Rainy Season Coming to an End

The Ethiopian courts are scheduled to re-open September 27th.  Hopefully we will be among the first to receive our first travel date.  Stay tuned.

Sweet 16

Hers

His

Doesn't this say it all?
The differences that can just drive each other crazy!
Sing with me..."Opposites attract..and you know"
I am so thankful that although we do have our differences, on the things that really matter, we are so together!!


Thank you honey for delighting in God's word, His world and the life He has blessed us with.  You are a fabulous husband and father, and I couldn't be more blessed than to have spent the last 16 years as your wife.  Praying we have many , many more!
Happy Anniversary!!!

ADOPTED

On Sunday, August 22 we had the great blessing of witnessing our children's baptism.
Although they each had at different times come to the knowledge of their individual need for Jesus as savior,  the timing worked out that they were all ready to make the public profession of their faith together.  Our church had a special baptism service with great music and the personal touch of reading each participants written testimony as they were being baptized.
So "Adopted"...why the title?  I love the comment by J.I. Packer in Knowing God: "Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption."  We as christians are adopted into the family of God by grace through our faith in Jesus.  None of us are natural-born children of God.  Ephesians 1:3-8.  Romans 8:23 also speaks of the doctrine of adoption.  Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore shares the beautiful story of adoption: intertwining doctrinal adoption with what we may call "real" adoption.  How cool that God had a plan for adoption all along...Moses, Jesus, us, and the fatherless/orphan.

 D, D and D,
You are so precious
to us!  Daddy and I have prayed for you to make this decision since you were in my womb.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19

We Are Paper Pregnant...With Siblings!!!!

Yup, next summer, this pic will have two more precious kids in it...OUR kids, and my are they beautiful!   I can't wait to show their pictures and tell you more about them.  Come on court date(that's when I officially "deliver")and we hope it will be in Oct. or Nov.  We have been praying for these two specifically since April and are THRILLED that we get to be their family.

It is through this wonderful agency that God has connected us with our "soon to be delivered" son and daughter.
We were blessed to be able to meet the Ethiopian team in person on our way through St. Louis several weeks ago.  

Officially Waiting!!!

 We received news yesterday that our dossier cleared D.C. and we are now officially a waiting family!!!  That means we are able to be given a referral now.  There are many waiting families ahead of us, but not many requesting siblings.  I have no idea how long the wait will be, but our prayer continues to be that God would orchestrate all details and that His perfect will, will be done and that His peace would guide us and cover us.   Whoever they are God, protect them and prepare them for us and us for them.

A Week of Mini Graduations

This week was Doria's 5th grade parent breakfast/awards ceremony.  She's off to join her brother in Middle School.  She has a great group of friends and I pray that God draws them to himself in these years.

At church today Devin graduated from Kid City.  He will be joining Doria in Take 56.  Not so sure how excited Doria is about that, but Devin is delighted that he no longer has to wait on us to check him out of class.

Donaldson's Delighting in Done Dossier (yeah, we like D's)

We mailed our completed dossier today.

We celebrated with a dinner at Biaggi's.
Then we braved the storm warning and went to the Fort4TheFatherless (www.fort4thefatherless.org) kick-off event with Stephanie Fast.  Oh my!!!!  I wish everyone I know could have been there to hear her story...a "half-breed" left to die in Korea after the war...and her rescue by the Lord via the hands of his servants...Totally motivating, humbling, inspiring...  Side note:  Coincidentally, Drake had just watched a film in school today about North and South Korea...I love God's timing!
Thank you God for this journey you have put us on, thank you for opening our eyes to your heartbeat...we're diving in.
A couple links to blogs of families who have also recently been moved by God to act:
www.ourunveiledfaces.blogspot.com
www.weloveourlucy.blogspot.com
www.treasuresinjarsofclay.blogspot.com
Enjoy

Fort 4 the Fatherless

I'm so excited about what our community churches are doing for the 147 million + orphans out there...ok, so maybe we in the fort can't touch them all, but even one life loved is worth it!!  The kick off event is this Friday may 21st.  Go to www.fort4thefatherless.org to find out more about the Stephanie Fast event.

lIIiIIIIIiiiiiiiiI

F.W. Area Ethiopian Support Group

 I just returned from the very first meeting of the newly formed F.W. area Ethiopian adoption support group.  I am so thankful for the resource and connection this will be for so many families.

Journey to Adoption: Not for the Faint of Heart

We received a referral for a sibling set about two weeks ago.  What began with much excitement and anticipation ended with sadness as we let the referral go.  It was not the right match for our family.  Thank you to our sweet, faithful friends and family who have kept us in your prayers and helped us find discernment.  We begin our wait again confident that all things will work together for the good.

Tournament and Conference Champs..Go Team!!!

What a fun season!!  Great job boys.

Wild Wednesday

   When I checked my e-mail this morning I found two urgent messages re: the need to quickly find homes for up to 300 Haitian orphans.  They desired families that had already completed a background check which pointed to qualified foster families and adoptive families.  Our hearts instantly went out and we quickly made the decision that we would make room, but we didn't want to compromise our current Ethiopian plans.  After some checking, we learned that we probably could do both, but as it turned out the plane of sweet Haitians needing families never came and the state of IN is uncertain if it ever will.  Also, the urgent need became less urgent as close to 1000 Hoosier families stepped up to the plate to offer their hearts and homes!  Safe-Families says they are ready if and when the need becomes a reality.

The One By One: Family By Family Campaign
We are not raising money. We are raising awareness. We need your voice. Our goal is to have 100,000 views of this video by February 28, 2010. Please use your blog, email, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to spread the word!

So what's the solution to the crisis you've just seen? Click here to find out.