Burakaeyae

The Past Seven Months!

2009-04-16T14:08:00.003-04:00

Has it become evident that I have no time to update my blog???? Over the past seven months, God has continued to reveal His great faithfulness to our family.

Lucas recently had another surgery. You can read about Lucas on Avery's blog. To make a long story short, about 18 months ago, I began to pray and fast and ask God to give Lucas new skin in place of the scar resulted from his burn injury. The doctors were sorry to inform us that there was nothing that they could do to make this happen. No problem. With God, all things are possible. So we prayed.

In the meantime, infections became a huge problem. Last fall, Lucas began to feel very ill due to the constant infections in the scar tissue. It seemed that the more we prayed for new skin, the worse the infections became. By November, the infections were quite bad. He was on the brink of going back into the hospital again. But, without antibiotics, without surgery, with no help at all, God healed that infection. Without grossing out any readers that I may still have besides family and friends, I'll just say that it ruptured and continued to ooze for 2 weeks. Then, it began healing on its own. After nearly a year of constant infection, he was so much better after that.

Through it all, we've continued to ask God for the impossible. He recently had surgery in which the doctor used a new technique. The end result- Lucas has new skin on 1/3 of the scar tissue! The skin is smooth and has feeling, just like his other skin. It is discolored slightly, but that's okay because most of the skin on his back is discolored. I joke that he looks like a calico boy!

Lucas continues to handle it all like a pro. He's the strongest, bravest, funniest little boy in the whole world! He gives others great courage as they face seemingly insurmountable problems.

On another subject, I will only be teaching for about 8 more weeks. After much prayer and consideration, we have decided to take a huge leap of faith (financially) and I will not be teaching any more. There are many reasons for this decision, but the main reason is that we feel God is calling us to homeschool our kids. Right now, we're all very excited about this. Check back next December! :) Who knows- maybe I'll start posting on my blog again.

Sorry for no pics- check Avery's blog for pics. He's not much better than me about updating his blog these days, but he does have recent pics!

Staph

2008-08-27T20:39:00.002-04:00

Staph is such a nasty word at our house right now. Staph as in staph infection. Lucas has been fighting an ongoing staph infection in his burn since last November. In March, it was cultured and it was not MRSA. But, it's come back quite strong in the last two weeks. He took a full round of antibiotics and the day after he finished, it was worse than before. We do not know what type of staph he has now. It may be MRSA, or it may be a different antibiotic resistain type. Regardless, it's agressive and resistant. That means that antibiotics aren't clearing it up. Instead, it's developed a resistance to antibiotics and is having a field day in his little body right now. It has once again become systemic, meaning that it's not confined to the burn site, but is manifesting throughout his body as little sores on his skin. We greatly appreciate any prayers offered to Jesus, who I am reminded died for every disease, including nasty resistant staph infections.

What I have learned is that antibiotics, hand sanitizer, and lysol are wonderful most of the time. But if you ever notice, antibacterial products say that they kill "99.9%" of germs. That means that the remaining .1% were strong enough to survive the poison bath they just received. Not only that, but they're pretty smart little critters and they know that they must mutate in order to resist future attacks waged against them by moms and teacher everywhere. Once they mutate, they're even stronger and they're even harder to kill. Yikes. What a viscious cycle.

Thanks for praying! We're hoping that one of the sores will manifest itself to the point that we will be able to take Lucas to the doctor to have a sample taken. The problem is that the majority of the infection is deep within the scar tissue and the doctor has been unable to successfully obtain a sample for a culture to determine what we're fighting. He sees an Infectious Disease doctor in early Oct. Hopefully, we'll have some idea of what this staph looks like by then. I'll keep my blog posted when I know more.

2008-08-21T20:53:00.007-04:00

Aren't these children gorgeous??????
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I hardly ever update my blog anymore, but wanted to share a few pics that were taken last weekend. The family is doing great!

Yosef is in 5th grade this year. His math is at a 6th grade level. Yeah!!!! His reading is still behind, but is steadly improving. He is such a good student! And such a good son! So much bonding has occurred in our family, especially with Yosef. He's an incredible kid.

Kaitlyn is in 3rd grade this year. People have been saying that she is an old soul in a young body. That's because she's such a quiet, thoughtful little girl who is so happy doing little crafts, knitting, etc. She is soooooo sweet.....when she's not throwing a melodramatic fit. We're working on that.

Mihret is in 2nd grade and is doing great. Of course! She just continues to do so well in school. She is just an amazing little thing. I can't imagine life without her.

Lucas is in 1st grade and is still such a funny little fireball. We're working on teaching him responsibility. All of the kids now have a chore chart and a weekly allowance of one dollar that is paid for good work. The key is that I do not remind them to do their jobs. If they do them, they get paid. If they don't, they get deductions. Lucas is finally getting the hang of it.

This chore chart has been such an awesome thing for our family. I am so much less stressed now. I don't have to tell the kids all of the things they need to do anymore because it's all written down. The drastic reduction in my talking (bossing) alone has helped tremendously. Plus, with the kids all helping so much, we have so much more free time to spend together as a family. The kids are so motivated by the reward of family time each night. By the time they move out of the house, I think I might have evolved into a really good mom!

Lucas is continuing to heal from his burn. The scar has had four infections this year. Not good. Three of them have been staff. Not MRSA, which is good. He recently had steroid injections in the scar. Already, I can feel the scar shrinking and becoming smaller. I don't really see it yet, but my hand feels it when I rub him everyday. I am so thankful for this improvement. But still, this is not exactly what God has asked me to pray for. I continue to ask God to give Lucas new skin. But for now, this is an incredible miracle that we are so very thankful for.

And the other news is that we are trying to sell our house. We feel that God is prompting us to start moving in a new direction and the first step is to get our house ready to put on the market. Let's just say that this is going to require a lot of money and work and time. We're in no hurry and we're not stressing. Just doing what we feel like God is leading us to do.

Let the Redemption Begin....

2008-08-06T20:21:00.003-04:00

Please take a few minutes to watch Steven Curtis Chapman and his beautiful family as they appeared on Good Morning America this morning. ***Be sure to grab a tissue first! What a beautiful faith this family has.

Ethiopia's Tiniest

2008-05-29T10:45:00.003-04:00

This little girl is three years old and weights just 10 pounds due to mass food shortages in Ethiopia. Her name is Bezunesh, which means something like "You are more and more" or "You are so much". Her mother must love her so very much and yet she is watching her baby die of starvation. According to CNN, there are at least 120,000 Ethiopian children who have just one month to live if food relief doesn't come through soon. It's so easy to feel guilt over the plush American lives that even the American poor live out. While we complain about rising gas prices, our bellies are still full. The price of rice in America rises just a few cents and the big stores like Sam's Club and Costco start rationing how much rice we can purchase. So, we run out and buy the maximum alotment of rice...just in case. And even in purchasing that maximum alotment, we spend less than a dollar more per bag than we're used to spending. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the price of rice and other foods is soaring so high that even working class Ethiopian families, such as my dear Ethiopian friend, are finding themselves going hungry. My friend's father is a college professor! If even a college professor's family is hungry, how much less of a chance do the unemployed have under such conditions. The world is such an unfair place. To be American is to be rich relative to most of the world. Regardless of economic status. Lord, please intervene for these people...and use your people to do it.

Ethiopia Needs our Prayers

2008-05-27T14:37:00.004-04:00

I post so infrequently on this blog that I'm not sure if I even have any readers any more. But, if I do, I hope that you will join me in praying for Ethiopia. We've been hearing in the news that Ethiopia is only receiving electricity for 3-4 days each week. The government is saying that lack of rain is making it impossible for Ethiopia's hydroelectric power plant to operate and produce electricity for the people. The bigger problem though is that teff and rice and food in general have drastically increased in price. I received an email this morning from a very dear Ethiopian family that has become like our own family. They told me that there is just not enough food or money. Our family is immediately going to wire them money of course. But that doesn't solve the problem. So, please be in prayer for this nation that is so dear to my heart and the hearts of many other families.

Tragedy...

2008-05-23T09:52:00.002-04:00

Many of you know this already, but please be in prayer for Steven Curtis Chapman's family. They lost their youngest daughter, adopted from China on Wednesday. You can see a blog set up for her at the following link: http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

New Family Pics

2008-03-26T19:47:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I posted. All is well. For those wanting to check out my new look, go over to Avery's blog. Enjoy! :) http://leaveittoavery.wordpress.com/

1 Year Ago...

2008-02-15T23:09:00.002-05:00

It was one year ago today that a judge in Ethiopia finally issued the adoption decree, thereby making Yosef and Mihret my very own. 18 months of absolute anguish and uncertainty finally ended with perhaps the most beautiful news I have ever received. I'll never forget the moment I found out. I was shopping in a Salvation Army store, anxiously awaiting news. I had been on the phone off and on all day with Avery and other families who were awaiting news of their courtdates. One of the mothers who unfortunately did not have a courtdate that day called me on my cell to tell me that she had just seen on the agency yahoo group that our kids passed court! I cannot even begin to describe what a relief it was to know that these children were finally ours! What an even bigger relief it was to finally have them in my arms once more...and when we stepped foot out of the airport back in DC and were finally all together on American soil...wow! God turned our faith into sight. What a wonderful day indeed.

Lucas- 9 Months After His Burn

2008-02-02T19:11:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me today that I have not posted an update about Lucas for a long time. For those who are just now stumbling upon my blog, Lucas is my 6-year-old son who was burned quite severely in May 2007. He spent several weeks in the UNC Burn Center in Chapel Hill, NC where he received top-notch treatment. Miraculously, even the 3rd degree burns healed without requiring surgery. So, here is an update on how he continues to progress and heal.

The 2nd and 3rd degree burns were on his left foot, lower left back, and the entire right hand, arm, and shoulder. His right arm and left foot are completely healed with only a barely perceivable difference in skin color. The lower left back has only a few thick scars that are very small. The skin will in time regenerate, and has already progressed quite far. It still has at least 6 months to go before it has built back up to a normal depth of skin. Right now, it is darker than his normal skin and still has "buds" on it which look like lots of little dark dots. In time, this will go away though as the skin heals.

The only real problem area that still remains is his right shoulder and upper right arm. It has developed a very thick hypertrophic scar over the entire area. The scar is still forming and has at least 6 months to go before it "matures" and stops developing. Basically, his body suffered great trauma and his healing senses kicked into overdrive and didn't know enough to stop. His body went overboard in healing itself. So, this causes two problems. The first is cosmetic and the second is the limitation of mobility in his shoulder.

His doctor in the burn center referred him to the UNC Burn Plastic Surgeon in January. The Burn Plastic Surgeon will continue to care for him, though there is currently no surgery available to correct such an issue in a still-growing child on the shoulder. So, basically, there's little that the doctors can do to help him. He currently is wearing a very tight "burn shirt" that squeezes him very tightly for the purpose of applying constant pressure to the scar tissue. He wears it during the day. Underneath the shirt he wears silicoln gel pads which have proven very helpful in scar reduction. I do massage therapy each morning and night where I press firmly on the scar and massage it to aid in breaking down the scar tissue. He goes back to UNC in two months at which time the surgery team may decide to start steroid therapy as well. Beyond that, there is nothing that can be done.

Mind you, I did not want my little guy to have to have surgery, but at the same time, I was hoping that there was something the surgeon could do for him. Still, when he said he could not help Lucas, I was discouraged only for a few moments. What this means is that God is our plan A and our only plan. I have been praying for the impossible for Lucas. I'm asking God to give him new skin instead of a scar. This is impossible. But it is what I feel God has asked me to pray for. In my human condition, I'm always thinking of the scientific and medical ways that this prayer could be answered. I found out at that last doctor visit that only God can do what I am asking. I would like to say that God has always been my Plan A on this, and at times, He has been. But in the back of my mind, surgery has been my Plan A. Now, there is only one plan and that is God. So, we continue to pray.

The little guy continues to absolutely astound everybody with his incredible little spirit that has not been broken by this. He came to me a few weeks ago and told me that he wanted to write a worship song about his burn. He began to sing as I wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was such a beautiful song! It was all about how God made dead bones come to life and put new skin on them and how Jesus was dead and was then alive in just three days, so "when are You going to do that for me?". The main point of his song was such a child-like innocence in asking God, "When are you going to heal my burn?" followed with, "I love You and You love me- I know so!"

I am so awed by the faith of little ones. Lord, may my faith become like that of my children. They are so beautiful.

10 Months Home

2008-01-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

It has now been ten months since our family welcomed Yosef (age 10) and Mihret (age 7) home from Ethiopia. It's hard to believe that just one year ago at this time, we were entering into our 16th month of waiting since we accepted their referral with still no end in sight. When we were in the thick of our extremely difficult wait, we were very aware of God's presence with us. But looking back, I am absolutely astounded at how faithful God was to us during that dark time when my heart was feeling such anguish over my children. He so perfectly prepared us to be able to walk through that valley by His grace. He brought me to a place of knowing that even if my kids never did come home to me that He was still sovereign. Now, as I continue to live each day, I am so aware of His sovereignty. One of my dearest friends was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer last week. Despite the intense grief I am facing right now, I am so comforted by God's sovereignty in this. That understanding of God is something that happened in my heart due to our difficult adoption. It's funny how we are able to find that place of truly trusting God when circumstances are so far beyond our control and we know that we cannot trust ourselves to change them.

