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Showing posts from May, 2010

6 bags full

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Thank you to all who donated so many wonderful items for us to take to the orphaned children in Ethiopia. I loved imagining the children using each of the items and wearing the beautiful clothes. Our bags are all packed up and ready to fly away.... until we get that ticket they items are well protected.

A note from the past

Today I was going through an old journal trying to find something for a friend. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across an entry from November 2003. "Adoption is not our plan B - it is still plan A. We believe that God has called us to adoption. Many people have asked what we are going to do now, expection us to abandon our adoption search. The thought of that breaks my heart and I know that would be the wrong way to go. God has blessed us beyond our imagination by allowing us to have a biological child. But my heart continues to yearn for our children in another country far away from their forever family. We are going to continue our adventure as the LORD leads and are open to all possibilities. I praise God for the timing of becoming pregnant. Our wait over the past year has given us time to pray and search God's Word about adoption. We have seen the heart of God through His Word, and our experiences with adoption. His desire is for us to help the orpha

Wrestling with God

How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13) For awhile now I have felt a gushing river brewing inside of me. However there are always things to distract a bleeding heart in the daily hubub of being a mommy to two energetic boys. I knew I needed some quiet alone to sort through these thoughts and emotions, but honestly I was also putting it off. I knew that as soon as the cork was released a flood of emotion was going to follow. And so I kept living in the moment, putting one foot in front of the other, trying to

one more rescued

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This photo was taken by a missionary with Drawn from Water. This precious little boy was to be killed because he had been labeled cursed. Here is a photo of his mother telling him goodbye. What a powerful portrait. The moment is so sacred and i am left feeling like i have intruded upon their last time with one another and yet at the same time I cannot look away. There is such beauty in both of them. The mother's sorrow and strength written on her face and the innocence in the child's eyes. You have filled our home with things for angels such as these. I wanted to share this photo with you because the picture brings a reality to what we are saying. There are children, real children who will die unless they are rescued...there are mothers, real mothers, whose hearts are filled with sorrow and at the same time an obligation to not bring a curse upon their family. A people who need to know that God loves all children and does not view any of them as cursed. I am praying for

Judy

First, I want to share some exciting news with you. The missionaries with drawn from water were able to rescue a precious 8 month old little boy this week!! Pray for the health of this child, many of the kids they have rescued from this tribe have come very sick and extremely malnourished. So last week we found out that we would not receive the documents needed to travel. And then came the silence. Not bad news, not good news, just no news...total silence. We had no idea what was going on with the document we needed and could not get anyone to respond to us....until today. A wonderful woman, Judy, is working to help bring Faith home. She works for Congressman Wolf and specializes in these types of cases. She was able to talk with someone at immigration. Apparently immigration did not have on file that I had redone my fingerprints earlier this month. They only had on Kevin's on record. So I have faxed our confirmation receipt from my fingerprint appointment to dear Judy

147 million

147 million orphans worldwide. The number is overwhelming. But don't let it numb you into apathy. Each small thing that you do makes a difference. I wanted to share with you a great website http://147millionorphans.com/ Two moms decided to do something, whatever they could to help orphans worldwide. There are products you can purchase through this website that help to feed the hungry and give women in Uganda a way to provide for their own families. Consider using websites such as these to purchase your gifts for throughout the year, not only at Christmas but also for birthdays, weddings, thank yous. I have found that giving a gift that gives back blesses everyone involved and makes the gift meaningful.

Let year 33 begin!

Today is the first day of my 33rd year. Last week I thought I would wake up this morning in Ethiopia. Instead I woke up to the singing of my amazing husband and my two incredible sons, Miracle #1 and Miracle #2. And while it would have been wonderful to also have miracle #3 in my arms, that will have to wait until May 17, 2011. Birthdays tend to make me a bit reflective. Anniversaries and Birthdays have always been a moment for me to hit pause on my life, to view where I have been and where I am going. The current adventure the Spirit has me on is at the same time exicting and totally scary. But I think that is exactly what our lives should be, we should be pursuing God to the point where life feels more like an adventure then a documentary. I love the quote by Helen Keller, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." When I was in nursing school I did a clinical rotation at an inpatient drug rehab facility for women. Each morning we would all sit in a circle a

