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…
lOOK WHO'S WALKING!!!
BABY BEAR IS NOW UPRIGHT & MOBILE!
He still prefers the speed & stability of crawling, but is able to walk several steps and learning to master the 'stand & go' as well as 'steer and turn' features. He has lots of eager teachers & encouragers in his sibling pack.
YEAH - BABY BEAR!
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13
These words spoke to my heart as I searched the scriptures for a verse about joy. We have been leaning hard on the Lord recently as we work through surfacing grief and healing issues with one of our precious lambs. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to give hope in times of brokenness. There is such joy on the faces of our children in this picture - we trust in God's promise to heal the broken and make them whole...
THE SOCCER BROTHERS...
HOW HANDSOME IS THIS CREW?
The boys had a wonderful day at soccer today and mom had to post a little brag about their exciting morning.
Aiden enjoyed his time on the field and is learning new skills and building up endurance for the running - he is quite a little goalie and is pretty intense about not letting the ball by (you should see his game face when the ball is coming down the field - so Aiden!).
Ethan and Muaz play on the same field and are separated into 2 teams - they seem to always play against each other (usually opposing positions) which is an interesting brother dynamic (all the love & ALL the competition - pretty intense)...
The final score of their game was 6 (Muaz scored 5 of them) to 2 (Ethan scored both of them) - they played so hard and had so much fun! Ethan is catching on to the rules and skills of the game & getting more aggressive on the field. Muaz has some excellent ball handling skills and it is so much fun to watch him move the ball down the field - he was the talk of the bleachers today. One of the grandpa's asked him for his autograph after the game - his smile was priceless! I love the look on their faces when they get the personal satisfaction of a goal & then when they glance up to the bleachers to make sure mom saw - it melts my heart...I love my kids!
The first thing Muaz said when we left soccer today was, "Mom - can I call daddy?!" It is becoming a tradition on Friday's after soccer to call daddy right away and each of the kids give him a play-by-play of their games...good times!
We had the privilege of dedicating Muaz & Bereket to the Lord at church a few Sundays ago...thank you Jesus for our sons and for entrusting them to us 'for such a time as this' on earth. We pray they grow to be powerful men of God & live to serve Him with the very lives He has gifted them with.
Other Asperger family Happenings:
Baby Asperger 6 is expected to arrive in a few short weeks (induction scheduled for October 24 - perhaps sooner)...we are excited to meet our new little guy & enjoy a precious tiny -'newbie' in the house again. Please pray for safe delivery and healthy baby boy.
We started an orphan care ministry at our church 'Hope for the Fatherless' and we are excited about where the Lord is leading us. We have a benefit dinner scheduled for Nov. 22 as a means of reaching the hearts of God's people to care for His fatherless children through foster care and adoption. We are praying the event will make a Kingdom impact on hundreds of people to reach out to embrace His children.
Muaz, Ethan & Aiden are enjoying 'homeschool soccer' season right now and could hardly go to sleep tonight because they get to play tomorrow! Muaz is loving the chance to play soccer...finally!
School is going really well - it is a delight to my heart to have the privilege of educating our children and to be able to experience their learning and see thier growth both academically and spiritually
We have been presented with some wonderful growth opportunities as a family in the past month as a result of behavior challenges and surfacing grief issues. I have found myself leaning hard on the Lord for wisdom and guidance and He is showing me the beauty and healing that results from brokenness. The Lord brought us to this time and place and I daily pray for Him to give me everything I need to be exactly what each of our children need each day...
We are moved into our new home and now back online with internet access as well. We are settling in nicely to our wonderful new home and are in full swing with school now, too. We had a 1 week delay for the Asperger Home School, but are happy to be back into a routine and on track with school for the past few weeks.We have been very busy with the move and everything that requires as well as growing, bonding & adjusting together as a family. We have had an incredible amount of life change in our family since the beginning of the summer and God has been so faithful to carry us through the transitions. Our expanded (expanding...) family is a daily work in progress and I look forward to posting regularly again.
A few quick updates:
-The boys now have full names: Bereket Isaac & Muaz Matthew
-We are only about 5 weeks away from being blessed with our precious baby boy(name still to be determined) & have had a wonderfully healthy pregnancy - just had an ultrasound this week and he measured at about 5 pounds 15 oz and appears perfectly healthy
-Bereket continues to receive monthly follow-up care for his eye, which seems to be stable, but could be healthier. It is still questionable whether he will need a prosthetic eye...time will tell
It's good to be back on the blog...