With each update that I write, the process of becoming a bonded and attatched family is seeming more and more natural. Things really are very good. Increasingly, I am feeling like a "normal" (I really have no idea what that term even means!) woman trying to mother four "regular" children. What I mean is that the issues we face are seeming more like ordinary issues that all families face rather than adoption related issues.

Seven days a week, we have a conversation that goes like this:
MOM: "Yosef, you need to go take a shower now."
YOSEF: "Why do I have to take a shower EVERY day?!?!"
MOM: "Because if you don't you will smell stinky."
YOSEF: "But I don't want to! That's not fair! You don't make the other kids take a shower everyday. Why do I have to?!"
MOM: "Because you are 10 now and you're becoming a man and I don't like it when my kids are stinky, so go!"

And then Yosef goes and takes his shower. This happens every single day. It's become such a routine conversation that I think we have it just because it's part of our evening routine! I think that this is a "normal" issue and not an adoption issue!

Another example is this:

KAITLYN: "ME-HE-RET!!!"
MIHRET: "WHAT?!"
MOM: "Girls, talk nicely to each other."
KAITLYN: "Well, SHE'S bothering me!"
MIHRET: (In a shrill, manipulative, whining voice with arms crossed) "Kaitlyn's being mean to me, Mom!"
(Ten minutes later)

MIHRET: "Come on, Kaitlyn! Let's go play in our room!"
KAITLYN: "Okay! Let's play with our American Girl Dolls!"
MIHRET: "That would be fun! Let's go!"

All of my older, wiser friends assure me that their girls had these episodes at least 10 times everyday and still have these episodes with each other as adults. So, again, I think we're entering the realm of "normal" issues as opposed to always adoption related issues. What a relief!

We did put Yosef in a new class at school after Christmas break. This kid is like a brand-new child! He is doing so well in school now! He's reading at a 2nd grade reading level with pretty good comprehension. And he is so very proud of himself for this accomplishment! He's getting all A's on his spelling tests. He's getting A's and B's on his classwork. I have not seen many tests so far, but I am hopeful that he is doing well on them too. I am so thankful that we moved him to this class.

Since I teach at the same school where the kids attend, I try to respect them and not embarass them. Lucas and Mihret LOVE it when they pass me in the hallway and always want me to stop and give them a hug and kiss. Kaitlyn's need for attention at school varies with the day. Yosef, being the oldest, is really just so mortified that I might possibly embarass him. So, I usually just say hi or smile at him when I see him at school. He totally made my day the other day though when his class passed by me and he stepped out of line to give me a hug. I thought something was wrong! But he just wanted to hug me. It's the little moments like those that make me see just how far we've come. This is the same child who was going days at a time without speaking to me just a few months ago. Now, Yosef gets upset if I forget to hug him when we get home from school. Just a few months ago, his entire body would stiffen up if he even thought that I might try to touch him in any way. A hug was just torture for him. Just a few months ago, we were using TV as a means of rewarding him for being civil toward me, even if it was insincere. Now, I have to make him go play outside sometimes because I need him to get out from under my feet! God is the One who has guided us through this tricky process of attatchment between perfect strangers! He has given us such creative ideas that have worked so well for each child according to their unique little personalities.

Are we finished with attatchment? Have we figured out this parenting thing? Of course not! There's still lots of work to do. Right now, I really need God to give me a way to get Mihret to stop whining. I need to figure out how to keep Kaitlyn from getting lice....again. I wish I could get Lucas to be responsible enough to not keep a rotten banana in the bottom of his backpack until it gets smashed all over everything. And I wish I could make Yosef understand what a common noun is. Two months from now, it will be something different. But for now, I am confident that God will continue to guide us on this amazing journey called "Life" as He always has.

To those who have just recently brought home their older adopted children, hang on! Be consistent. Be listening to God's creative strategies. And take heart- those first few months don't last forever!

Pics- 9 Months Home!!

2008-01-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

9 Months Home

2007-12-31T10:34:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe that it has been 9 months since Yosef and Mihret came home to our family from Ethiopia. We just celebrated our first Christmas together. It's also been exactly 1 year since I first met them when I visited them in the orphanage last Christmas. What a year!

I can truthfully say that things are very good now. We struggled quite a bit at first, especially with Yosef. But things are getting better and better all the time. There are still a few days here and there when he's quite difficult. But overall, we're on a steady uphill climb with him, which is good. God has been most faithful to show us how to handle each thing as it comes our way.

People ask me all the time if our four kids fight. Of course they do! I think we'd be quite abnormal if they didn't! And when they're not fighting, they're the best of friends. What more could a mother ask for? :)

Yosef: Yosef is in grade 4 and is 10 (maybe?!?!) years old. He's struggled quite a bit with school. Part of that is due to language and adjustment. But part of it is because he doesn't like to study. We haven't pressured him too much about his grades because we do know that it will take lots of time academically. But, once we go back to school after our Christmas break, we will start making him spend time just studying his work. He is smart and capable, but he will have to work very hard.

We're going to change him to a different 4th grade class as well. One thing that has been difficult about school is that we're in a very low income school. Honestly, I believe it to be the best in our area as far as the quality of instruction that takes place. That is why I applied for a job there. But there's such a spirit of poverty over this place and along with that also comes a very devalued emphasis on education. There is a very disrespectful attitude amongst most of the students at the school that is simply carried over from their home lives. When I see the interactions between students and their families it is no wonder to me that they act the way they do at school. My Yosef has begun to adopt just such an attitude as well. He didn't make very wise choices for friends. His classmates were totally intrigued with him and his accent. The most problematic students chose him as their friend and being new, he went along. He never actually gets in trouble at school and is one of the best behaved in his class. But I see a rebellious spirit taking root in his little heart that is going to spell big trouble in a few years if we don't get it under control now. When we talked with him about the influence his friends were having over him, it was actually his idea to change classes so that he could choose good friends. Please pray for him in this transition.

We have been extremely consistent in not allowing him to treat us disrespectfully. Our consistency is definitely paying off. When he is disrespectful, he is much easier to correct and much faster to respond to our correction than at first. This morning he shot me an ugly look where he furrowed up his eyebrows at me like I was an idiot for telling him no. Avery took him upstairs, told him he couldn't come down until he apologized nicely to me. It only took him about 10 minutes before he humbly came to me and whispered an apology in my ear and gave me a sincere hug. He really is a good kid. He has just had no discipline in his tumultuous little life. We only have these little episodes just a few times a week now.

Since I've never had a 10 year old boy before, I think that maybe these issues aren't entirely adoption related. My friends with kids this age keep telling me that they have the same issues. Who knows? I'm figuring this mother thing out one day at a time!

Kaitlyn: Kaitlyn is 7 and in 2nd grade. She gets totally fed up with having a sister and says mean things to her. Then 10 minutes later, she's so in love with her little sister that nothing could separate them. I think that's normal???? She's making all A's at school and is well- liked. I worried about her at first, as she is one of just a few white kids at the school. But I honestly don't think she's really noticed this. She knows that most everybody is black and Hispanic. But she's still at an innocent age where the kids all play together. She has black and hispanic friends. The innocence of these children is priceless. I pray that she doesn't lose this over the next couple of years. I've noticed that Yosef's 4th grade class is very much divided along the lines of race. But in 2nd grade, they're still so uncorrupted.

Having been our oldest before the adoption, Kaitlyn is now 2nd in line following Yosef. For some kids, losing their place as oldest is a huge problem. But this has not really been a problem for Kaitlyn. Perhaps it will be later. But not so far. I've talked with her about this issue a few times and she honestly seems okay.

Mihret: Mihret is at the absolute top of her 1st grade class. She turns 7 in a few weeks (or maybe 8????). The funny thing about international adoption is that it's hard to really be sure of an age sometimes. That's the case with our kids. Mihret is making all A's and is so proud of herself. She is very much attached to our family, and has been from the start. She's very good and very easy to correct. She's just very good and very sweet. She positively lights up a room with her eyes and her giggle. I've gotten quite good at braiding her hair too. All I can tell mothers is to practice. The only way to get good is to just do it, even if it takes a long time at first. Once you get it, it's so worth it.

Lucas: Lucas turns 6 years old today! My baby!!!! He's making all A's in Kindergarten, operating on a 1st grade level. He's so good at school and his teachers are completely in love with him. He's still the baby of the family. It's a good thing he has a big brother who takes such good care of him. Yosef really is so good to Lucas. It's very sweet to walk into a room and discover them playing with their arms around each other.

Lucas' burns are continuing to heal. I have to take him to a plastic surgeon in a few weeks for consultation on his shoulder. The scar is becoming quite thick and limiting his mobility in his shoulder. It will continue to heal for at least 6 more months, so seeing the plastic surgeon is merely so that he can monitor the progress and be familiar with the case while he heals. We are praying that God will heal the scar in such a way that no surgery will be required. Honestly, I am praying for the impossible. I am asking God to give Lucas new skin in place of his scar. I am completely convinced that this is how God wants me to pray. I'm not convinced yet that this is what God will do, but I am praying as I believe I ought to. I'm also fasting by drinking nothing but water. I feel that God has asked me to continue this fast until Lucas is healed, or until I sense God releasing me from this commitment. All I can do is obey what I feel God is requiring of me. Lucas has been so incredibly brave throughout this entire thing. He hasn't lost one bit of his charm either.

Me: Let's just say that the lack of posts on my blog is a direct result of being a working mother of four children. Teaching is so very difficult anyway. This is a school where there are very real inner-city problems. This entire area where we live is laden with the problems of gangs and drugs and race plays a main factor in all of this. I very much want God to move us to a new place. Mind you, I would be sad beyond words to leave some of the very dear friends He has given me. But I really want God to move us for the sake of our children. I do not pretend for even a moment to know what is best for our family in this situation. But this is my desire. Honestly, my desire is for God to move us to Africa on the mission field. But this is not something we're currently pursuing. Just praying. I think we're going to put our house on the market again in the spring to see if we can sell it. We tried with no success for over 2 years to sell it. If it sells, we'll see where God takes us after that. Until then, I am content to trust God's plan for us here.

I am basically very tired by the time the kids go to bed at night. I usually spend some time with Avery, then go to bed by 8:00PM. I feel like a little kid! I am up by 4:45 AM though and I am one of those people who absolutely needs adequate sleep to function well. The thing I like most about my job is that I get to be at the school with my kids. I am seriously so very thankful for this. Though I'm tired at the end of the day, I'm so glad that they're right there waiting for me with a hug and a kiss. I love them so very much. I love them more each day. God has blessed me beyond comprehension with this little family. I get so much joy from having the chance to mother them. God has been very good to me.

So, in a nutshell, things are good. 6 months ago, it was hard for me to believe that things would settle down the way they have. Especially with Yosef. But now, our family feels very normal....I think I might be the only person who knows us who would describe us as normal! :)

I'm currently on day 1 of a yucky sick, cold, congested, fever, weakness, muscle fatigue, diarrhea kind of illness. Perhaps I'll post pictures before I return to school following our winter break. I hope!

7 Months Home- Update

2007-10-20T06:43:00.000-04:00

Yosef and Mihret have been home with our family for 7 months now! It's funny how sloooowwwwlllyyy time crept by during out 18 months of waiting for them and how quickly time is passing now that our heart's desire has been granted. During our awful wait for them to come home, my heart was more broken than anything I'd ever experienced. But even in the midst of it, I knew that I would look back with thankfulness for the things God was showing me. Sure enough. While it was not something that I ever want to go through again, I am thankful that God allowed it. Like all things in life, that time shaped me tremendously. It shaped our entire family tremendously, including Yosef and Mihret. But, thank God it's over!!!

So, how are things really going 7 months after?????? Really really good! As I indicated in my 5 month post, things were going well considering how much transition we were in. But they were difficult. Now, I can honestly say that things are going so incredibly well. So many families told us that it would take 5-6 months for the dust to really truly settle so that we could feel like a normal family. That was right on target for us as well. Right around 5 months, things took a turn for the better, especially with Yosef.

Yosef was the most difficult of the four to help adjust. When school started, it really seemed to interrupt the bonding that had begun to take place, particularly between him and me. I was starting my job as a teacher, so I had to go to work for two weeks before he started school, while I left the four kids with a babysitter. During that time, he became sooooo moody and would get angry with me for days on end with absolutely no catalyst that I could see. His mood would just suddenly shift for no apparent reason. He would ignore me for days and refuse to look at me or touch me or talk to me. I kept telling myself to just be patient, that this was normal, that it would get better, that it was my responsibility to love him and care for him unconditionally even if things didn't get better.

Right after I wrote my 5 month post, things took a turn for the worst! He started getting really really angry with me and would refuse to talk to me. It was seriously as though I didn't exist unless he needed food or clothing. Even then he would barely acknowledge me. It wasn't as though I had punished him or asked him to do something he didn't like. It seriously happened for absolutely no tangible reason. It was evident that he had either consciously or subconsciously made the decision that while he liked me, he absolutely would not bond with me or accept me as his mother. It was evident to Avery and me and also to those who are close to us and saw our family interacting. What made it worse is that he could be in the worst mood you've ever seen just because I was present in the same room with him. But the moment somebody he liked came along, he was all smiles as though it was the best day of his entire life. As soon as that person left, the thundercloud returned. The moodiness was very much targeted directly at me and very much not at other people. I couldn't help but to start feeling a little bit hurt by all of this since I was so much on the receiving end. The only time that anybody other than me received this from him would be when Avery put his foot down and made him stop talking so ugly to Mom. Then he would be mad at Avery too. Which really was just about being mad at Mom!

