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…
We arrived in Ethiopia on Monday morning and went to the hotel to drop off our luggage. We had about an hour of rest before meeting with the orphanage director to complete our embassy paperwork for the next day. Once that was complete, it was time to make the block and a half walk to Hannah's Hope. The walk to Hannah's Hope (HH) instantly brought back memories of arriving at Hannah's Hope Guatemala just 2 1/2 years ago to pick up our Eliana. As we walked the stony incline to Hannah's Hope, my heart was aching for our Muaz and how he must be feeling today. For the week previous, God prompted me many times to pray for him as he entered his 'lasts' in Ethiopia...last weekend of play with his friends in Ethiopia...last day of school...last bedtime routine...last night to sleep in his bed...& on this day when his closest friends left for school, he stayed at Hannah's Hope and waited for the arrival of his new parents. As we walked the path, I thought...'is he excited or is he scared?' 'how can this little man process this major life altering day?' 'Lord...help us to be exactly what he needs in the days ahead...'
We paused at the gate to HH for the classic picture outside the entrance before the door was opened and we stepped inside. We scanned the grounds and there was our Muaz playing soccer with some of the other kids...our eyes met his and he flashed his classic smile from ear to ear with his dimples capturing our hearts. We approached him and hugged and kissed him through tearful eyes and overwhelmed hearts. He stood there smiling and wondering what to do next, so we told him to keep playing with his friends while we watched them play soccer. We sat on the curb to watch him play and then across the play yard we spotted the orphanage director carrying our precious baby Bereket to us. She placed him in my lap and I felt an overwhelming thankfulness to the Lord for completing this journey to our boys for us. He was so warm and fuzzy and soon smiling and babbling 'da-da-da'. It didn't take long for Joe to join the soccer game and win Muaz's heart. Soon it was time to leave HH and take the boys back to the hotel...our boys willingly walked with us out the gate to HH with nothing but the clothes on their backs. It amazes me how God equips the 'orphan' with incredible strength and courage... There will come a day when we will know what Muaz was thinking when we stepped out the gate of his safe haven and home for 8 months, but in this moment...all I could do was pray for God to comfort him & equip us to be exactly what both boys needed...
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."
Pictured above & to the side: Muaz playing soccer when we arrived; the first time we held Bereket in our arms; the exterior gate to Hannah's Hope Ethiopia & Muaz & Bereket sitting on Muaz's bunk bed at Hannah's Hope Ethiopia.
2 comments:
What special words you have to say for your boys. It is amazing what God lays on our hearts to pray for our children. What a blessing they are!! Thank you for sharing.
Kristin
PS - Congrats on being pregnant with another boy - WOW - lots of boys :) - lots of FUN!
Wow, that was a very powerful post. Thank you for sharing such insight.
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