The Latest

We returned home Friday night, had a wonderful Saturday catching up with our 4 children here and then I woke up Sunday morning with bronchitis. I managed to get through our children's Christmas play at church and Christmas tree shopping (they had already waited over a week while we were in ET) before I crashed on the couch which is where I have been ever since. I am currently on the same couch, wrapped in a warm blanket with a host of medications around me, an ice cold cup of clean water, and a big box of puffs (the kind with lotion to pamper my nose.) BJ (Will) is back at work but he has managed to hold down the fort here; commissary during his lunch, ushering me around the hospital for lung x-rays and lab work, making dinner, and coming home early from work with a shake to soothe my throat (yes, he is in fact a saint, if he was not before, the shake put him over the top.) For the last 3 days I have rested on my comfy couch in my warm and safe home. I spent a few hours at the hospital yesterday morning and after x-rays, blood work and exam I was sent home with a whole host of medications and instructions to rest and drink plenty of fluids and all I can think about it is what happens when a child living on the streets of ET gets sick? what does a single mom do when the HIV she contracted through a rape finally begins to take its toll? What happens when an orphan is sick? When there is no mother or father to wrap him up in blankets and make sure he drinks plenty of clean, fresh water? What happens?

Before our trip to ET I could have imagined what happens but now I have seen what happens with my own eyes and that changes everything, everything. When a street child gets sick they do the only thing they can ~ they curl up in alley somewhere under the few rags that they have and they wait to die. You see them on the streets and people step over them and move on and those that step over them do not do that out of maliciousness, no, they do it out of survival. In most cases people are desperate to feed, clothe and sustain the health of themselves and their own children. They walk over or around those who have been left to die because they feel they have to. How can you give when you have nothing to give? But, that is not true of us, is it? If you are reading this blog on a laptop, I-pad, a desktop at home or at work, then you have something to give. You don't have step over the dying street child because God has blessed you beyond measure and given you an abundance in the hope that you will give that abundance away and bridge the gap.

When a single mom becomes sick in many parts of the world she does not curl up on the coach and watch Disney videos with her children. No, she goes to work because there is no sick leave, either you work and get paid or you don't and your children starve. There is no unemployment, food stamps, WIC, medicaid, medicare, government housing or anything of that nature. When you run out of money then you and your family starve to death, it is that simple. So, the single mom works until she can work no more and then she orphans her children who are often forced into the streets. Life is all about survival, the strongest survive, maybe. Life is not about career, education, a nicer house, a vacation, loosing weight and fitting into your skinny jeans, dining out, the latest Apple product or any of the other things we consume ourselves with. Life in many places is about nothing else except survival, every moment of everyday, survival, survive another day, just another day.

As I lay here I feel guilty, but I know God does not want me to feel guilty, He wants me to change the circumstances for as many people as I possibly can. We have seen with our own eyes the tremendous poverty and need but we have also witnessed the miracle that takes place when you take a child off the street and you feed her, clothe her, educate her, find her a home and tell her repeatedly that Jesus loves her. Everything changes, completely and eternally, everything changes and that is what Jesus came to do; to change it all for eternity and that is the privilege we have when we choose to stop stepping over the dying child and we become apart of God changing it all.

My guilt will not help any one but there are many things that will ...

1. I make a commitment to not complain ~ when the doctor is behind schedule; I will not complain. When the pharmacy line seems way to long; I will not complain. When I fall way behind in countless things because of sickness; I will not complain. I will not complain because I have a warm, clean, and safe place to lay my head and more importantly because I have a Heavenly Father who sees my discomfort, know my to do list and has everything under control.

2. I will not forget about the parent less children or the desperately sick single mother, I will not forget them nor cease to pray for them.

3. I will do with less so that they may have more. We don't "need" another vacation; they need food. We don't "need" more clothes; they need medication. We don't "need" another night out; they need a safe place to stay. We don't "need" a newer vehicle; they NEED to hear that Jesus loves them and we are the ones called to tell them.

4. I will go back in whatever capacity God allows me; to adopt again, to live semi-permanently or permanently.

God give us the strength to do what you have asked us to do and to never step over another one of your hurting souls.

Ethiopia Court Trip

The girls' bed, they share the top bunk. 20 or so girls all in a 12 x 12 room.

I never dreamed I would write this post after we returned from Ethiopia but then again not much about this adoption has been as I would have expected. We had 2 1/2 days notice that we needed to travel to Ethiopia so needless to say I was unable to update the blog. It all went according to His plan though and BJ (Will) and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, even the painful minutes.