So, we began to pray for direction from God. As I prayed, I realized that there was an issue of misplaced boundaries in my relationship with him. Every healthy relationship needs to be part give and part take. Even parent/child relationships. However, in my relationship with Yosef, I was the one doing all of the giving and he was doing all of the taking. I took care of his every need because I am his mother and I love him. I made sure he was cared for and comfortable in every aspect. My hope was that he would feel loved and safe and that my mothering of him would let him know that he could love me back as his mother. But it just wasn't happening. Instead, he was reaping all of the benefits of having a mother, even unconditional love. But he was accepting zero responsibility to be an active participant in that relationship. The more I showed him love, the more he was pulling away in increasing measures.

So, the problem that God helped me to see was that Yosef was the person in our relationship who was refusing to participate, but I was the one reaping all of the consequences from that decision while he continued to reap all of the benefits of having a mother. It became very clear to me that we needed to find a means so that he would be the one to experience the consequences from not participating in this relationship. And honestly, it was an issue of not participating in our family as well because wherever I was involved, he was not. So, if we were doing a family thing, he was present, but with a thundercloud hovering over his head. I knew that the boundaries needed to be shifted so that the consequences that I had to deal with would be transferred to him since he was the one making a decision that I had no control over. So, we prayed some more.

This is what we came up with. It seems horrible to some. But it was what we really felt God telling us to do. And our social worker thought it was a great idea too. She said that when she used to work in a group home for troubled kids, it's exactly what they used to do with them. We decided that the area where Yosef would feel the biggest consequence would be in his TV and computer time. So, the consequence for not being nice to Mom was that he could not use the TV or computer. The reward for being nice to Mom is that he could use those things. The TV and computer now operated on a point system. He had to have 15 points to use the TV or computer for 30 minutes. Or, if the family was watching a movie, 15 points would buy him an entire movie. Each time he was actively nice to Mom by his own initiative, he earned 1 point. Each time he responded nicely to Mom's initiative, he earned 1 point.

So, we wrote out 6 ways that he could be nice to Mom in order to earn a point. Also, we explained that when Mom hugged him and he hugged back, he could earn a point. When Mom talked to him and he responded nicely, he could earn a point. etc. At first, he was so mad about this system that he wouldn't even read the paper. Then, he was missing his TV and computer, so he read it, but he refused to participate. For a couple of days, he just chose to go outside while the other kids watched TV. On a Saturday, we announced that we were going to have a family movie night that evening, which all of the kids love. But Yosef could only watch if he had 15 points. It was 5:00 that evening and he still didn't have a single point. I had even tried to orchestrate times in which he could be nice, but he would not. The other kids were telling him nice things he could do, but he would not. We were at a mini-golf range and he had an incredibly large thundercloud following him around because he knew that the movie was going to start when we got home and he still didn't have a single point. All of a sudden, when he thought nobody was looking, he picked up my golf ball and moved it closer to the hole where I would have a straight shot. The cute little guy was showing me love by cheating for me at mini golf! Forget the ethics of not cheating. He got a point! (And we told him he couldn't cheat anymore!)

He wanted to watch the movie badly enough that he earned all 15 points by the time we got home. He was completely insincere in his displays of love toward me. But I really believed that if he would just open himself up to the possibility of truly attaching to me that things would change. Even if his "love" was insincere at first and motivated purely by TV and computer. Things continued on like this for a couple of weeks with Yosef constantly keeping track of his points and doing things for me purely for the purpose of earning a point. Conversations went like this:

Yosef: "I love you Mom."
Me: "I love you too Yosef."
Yosef: "I have another point!"

We really questioned whether this was a good system or not! It didn't really seem to be working. There was no true attachment going on. The "love" was completely motivated by a desire for TV and computer. But we felt like this was the strategy God had given us, so we continued.

After about 3 weeks, Yosef started to do nice things without thinking about it and he would forget to keep track of his points. I did not forget though. I always pointed out when he earned another point because I wanted him to see when he had done something good and also to get the reward. A couple more weeks went by and a real emotional bond was beginning to form. The point system had become more of a game. And the affection was real. He was no longer ignoring me as though I was invisible. He was starting to really bond with me. Right now, I can honestly say that he is well into attaching to me. It has created so much more peace and normality in our entire family.

Attachment really does happen on a continuum. It happens that way with all people, not just adopted children. The longer we walk in relationship with somebody, the more attached we become. Yosef really lights up my heart now. I was helping him with homework last week and he just stood there resting his hand on my leg with his arm around me the entire time, so naturally and so relaxed. Just two months ago, his whole little self would go completely rigid at even the suggestion of having to touch me! We talk now. As in, he talks too. In real conversations. Not just Yosef responding with a yes or no to my talking. And he's nice to me. He doesn't get into these moods that last for days at a time where he won't even look at me.

There is still work to be done. But it doesn't feel like fighting an uphill battle now. We're working on attachment with a willing participant now. This is just one more time when God has been so incredibly faithful to our family.

Mihret continues to do quite well with relatively few problems. She's been attached to us from the beginning and continues to progress on that continuum I wrote about. Kaitlyn and Lucas also continue to do well with a new brother and sister. All four of them are begging us to adopt again, which I think is a good sign!

Lucas still continues to heal from his burn. The scar on his right arm is continuing to form and he is losing some mobility in his shoulder. However, we continue to do the massage therapy where we have to apply pressure to the scar and rub it with lotion three times each day. The hope is that doing this will break down the fibers in the scar as it forms so that it will not be a highly knotty scar that burn victims so often have, which is the cause of his lost mobility. So far, the therapy is not working. But we continue to do it. Please pray for Lucas, as this is quite painful for him. But it has to be done. The doctor has ordered him a special shirt that he will wear everyday. It will squeeze his burn very tightly, putting constant pressure on those fibers as the scar forms. Also, he will be wearing a sheet of medical grade silicone underneath that shirt. There is no medical explanation, but many patients see significant reduction in scar tissue when silicone treatment is used. Most of the burn on his back continues to regenerate actual skin. It still doesn't exactly look like skin. But it takes up to a year for a burn patient to grow new skin. The outside edges of the skin on his back truly look like skin again. God's healing is so evident in this little guy.

Emotionally, Lucas has really handled his burn so well. The burn on his arm and shoulder sometimes shows when he wears his school uniform. But I discovered this week that Lucas isn't bothered when the kids in his class ask about why his skin looks like that. He told them that it is a monster alien that lives on his shoulder to survive and in turn, gives him super powers. He thinks he's hysterical. Sometimes, he pulls his sleeve up just a little bit so that he can scare one of the boys in his class with his monster alien. He did tell me last night when I was rubbing it that he hopes God will heal it and make it all gone though. We continue to pray for him with the faith of our 5-year-old as an example of what real faith looks like.

Yosef, Lucas, and Mihret are all on a YMCA soccer team and are all real stars on their team. Yosef has really caught the attention of so many people. This kid is seriously really good. We've had two challenge team coaches talk to us to recruit him. Now is definitely not the time, as he still is struggling so much in school. But, the kid really does show real promise in soccer.

Well, this post must end, as it is nearly 8:00AM and I hear four little people out of their beds....possibly destroying the upstairs of our house from the sounds of things!

5 Months Home!

2007-08-31T21:16:00.001-04:00

We have been home with Yosef and Mihret for five months now, and quite honestly, things are going much better than I expected. This is not to say that we have not gone through lots of difficult adjustment, and continue to go through it. But, I was prepared for things to be much harder. All four kids have really settled into their positions/roles in our new little family. Kaitlyn is absolutely thriving, moreso than ever before. Lucas is still very much the baby of the family. For a while, that was really tough, as Mihret is the baby of her family and I had two babies fighting for that position. But alas, Mihret has decided she would rather be my big girl, my sweet girl, and my little helper.

Mihret has done wonderfully with bonding with all of us. She went through a short time where she was really grieving her Ethiopian Mommy. But in her grief, she reached out for me to comfort her. Poor darling asked me one night why I never let her call her Ethiopia Mommy on the telephone like I do her Ethiopia Grandmother. Confused, I told her that her mommy had died ( a fact that she knows all too well). She said, "Yes, but why you not let me call her?" That's when I realized that she just assummed that there are telephones in Heaven! I explained that there are not phones in Heaven, but I really don't think she believed me! :)

Yosef has struggled the most, as would be expected since he is older. We have had some very difficult days and weeks with him. And yet, things are not as bad as they could be. We continue to pray, asking God to enable us to take care of this little guy. And quite honestly, God has been very faithful to help us to know what to do at just the right moments. We've been very blessed to know what strategies will work with him to help guide him through these uncharted waters. Also, school started 6 weeks ago and he has really struggled, as I expected. We have placed him in fourth grade. While he is older than his classmates, he is the same size and fits in quite well. All of teachers and kids absolutely love him. He can be very charming! But he struggles accademically. He does try very hard though. He always does all of his work and has very good behvior for his teacher, so we are very proud of him. His English is getting better and better, so I know that he will not struggle forever. Oh yea, we go to a performing and visual arts school, so he's decided to learn to play drums! My poor ears! :)

Mihret is doing quite well in school. She is actually at the top of her class in first grade! Her teacher is such an incredible blessing. She is South African and has a daughter who was Mihret's age when she came to the US. So, she has lots of compassion and understanding for what this transition is like. Also, she feels such an affinity with Mihret, calling her "my little African sister." Though she did have to send Mihret to my classroom to calm down yesterday. It seems that the kids tried to tell the teacher that she is "African American" because she is brown like them. The teacher said that not all brown people are African American and that she is just plain "African" because she is from Africa. The children argued with her. Mihret chimed in saying that, "No! Mrs. Jita is African, just like ME!" The kids argued with her and Mihret yelled at them, then started crying because she was so mad at them! She's very proud to be African, and I know this has been reinforced by having an African teacher. I'm actually quite glad for this. But geesh! She's awfully tiny and quiet to have gotten so feisty!

Lucas loves school and continues to heal from his burns. He doesn't go back to the burn center until October. The large scar on his lower back is leaving very minimal scaring. The tissues continue to regenerate, and I think that it is actually going to be mostly skin, not a scar, though it may not have any pigment to it. The large and most sever burn on his shoulder is developing a very thick, pitted scar. The kid is taking it so well though! Where some might feel ugly or self conscious, Lucas feels quite proud of his scar. You see, through his shirt, he feels that the raised appearance makes him look like he has a really big muscle that will enable him to kill a bear! He's so cute. :)

Kaitlyn is thriving at this arts school. She is the main reason I wanted to teach here. This is so up her alley. Her little creative heart is being so nurtured and encouraged and instructed here. She's doing so well in all of her subjects minus the frustration of being forced to shut off her creative side.

Life is certainlyl busy and tiring when you're a working Mom, as many of you already know from experience. But we are getting the hang of it, slowly.

I leave you with some pics! Enjoy!

Friends at the Fourth of July!

Yosef taking good care of his "carria", or peppers. He's very proud of them!

Grandma (Avery's Mom) with her girls.

Yosef's first glimpse of the ocean. If you think that adopting older children means missing out on all of life's "firsts" just look at this little face as it experiences yet another "first"!

Mihret's first glimpse. Can you say DISBELIEF????

For the record, no children have suffered from a broken limb...yet!
The First Day of School! 6:00AM...sleep....
Lucas insisted on a picture with just him and his "mama" He cried when I had to leave him...which made me cry....several days in a row.....thankfully, it's better now. :)

Severely Burned Ugandan Child

2007-07-27T21:42:00.000-04:00

The following is a public letter from World Help, an organization committed to feeding hungry children throughout the world. Last year, our family had the blessing of hosting two of World Help's sponsored children who are currently on tour with a Children of the World choir to raise awareness and funds for children who are not yet sponsored. Oliviah from Uganda and Sowmya from India stayed with us and were both such preciouus little girls. This letter concerns a Ugandan child who was severely burned recently. My little Lucas was burned quite badly this past spring and was very sad for this Ugandan child. He is going to write her a letter because he knows the pain she is experiencing. It reminds me of a sweet little boy in Texas who sent my Lucas an email and called him on the phone because he too had been burned quite badly and wanted Lucas to know that the burns do indeed get better in time. God used that little boy's wounds to help my Lucas heal. And now God is giving my Lucas a chance to allow his wounds to be used to reach out to little Dorothy. Won't you reach out to her too?

Thank you for partnering with World Help through your gifts and prayers. Together we are impacting millions of lives around the world, both now and for eternity.

We recently received word from our partner in Uganda of a terrible accident involving one of our sponsored children. Ten-year-old Dorothy was lighting a lamp when she spilled kerosene on herself and was burned by the flames. She suffered third degree burns over 20-30% of her body including her face, chest, arms and down her body.

