ethiopian faith journey

(Follow link to the right 'OUR STORY FROM THE BEGINNING' for more of our story)

“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.

God has been writing our story in His book of life – orchestrating details and making connections for our faith journey to Ethiopia for some time. Here is a glimpse of what God has unfolded for us and the journey He has called us to – God has written the story start to finish, but we are just beginning to receive this blessing. He will unfold His journey for us a little bit every day and we are blessed to have you experience the love of Christ for His children with us. There will be a day when we know the whole story and I pray that we can spend eternity with each of you singing praises of His goodness together!

The above verse from Jeremiah goes on to state, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord…” (v. 12-14)

We have called upon God and prayed to Him and He was listening. We sought Him with all our hearts and we found Him calling us to Ethiopia.

After we adopted Eliana, God led us to cross paths with many people who were touched by adoption, considering adoption or knew someone adopting. After seeing the way Eliana’s story touched lives, I (Angie) began giving out our phone number to anyone showing interest, praying that God would use our blessing to touch others for adoption. I received a phone call one day from a woman, Jen (& husband, Larry, also in the process of adopting), who expressed several people had given her my name & phone number, from varying circumstances and she felt that God had placed it on her heart to connect with me. They were using the same agency, All God’s Children International, and they actually lived only 3 miles from us – ‘isn’t that a coincidence’ we commented. We kept in touch and I was blessed by watching God at work through their journey to Ethiopia for their beautiful daughter Aleena. By chance, we actually met in person at the Little League field while watching our boys and we shared the joy of their upcoming travel to Ethiopia in crossing at the ball fields! About 4 weeks ago, Jen shared with me with that Aleena has 2 biological brothers that were later relinquished for adoption. After petitioning the Lord and praying for Aleena’s brothers, they felt God was telling them not to adopt them. She was broken and crying out for these boys and the Lord’s provision for them.

Upon receiving the email, something stirred in my heart…the same quiet knock God gave me when He brought Eliana to us. That day, I knelt at my bedside and prayed for these boys that God would bless and protect them and lead them to the family He had already chosen for them. I prayed that God would break our hearts for these boys if I was hearing the knock from Him and not from within my own selfish desires. Joe and I began to pray for these boys and the families that would be approached about them – ‘Lord…let the people hear your heart for them and bless their precious lives.’ Every family contracted with All God’s Children (AGCI) prayed over the placement of these boys and each one received a ‘no’ from God. When there was one family left to contact, we called AGCI and stated that although we were not currently contracted with them, we were praying over them and felt God calling our hearts to them. At this point, our hearts had been broken for these boys and our confirmation from the Lord would be that He stirred every other waiting family’s hearts to say ‘no’. On November 26, 2007, we received a call from AGCI that these boys had not been placed. Joe and I prayed together once more for these precious lives and received clear calling from God that our sons, Muaz (age 7) and Bereket (3 months) were being saved for us. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

As of Friday, November 30, we are an officially contracted family with All God’s Children International and are pressing forward at mock speed to bring our sons home! Our adoption process in being done in reverse order since normally the home study and paperwork comes first and placement with your child follows. Well – God is working this miracle for us in reverse, so it is a race to catch up and bring them home. Our second confirmation from God that this was His calling for us is that it is also beyond us financially. God is made strong in our weakness and we are about to experience that in all of His fullness. In the next few weeks, we will be watching God make the miracle of approximately $18,000 happen (and then another $20,000 in the next 3-4 months)! In the past, I struggled with making this need public in order to adopt again, but God has shown us His need for these two boys to be safe, loved and growing in Christ. It is about watching an awesome God work a miracle and giving Him the glory for who He is! It is about leading others to Christ by experiencing His love for His children (our boys) lived out to the fullest measure…

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 The Lord is working in powerful ways and we are excited to see Him work a miracle…

Joey has arrived!

May 23, 2008

PACKED & READY!


1 MORE DAY!

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Here is a parting shot of the 'Asperger 5' - packed & ready to bring home our precious sons. Our 'season' as the Asperger 5 is transforming into the next 'season' of the 'Asperger 7'. God ordained this time before we ever heard His call to our boys in Ethiopia and we are overwhelmed with emotion as we embark upon this journey to embrace our sons.

The kids are packed & excited to go to grandma & papa's house - "mom - how many more hours until we go to gma & papa's?!" And Joe & I are packed & ready to
'Bring Home the Blessings!'

May 22, 2008

PACKING - YIKES!