YAHOOO!!!!Aiden is now a healed, happy & free little man - his cast was removed this week! He was such a trooper with his summer cast and is enjoying his freedom again!!
Bereket went to the surgeon for another follow-up on his eye this week. He is healing well - still has some blood behind his retina, but since his retina is disorganized and he has no vision, it is not an issue to be dealt with for now. Dr. Trese stated that it will be 6 months before we can assess the effect of surgery on his eye musculature and mechanical structures.
We have been so blessed to enjoy our wonderful little home for the past 11 years with a beautiful yard, precious neighbors (whom we have grown to love) & the Mebert family (Angie's sister, husband & 4 kids) just 5 houses down the road. Since the Lord doubled our family, we have become aware that there is a season for everything & our 1040 sq. ft. ranch has become quite full... so we put the house up for sale 2 months ago. By the grace of God in this housing market, our house sold within 2 months and we were even able to make some profit out of it. We will be closing on our beloved Ross St. home by Aug. 27.
When we sold the house, we had no idea where we would move to, but we knew God had a plan for our growing family so we began to search for 'the-deal-of-the-century' to find a larger house. The Lord has always been faithful to provide for our needs and this is no exception...we signed a purchase agreement on our new home yesterday. This is surely a buyers market and we found a bank repo for a wonderful price in a great sub in Grand Blanc. We will be so very blessed to enjoy 2400 sq. ft. in our new home - it feels like a palace! We have 4 bedrooms large enough to bunk siblings in (with double closets) & a kitchen big enough for all our food and kitchen stuff (we now use the basement & 1/2 bath to store stuff) - the dining room is big enough for our family to fit at the table without crawling under the table to get out!! The yard is still spacious with room to run and play football, soccer and baseball (essential with 5 boys...& 1 girl).
God is so faithful & we praise Him for His provision...
"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you."
Psalm 5:11
There is nothing more priceless than the smile on the face of your child...you know that special look that each of them has which is a reflection of the unspeakable joy in their hearts. The look is different on the face of each child & yet the feeling in a mother's heart is the same. It is powerful & tender; it is filled with gratitude to our Creator for giving life to each of our children and then allowing us to invest in those lives for a God-ordained time. It reminds me that it is my privilege & responsibility to disciple each of these children I have been gifted with to grow in love and admonition of the Lord; the only constant source of love, protection & joy. My heart is filled with joy each time my children smile & I praise God for His priceless gifts...
"O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me."Psalm 30:2
Aiden's wrist is healing well and he was able to advance to a short cast for the next 2 weeks - he is enjoying the mobility in his elbow again and mom is relieved to have a nice, new - clean cast on!
Bereket's eye is healing well from surgery - no signs of infection or complication. It will be some time before we know what his left eye will look like and how it will function (we know he will not have sight, but I am referring to mechanical function). He still has a hard time opening it real wide and it is turned in more than before. The surgeon is not sure if his eyes will track together or what the strength of his eye musculature will be...we will have to wait & see. He is really light sensitive in the left eye and prefers to keep both eyes shut in the full sun.
God is healing the Asperger patients & we praise Him for sustaining us through some unhappy nights and discontent patients. God is always faithful...
PRECIOUS 'BABY BEAR'...HERE IS BEREKET BEFORE SURGERY (LEFT) & AFTER SURGERY (RIGHT). THE SURGEON DIAGNOSED HIM WITH PERSISTANT VASCULAR DISEASE IN THE LEFT EYE. HE HAD TO REMOVE THE LENS, CLEAR THE BLOOD & PERFORM SEVERAL OTHER REPAIRS. HIS RETINA IS DISORGANIZED, SO HE HAS NO VISION IN HIS LEFT EYE & WILL NEVER REGAIN VISION IN THE LEFT EYE. WE HAVE NOT SEEN THE LEFT EYE YET BECAUSE IT IS COVERED, BUT HE HAD TO REMOVE SOME OF THE COLORED PORTION OF HIS LEFT EYE, WHICH WILL LEAVE HIM WITH SOME COSMETIC ISSUES. THEY WILL PROBABLY RECOMMEND A COLORED CONTACT LENS AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE TO ADDRESS THIS.
WE ARE PRAISING GOD THAT HIS RIGHT EYE IS NORMAL - THE SURGEON DID NOT FEEL HE HAD ANY ISSUES TO ADDRESS IN THE RIGHT EYE AT THIS TIME! WE HAVE TRUSTED THAT GOD WOULD PROTECT HIS VISION AT A LEVEL HE KNEW HE NEEDED AND ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR A NORMAL RIGHT EYE!