Dorothy was immediately rushed to the hospital where she remains today. Recently a World Help staff member was in the area and able to check on her, and what she found is heartbreaking. Even after her initial treatment, Dorothy was still in excruciating pain, covered in severe burns and open wounds across the front of her body. While she is beginning to heal, her recovery will involve several surgeries and painful procedures. Undeterred, Dorothy is anxious to return to school and has hopes of becoming a teacher one day. Please pray for her full recovery as she perseveres through this trying time.

We have committed to pay all of Dorothy’s medical expenses and provide full support through her recovery. In her honor, World Help’s Child Sponsorship Program has begun a Medical Emergency Fund to use in cases like these where immediate medical action is necessary. If you would like to contribute to this cause, click here to make a secure online donation, or call our office at (800)-541-6691.

Thank you again for your continued support. You are truly providing help and hope, and together we are making a difference!

Vernon Brewer, President

Photos!

2007-07-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

I cannot find the cable to connect the camera to the computer yet, but I'll share some that were taken before Lucas went into the hospital in May. This first one was taken at our church when we had a special celebration and day where we dedicated all four of our children to God, vowing to raise them in the love and knowledge of Him. As you can see, they were all a little bit shy standing in front of our church!

Truly, I have two babies and this picture proves it. They are both sooooo snuggly! I love it!

This was taken at a baseball game right after Mihret didn't get her way. This is the "I just got told no" position. We see it A LOT! LOL

This photo was taken right after we finally convinced Yosef and Mihret that it wasn't really cotton, but that it was made out of sugar and they really could eat it. I can't believe that I used to actually like this stuff!

My sweet little Lucas. Love that dimple!

Does this look like a crew that would ever fight or squabble?!?!?

Girls, Girls, Girls

Me, my girls, and my dear friend, Abeba

My family with my dear friend, Rosa

Kaitlyn braiding Mihret's hair and Mihret braiding her doll's hair...how much time I would save if Kaitlyn could actually do a nice job on braiding this girl's hair! Ahhh...I braided it tonight and I'm down to just one hour on a simple braid job that will last a week.

I'm Still Alive!!!

2007-07-21T22:41:00.001-04:00

That's right- I am still alive! I know that many of you probably thought that I had dropped off the face of the earth. But I am still right here in my nice little house with my wonderful, ever patient husband, and four energetic little munchkins!

I have found that having four children means that I have much less time for things like this blog! Hence the lack of new posts. Additionally, I started my new teaching job two weeks ago, so my time is even more limited than ever before. Starting on August 1, all four children will be in school with me. I'll be glad for that because right now I am missing them like crazy while I'm at work getting the classroom ready for the students. I'd be lying though if I claimed that I didn't enjoy the change of scenery just a little bit. But I am definitely ready to receive all of those dirty, sweaty, sticky little hugs at the end of the day!

So, it's been four months now since Yosef and Mihret came home to our family in America from Ethiopia. Would you believe that we're already thinking of adopting again?!?! (Only on my good days....or maybe they're my crazy days....hmmmmm). Things are feeling more and more settled all the time. The children had a spell where there was lots of fighting as all four of them were trying to figure out what their roles and positions were supposed to be in this new configuration. But it seems that everybody has found their places for the most part.

Lucas is still my cuddling, snuggly little rambunctious boy and also the baby in every sense of the word. Those of you who aren't youngest children will understand exactly what this means! Mihret wants to be the baby, but realizes that she's honestly just more mature than that, though she's more than willing to shower me with affection any time day or night. Kaitlyn is realizing that having a sister has not lived up to her fantasy where the girls never fought and always played so nicely together. But, in her realization, she's also found some acceptance of this fact and is now moving on into reality. She spends more time playing by herself without Mihret than she did at first, which helps her so much with being patient and understanding. The girls often get along really nicely, and the other half of the time they bicker back and forth. So, I guess they're truly sisters! And Yosef is definitely the oldest in every sense of the word. He's such a sweet and funny little kid. He's had to be the man of the family before, so it's sometimes hard for him to be a kid. But, mostly he's just a great little boy who loves and coddles and humors and also teases his little brother and sisters. And Avery and I have learned that our house definitely needs to have more structure now that there are four of the little guys running around. We do more things "assembly line style" now and tend to have a routine for just about everything. But as the kids are learning the routine, they're falling into line more and more. Our house is definitely not chaotic for the most part, though we do have our days. Mostly though, things are running smoothly. Everybody is getting their fair share of individual attention and at night we breath a sigh of relief when everybody is quietly tucked in to bed and we can sit back and relax with each other. Life is good. I am so blessed by these children who call me "Mommy." What more could I ask for?

Lucas is healing very well from his burn this past May. He will definitely not need a skin graft and we are so thankful to God for this. The only concern is that a scar does not continue to grow with a child's growing body the way skin does. It merely gets stretched out as the child grows. His deepest scars are on his shoulder and the doctors are concerned that he is not developing enough excess scar tissue. Without adequate excess, the scar will become stretched very tight as he grows bigger and limit mobility in his shoulder. The only thing we can do is to massage the scar in order to try to stretch it while it's still forming. This is a very painful thing for Lucas and he screams in pain when we do it. Not a pleasant thing. Honestly, I need to do it more than I do because as painful as it is now, it's better than losing mobility in his arm later. Aside from that, he is doing so good. He's able to swim and be outside as long as he's wearing his special SPF shirt that a very precious family sent him.

Mihret is such a good little girl. We had problems at first with her testing the limits and not obeying. But once she understood the boundaries and the consequences, she fell into line. She still tries to test us, but what kid doesn't?! She loves to help me. Today we spent some time at my school because Avery was fixing some of my broken student desks. I was putting up bulletin boards while he worked and Mihret was just such a good helper with handing me tape, boarders, etc. She's definitely grieving though. She was about 3 1/2 when her mother died and she remembers it well. All of her memories of her mother are very happy memories, aside from the memory of her mommy going to sleep at night and not waking up in the "good morning." My heart broke the night that she sat on my lap crying as she told me about that sad morning when her mommy did not "stand up in the good morning." She has no memory of her mother not being sick in bed. But she must have been an amazing woman because both of the children love her so much and have told me so many stories about how she was funny and sang songs with them and played with them. But I know that grief is necessary if there is to be healing and I am so thankful that she is turning to me in her grief instead of shutting me out. I know that God will heal her little heart.

Kaitlyn is dying with anticipation right now for school to start. She is the entire reason that I even considered teaching at this school. It is a school for the arts and they are truly top notch. When we have gone to see their performances, I honestly felt like I had cheated the system because they didn't charge me anything to come in. Kaitlyn will be taking ballet classes as part of the curriculum along with art classes, dance, music, theater, and chorus. And the arts are also integrated into the academic curriculum. This is so right up her alley. I really think that she will thrive in this environment. I'm excited for her!

Yosef is doing well, though he's having a little bit of a hard time with certain aspects of the culture here in America. Namely, the respect that Americans give to women is very hard for him to understand and submit to. Most days are okay. But some days he just really struggles to respect women in general, but especially me. This is requiring lots of clear boundaries about what is expected of him and Avery has really had to enforce this on my behalf. The little guy has some deeply ingrained misogyny that has been passed down both generationally and culturally to him. Truly, we recognize that while we must set clear boundaries for him in this, only God can change a heart. So, together, we pray for our little son that God will give him a heart towards women that matches His own heart towards women. When Yosef isn't struggling with this, he's such an affectionate little guy with me. It took some work and time, but he is bonding well with me. I love it when he wakes up in the morning and says, "Why you not hug me today, Mom?!" and looks overly hurt until I hug him. Or when I pray for him in his bed at night and he grabs me around my neck and tries to not let go so that I will stay with him. Those are the moments that make all the struggle worth it.

God has been very good to us in all of this transition. In the moments where we have been just truly lost as to what to do, God has made it somehow okay. We have had dear friends support us and pray for us in this. I still cannot believe that we have experienced first-hand the miracle of childbirth AND the miracle of adoption! Both are miracles. A child coming into a family is a miracle. And we have been blessed to have experienced four miracles! And I honestly believe in my heart of hearts that there are more little miracles out there in the world not in need of a family yet, but sometime in the not-so-distant future, they will be waiting for us. So, now that I'm working, we need to first buy a newer van than the 198,000 mile van that we currently have. Then, we're going to start saving money for the next adoption.

This one will probably not be from Ethiopia, as I think the law now states that you can't have more than 5 kids in the family to adopt from Ethiopia. If we adopt more than one, then we'd be ineligible and I really want to adopt another sibling set that is less likely to find a family. Just as my heart has been drawn to Ethiopia, my heart has also been drawn to Uganda. But, Uganda has a requirement that you be a resident for 3 years prior to adoption. Would you believe that the very same day that I found out about Ethiopia's new restrictions, I found out that Uganda had lifted the residency requirement? I believe that my future children are in Uganda with their still-living mother. Time will tell...

I wish I could leave you with some pictures, but I can't find the cable to connect my camera to my computer! I will try to update soon though because my kids are sooooooooo cute! :) Yes, I'm a little biased.

Our Exciting Life...

2007-06-18T08:07:00.000-04:00

Lucas went back to UNC Chapel Hill Burn Center on Friday for a check up and the doctors all agreed that he is doing quite well. Many of the burns have healed to the point that I only need to keep a constant coat of moisturizer applied. All of those burns seem to be flat scars that are still quite pink, but will probably just be white. Which isn't so bad since he is Caucasian. Seriously, I've seen some very young brown-skinned kids in the burn center with white scars which are much obvious than the white scars that my white kid has. My heart has broken for some of the kids we've met. The only burn that is still problematic is one that covers his upper right arm, shoulder, and part of his back. At one point, the entire wound had become closed. But then he started experiencing some secondary blistering, as his new skin in that area isn't strong enough yet to keep all of the normal body fluids inside. As a result, the fluids are pushing their way up through the skin, causing blisters to form, which eventually rupture and leave more open wounds. Usually a ruptured blister isn't a big deal, but on a burn patient, it leaves raw skin exposed. The doctor gave him sort of tight brace that he has to wear over the burn and I have to keep it tightly wrapped with an ace bandage in order to lend pressure to the skin which aids in keeping the body fluids underneath where they belong. Since Friday, he has had no new blisters. The great news for Lucas is that once the current blisters heal over, he is allowed to go swimming!!!!! Talk about a happy kid!

On a different note, I had the revelation last week that as you increase your number of children, you also increase your chances that something bad will happen with them. Additionally, I believe that if you double the number of BOYS that you have, that you at least quadruple the chances that something bad will happen with them! Lucas and Yosef decided that it would be a good idea to catch bees with a fishing net, then put them inside a soda bottle. Mind you, they have been warned before that this isn't a good idea. I was in the bathroom last Thursday when Yosef came inside yelling, "Mom!!! A bee BITE my finger!" As I was applying caladryl, I noticed that his voice was very hoarse. He too had noticed, but was rather amused by his voice. So I thought that he was playing games with me....until I noticed the rash breaking out on his neck and spreading down his back and arms. I piled all four kids into the van immediately and rushed to the emergency room. By the time we got there, Yosef was no longer amused and was very scared. His entire body had begun to swell, the hives covered his body now and had become quite itchy, and he was having difficulty in breathing. Thank God, we live in a country where all it takes to stop an allergic reaction like this is a dose of steroids and a little bit of time. He told me that he had been stung by bees in Ethiopia, but nothing like that had ever happened before. Evidently, we have a different kind of bee here in America! Needless to say, I think that my boys will no longer catch bees. Avery made my job as a mom easier by promising $5 to the kid who can catch a rabbit first. Now, when they're going crazy in the house, I just remind them of the $5 and off the run out the door to catch a rabbit. Honestly, I expect that somebody will catch a rabbit before the summer is over!

I realized that I didn't post on my blog that I got that teaching job that I interviewed for! I found out the day that Lucas got burned and somehow (I can't imagine how!) it slipped my mind to post about it! I start in the middle of July and all four kids will be going to the same school with me starting the first week in August. It's a year-round school, which I wasn't too keep on at first, but I'm seeing the benefits of that schedule. The only thing I am not looking forward to is that I will have to be out the door with all four kids by 6:15AM. YIKES!!!!! Aside from that, it seems like a very good fit for our family.

The transition is going very good with adding two kids to the family. It's been 3 months since they've been home and I can honestly say that each week gets better than the previous one. It's funny, but in the first month, I felt like things were going pretty good. But now that we're 3 months in, I look back and wonder how we survived that first month! That makes me think that in another three months, I'll look back on this time period and wonder the same thing. Which is good! It means that things are improving!

Yosef and Mihret's English is developing very well. They both understand just about everything I say to them. They do not understand a heavy southern accent though. Which is sort of a problem since we live in the south! They are good with a mild accent at least. :) It's funny because sometimes a person with a heavy accent will ask them a question that I know they comprehend, but they look like they're completely confused. So I "translate" by re-asking the exact same question with my northern accent. Then they give a response with their Amharic accent. I LOVE diversity!

My dear friend Rosa visited us last week and was here for a special celebration at our church. We had a little ceremony where we dedicated all of our children to God, as they are truly gifts from him. We cooked Ethiopian food together all day on Saturday and served it after church. I was surprised at how many people liked the food! Then again, it is really really yummy, so why shouldn't they love it?!

