that time would have been distressed, shamed and humiliated. The Israelites had undergone great oppression during this time and Isaiah was telling them that God had not forgotten them and that He was going to rebuild them even better and stronger. WOW, oh WOW! My God gave me a personal message that said He was going to rebuild me even stronger! And, my children would be taught by him and great would be their peace (another fear I had had through this process). AND NO weapon forged against me would prevail. Why? Because I posses the weapon necessary, God's word, to fight the battle!

I don't know where you are in your walk with the Lord today, but please hear me: He LOVES you, He desires to know you and He desires to give you an abundant life. You need to understand that the abundant life is NOT about money and materialism, but about living with Him and in Him. Don't listen to the lies the enemy will tell you. Search scripture and see what God's word says about fear and worry (email me for references if you need to). Our God is so much bigger than all the problems we face.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms... Ephesians 1:18-19

If you have accepted Christ as your savior then you have the same spirit of strength and power living in you that raised Christ from the dead! My friends, we serve an amazing God and we all need to start living like it!

Have a great Wednesday and stayed tuned for updates from our trip (assuming we can update or have someone here do it for us). Our flight has changed slightly from our last post. We are now arriving at 5:11 on Saturday, August 14th on Delta #6399. We would love to see you there!