A Priceless Gift

Jim sent the following message from Ethiopia a few days ago.  I can hardly wait for him to get home and pour out every detail of his trip; he has been so good about e-mailing me as often as he can, but his messages are brief; internet is spotty, he doesn't have a lot of time, and it doesn't help that he types with two fingers.  :)  So I'll just have to wait.  I am still rolling all of this around in my heart...so deeply thankful, joyful, and burdened all at the same time.  We have prayed for and imagined this for so long.  I'm not even going to try to elaborate on his message right now.  Maybe after he's home and I've heard the whole story.  But for now...here it is:

Best days of my life: Becoming a Christian, marrying my wife, birth/adoption of my children, and today...meeting an incredibly Godly women who says she prays for us! She trusted God and gave two of her children to us and today I met her and her precious oldest daughter. By the way the dress fits perfectly. I can't stop fighting tears. SHE prays for us! I have lots of video, including the market place buying a cow, 3 sheep, and 4 chickens. I am blessed way more than I deserve. 

I will add that this meeting was NOT the purpose of Jim's trip to Ethiopia.  When we planned the trip we had no idea that this would be part of it.  God opened up doors in an amazing way...we could never have imagined the way that He would perfectly work out every detail.  We are so blessed.

Here we go again...

Jim is off to Ethiopia this morning, along with a close friend who also happens to be a deacon at our church.  They're on a vision trip with Children's Hope Chest, with the purpose of prayerfully seeking a Carepoint with which our church can partner.  We're super excited about the prospect of that partnership, but meanwhile another more personal partnership is also being forged. Well, it's not really being forged...I believe it was forged long ago by a God who has seen every one of our days before a single one of them came to be. Jim will be meeting tomorrow with an Ethiopian  young man who has become a trusted friend, and who has orchestrated something that seemed impossible to us two years ago.  A chance to meet with a woman we love with all our hearts without ever having laid eyes on her. An opportunity to speak words of love and esteem, in person, to someone for whom we've prayed and longed.  To embrace her, along with her young daughter.  To share with her and cry with her.  To thank God that He works all things together for good...even when those things include loss and suffering.

The flight departed this morning at 11am.  They'll arrive in Addis Ababa at midnight our time, which is 8am Addis time.  I don't know for sure what time the meeting will take place.  God knows...and we'll just be praying all day.  Join us if you're willing, please.  Honestly, my heart is breaking that I won't be there.  My tears at the airport this morning weren't only because I was parting from my husband. I was almost physically aching in my longing to touch and hug this precious member of our family, and for our tears to mingle.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures I sent along.  It's been two years since MJ and Y left Ethiopia...longer than that since she's seen them. They're almost unrecognizable compared with the pictures I have of them then.  But she'll know them.  

Thanks for your prayers...more updates to come.  Jim is in Ethiopia until March 30.

By the way, if there are any Blogger experts out there...what happened to my header?  I haven't posted since December, and when I opened it up this week the header was messed up.  I don't even remember how to change it!