Rosa speaks Amharic, as she was born and raised in Ethiopia. So the kids enjoyed being able to talk with her some, but mostly, they just spoke in English to her. Kaitlyn decided as soon as Rosa got off the airplane that she really liked her and quietly took her hand. Kaitlyn is so quiet and sweet like that. But not with everybody. She has her favorite people that she picks out and decides to befriend. She's very sweet. Anyway, Rosa was kind enough to share her observations of some of the unfairness that has been happening in our family. Mostly, things that we allow Yosef and Mihret to get away with that Kaitlyn and Lucas definitely aren't allowed to do. I really appreciated her honest, humble observations. So, starting last Monday, I declared that everybody would be treated equally. I had some very happy American kids and some not-so-happy Ethiopians for a few days. But everybody quickly understood the rule-changes and complied and the house ran much smoother last week. Poor Kaitlyn had the hardest time of anybody with adjusting to new kids. But she is doing much better with it all now.

Thank you to everybody who sent cards, gifts, and emails while Lucas was in the hospital. I can't even begin to explain how much it brightened our days. His hospital wall was covered with cards. He thought he was the coolest thing ever! And one family was so nice that they sent a sun-proof outfit for Lucas. It's a very light-weight long-sleeved shirt and shorts that can unbutton at the legs to become pants. It adds a layer of spf to protect his new skin. He wears it almost everyday. This outfit has been such a blessing. He had it on at the burn center last Friday and all of the doctors and patients thought he was so cool and wanted to know where it came from so they could get one too. I also found out via a tip on my blog that you can buy Sun Guard, a laundry soap that adds spf protection to your clothing. Anyway, THANK YOU!!!!!

Lucas- Friday, June 1

2007-06-02T23:46:00.000-04:00

Lucas had his doctor appointment yesterday and the doctor was very pleased with how well the wound is healing and with how clean it is. There is no sign of infection. He will need to wear a brace on his foot to help stimulate circulation where he was burned. He doesn't need one on his arm just yet, but they'll keep an eye on it. His lower back no longer has open burns on it and is no longer painful to the touch. His shoulder and upper arm are where the deepest burns occurred, and even they are looking very good. Tonight when I changed his bandages, his upper arm had actually completely closed up so that it is no longer open. The shoulder still has open wounds on it, but it is healing very well. The doctor was still not ready to completely rule out surgery. I think that he is just playing it safe and doesn't want to give me a definite answer until he's completely healed. Lucas returns in two weeks for another check up. So, the news is very good!!!!

I can't believe how many cards, gifts, emails, phonecalls, etc. this little guy and our family have received since this whole ordeal started! Today I got a package from some of the families that have adopted kids from our agency. I was especially touched by this, as we haven't really had contact with the families since we were removed from the agency's yahoo list. When I got the box in the mail, it was so nice. Yosef and Mihret were so happy to see that some of their friends' families had sent packages. I think it helped them to feel connected in knowing that people from Ethiopia and their American families cared about their little brother. A family (not from our adoption agency) even sent Lucas a special lightweight outfit that will cover all of his burns (minus the foot) with a special SPF fabric that acts as a barrier against the sun's UV rays. This is really important, as a deep burn takes an entire year to completely heal. As the body is re-creating the skin, if it is tanned or burned at all, it will permanently alter the color of the skin. If we can keep him protected from the sun, and take very good care of that new skin, then there is a good chance that the skin will eventually be the same color as his not-burned skin. I haven't had to cook a meal since we got home from the hospital, as our church has completely taken care of our meals for us. It's really been a refreshing time for our family to be able to spend more time bonding as we settle back into a routine.

As far as bonding is concerned, I had been very concerned about what effect it might have that Avery and I had to leave for such a long time, so soon after bringing Yosef and Mihret home from Ethiopia. A friend and I spent quite a bit of time praying together about that very thing. We asked God to protect the bonding that had already occurred. I was so happy to get home last week and find that God had answered that prayer. In fact, things are now even better than they were before the accident happened. Yosef is becoming so affectionate toward me. He truly loves me and is feeling more free to express that. Mihret is obeying very well, a concept that wasn't easy for her to grasp in the first couple of weeks! Lucas truly missed his brother and sisters, and was therefore quite happy to be with them again. Kaitlyn had struggled quite a bit with finding her place after we all got home from Ethiopia. I had a lot of time in the hospital to think, pray, and reflect on that situation. And I have a better idea now of how I can help her to adjust. Since I've been employing some of these new strategies, things have been so much better for her. She's finally finding her place again. So, all of this, just to say that things are really good!

As far as taking care of Lucas is concerned, the only really hard part is his daily bath. It must be excruciatingly painful for the poor little guy. It takes one person to hold him down while I focus on washing his wounds. I can't really blame him for trying to get away from me- I think I'd try to escape a bath of open wounds too! His physical therapy exercises were very painful for him at first, but he's doing a lot better with that now. And the bandage changes twice a day aren't as traumatic as they used to be either. As the wounds are starting to heal over, they're not requiring a bandage any more, so there is less area to cover. Therefore, less pain to endure!

Though I'm taking a 40 day break from my blog, I will keep it updated as we find out more about Lucas's condition so that people can know specifically how to pray. Thank you all so much!

The Call

2007-05-28T22:13:00.000-04:00

This is a "sign-off" post for the next forty days. I have decided that for a period of forty days, from Memorial day through 07-07-07, I will be fasting from the internet with the exception of checking my email. I'm participating in "The Call", which is a call for Christians to humble themselves to fast and pray for our nation. If you're interested in joining me, check out the website.

Thank you again to all who have prayed for Lucas these past few weeks. He continues to improve steadily each day. The little guy still has a rough couple of weeks ahead as his skin continues to heal, but it truly is healing more and more every time I have to change his bandages. He goes back to the doctor on Friday. I will interrupt my fast to update on his condition for those who are praying for him.

Homecoming!!!!

2007-05-23T11:17:00.000-04:00

We are going home with Lucas today!!!! The doctor came this morning and he will be going home within the next couple of hours!!!!! They still have not completely ruled out the need for surgery, but every day, more healing has taken place. I am completely confident that God is healing my baby without surgery. Last night, the very deep burns started to itch, which is such a great sign of healing.

As I talked with a close friend last night about the past two weeks, I couldn't help but realize what a blessing they have been in so many ways. Obviously, Lucas being burned is a horribly tragic thing that I would change in a heartbeat if I could. And I never wanted to leave the other three kids like this. But, it did happen. And given the circumstances, I have been very blessed these past two weeks. God has faithfully stayed by my side. So many times, Lucas has been in pain in the night and absolutely unable to fall asleep. The situation last night is one of many examples. Last night, he had become increasingly itchy and in pain over a course of a few hours. At 2:00AM, he was awake and screaming with no further pain medications available. In despair, I called a friend and we began to pray for him. Mind you, it had been an hour since his last dose of medication and he was screaming and crying out in pain still. We prayed for him and within five minutes, he was still and calm. We continued praying together for another 20 minutes or so and he fell asleep while we were praying. This happened more times in the past two weeks than I can count as my friend and I have prayed in the wee hours of the morning for Lucas to be still and sleep. My faith has seriously been strengthened to see this happen time after time during the night hours! I wish Avery had been here to see it happening. It was truly amazing!

And now we are going home!!!!! Mind you, I am fully prepared for a turbulent couple of days, as there will be much adjustment to take place with all of us. But I'm ready. And I know Lucas is ready. The hospital is so boring. He's in the burn center, which isn't set up for kids at all. So, there's not a lot for him to do. He'll be so happy to be home. And I am so happy to be seeing the other kids again. And sleeping in my own bed again. Next to my husband. With my entire family once again under the same roof. With a deeper security of God's love and faithfulness to fight my battles than I had before. Safe in the knowledge that God is answering my prayers and healing my baby without surgery. God is indeed very good. Very, very good. Always.

The Homefront

2007-05-21T19:59:00.000-04:00

Well, I've decided that I must simply believe that the three kids at home really are doing okay. Many people from our family and circle of friends have pitched in to help out with them these past two weeks. And I have thoroughly interrogated each of them as to the well being of my three children at home. Every single person has told me that they are doing really good and seem to be very happy and content. My Amharic speaking friends (three) have all assured me that Yosef and Mihret both understand that their family is permanent, that Mom and Dad will indeed come home, etc. Yet I've been so worried about them. But today, it dawned on me that if the kids weren't okay, that at least one person would have let it slip by now! Let's face it- I think I have kids who are content and secure, even the newest additions. And I have to believe that God is holding them safe in the palm of His hand and that when I get home, we'll be able to deal with any issues that may have arisen in our absence.

Even Kaitlyn, my melodramatic little sweetheart seems to be doing okay. She did have an incident on the school bus today though. There is a girl who is periodically mean to Kaitlyn. Today, this girl teased Kaitlyn saying, "Your daddy smokes cigarettes!" Now, this is completely not true, but it hurt Kaitlyn's feelings and she told me that she cried on the bus. She related the story to me in tears as well. Poor baby!

Kaitlyn also reported to me in whispers on the phone so as not to be overheard that Mihret is not obeying Uncle Shane very good. :) When I asked Mihret, she insisted, "No, me very very good. Me tazazgi (basically means "obey) Uncle Shane!" Just in case, we told Shane to give her a "time-out" if she disobeyed! It melts my heart when she tells me, "Mommy, me love you. Yes, very very love. You come home today. Yes?" She's been with me for less than two months, but our hearts belong to each other. She is mine and I am hers. I miss her sweet little hugs so much!

And Yosef seriously is getting cuter by the day! He got a new bike for his birthday, which he totally loves. He also got lots of little bike accessories, which he has thoroughly enjoyed. I need to hurry home so I can watch him riding his new bike!

And my little Lucas. He's so sweet, even when he's as grouchy as he's been the past couple of days. He likes checking "his" email. And he's gotten so many nice cards and little packages in the mail. The poor kid had a tragedy happen though, and he doesn't even know it. Carrots is his green bunny that appears in many family photos. He's been a long-time best friend to Lucas and shows signs of extreme love on his stained self. When I say that Carrots is green, I mean that he's neon green and orange. Very bold colors. Yet, evidently, not bold enough, as the hospital laundry service picked him up amidst all of the WHITE hospital linens. And he's gone. We tried to find him, but he's just gone. Avery, the outstanding dad that he is, went on ebay though and found a new Carrots. The only problem is that the new Carrots is just that- NEW! He doesn't show any of the signs of love that the old Carrots showed. He actually has whiskers, he has a bow, his neck isn't smashed down from so many hugs that his head flops around. So we decided to tell Lucas that Carrots had gotten burned in the accident just like him, so we sent him to a special "stuffie" hospital where he would get all fixed up and that he could come back when he was better. We thought this was a very appropriate lie in this situation, as we didn't want him to be brokenhearted over his little Carrots and we knew that he would definitely notice the difference between old and new Carrots. Well, when we explained all of this to Lucas, his response was a very casual and off-handed, "Why didn't we just buy a new Carrots?!"

2007-05-21T11:53:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Admittedly, I couldn't write this email earlier this morning when the doctor came to see Lucas, as I was quite heart broken to find out that he will have to stay in the hospital and the possibility of surgery has still not been taken off the table. But, after a few hours of sleep, things look brighter to me! :)

The doctor will come back on Thursday to look at his wounds again. While this morning's news wasn't what I had hoped for (I really wanted us to all go home today!), the news actually is good. The areas of concern are continuing to improve. He's healing quite well. But because of the depth of some of the burns, it is too early for the doctor to know if they will heal completely on their own or if they still might require surgery. So, keep praying! God's healing is much more gentle than surgery!

Also, please pray for Lucas to be able to sleep at night. His sleep is just so very tormented at nighttime. He's only getting a few hours at best each night, which means that's also how much I am sleeping. He's tormented by insane itching (a good sign of healing), pain, bad dreams, etc.

Avery's brother, Shane, is recovering quite well from his emergency surgery last week and is able to take care of the other kids for us. This is such a huge blessing to us to know that even though we can't be with them, at least they are in their own home with just one person caring for them instead of having them in a different house each night. But, with that said, I also feel so blessed by the friends in our life locally, as I have truly not had to worry about them for even a moment. (Not that I haven't worried, but there's no need, as I know God is caring for them)

Also, Avery talked to his boss this morning and since Lucas has to stay in the hospital this week as well, his boss has extended his PAID family leave time by allowing him to take PAID sick days for the rest of this week! And God's people have been so generous in blessing us financially so that we are able to stay here in Chapel Hill and travel home some too without having to worry about the expense of it all. As awful as this accident has been, we have no room to complain. God's blessing and provision and love have flowed with abundance through His people. Mind you, that doesn't mean I haven't complained! But when I'm not feeling exceptionally sleep deprived, I'm overwhelmed by all that God has done on our behalf. I can't say enough how very good God is and how blessed we are to have eyes to see His hand on our lives. Thanks for your prayers and keep praying! Good news coming on Thursday...

Heather

Ronald McDonald House

2007-05-19T19:26:00.000-04:00

I am so thankful for the Ronald McDonald House. Avery has been sleeping there at night and finally convinced me to take some time out and go rest there. I took a nap and a bath there yesterday. It is so warm and cozy and peaceful. It felt as much like "home" as I could ask for right now. It was much, much better than the sterile, busy hospital. I wish I could take Lucas there. I think there's something healing about being at "home" somewhere.