THE SURGEON DOES NOT FEEL HE HAS GLAUCOMA, BUT THE UNDERLYING ISSUES FROM HIS EYE STRUCTURE DID CAUSE INCREASED EYE PRESSURE IN THE LEFT WHICH PRESENT MUCH THE SAME AS GLAUCOMA. HE WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE FOLLOW UP CARE WITH DR. TRESE THROUGHOUT HIS LIFETIME TO MONITOR BOTH EYES AND ONCE AGAIN WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR A HIGHLY SKILLED AND KIND HEARTED SURGEON (WHAT A WONDERFUL COMBINATION!).
BEREKET IS RESTING WELL RIGHT NOW AND WE ARE PRAYING HE WILL STAY PEACEFUL THROUGH THE NIGHT (HE ONLY GOT 3 HOURS SLEEP LAST NIGHT - HE WAS SCREAMING & CRYING MOST OF THE NIGHT BECAUSE WE THINK HE HAS HAND/FOOT/MOUTH VIRUS). WE WILL BE SEEING THE SURGEON FOR FOLLOW UP AS WELL AS THE PEDIATRICIAN FOR THE VIRUS TOMORROW.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR 'BABY BEAR' - WE FELT A STRONG PRECENSE OF LOVE & SUPPORT WITH US TODAY...
Bereket had a busy week of appointments & testing for his eyes with the retina specialist at Beaumont, which caused his left eye to become really irritated from all the activity. Wednesday we noticed that he had some bleeding behind his left eye that is pooling behind the colored portion of his eye. We took him back to the doc and they are concerned, but felt the pressure was stable enough to wait for scheduled surgery on Monday. They have no idea why the eye is bleeding or what is going on in that eye, but plan to get some answers from surgery Monday. They will also be testing and examining the right eye during surgery to determine why the optic nerve is enlarged and measure eye pressure, etc. We are so grateful for the excellent care he has already recieved and look forward to getting some answers to the mystery of our precious 'Baby Bear's eyes on Monday. Please pray that his eye pressure remains stable through the weekend and for the skill of the surgeons on Monday at 10:00 am.
Bereket's older siblings are getting very concerned for his eyes after his multiple appointments. They are noticing the changes in his eyes and the increased squinting and rubbing - pray for them as they worry about their baby brother as well. Having siblings is such a gift from God and it melts our hearts to hear both their laughter and their tears for each other. Praise God for the journey He has set before each one of us...
PRECIOUS...
HERE IS OUR PERFECTLY HEALTHY 6TH CHILD'S (5TH SON) PICTURE DEBUT. WE HAD A 3-D ULTRASOUND TODAY AND HE IS ROUGHLY 1 POUND, 3 OUNCES & LOOKED GREAT. THE PICTURE TO THE LEFT IS THE 3-D VIEW OF HIS SWEET FACE WITH HAND UP TO HIS CHIN (IT SCANNED A LITTLE LIGHT). THE KIDS WENT WITH US AND THOUGHT IT WAS SO NEAT TO SEE BABY BROTHER LOOK SOOO REAL. I COULD HAVE SAT IN THERE FOR AN HOUR LISTENING TO THE OOH'S AND AHH'S & 'THAT'S HIS LEG - THAT'S HIS NOSE - IS HE SLEEPING? - I SEE HIS EYES - HIS FEET ARE TINY!' WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO SHARE THIS PREGNANCY WITH SO MANY EAGER BIG SIBLINGS READY AND WAITING TO LAVISH HIM WITH LOVE. ONCE AGAIN, WE ARE HUMBLED BY GOD'S GOODNESS...
Today Baby Bear had the privilege of being seen by the leading retina specialist in the US at Beaumont Hospital. We spoke to 2 different families in the waiting room - one lived 12 hours away and the other was from W. Virginia & they bring their children to see Dr. Trese regularly for treatment. We are so grateful to live only one hour from such excellent care! Bereket will have additional testing on Thursday, which may give the doc more insight into what he may find during surgery on Monday, July 14. He is not sure what is going on in his left eye - he needs to do surgery to determine what is behind the lens and will most likely remove it and address any issues he finds. He is doubtful that he will have much vision in the left eye & if he removes the left lens, he will not replace it until he is a teenager. Dependant on the issues, he may be able to use a contact lens or glasses to gain some slight sight in the left. During surgery, they will examine the right eye for mechanical issues, pressures, etc. He does not know what level of vision he has in his right eye and stated that it will be several years before we know that for sure. Kids can appear to do well with very low levels of gross vision and until he is able to focus and tell us what he sees, we will not know exactly how much vision he has.
