Home Sweet Home

It is so good to be back in America, land of the free, home of the...ice, fully flushable toilets, clean water, seat belts, and the brave. We got to our home Friday afternoon, after a very looooonnnnnnnnnnggggg trip! Eli was a trooper though, and I think he did better than mom.

Here he is on the airplane...and no, he was not happy the entire 17 hour flight. (Isn't he adorable...he loves to give big open mouth kisses too!)

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. I can't quite put into words all that the trip to Ethiopia meant to us. A part of our hearts stayed there, and hopefully we can return someday. I will try to write a little about each day on here over the next few weeks.

We are slowing adjusting to having THREE kids! Sam and Cora love Eli, and he gives them the biggest smiles. To put it simply: God is so good, and we are so blessed.

We are here!

Hello from Ethiopia! We are here with precious Eli in our arms. Our first meeting was wonderful
and Hannah's Hope is amazing, as promised. Eli seems to love us very much, or at least the
constant attention.

Only 1 of our 4 luggage peices arrived (one with only donations). Our travel buddies have been so
generous in sharing with us.

Please keep praying for us, and specifically that Eli transitions to the formula and clears his
cough.

We are in love, with Eli and Ethiopia and God's plan for adoption.

Baby Calves

My brother David got his first two baby calves of the season this week. We went back to see them, and saw this little cutie laying outside the fence (little ones can walk right under the electric fence). As soon as his momma heard us coming, she started mooing and pacing. I explained to the kids that meant she was a good cow. The calf got up and went to its mother before we got too close.

My brother keeps meticulous records. He has about 40 cows and 2 bulls, and this is just a little part of his farm (the part he enjoys the most). This calf was born Wednesday, so its tag says 3-4 at the top. Its big number is 902, meaning it was the second calf born in 2009. On the back of the tag is its mother's number.

Two of our old 4-H cows are still in the herd, and one of them is very gentle. I showed her at the fair in 1997, and today my kids go back and pet her.

We love calving season, and spring is in the air!

Well, my stomach has been in knots for three days. I'm glad I only have one more night of restless sleep to get through. All is ready to go, minus last minute items and loving lots on Sam and Cora.

I leave you with this picture of Cora. She is laying on the quilt my grandmother, Meme, made for Eli.

"I sure hope Eli gets here soon!"

Strawberry Land

Only two more days!!!

When we got out travel dates, we made a paper chain for each day, which at that time was 19, and numbered them. Today, we have only two links left!!! This was a great way for Sam to understand how much longer. I'm sure there have been times Sam thought Eli would never get here. He said in the car yesterday that he wants to kiss and hug Eli because he's never seen him before. Boy, is that a day I can't wait to see!

Tomorrow I am going to make a chart with Sam of each day we'll be gone and what we do that day. He can mark off the days as they go by. Of course, he may be too busy with Nana and Grandma to notice we are gone!

Sam made us laugh a bit last night. He and Cora were eating strawberries at the bar when I walked into the kitchen and eyed the strawberries. He said in a rather seductive voice, "Come on over to strawberryland."

At bedtime, Sam took off his shoes and socks and started picking toe jam (a long-time disgusting habit of his and his sister, not to mention that they like to do other people's toes as well). He was singing, "Picking my toe jam, picking my toe jam." Then he starting inspecting his hands and singing, "Picking my finger jam, picking my finger jam." This is a new one, and the question begs to be asked, when was the last time this kid washed his hands? I have no idea...poor Eli coming into this place of filth. Oh well, we're low on hygiene, but big on love.

Oh, and you should have seen the dirt I just picked out of Sam's old carseat to get it ready for Eli. Looked like three years of spilt Happy Meals!

And finally a Cora story for Sara, who watched the kids yesterday while I got ready for the trip. On the way home from church we were talking about all the fun things they did at Hannah and Addison's house. Cora says, "I eat playdough, but it nasty." Don't worry Sara, its part of her regular diet!

Ethiopia itinerary

We are very close to packed, and beyond ready to go! 

 

Here is our itinerary for next week, as we know it.  Please pray for us, especially Monday.

 

Saturday – eat our last American breakfast at Cracker BarrelJ

Leave Indy at 2:47pm and arrive at DC 4:30pm

Leave DC at 8:30pm with six other families in our travel group for a 15 hour flight

 

Sunday -Our plane refuels in Rome, but we do not get off the plane.

We arrive in Ethiopia at 7:30pm their time (they are 7 hours ahead of us).

We will be picked up by AGCI staff and taken to the hotel.

 

Monday – Early breakfast in the hotel

9:00am we will do paperwork with Almaz, the director of Hannah's Hope.

After that we will walk to Hannah's Hope and meet Eli!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

My mind has really been wondering about this time.  Some babies react as if they've known their parents forever, others cry.  Some are asleep so you get to just watch them a bit.  Often all the babies are outside and kids are playing in the yard.  No matter what Eli's reaction, we only get to a first meeting once, so I want to remember everything about it.  I very clearly remember to moments after Samuel and Cora were born, and they both cried!  There is nothing like holding your child for this first time. 

 

Monday afternoon our whole travel group will travel together to the US Embassy to get visa's for our kids.  After this, Eli will stay with us.

 

Tuesday – Families are usually taken to a shopping market to get keepsakes for the family.

 

Wednesday – Some families will have birth family meetings, we will not.  That night we will all most likely go to a nice cultural dinner.