Today I went there and spent some time talking with a friend on the phone (I miss my friends!). I talked with my friend about how much I miss my kids! And how much Lucas needs to get home as soon as possible. I've called this particular friend more times than I can count this week, especially in the middle of the night when Lucas can't stop crying and there's no more medication that he can take. She listens to me, consoles me, and prays for Lucas and for me. It was good to hear her voice.

After we talked, I grabbed my Bible and headed outside where I discovered a beautiful walking trail that winds through the woods. God knows my heart so well. Nothing can calm me the way being surrounded by nature does. I walked for a long time, then sat down with my back leaning on a fallen tree. I pulled out my Bible and read in Psalm 139 about how God goes behind me and ahead of me, that all of my days were known by Him before my life even began, that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm still completely and utterly exhausted, but refreshed in my mind, emotions, and spirit.

After I finally came back to the house, a nice hot meal was waiting for me. I ate the best meal I've had since Lucas had his accident. As I bowed my head to thank God, I was truly so very thankful that it brought tears to my eyes. Lord, please bless the women from the local church who prepared that wonderful meal.

Now I'm back at the hospital where Lucas is busy with a very important job given to him by one of the nurses. He has to color and cut out animals for in the garden bulletin board at the end of the hall. It's good to see him taking his job so seriously!

Soon it will be bath time (which equal screaming time), and then bed time. If you're reading this on Saturday, please pray for lots and lots of sleep tonight for both of us.

Also, you can check out a (really poor quality) recording of a worship set Avery and I did at our church a few days before we came to the hospital. The recording has a lot of distortion, but I thought it was cool that Avery made me quasi famous by putting me on his blog! :) Toward the end of the song there is some Amharic that I threw in for Yosef and Mihret who both got ear to ear grins when I started singing. Lord, I miss my kids!

Lucas (Saturday 10:30AM)

2007-05-19T10:23:00.000-04:00

As I type this, I am coming off the third sleepless night with Lucas. We were awake until 3:00AM last night. It was 5:30 AM the night before. 2:00AM the night before that. Needless to say, both he and I are absolutely exhausted. His itchiness is excruciating. No official word on the need for surgery yet. I have the option of getting him up at 5AM tomorrow morning for a bath so the doctor can see him and make a call. But I honestly think I'll probably wait until Monday, as the thought of 5AM is enough to make me cry right now! Pray for sleep and relief from itchiness!

Lucas (Wednesday 5:30PM)

2007-05-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

Well, last night was a pretty rough night with Lucas. He was just in a lot of pain and his IV came out AGAIN. Thankfully, this time the nurse decided that enough was enough and didn't put it back in. She called the doctor and had him put on all oral medications instead. But, since last night was rough, he was still tired this morning and in a lot of pain. Bathtime was rough this morning. I did do most of the washing/peeling of the burns today, which is important if I'm ever to demonstrate the the hospital staff that I'm capable of caring for him on my own at home.

The really great news is that the one area of concern from yesterday looked completely different today. The doctor didn't come in to see him today, so I don't have a professional medical opinion on this. But to my untrained eye, it looked the same as the other areas that were formerly a concern until yesterday. I'm anxious and excited to hear what the doctor has to say about it, though I don't know when he'll come see him again.

This morning, one of the nurses pretty well summed up Lucas. I dropped Lucas off in the bath room then came back to get his bathrobe for him. While I was doing that, one of the nurses came to tell me that, "The emperor is summoning his queen!" I laughed so hard, as that's exactly what this situation is like!

Lucas was talking to my mom on the phone the other night and he kept asking her to bring him some broccoli and cheese. He was absolutely insistent that she needed to do that. Now, the kid really does like broccoli and cheese. He likes the kind in the little boxes in the frozen food section a lot. But he's not really eating anything right now and what a weird thing to be asking for! So when he hung up, I questioned him on it and discovered that he doesn't really want any broccoli right now. My mom had asked him if she could buy it and leave it in the freezer at our house, but he insisted that she needs to buy him a lot and bring it to the hospital. His reason was that he saw an opportunity (being in the hospital) and decided to try and get my mother to buy him something that he likes. But he is convinced that if she buys it and puts it in the freezer at our house that the other kids will eat it all before he gets home. S0 he wants her to bring it to him for a gift and keep it in the freezer at the hospital so he can take it home when he's released from the hospital!

Since coming to the hospital, I've been with Lucas nearly twenty-four/seven and I can honestly say that I've laughed more than I have in a long time! :)

Happy Birthday Yosef!!!!

2007-05-15T10:34:00.000-04:00

On another note, my little Yosef is having a birthday today!!!!!! He is turning 10 years old!!!! Avery and I are leaving the hospital early this afternoon so we can go home for his party. Some of the very nice people here at the hospital have promised to help Lucas out and check in on him while I'm gone. Avery's aunt will be here at 5:30, so he'll only be alone for a few hours.

I talked to Yosef this morning and he is soooooo excited! I need to get some new pictures of him on my blog because he is soooooo incredibly cute. He has a cute little hair cut and is looking happier and happier all the time. Some very dear friends of mine took it upon themselves to completely organize a birthday party for him. All I have to do is arrive. What a huge relief for me! And what a blessing to all of us! Pictures coming soon...

Lucas Monday 10:00AM

2007-05-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,

First, Avery's brother, Shane, made it through surgery just fine last night and his recovery is expected to be quite fast.

Second, the doctor came to look at Lucas this morning and the news we got was most encouraging! When the doctor last saw him, he said without question that a couple of areas would definitely need surgery. It was just a question of how large an area would need to be removed and grafted. This morning, all but one of those areas was showing signs of healing on its own though! And the area that isn't starting to heal yet is at a stage where it could go either way. So, the doctor is no longer saying that he definitely needs surgery. Instead, he wants to wait a few more days and see if that one spot does start to heal on its own. So....God is still on the throne! And He is still sovereign to heal! My faith is very much encouraged this morning that God is more than able to heal this without surgery. My heart is very settled that even if he does need surgery that it will still be okay, as God's faithfulness endures forever, with or without surgery. But I really want to see God demonstrate His power to heal in my little son.

I will keep you updated and thank you for your prayers!

Heather

Monday (5:00PM)

2007-05-14T16:48:00.000-04:00

Update on Avery's brother- He's still in the waiting room of the ER. He's been there for nearly five hours now. The triage people did look at him, determined he has appendicitis, then put him back in the waiting room without so much as giving him pain medication. So we're praying that he will be quickly seen. I feel so bad for him, being so far away from home. But Steve, the pastor at our church, stayed with him up until about 30 minutes ago. Avery's cousin who goes to college about 45 minutes from our house got right in his car and went straight to the hospital when he found out. So, at least Shane isn't alone. And after Steve teaches a seminar, he's going back to the hospital.

Monday (1:00PM)

2007-05-14T13:06:00.000-04:00

Well, life in our family seems to be a continual crisis these days! So continual in fact, that the only thing we can do is laugh. It's almost like a comedic movie, except it's actually happening to us! What am I talking about you might ask?

Well, Avery's brother Shane was going to stay with the other three kids through the month of May. Yesterday he started feeling sick in church. By the time I left to come back to the hospital in the afternoon, he was throwing up. Then last night he got a fever. This morning, the pain in his stomach localized to his lower right side. Yea, I know, you don't have to be a genius to know that sounds like apendicitis! Just to clarify, we asked the doctors here and they all said to send him straight to the ER as it sounds like a ruptured apendix to them. Poor kid! Thank God for good friends in our life though. Our pastor, Steve, rushed straight over to our house to take him to the emergency room. I have no news yet.

Lucas is doing pretty good today. He slept all through the night, only needing pain meds once, and not having any fever. It's back up to 101 right now, but he did great in physical therapy this morning. He was actually running! He has another session in about an hour. We'll know tomorrow what the doctor wants to do about surgery.

He was very concerned last night because he realized that the little syringes that he gets his medicine in are made of plastic. He really wanted the nurse to recycle them! What an environmentally friendly kid! :)

He was "really worried" again when he realized how much TV he's been watching. He cried and said, "I'm really worried because I watched TV all day and that's just not healthy and it will make me stupid!" He was so serious. How can I not laugh at this kid?!?!

On another note, I think that I forgot to mention that I got the teaching job that I interviewed for! I found out the day of the accident, so it kind of wasn't so much in the forefront of my mind! Hmmmm....I wonder why?!?! :)

I slept absolutely great last night. I woke up quite a lot to check on Lucas, but when I was asleep, it was really deep, good sleep. I actually feel rested and good today.

I did discover some burns on the poor little guy's head today though. The deal I made with him was that if he would take a nice bath, that I would spike his hair. So when I put the hair gel in and used the blow dryer, he cried out in pain. I looked at his head and sure enough, he has some crusty, oozy burns on the top of it. He's actually had crusty hair there every day, but I thought it was from being so sweaty while he sleeps. They're only minor 2nd degree burns though. He'll be fine. Still, nothing on his face, and that's the thing I'm so very thankful for.

Other things I'm really thankful for:

1. Avery's employer gave him 10 days of PAID family leave time. That's right- PAID!!! He won't be able to be at the hospital every single day, but he's able to be here a lot and that is such a blessing to Lucas and to me. It would be so much more difficult if I was by myself.

2. People have poured out their love on our family. People are praying for us. LOTS of people are praying for us. LOTS of emails, phone calls, LOTS of people giving financial help to us, as they understand how expensive it is to have to eat, sleep, live in a hospital. Not to mention we have a two hour drive from home to hospital. Even there though, I'm thankful it's not further.

3. Lucas is in such good spirits. He's such a happy, cute little kid.

4. My other kids have been well cared for and are happy.

5. I have more friends than I realized.

6. The friends I knew I had have drawn so much closer to me to pour out their love on me; to show me God's love.

7. So many people are loving me by loving my children right now. People are remembering the three that are home without their parents right now by sending them little treats. Yesterday in church, my dear friend Donna sat next to them during praise and worship just to be near to them and to reassure them of her love.

8. My dear friends have remembered me and Avery by putting together a care package for us. I don't know what is in it, but it's so heavy that it requires a man to carry it. It will be arriving very shortly for us.

9. My precious friend Ababa took Mihret to her house to wash and rebraid her hair so I wouldn't have to worry about it. And she looks like an adorable princess!

10. My little Kaitlyn and I have had some very sweet quiet moments together since this happened. My Yosef is speaking to me again. My Mihret is precious and funny as ever.

Sunday 7:00AM

2007-05-13T06:55:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day! I have to get out of bed now, as I promised the other kids I'd leave the hospital to come take them to church on Mother's Day. I think that Yosef and Mihret probably don't have any concept of this day, but Kaitlyn does and she'll be devastated if I don't make it. I'm soooooo tired! And I hate driving in Raleigh, Carey, Chapel Hill, as I always get lost. God, help me drive this morning!

Lucas had a great day yesterday, but a very rough night. His fever spiked to 104 and has pretty much stayed there all night. I finally convinced them to ask the doctor to give him Motrin instead of Tylenol, as this is what he always takes at home. He hasn't gotten any yet. But at least they finally gave in! The staff here really is great, but nobody can mother like a mother! Honestly, there were several times in the night where I gave serious consideration to giving him some extra Tylenol, as I know I can double the dose and have him still be okay. But I decided against it because I know the staff needs to have an honest evaluation of his condition. Poor kid!

I just want to say that I am so thankful for wireless internet at this hospital! It can be so lonely being in the hospital. But this laptop has been my link to the outside world. It has meant so much to me to be able to lie in bed with Lucas while he's asleep and check my email. I don't always respond, but I'm reading every one of them. Lucas helped respond to some yesterday. He keeps asking me, "Mom,I want to check my emails about my boo boos." Then he wants to respond something to the effect of, "Dear________, I love you and miss you (even if he doesn't even know them). I miss you a lot. Thank you for praying for me. I love you. I hope you have a good day. And a good night too. I hope you have a good time. From: Lucas Benaiah Moore" This kid is so cute and funny that it would be very hard for me to be discouraged.

I'm also so thankful for friends that I can call in the middle of the night when his fever is spiked or when I can't stop crying. Those are the best kinds of friends anybody could ask for. The middle of the night friends.

In a time of crisis, you see how many blessings you have. You see how many people care about you. You see how good God is. It's funny, but I know that if we hadn't have had to walk through the last two years of this adoption with all of it's pain that my perspective of this current situation would be totally different. But in the past two years, I've come to a place of realizing that despite what happens in life, that God's goodness and faithfulness remain the same. And now, as I see my son in so much pain, I know in the deepest recesses of my heart that God's goodness and faithfulness have not changed. It's not even a struggle. I know it beyond anything I've ever known before. And it's because of our adoption journey. God is very good.

Mind you, I really would like for my life to not look like one crisis and drama after another! :)

Lucas (Saturday 6:00PM)

2007-05-12T17:32:00.000-04:00

Today, there have only been improvements! Thank you, God! Lucas did so good with his exercises today. He even "ran" a few steps toward the elevator. He bent over to pick up a toy a few times. He made a few baskets with a basketball. This is all very good and very vital stuff as far as future mobility of his arm is concerned. Very good stuff. He really worked hard today and is now completely exhausted. As long as his pain meds are working, he's great. Once they start to wear off, the little guy is suffering. But there's not a very long window between when they wear off and when he can have more.