We left Beaufort at 2am on Friday morning and we landed in ET on Sat morning at 8 and I can not tell you how amazing it was to finally be on the same soil as our children. Landing in Africa was an amazing moment for me and I tried to take it all in knowing that soon the pace of the trip would pickup and it did. Being in such close proximity to the girls and seeing their birth country was a truly wonderful feeling.

After moving through customs, getting our visas, exchanging some money and retrieving luggage we found our driver from our agency and he quickly had us loaded into his van and on our way to the orphanage. As soon as you leave the airport the extreme poverty of ET quickly slaps you in the face and it kind of felt like I had been punched in the stomach. But I knew that we were on our way to the girls and I needed to focus on them for the moment.

Within half an hour we arrived at the orphanage which is surrounded by large walls and the gate is constantly manned by watchmen. Things were slightly chaotic at the orphanage, we could not find the nun who runs it and of course communication is limited. Many of the older children met us and took our bags from us, they were all friendly and excited to us. We carried our bags to the 4th floor and found one of the sisters who told us that the girls had just been told that we were coming and had gone to shower. So, we stood out in the walkway on the 3rd floor where the older children live and were talking to a few of the older boys when the two girls came rushing out (with very wet hair) and wrapped their arms around us. Just like that, after over a year of waiting and praying, they were there in front of us with their little arms squeezing us. It was a little bit of a whirlwind, no translators, no one to prep us for what to expect, no brief beforehand, just chaotic and wonderfully perfect. The girls were excited to see us and very friendly, obviously very nervous and very sweet. Tsinat came to me first and Eyerusalem to BJ and then we switched and I don't think from that moment on that Eyerusalem left our side. She is very affectionate and very much in need of love and stability. Tsinat is funny, playful, talkative, athletic, social and a bit of a live wire. Eyerusalem is quiet (yes, I know she is deaf but even for a deaf child she is shy,) completely lovable, adorable, very intelligent and rather tiny for her age.

We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at their orphanage with them with no contact with our agency and a bit on our own in terms of navigating Addis Ababa which was a little intimidating. But, we were able to get settled into our room at the orphanage; water was a bit tricky and hot water was very tricky! After a week there I had been able to get in 2 hot showers and about 4 freezing cold ones. Electricity was somewhat fickle and the Internet was not an option. We argued with taxi cab drivers, found a little market to get groceries, found a restaurant that served decent pizza and wandered around wide eyed at this amazing city that our girls call home. It was overwhelming at times and I am sure I would have lost it without BJ but every moment was a blessing and God was teaching us a few things about the way the rest of the world lives and He was showing me some things about myself that I am not particularly proud of (but that is another blog entirely.)

Saturday and Sunday with the girls was wonderful and they did not want to leave us at all, they were terribly sweet and very endearing. BJ and I were both in love from the first moment we saw them and the entire week solidified that God had indeed united us with 2 of our children that have lived their young lives across an ocean from us. Only He could know that they were ours and find a way to bring us to them.

Monday morning we finally reconnected with our agency people and we were off to our court date and within a few hours the judge had congratulated us and it was official!! BJ asked me beforehand why all the women were coming out of the judge's office crying? I am not sure he understood the magnitude of the moment until it was our turn, he probably was not listening when I explained that part of the process to him. Neither of us cried but it was not because the moment was not entirely amazing, it actually was surreal to be sitting before a beautiful Ethiopian judge across the world and being congratulated on the adoption of our two new daughters.

We were able to go out to a traditional dinner with some of the other adopting families from our agency, we also went shopping, went up to the top of the mountain to see Addis from a different view, tangled with a goat, braved the roads of Addis from the back of a taxi, ate injera and wat, met others from all over the world who were there to adopt, played with dozens of amazing orphans who are waiting for homes, spent time with several amazing nuns who have given their lives to these children, spent many sleepless nights praying and crying over these children and praying that the dogs would stop barking constantly, fell in love with my husband all over again (even though he smelled really bad!!!) and fell completely in love in with our two new daughters.

Now, we are home separated by an ocean again and praying, praying we are able to go back to bring them home soon. So, please pray with us, we have been told 6 to 12 weeks and we are very much wanting the 6 weeks so pray embassy goes smoothly and they are home in mid to late January. We really need every one's prayers and we are so excited for you all to meet them, I have no doubt everyone will fall in love with them too.