His Little Feet Choir Pics

As promised.....pictures and video from the Choir 

His Little Feet Choir...My Opened Heart

 

We have had the distinct privilege of hosting two orphan brothers in our home for the past few days. I am reminded at how resilient and brave children can be. We heard testimonies tonight of children that have been through hard situations and dealt with pain and hunger like we cannot even imagine and here they were singing and praising God tonight. I wish I could express in words how tonight touched my soul. I am reminded that we have a greater purpose in life, to serve God and serve others.

It really was an incredible night, I hope to be able to post sometime soon some pictures and video of these children. They sing from their heart and share their love with America. As we have gotten to spend time with two of the orphans, Detcho and Nahaji, my children have learned what it means to appreciate your life and to put others first. They have been touched by these boys and I can see in their eyes how the world looks now.

As I sit in my nice house, typing this blog in my warm chair and fridge full of food, I think about how blessed I am as some of the children we met tonight, in fact the ones that are sleeping in a room just across the hall, may have one day not to long ago slept on a city street with no family and no food, hoping and praying for someone to rescue them.

So how in America do we help someone miles away? Well, we pray for these children and their home land. We sponsor children through ethical organizations like Compassion International or World Vision or even Because Every Mother Matters, making sure that their family is intact and whole or if already in an orphanage at least the children have food and water and clothing and a shelter at night. We support other families that are adopting or foster parents. We go on mission trips like Visiting Orphans or Church sponsored mission trips to meet the hungry and the needy. We rally our friends and our families and make a difference, once child, one family, one mouth at a time.

How is your soil?

Since Gene and I have started this adoption process that God has laid upon us it is amazing to see the work he is doing in our hearts. This weekend our Pastor shared the parable of the seed and the soil. I was challanged to think which soil I have in my heart and what the soil of my family is as well.
 There are four basic types: 
     1. the seed beside the road that does not plant and birds scoop it up
     2. a seed in rocky soil that withers because it is not supported
     3. seeds that grew in thorns and the thorns incased it, choking it out
     4. and finally the good soil where the seed grows and multiplies.
As we reflected in small groups I believe that at different times in our lives we are different parts of the soil. I think as of this time in my life I am trying to be the good soil and some days I make the sunshine just right and it gently rains and I am the good soil, growing a beautiful crop of seeds. But see, most of the time, Im the soil that grows in thorns. I let the "world" get in the way.  I feel like I sometimes and searching for the right look, the right house, the right vacation, the right amount of money....which really gets in the way of my relationship with God.

     When I am focused on what I want and what other people think....my seed, is choked. Those prickly thorns of "I work hard for this-I deserve it" or "I have to have this if Im going to be respected/accepted". Man, my thorns are burley and thick and often times appear like roses until I get close, and pricked.  Then those dang thorns cover up the sun and the rain and my soil gets hard, my soil and my seed start to wither because they are not being feed. Then where am I.....and for you....what type of soil do you have....where are you at?

Fingerprints....

So.....we should be getting our notarized finalized homestudy sometime this weekend and then we will send in our I600-A. This is a United States Imigration and Citizenship document requesting to bring an Orphan to the Unites States. That document gets sent to Texas that then gets logged and sent back to Missouri. Once they recieve it we are put us on a list to have our fingerprints taken in Jefferson City. Then we get a "biometric date" (sounds like something off an 80's love story) we drive to Jeff City, have our "biometric time" and wait for the results to come back. The expected time is anywhere from a few weeks to two months.....-note to self time frames are very subjective in the adoption process :)

 Once our fingerprints and background checks are all done we put our Dossier together!

We received our first copy of the homestudy today! All 16 pages... It's funny to be reading about yourself and your life. For those of you that have not heard of one before,  It's like a condensed version of our life history, things that influenced our lives, parenting styles, income, home and health information, expectations of adoption and future family plans. It's purpose is to create a comprehensive picture of our current life and background.

Our social worker, Shannon Wilson, was so awesome and made us feel at ease with the whole process. She had good information for us and as it turns out has done many homestudies with several of our friends. Here she is with us at our last meeting before  our youngest son comes home (or what will most likely be the case) our wait time is longer than a year we will see her again in January 2013 for an update.

Shannon and us.

Now onto fingerprints with Unites States Citizenship, Immigration Services.....

Ethiopian Christmas!

        Melkam Gena!!!!

Merry Christmas in Amharic. A good friend of mine reminded me that today is Ethiopoan Christmas.

 Since Ethiopia uses the ancient Julian calender, today is what Ethiopia calls Ganna.   It is celebrated with praying and chanting the night before then a processions thru the villiage/city to the Church. Then family meals in the evening where they make and eat Doro Wat. If a family has enough money they may be able to add in lamb or chicken.(Thank you TLC.com for enlightening our cultural knowledge) Wow- kinda makes our Christmas celebrations way over the top and extravagant. Im glad our adoption journey is also a good reminded of how God has blessed our family and it is our responsibility to thank him and pass that blessing on. 

I think next year we will try to learn and make Doro Wat in honor of the country that will place with us our new son.

Amharic- My adventures in language

So in my effort to be a cross cultural family and educate myself I went on a google search to try to hear a little Amharic ....wow super overwhelemed!  Did you know each of the 33 Amharic letters has like 7 different forms with different vowels and consanants. First, our alphabet only has 26 letters- where do the extra six come from? The how do you make 7 forms then combinations then male/female/respect..aahhhhh...

 Good thing our watiting time to meet our little boy will be so long, I think Im going to need it just to learn the alphabet! Maybe by the time he comes home I will have a few words down, or at least mom and dad!

I do have to mention though, Im watching Amharic music videos and listening to Ethiopian pop music right now and I think I like it, it's kinda catchy! 

If you want a taste of my new music here you go! BTW-you know Im trying these dance moves too...this mama has some moves!