The infection looks a lot better today, so the antibiotics are doing their job. Also, his arm where there was still some question as to whether it would need a skin graft is much better today now that the infection is healing. The spots on his shoulder and back where he definitely needs a skin graft look more clear today too.

Lucas continues to crack up all of the staff here. He really doesn't understand why everybody laughs at him all the time and he's starting to get annoyed with me. In fact, before he fell asleep a few minutes ago, he scowled at me and told me that I'm not allowed to laugh in his room anymore because I'm not a sick person. I'm just his guest! Of course, this made me laugh yet again, which made him even more mad at me! And just then the oxycodone kicked in and he fell asleep! :)

These are a few of the reasons why I can't stop laughing at him:

Yesterday, his nurse, Derek, had to do a strep culture with one of those long cotton swabs. As Derek pulled the swab out of the package, Lucas started to cry. I asked him what was wrong. His reply...and I quote...."I'm just really worried!" I asked, "Why are you worried?" His response was, "I'm really worried that Derek is going to use that and touch my epiglottis. And if you touch your epiglottis, you'll DIE!" Okay. Who could possibly contain their laughter over a five-year-old even saying the word "epiglottis", much less actually knowing what region of the body the epiglottis can be found in?!

His very strict rule about his room is that the only person who is allowed to sit on, lay on, look at, or breathe near his hospital bed is Mommy. He makes an exception for the doctors and nurses.

The word for yesterday was "placebo." I say this because he decided that by blowing on the capped end of his IV tube in his arm that it could instantly relieve his pain! He would desperately cry out, "Mommy! Quick! Blow on my IV!" I would blow and he would instantly find relief from his pain! If I stopped, the pain immediately returned. I totally cracked up when I looked over at him and saw him blowing on his own IV! He's soooo cute! :)

This morning as we walked down the hall for his bath (probably the most painful part of his day), he asked for juice as we passed the "Juice Room" as he calls it. I told him he could have some after his bath, not wanting the added distraction. As we got to the door to the bath room, he looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, let's make a deal. You give me juice and I'll take a nice bath. Okay?" His tone and expression were so serious that I couldn't refuse the kid his juice!

The other three kids came to the hospital today. I spent most of my time with Kaitlyn in a private waiting room watching TV with her. I miss them all so much and am trying to give each of them some quality one-on-one time when I do get to see them. It was very nice to just sit quietly with her while she had a snack without the pressure and distraction of being with everybody else. Kaitlyn is such a calming person. She has a very quiet, calming presence about her and this unique ability to sit quietly and just "be." Gosh, that sounds strange! It's hard to describe, but it's a very good quality. She's the kind of person who is therapeutic just to be around when you're alone with her. Mind you, she can completely change personalities at any moment, especially when other people are around. But today, she was very calm and I just enjoyed a little bit of togetherness with her. I've been so worried about her.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with the other two. I carried Mihret around the halls for a few minutes and hugged her. She has a high need for lots of hugs, so I tried to give her that in the little bit of time I had with her. Her braids are getting messy, but I asked my friend Ababa to take Mihret to her house today and wash her hair and re-braid it. So, I'm hoping she was able to do that.

I'm very worried about Yosef. When he first came home, he was very attached to Avery, but I had to work at it. I really looked for ways to meet him in his own world as far as bonding is concerned. I had some friends praying specifically for this. And after a couple of weeks, he started to really come around with me. He became very affectionate with me and we started to bond on an emotional level. It was very good. But we've definitely taken a few steps back. I've seen him twice since the accident and he won't look at me, talk to me, or touch me. He's most sad because he misses Avery so very much. His dad became his hero last July when Avery visited him. And now his little world just got turned upside down. I think that he's so upset about being separated from Avery that he just can't even think about Mom right now. And I'm okay with that. I can't imagine this poor little kid's frame of mind right now. Right now, he just really needs his Dad. If you're reading this, please pray for Yosef especially.

But, despite all of the upheaval, the three kids are doing good. They're back at their own house now. Albeit, they are being cared for by strangers. But just a few weeks ago, we were strangers too. At least they have the stability of home right now. Avery's mom and brother are with them. Tomorrow, Avery's mom has to leave, but his brother is staying until the end of May. My parents will be at the house all next week to help out. Shane, Avery's brother, is such a God-send right now. I am so thankful that my kids will have the stability of one person during this time. Many, many people have stepped up to the plate with offers to take care of the kids. And I will definitely be calling on some of them to give Shane a break from time to time. But it's so good to know that Shane will be their constant right now. He's very good with kids, so I know they'll be alright. And Yosef will have a man around, which is really important to him.

Alright. I need to make some phone calls. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Address

2007-05-11T23:45:00.000-04:00

At this point, we will be at the hospital until at least sometime around May 23. So, here is a mass response to emails asking for his address to send cards to. The baby is sleeping peacefully tonight. We can feel the prayers of so many. God has been very good to us. Today was not how I would have chosen to spend a day, but there were many blessings today. God's love and concern for us is so tangible. Even in this, God is very good. In the Bible, it is written that even when bad things happen, God can turn them around and make them work together for good. God is always all about redeeming broken situations, broken hearts, broken lives. This is yet one more opportunity to see God redeem something horrible and make beauty out of brokenness. I know I wouldn't have this perspective if it weren't for the prayers of so many. Thank you all!

Lucas Moore - Room 5405
C/O NC Jaycee Burn Center
UNC Hospitals
101 Manning Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

How It Happened

2007-05-11T16:22:00.000-04:00

I realized earlier when I started getting emails asking how Lucas got burned that I never actually said. He was burned with hot cooking oil. I had deep fried some perogies (potato filled pastry that is deep fried or sauteed) for supper on Wednesday night and Lucas and Mihret stood on a little picnic table next to the stove to watch. I told them to get down so they wouldn't get burned. Mihret got down and ran off. Lucas got down and somehow (I don't know exactly how) the pan of hot oil got tipped over on top of him. He screamed and all pandemonium broke out with screaming in Amharic and English. It was definitely not good! I have never freaked out before when my kids have been hurt. I've always been very good about being calm on the outside and systematically dealing with stuff in the moment and saving my "falling apart" until later. But when I saw my son standing there with his skin hanging off his arms, I really lost it and I started screaming too. So when I started screaming, the other kids started screaming. I got his clothes off and put him in the sink where I rinsed him with cold water to cool him down. Then I wrapped him in a clean sheet and called 911. I gave them the location, details, etc. but it evidently wasn't the order they wanted it in. So they began asking me all of these same questions in a different order. Then they started asking whether he was breathing. Mind you, he was screaming his head off! Then they were confused about our address and which county we live in. At that point I decided that I was wasting valuable time talking on the phone and put him in the van. Our next door neighbor stayed with the other kids and I took him to the ER myself. The ER was absolutely great. They had pain meds and an IV ready before I even got him laid down on the bed. They were wonderful from start to finish. The RN attending to him was so good that she clocked out at the end of her shift, but stayed right with us until the ambulance from the burn center arrived. She was such a blessing to me. She was very loving and calm to me and extremely attentive to Lucas and did not allow him to suffer pain. She was very on top of giving him the pain medication. The burn center has been wonderful as well. They have really taken such good care of him. The recreational therapist helped keep him happy during his very painful bath today and has even scheduled to come in on Saturday and Sunday, her days off, to help with his bath to make it easier for him.

When the accident first happened, it was hard to find a spot on his body that wasn't red. And his hair was covered with oil. But there isn't a single spot of burn on his face or head. There isn't even a speck of splatter burn on his face. And most of the red spots on his body diminished by the next day. Only 11% of his body was estimated to be burned the morning after it happened. Thank God, he was wearing jeans, which protected his legs. He has a little bit of first degree burn on his hip, going around to the front. But it goes no further than that.

Okay. I must be finished. I have a cute little boy lying next to me who wants nothing more than to hold my hand. Please pray for our other three kids. I am very worried about all three of them.

Lucas (Friday 4:00PM)

2007-05-11T16:20:00.000-04:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for your prayers, phone calls, emails, and visits. It's true that in times of crisis, you find out how many people really care about you. There are people in several countries all around the world praying for this little guy and he's even expecting a phone call later from a little boy who heard about Lucas and is calling because he was burned badly last year in a campfire. God has been very good to our family. What the enemy means for our harm, God always uses for good for those who love Him. And my little Lucas definitely loves God!

Lucas is on antibiotics for cellulitis (infection) and will be having surgery tentatively set for Wednesday of next week. Some of the burns on his arms are clearly too deep to heal without skin grafts and are infected. The good news is that when he leaves, we'll know for sure that he's good to go. His spirits are much better today than yesterday. Despite having a fever, he's been very good today. He was very cooperative in his physical therapy and is doing well with mobility. And he has completely stolen the hearts of the staff here at the hospital! They all think he's the most hilarious thing they've ever seen! :)

Thank you all so much for your love and concern.

Heather

U[pdate On Lucas

2007-05-10T13:35:00.001-04:00

Dear Family and Friends,
The good news is that a lot of the red areas on Lucas's body have cleared up today. Also, his head and face are not burned at all. His right arm, shoulder, most of his back, and his left foot/ankle are 2nd degree burns and they still haven't determined how deep a few areas are as to classify them as 3rd degree. He is sleeping on me as i type following a pretty rough morning. We are asking God to protect him from the pain when he wakes up. The doctor said this morning that in one week they will evaluate to see if he can be cared for at home. In six weeks, they will evaluate how well it is healing to decide whether surgery is needed. That will depend largely on How well he's fighting infection. They have already started physical therapy to promote healing, fight infection and swelling, etc and it is quite painful. So, please pray specifically for the little guy. He thinks it is so cool that people all over the world are praying for him! He's been totally cracking up the doctors and nuses.:)
Heather

Pray For Lucas

2007-05-10T06:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Family and Friends,

As some of you already know, our 5 year old son Lucas was burned quite badly last night. He is in the UNC Burn Center at Chapel Hill near Raleigh. We will know more later today after the doctor sees him. At first estimate, we were told that he had 2nd and some 3rd degree burns on 20 percent of his body. They have since downgraded it to 11 percent. Praise God, his face head, and neck did not receive any burns. Please pray that infection does not set in and we are also asking God for there to be no scaring. We're also asking that you pray for our other kids, as it was quite a bad situation with lots of screaming and Amharic flying around when it happened as we were all trying to know what to do. Avery was at the store when it happened and I left the other three kids with a neighbor without sayin goodbye to them or anything. I definitely think it was too soon to leave Yosef and Mihret overnight, but God will be faithful to them. They are in the good hands of a very dear friend right now and I know she will watch over them as her own. I will keep you updated.

Thank you,
Heather

Bird-Catching Officially Banned!

2007-05-07T11:54:00.000-04:00

That's right. I have had to officially ban the catching of birds. At least temporarily. On Friday, Yosef caught another bird. But this time, it squirmed out of his hands and got loose inside our house! He wasn't really sure what to do with his freedom once he got it. He didn't fly out the open door as I was hoping. He just kept filtering around the living room landing on chairs, toys, sofa, books, blankets, etc. Each time he landed, I had three kids take a dive at him which caused him to fly away (of course!) as objects crashed to the ground with them! Finally, Yosef managed to get hold of the stunned little thing and I told him that he had to release it and not catch any more birds. Now they've taken up learning to do flips on the trampoline that our neighbors just gave them. Lord, please no broken bones! :)

On another note, Yosef cracked me up this morning. We were in the van and a song came on the radio about being "hungry" for God. I wasn't really noticing the song though. Yosef kept telling me "She is hungry, Mom?" as he laughed. I looked around and saw no hungry women. I didn't see any full women either! I didn't see anybody at all, but he kept insisting that "She is hungry?!" It was sort of an exclamation and sort of a question of disbelief. Then he started laughing about the hungry woman. Suddenly I realized that he was referring to the woman singing the song. Evidently, that's not a concept that translates culturally! :)

Interview Accomplished!

2007-05-02T09:40:00.000-04:00

Whew! I sure am glad that yesterday is over and done with! The interview went very well. They didn't offer me the job yesterday, but I am pretty confident that they will call soon to do so. The prayers of many are appreciated! As nervous as I was, it really was fine. And the reality is sinking in that in just a little over 2 months, my days as a stay-at-home mom will be coming to an end! I am really seriously so sad over this! I have so enjoyed this time with my children. And I'm so thankful that Yosef and Mihret got home in time to spend a few months with me before they start school in the fall. Note: As I got dressed in my pale yellow dress shirt and black tailored business suit, my children all agreed that I looked like I was wearing men's clothing! Ahhh!!!! Not what I wanted to hear! :)

End of an Era

2007-04-29T22:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I am fast approaching the end of one season in my life and the beginning of the next. Since 2000 I have had the extreme privilege of being a stay-at-home mom to my children. It has been the most rewarding, difficult, tiring, refreshing, wonderful, unforgettable, funny, sad, awesome 7 years of my entire life. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Part of me wishes it could go on forever. But then I wouldn't experience the joy of seeing my babies grow up. I'm just so thankful that I got to experience this time.