2 MORE DAYS!!
We finally went downstairs last night at about hmmm...11:00ish to 'start' packing. We opened all the luggage and stood and stared at the piles -stared at the luggage - stared at the piles - stared at the luggage.... Finally we tackled packing all the relief supplies and the boys stuff. We have yet to pack our clothes and do the final weighing of each bag, but at least we started!! It is really somewhat of a sport to pack as much stuff as possible into as large of a suitcase as allowed and still meet the 50# limit - while packing everything that is able to leak/spew/spray out in ziplock bags as well! Such fun...we're getting verrrryyy close!
Please pray for the special care mom's and the dear children at Hannah's Hope as many of them have chicken pox right now - our bags are loaded with a fresh supply of baking soda and calamine lotion for some relief! We think 'M' already had them, but haven't found out for sure yet...

May 20, 2008

4 MORE DAYS!

4 MORE DAYS !!!!!!!
Travel Itinerary:
May 24 (Sat) - leave from Detroit to Washington DC (spend afternoon and night in DC - hoping to catch a little date night before adding 2 to our crew!)
May 25 (Sun) - leave DC @ 10:00 am for long flight to Ethiopia
May 26 (Mon) - arrive in Addis Ababa Ethiopia at 8:30 am (their time-which is 7 hours ahead of us); We will meet and pick up 'M' and 'B' on this day (26th) - praise the Lord, the time has arrived for us to embrace our sons
May 27 (Tues) - US Embassy appointment
May 29 (Thurs) - leave Ethiopia at 10:15 pm for the trip home
May 30 (Fri) - arrive home to Detroit Metro Airport at 4:30pm to be re-united with the rest of our family
Anyone who would like to brave the trip to the airport in Detroit is welcome to come - it was a beautiful blessing to have so many supporters when Eliana came home (Flint is much more convenient, but not an option this time around). Our final flight home is on United Flight 574 from Chicago to Detroit if anyone is checking our flight status for the last stretch.

We are praising God for providing nearly 90% of our needed $38,000 total! Each of you were instruments of God in working this miracle through your prayers, support and love - thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing Christ's love with our entire family.

Final Prayer Requests:
-Safe travels and efficient flights without delays/missed flights
-Provision for the remaining approximatley $4500 needed to complete this miracle - we continue to rest in the promise of Habakkuk 2:3, "This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." God is never late, and sometimes...right on time...we are excited to see how He will complete this miracle.
-'M' as he leaves his country, family, friends, everything familiar
-'B' as he separates from his caregivers that he has grown very attached to
-Both boys on the flight home
-Healthy travels for Joe & I - no sickness from food/exposure to 3rd world germs
-Our meeting with the boys birth mother & 'M's response to the meeting
-Comfort for Ethan, Aiden & Eliana while mom and dad are away
-Bonding/adjustment for our precious new family when we get home

May 7, 2008

"WHEN WILL OUR BROTHERS COME HOME?!"


"When will our brothers come home?!" is a common question at our house right now. Since the kids are still at an age of concrete thinking, we had great fun making a paper chain. The red links count down the days until mom and dad leave and the orange links continue until the Asperger 7 will be united. Life is moving fast right now as we prepare for our trip and keep up with the day to day commitments and joys of family life. The kids are asking a lot of questions at random times about the boys and family life and the adjustment stuff. I love the way a child's mind processes and just spits out their thoughts right in the moment. We adults tend to process and process and have more of a tendency to stuff our thoughts. I am pleased with the kids ability to process, ask (& ask some more!...) and move on. I am so very grateful for the privilege to be home with our kids every day - to hear them process and ask and to help ready them for the life God has gone ahead of us to prepare for the Asperger family.

May 4, 2008

FLIGHTS BOOKED!

With a bit of patience on our part and a lot of perseverance on the travel agents part, we have booked flights to Ethiopia! God is in every detail and providing for affordable and convenient flights was no exception. We avoided 'the busy season' flight increases - praise the Lord and will be in and out of the country in 4 days. We leave from Detroit on Saturday, May 24 and stay the night in Washington, DC (a date night in DC before we add 2 to our crew - Added bonus!). Leave Sunday morning the 25th from DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia arriving Monday morning. Our embassy appointment is Tuesday the 27th and we fly out at 10:15 pm on Thursday the 29th, arriving back to Detroit on Friday the 30th at 4:30pm.
We will even be home in time for the boys first baseball games on the 31st - could it be more perfect?!
Specific prayer requests:
-God to prepare all of our hearts to be united as a family of 7
-God to prepare 'M' to leave his birth country and a life that is comfortable and familiar to him
-God to prepare 'B' to leave the 'special care moms' at the orphanage that he has grown to love
-God's provision for safe flights and timely arrivals/departures
-Safety for all travel
-Comfort for Ethan, Aiden & Eli while we are away
-'M' & 'B's birth mother to be comforted by our visit with her & God to comfort her as we leave
-God's provision to close the gap of about $4000 still needed to fully complete our travel expenses and agency fees
Thank you for your love, support & prayers - we are so excited to bring our boys home and it would not be possible without the working of God and His people on our behalf.

EPHESIANS 1:3-6 (NLT)

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son."

ADOPTION IS GREATER THAN THE UNIVERSE