 

Thursday – We leave Ethiopia at 10:15pm their time.

 

Friday – We arrive back at DC at 7:15am EST, and then arrive at Indy at 2:16pm to have our three children together forever.

 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we can use our free time to play at Hannah's Hope, hang out at the hotel, and soak up as much of Ethiopia as possible.  The hotel has a good restaurant.  We are asked to be rather low profile, as there are some ET people opposed to adoption.  Josh hopes for some opportunities to sight see a bit.  I will be content to give Eli all my attention.

 

This is all subject to change.  I may be able to post to the blog while there, but not likely.  I want to write a lot about it though once we get home.  I am taking my adoption journal, which I started in January of 2008.  Our camera holds over 600 pictures, so we hope to capture as much of Ethiopia as possible to show Eli.

 

Thanks for the prayers…and yes the Girl Scout cookies are gone!

Donations for Hannah's Hope

I have packed the donations that we received for Hannah's Hope, Eli's current home. So many people blessed us with donations that we bought very little. I enjoyed counting it all and praying for children that will get to use the items. Here is what we have packed:

1000 diapers (isn't that a nice round number! I tried to figure how many diapers Eli might have used since he's been there, but I gave up. Its probably way more than 1000)
817 wipes
6 pairs of shoes
20 onesies
9 pairs of jammies
5 baby outfits
3 big boy outfits
9 big girl outfits
6 bibs
5 blankets
1 towel
4 cans of formula
3 boxes of cereal
4 tubes desitin
2 bottles lotion
1 baby powder
1 nail clipper
1 tooth brush
1 oragel
2 boxes of crayons

Thanks so much to all who donated. It means a lot to us to have the support of our family, friends, and church family. And we will be able to tell Eli how many people gave to his first home.

My to-do list is about a mile long, and somehow it just keeps growing. Things like buy chicken feed, give Sam a haircut, make passport copies, eat an entire box of Girl Scout cookies before the kids find them...and on and on and on. So here I sit typing, I guess its therapy and maybe I will sleep better knowing this blog post is done:)

“Why are you adopting?”

This is a common question for us. We were told when we first started this process we should be ready with an answer, one that was positive towards our adopted child. My answer is usually, “That’s just what God called us to do.” Seems pretty vague, but it’s true.

But how do we know that? Josh and I both clearly felt God’s voice on this.

We were recently looking at high school pictures of us, and Josh asked if I ever would have thought back then that we would be adopting our third child from Ethiopia, and I said its more than I could have hoped. I always thought adoption was so special, but I thought it was something other people did, people with more resources, more faith, more…something. This thinking prevents many parents from pursuing adoption, but believe me, if we can do it, so can you!

November is National Adoption Month, and in Nov 2007 our local Christian radio station aired many programs about adoption. Focus in the Family and Family Life Today talked about it, and Money Matters even talked about affording it and the fact that most adopting families are average, middle class people. Shoahannah’s Hope, a foundation founded by singer Steven Curtis Chapman, aired many 30 second and 1 minute bits about adoption. We listen to the radio a lot (no tv remember), but that month we couldn’t turn it on without hearing something about adoption. Mid-month we started talking about it.

At first it was “Wow those are neat stories”.

Then it was “Wouldn’t that be awesome to be a part of?”

Next came, “What if we did that?”

Which was soon, “Could we do that?”

I will never forget the afternoon I was washing dishes with the radio on and Josh was listening in his truck on the way home. We both heard Money Matters, and I think it eased the unknown about affording adoption (Josh had just changed jobs and took a pay decrease). My heart was ready, but my mind wasn’t sure until Josh came in the door, looked at me, heard the radio was on, and said “Let’s do it.”

Sometimes I wonder if all those programs were really on, or if they were just for our ears. And certainly God had us turning the radio on at the right times. November 2008 I was looking forward to hearing all those adoption programs again, but there were much fewer, and none of the smaller bits….hmmmm.

After we committed to pursuing adoption I spent many late nights on the Internet researching agencies and countries. We had friends over, Danny and Ashley Graber, to share with us their experience in two Guatemala adoptions.

We ruled out domestic adoption and Guatemala due to closures, and we also ruled out Africa. I will not lie; we did not want to adopt a black child. This had nothing to do with our own prejudice, but we thought bringing a black child to white southern Indiana would be tough on the child (and it may be). However, God continued to work on our hearts, and our concern became more for orphans than comfort. By the way, we now look at Eli’s beautiful skin color as an opportunity to share God’s plan of adoption.

In January 2008 we went to an info seminar in Indy at Bethany Christian Services. After that meeting, we knew our child would be born in Ethiopia, a beautiful place facing so much tragedy. We applied to the Ethiopia program very soon and were accepted the same week that I discovered All God’s Children through blog land. We switched agencies because AGCI had a quicker timeline and their own orphanage, plus the testimonies of the families we read, not to mention God know where Eli would be.

One Bible verse that God led us to claim throughout this adoption was 2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I wanted to write all this for two reasons (and if anyone read it all, thanks!):

- to remember the path God took us on to Eli. He is not another number in the Ethiopian orphan crisis; he is an important and beautiful member of our family. We are his mom and dad. Please don’t ask if we love him like our “real children”, he is our real child.
- To encourage you to follow what God is calling you to do. He’ll talk to you, just listen. Knowing you are doing His will leads to peace in your heart.