Thank you

I don't have the time or the energy to write a real post right now, but we are home! I just want to thank everyone for your love and your prayers. They carried us across the Atlantic, through the week, and back home again. I hope I am able to share more soon, but meanwhile...here we are all at home together at last.

Homeward Bound!

It's Martha again.  Susan emailed this morning.

At this moment, it's nearly 6 p.m. in Addis Ababa where Jim, Susan, Mihret and Yoseph are at the airport awaiting their 10:30 p.m. flight.  They arrive home early tomorrow morning.  Let's all pray them home.

I can't begin to imagine what the next 48 hours will be like for Mihret and Yoseph  - traveling by plane for hours and hours, met by the enthusiastic smiles of their 4 new very blonde siblings, coming "home" where home still has snow on the ground.  Oh Lord, would you help them grow to rest in your perfect ways.

Mihret and Yoseph, for you:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord.  "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

An Update from Addis Ababa!!

Hi!  This is Susan's friend, Martha.  Susan got a message to me this morning asking me to update her blog. What a privilege!  (Especially since I'm sure there are many - like me - who have been by here multiple times everyday holding their breath for some news from Susan and Jim.)

I'll share what I know.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was "Gotcha Day" - the day Jim and Susan not only met Mihret and Yoseph for the first time but also took custody of them.  Emails from Susan yesterday before meeting the children, revealed an overflowing heart of faith and hope, an awe of God's goodness and a stomach full of butterflies!  ;-)

Much later in the day - after they had put Yoseph and Mihret to bed - I heard from her again.  She was struggling to express her emotions in written words.  It's completely understandable as I can't imagine how you put into writing those emotions you experience when you see/meet your children for the first time.  I hope one day she'll try to do so for all of us here.  She said that both children were struggling some with the adjustment and that Mihret finally fell asleep as Susan whispered prayers to their Heavenly Father in her ear.

Today was their Embassy visit which I'm happy to report they cleared.  It was a long and tiring day for all 4 of them as it sounds like there wasn't much sleep for anyone last night.  It's night there now and I'm  praying that they are all resting peacefully.

This morning was the first time since arriving in Ethiopia that Susan and Jim were able to talk with their 4 children here in the states.  Apparently, they have tried before but the folks on the state side couldn't hear them.  They have been relying heavily on email and text to communicate with their 4 sweet children waiting at home for them and Susan's sister, the "wonder aunt", who is managing 6 children, 2 dogs, and 1 guinea pig, and a RAT single-handedly this week.

They are also experiencing a power outage today - the first since their arrival.  I'm told power outages there are quite common.  I don't know if we'll get any additional updates from them until the power is back on.

Edited 3/5 as I miscalculated exactly how many children and critters "wonder aunt" was managing this week!

THEY'RE OF!

At about 11:00 this morning, my Mom and Dad left for Ethiopia! It,s hard to believe that just about 5 or 6 months ago, we didn,t even know about our children, but it is not hard to believe that God has brought us through this whole adoption process. It is going to be a beautiful moment when I see them for the first time. Anyway, my Mom and Dad are on they're way to Ethiopia, but they're flight was cancelled, so they are only about a third of the way there. I would like you to pray, if you aren't already, for my Mom and Dad while they fly to Ethiopia.

   I'll keep you posted, Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea's first blog post

Hi! Sweet Pea here. Today my Mom taught me how to put posts on the blog so that I could post while she is in Ethiopia. What you are reading right now is actually my first blog post ever. So, anyway, I hope I'll be writing down what's happening - in Ethiopia! (If my mom and dad are able to call and tell me what's going on!)  You'll know just about everything thats going on on the other side of the world. Things like meeting our children or visiting the care center. Anything exciting.

Well, that's all for now. Except one thing; my mom is adding a picture of our family. Sort of. I made us out of Legos. What do you think?

Sweet Pea

Because I am His

The other day I was telling  a friend that I used to wonder whether I would think our adopted children were "cute."  I know that probably sounds awfully shallow, but if you're a mother you know that your own children are always beautiful to you.  Our four "biological" children may not be the most beautiful children in the world to everyone else, but they are to me.  From the first moment I saw those wrinkly little faces as they emerged from birth, I was rapt.  They were, and still are, perfect to me.  And so I wondered, would I have this same unreasonable pleasure in gazing at the faces of the children God brought to our family through adoption, or was this a response that was somehow born through the process of biology and birth?  Well, now I know.  We frequently receive pictures of Yoseph and Mihret from the care center where they are living.  And they are, of course, the most beautiful children there.  (To me!)  My eyes are instantly drawn to them in a picture of a dozen other children.    I love them , and I delight in them. Because they are mine. 

And as I've been pondering this, God has kept showing me a deeper truth. Recently I was laying in bed wondering how God can look at me with any favor when I am so unlovable.  Being in a stressful, busy time definitely puts me in a position of being very aware of my sinful nature.  To paraphrase Paul, why do I do the things I don't want to do (get impatient, stressed, and out of sorts, fail to sit at the feet of my Lord), and I can't do the things I want to do (be patient, loving, kind, faithful)?  I have been feeling sometimes far from God, and often failing Him.  And I was struck with the truth that He doesn't, of course, love me because there's anything worthy about me.  He loves me because I am His.  Because He has adopted me into His family, I am beautiful to Him.  Because of Christ's death and resurrection, I am a sister and daughter in His family. He sees me as His own. Yes, of course I've known this before.  But now...I get it.

I think Mihret and Yoseph have already taught me more than I will ever be able to teach them.

The Lenten season

This may be my favorite time of year.  I know that we will have to modify some of our family traditions, given all that our family has happening during Lent this year, but I thought I'd offer a resource we enjoyed last year, and it's simple enough that I think we can even keep up with it this year.  It's a free download called "Lent Activities for the Family."  Just click HERE, then scroll down to the third item on the page (Lenten Tree and Activities Book).  (The first two books on the page sound great also, but they're not free!)
Blessings to you all during this season of Lent.