Fighting Bureaucracies

2010, the year of fighting bureaucracies. The year started for me with a bang by starring a key role in a real life horror film. When the clock struck midnight, I was standing between my grandfather and a totally incompetent nursing staff at the nursing home where he was being held prisoner. That week I went to battle for my Papa to rescue him from this place of torture. We found a way to get through the red tape and bring him home. But in the process, I kept thinking how much the experience was like adoption. Lots of rules and regulations that don't always make sense and surely do not benefit those that they are trying to help. There is nothing to report about immigration today. Absolutely nothing, because we cannot get them to return our phone calls or emails. And so this day slips into the log of 2010, the day that we did not receive the last remaining document needed to bring Faith home. All along we thought for sure that if anything delayed our adoption it would be

All dressed up with no place to go

And so we have gotten accustomed to the usual greeting, "when are you leaving?" And you would think that having a deadline of flying out by next Tuesday (yes, less than a week away) we would know exactly when we were leaving. But our departure remains a huge question mark. We are waiting for a document from U.S. immigration, one that we have been waiting for for quite awhile now. I never imagined that the U.S. side of things would be the stumbling block for going to get Faith. Everything is ready in Ethiopia, they expedited our case due to her medical need and they are ready for us to come get her. And so we wait. Wait for our document that must be issued by one person who only works one day a week for the federal government and apparently that day varies by the week. Really? And so, yes we are preparing to go to Ethiopia. Our bags are ready, our living room is full of goodies to bring to all the orphans, and the boys are beyond excited about spending two weeks with

Praying

We know that each of you are standing beside us, on your knees, as we call upon our Father to bring Faith home. Some have asked about another time of focused prayer and fasting for Faith and we are so thankful for so many who are praying. Many times we do not even know what to say because our hearts are so full and we rest in knowing that you are all praying and that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us day and night. We would love for any of you to pray with us either over the phone or come over anytime! Please share our prayer requests with anyone who is interested in joining us in prayer. Here are some scripture that I have been praying and wanted to share with you as you pray also. Please pray for these specific items: protection over Faith's entire body and healing we will receive our I171 from US immigration, favor with Officer Bone and that she will return our messages wisdom on which flight to book, which route to take and when to lock in our flight healing over kody&

Time to Pack

We have recieved an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and plan to travel to bring home Faith next week!! We are still in need of one document from US immigration. Please pray along with us that we will be able to obtain this within the next few days. We are moving forward with plans to leave, trusting God and moving forward in faith. We are bringing with us as many bags and as much stuff as we are allowed to take to provide for the orphaned children and those who are fighting for them. Please take a look at the list below and see if there is anything that you would like to send with us. If you would rather just give a monetary donation that is great also! You may drop off the items at our home or I would gladly come and pick them up from you. We will also be at Crosscurrent tomorrow morning. We hope to be leaving in about a week, so the sooner the better if you would like to donate anything :). playdoh children's toothpaste children's toothbrush Diapers Emer

Dreaming of Ethiopia

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We are getting so close to our trip to bring Faith home. This is a picture of the part of the country where she is from. Tonight I learned all about our trip to meet her birth mother. We are praying that she is able to come and we can share with her how much we love the baby she gave life to. To explain to her that she saved her daughter's life and that God loves her and her baby so very much. We will be able to take a picture with her and give her a photo of our family and one of Faith. We will participate in a ceremony where they will say a prayer for us and we in turn get the priviledge of saying a prayer for them. What a blessing to get to tell her how much we love her daughter and that we have been praying for her. I truly cannot even wrap my mind around this right now. This trip is going to be such a whirlwind of emotions. Please pray along with us that we get to meet Faith's birth mother.

Triple Play

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Today I have to brag on my Tball star. Kody was player of the game today and received the game ball. He was playing first base and was part of a triple play...the coaches said they had never seen it done in Tball....the kids had no idea what he was talking about. And Grandma and Grandpas were there to witness it all. We decided that this was Faith's birthday gift and she was definitly good luck. Kody also announced that he always wants to play baseball. Way to go big guy!!