33 IS A REALLY GOOD PLACE TO BE!
I am so blessed...
I came home from an appointment on my birthday to a wonderful husband, who was cooking us a delicious birthday dinner, and 5 precious children. The older boys greeted me on the front porch with the cards they had worked very hard to hand craft with huge smiles on their faces as I read through each one. I was thanking God for His hand in my life and how rich my life is at 33 because of His guiding, grace and mercy. I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else, but right in the center of this life He has created for me...thank you Jesus!
"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."
Isaiah 40:11
I have always loved the image of Jesus being the shepherd who cares for His flock - taking such caution to protect and nurture each of his precious lambs. As a parent, I have grown to embrace the role of shepherding our children, just as Jesus (my Father) daily shepherds me.
Since bringing the boys home, this is the best way for me describe the nature of our parenting role...we are shepherding each of the precious souls of our 5 little lambs as they (we) transition and adjust and grow together as a family. God has blessed us with so much joy and humble adoration for this family He gifted us with...and when we are challenged by the many individual needs of 5 lambs learning to become one flock - God has been faithful to sustain us. Some days the challenges are great and some days they are small, but each day we feel God's hand shepherding us and giving us the strength to pass that on to our flock.
Our largest challenge is meeting the emotional need of each child individually right now and trying to slow down and control the environmental input to meet their needs versus just allowing life demands to moderate and overload us.
It has been a tough few weeks...one of our 'lambs' has been sick with a rotavirus for over a week now with intermittent stomach pain and symptoms; one 'lamb' broke his arm; one 'lamb' visited the eye specialist; and amidst the activity, we are all just trying to embrace the moments of stillness and roll with the challenges.
"Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me."
Psalm 54:4
Each day when I wake, I ask God to give me the strength, energy, tenderness, love, time, compassion, attention, patience (the list goes on...) in just the exact measure of each of the kids individual needs for that day. God has been faithful to sustain me and surely without His help...I would fail. Some days God's strength in me prevails more than others and each night we pray for God to grow us closer as a family the next day.
I thank God every day for the privilege of shephering this flock He has loaned to us and daily pray for Him to grow us closer as a family and closer to Him for the journey He has set before us...
Sweet Aiden earned the title of 'First Asperger Child to Break A Bone' this week. On Thursday, he was climbing the apple tree (a long favorite activity of all the kids) and slipped and fell onto his arm and face. He broke both his ulna and radius at the wrist and will be casted for 6-8 weeks. They had to manipulate the bones back into alignment as he did a really good job of breaking both of them... We were back in the ER this morning because his cast was too tight from the swelling. He was in a lot of pain from 'the squeezing' and his fingers were huge and turning a little purple. They had to cut the cast in two and wrapped the casting back on with an ace wrap. We see the ortho doc on Wednesday for follow up and hopefully to receive a more stable cast again that will last the 6-8 weeks without additional trauma.
He is a sweet patient and has been very courageous with our long hours of ER visits this week. Please pray for him as he is still in a lot of pain and trying to get used to the hot, bulky cast. Also pray for good follow-up care at the ortho doc this week and a complete healing of his wrist.
As I sit down to reflect on our visit to Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor today, I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the privilege of receiving long awaited specialty care for our precious Bereket's eyes. We were there for 4 hours this morning and although we still don't have many answers...we have a strong assurance that they will seek until they find the very best of care for our Baby Bear. Here is what we think we know at this point...
- He does not see/focus/track/neurologically process with his left eye.
- He has both glaucoma and a cataract in his left eye
- He had an ultrasound of his retina on the left eye and it was very difficult to determine whether his retina is attached or detached/he may have some scar tissue/insult from his first surgery/ he may have some other issues going on there
- He needs to have evaluation under anesthesia on his right eye to measure the pressure and several other things to determine what is going on in the right eye, but he does have vision (to some degree) in the right eye
- He is scheduled to see a retina specialist @ Beaumont (whom we are told is the best in the US) for surgical consult on July 8. He will have surgery to determine what is going on with the left eye as well as full evaluation on the right eye
We feel blessed that he is finally getting the very best of care and treatment for his sweet little eyes!
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."
We are moved into our new home and now back online with internet access as well. We are settling in nicely to our wonderful new home and are in full swing with school now, too. We had a 1 week delay for the Asperger Home School, but are happy to be back into a routine and on track with school for the past few weeks.
YAHOOO!!!!
LITTLE LEAGUE 2008 SEASON HAS COME TO AN END...
"O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me."
PRECIOUS 'BABY BEAR'...