But, I've known all along that it would eventually come to a close, as if I am ever to repay my mountain of student loan debt, I must actually use my college degree to get a job! So, I have an all-day interview for a teaching position on Tuesday. The job will start in the fall when the kids go back to school. I honestly would rather stay home and just be a mom. But, if I must work, this is a job I really want. It's at a school that I fell in love with, mainly because I want my kids to go there. It has a strong emphasis on involving the creative arts in education and my little Kaitlyn is very creative. They have a huge ESL program. And a very internationally and ethnically diverse staff. My children would have teachers from all over the world, which is quite a school given the small, not-so-diverse area we live in. But, since it's out of our district,the only way they could feasibly attend is if I teach there. So, Tuesday is a pretty big deal for me. I'm soooooo nervous! So, if you think of me, say a prayer! :)

Update On Bird Catching

2007-04-27T08:43:00.000-04:00

Catching birds has now become an obsessive past time for Yosef and Lucas. Mind you, they haven't actually caught another one yet. But their system is now quite complex. It involves a series of buckets propped up by sticks that have a string tied around them. They put some birdseed under the bucket, then wait at a distance ready to yank the string and drop the bucket down on top of the poor unsuspecting creatures. Also, They have designed two luxury bird condos out of cardboard boxes. Lucas made a trail of birdseed that leads up to the front door on his bird condo. So far, no bird has been stupid enough to actually go inside. But it's a good thought! Today is a rainy day at our house, and they're both quite disappointed that they can't go outside to catch birds today. The birds are probably quite relieved though!

Also, I've decided that we must officially be past the hardest part of the transition. I have had an entire week now that has been mostly good! We haven't had any major meltdowns (for the record, I didn't even have any meltdowns this week!), no major fits, no major fights, no major episodes. And bedtime has been smooth for over a week now. The thing that made me decide we must be past the roughest part though was the fact that I stayed sick in bed for an entire day this week and the house didn't completely fall apart in my absence! Mind you, I'm still cleaning up from that one awful day. But no interpersonal relationships fell to pieces that day. :)

I leave you with a few pics of my Yosef working diligently on his bird condo. Enjoy!

Yosef's Bird

2007-04-23T17:46:00.000-04:00

Today, I was trying to braid Mihret's hair, but it was being made increasingly difficult due to Lucas and Yosef squabbling all morning. It was a nice day, so I was sitting outside to work on her hair. Inspired by the chirping birds in the bushes, I decided that if Lucas and Yosef could work together to catch a bird, they could keep it as a pet. Now mind you, not in a million years did I ever think that they would actually catch a bird! They worked and worked. But after 30 minutes, still no bird. Then, Lucas decided that they would use an old fishing net in the garage. That kept them occupied for another 10 minutes. Then Yosef decided that Lucas was more of a hindrance than he was helpful. He complained to me that Lucas was too loud and scarred the birds away before he could catch them. So, I told Lucas to go with his net to a different part of the yard. You know, diversifying their area in order to increase their odds of capturing a little birdie! Some more time passed and I went inside for a few minutes. All of a sudden, I heard a very loud bird noise and realized that it was in the house! I went into the living room and there stood Yosef cupping a bird in his hands! He actually caught a bird! I screamed, "Don't let it go!!!!!!", fearing that I'd never be able to get it out of the house! So, suddenly I had a little bit of an unforeseen dilemma on my hands...actually, my dilemma was in Yosef's hands! I had made a promise that they could keep it because I have never heard of a kid actually catching a bird before! But my son did it! Not quite knowing what the long-term plan was, I went to the garage in search of a box to keep it in while I figured out what I was going to do. Lucky for me, the little bird was so panic stricken that Yosef suddenly felt bad for it. Much to Lucas's dismay, Yosef decided to release it. So, Yosef tossed it gently into the air, Lucas cried, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to keep my word to allow it be a pet! Whew! That was a close one! I will certainly put more thought into future potential pets! :)

Kids...Gotta Love 'Em!

2007-04-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

Okay, my kids are just so great that I have to take a break from writing about our trip to Ethiopia so that I can write about the here and now. They are so great! All four of them. I just love them all to pieces. Even on the really bad days (Yes, there have been some REALLY bad days!), I am so thankful that I have them. Being separated from two of them was pure anguish to my heart. I am so thankful for the opportunity to mother these kids, FINALLY!!!!

Anyway, here are a few cute moments we've had together....

Lucas: Grrrrr.... (Obviously grouchy demeanor)

Yosef: You are funny, Lucas!

Lucas: I AM NOT FUNNY!!!! Grrrrrr.....

Yosef: Yes, you are funny!

Mihret: Lucas funny!

Lucas: NO I'M NOT!!!

Yosef: Okay, Okay brother. You are not fun (not understanding the difference in the words "fun" and "funny")

Mihret: No, not fun.

Lucas: (absolutely exasperated and in tears), I AM TOO FUN!!!!!! *SOB*

Mihret decided one day that she was tired of the outfit she was wearing and wanted a different outfit. I told her that she would have to wait until the next day to wear her other outfit. She wanted to know why she had to wait. I told her that mommy doesn't like to have to wash a lot of clothes. Coming from a place where people handwash everything, she looked at me and giggled saying, "Noooooo! Not YOU, Mommy! This can wash!" as she pointed at the washing machine. :)

Yesterday morning I told Yosef to "go upstairs and get dressed." He looked at me in disbelief and said, "Dress???? I am not a girl!"

Last night Mihret told me, "I am love love love love love injera!"Lucky for her, I just made some and it turned out really good!

And, one of my favorites, our neighbor gave us their trampoline the week after we got home, as their kids are too old and have lost interest. Earlier this week, I looked out the kitchen window to discover Lucas and Yosef on the trampoline with their bicycles! I didn't even take time to take a picture, though I wish I had! But there were arms and legs hanging in the balance!

My Favorite Moments

2007-04-17T21:19:00.000-04:00

As I said before, I did not keep an accurate journal recording our time in Ethiopia. But I will share a few of my favorite moments...

The first morning when we stepped outside of the wall to our guesthouse, Lucas exclaimed, "Gwosssss! What's that smell?!?!" Upon which Avery pointed his gaze toward the herd of goats walking ahead of us! He was flabbergasted at the goats!

Walking the streets of Ethiopia with two ferinj children was quite the experience! People exclaimed in Amharic almost constantly, "Look at the ferinj children! The ferinj children are so beautiful!" Also, their hair was touched almost constantly. Well, so was mine, but my Kaitlyn especially received this touching. Her hair is long and silky and straight. Luckily, she wasn't bothered by this, as she mostly was oblivious to it. I have photos of Lucas getting "petted" on his head.

While walking through Merkato, a woman sitting on the sidewalk selling her wares petted Lucas as I walked past her, holding Lucas by the hand. (We were kind of making a get-away. More in a future post). All of a sudden, he stopped coming and I turned around to find that the woman had grabbed his other hand and wouldn't let go! I didn't know until later that she had grabbed him because she wasn't finished petting his hair! Avery was behind us and saw the entire thing unfold. All I knew in the moment was that a stranger had grabbed my son and wouldn't allow me to take him! I told her very sternly, "Aiy! YANE wadadj no! Kum!" (No, He's MY son! Stop it!)

No fewer than 20 times I had women ask me if they could have one of my children, both ferinj and habasha children! I would always reply, "Aiy! Yane!" with a smile. I think this was their way of admiring my children....at least I hope they didn't really want to take them!?!?!

Three days into our stay, Yosef and Mihret began begging us multiple times each day to PLEEAASSSEEEEE take them to America TODAY! They were more than a bit excited. Poor babies had no idea what they were getting themselves in to! Honestly, they still don't. These children are so brave and resilient. God is surely with them.

I leave you with a couple of pictures taken at a beautiful crater lake in a town called Debra Zeit about an hour and a half outside of Addis. This is where we spent our first two days as a new family. It was such a perfect, peaceful location to get to know each other. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Sooooooo beautiful! Reminded me of God.

Family Together at Last

2007-04-12T21:03:00.000-04:00

The moment we walked through the gate at the little orphanage, Yosef and Mihret were all smiles! It was so good to see them with their shining little faces. They were genuinely happy that we had come. And that made my heart so genuinely happy. In an instant, there we stood. A complete family. God does something amazing in the hearts of people in those moments. He miraculously makes strangers into a family. It only took a few minutes for the four kids to abandon the adults and go off on their own to play and get acquainted. What a blessed sight to a mother! My children playing together! All four of them!

We hadn't known what to expect as far as Yosef and Mihret's willingness or desire to leave the orphanage and come with us. They were legally our children, so we were able to take them. But we also didn't want to push the issue or rush them in their bonding. But that was absolutely a non-issue. They were both so ready to come with us. Even now as I remember, my heart is melting.

I don't know if anything has ever felt as good as walking out of those green gates that had once kept my children from me. Now we walked out of those gates, all six of us, hand-in-hand. It was such a sweet moment as we walked down the street. Mihret seemed like such a big girl to me in those moments as she proudly strutted down the street. Yosef walked with his arm gently around his little brother. So sweet. So peaceful. So complete.

As we walked the 20 minute walk to the restaurant where we were going to eat, I discovered that indeed, there was something that was more of a tourist attraction than four ferinj (white foreigner) in Ethiopia. Evidently, it's much more exciting to see two ferinj parents, two ferinj children, and two Habasha (Ethiopian) children! Honestly, it was a little bit unnerving! People were pointing at us, photographing us! And the streets were busy that night. I counted it a small miracle that we made it to the restaurant without losing anybody!

Oh my goodness- it just felt so good to sit down together and enjoy a meal as a family. It felt so good to pray, first in Ge'ez as the Ethiopian Orthodox do, then holding hands in English. For two years we have prayed that way every day, "Lord, please bring Yosef and Mihret to our family soon" (though for the first 6 months of that wait we didn't even know their names). How amazing to hold hands and pray, "Thank you Lord for bringing Yosef and Mihret to our family"

That night, we tucked four children into their beds and then Avery and I laid down to go to sleep. For two years, our house has felt somehow empty. There has been something very missing. You could truly feel the emptiness of these two children absent from our family. That first night felt so good. The emptiness was gone! That night, I prayed, "Lord, You are so good and so faithful! You have done this! Amasegenallo! Thank you!"

That was a truly good day. It says in the Bible that every good and perfect gift comes from God. This day was a good and perfect gift from a good and perfect Father.

The 5 Minute Version of The Journey

2007-04-06T11:35:00.000-04:00

I wanted to get this video out here before Easter. While Easter in America is largely about bunnies, chicks, eggs, and chocolate, there is deeper meaning to this holiday. Easter is a celebration of Jesus. It's a celebration of the fact that we humans are stuck with the condition of being just plain mean, bad, horrible, and rotten to the core sometimes! (Or at least I know I am!) No matter what we do to try to be better, no matter how many good things we do, we are still stuck with feeling disconnected from God. And that's because we are disconnected! (Great news, huh?!) The reason we feel disconnected from God is because He is always good, always kind, always just...and we...well, we are not! That's why we don't feel like we know God on some deep spiritual level.

But Jesus- now there was an example of something you and I just can't seem to attain no matter how hard we try. Believe me, I have spent far too much of my life trying to become good. Take my advice and give up your self-efforts before you waste a whole lot of time. (Very cheery post, isn't it!?)

God sent Jesus, His only son, to live and breathe on this earth as one of us. He knows the pain and suffering and trial of being human. He knows how much our hearts hurt. He knows how desperately we need to be close to God. And He also knows the scars in our hearts that keep us from being able to know God. The good news (finally, something happy in this post!) is that Jesus, the one who really was perfect, made a way for us to come to God without feeling that disconnect. You see, we have all done things that were not good; not right. Every one of us has things in our pasts that we are not exactly proud of. I think it's safe to say that we all have things in our current lives that we wouldn't want to be published! Because of this "stuff" in our lives, we have lost the ability to connect with God. That's the consequence of the "stuff" we have done, and the "stuff" we have harbored in our hearts. Ultimately, we die and have to suffer that consequence for all eternity.

But, Jesus, who did not have the "stuff", chose to take that consequence on Himself. Because it broke His heart to see us suffering that consequence of being separated from God, He volunteered to suffer the consequence for us. He essentially traded places with us. Just like if I get a traffic ticket, but by some miracle, the judge decided to allow my husband to assume the fine and drivers license points while I walked away free. That's what Jesus did. He died on a cross at the hands of evil and ignorant people, people just like you and me. He willingly allowed them to kill Him on a cross and assumed our "stuff" and the consequences of it while our slate got wiped clean in God's eyes. It all seems horribly unfair to me. I will never understand. But He didn't stay dead. On Easter, He rose from the dead.

Pretty far out claim, isn't it?! And how can intelligent, educated western people such as myself believe such a mythical fantasy?! I think that's a very valid reaction. My response is two-fold. First, once you decide to risk and take that leap of faith, you are able to experience what it feels like when that disconnect from God disappears and you actually know Him. You actually feel the closeness and love of God for you. That alone will convince you beyond any doubt that this is more than a made-up story. But admittedly, that's a hard risk to take. Especially when you're not exactly a dumb person and know how to rely on reason and common sense! So, if that's where you fall, then take heart and pursue an intellectual answer on this one. Ultimately, following Christ does require a risk of faith, but you've got to start somewhere, right? One of my favorite authors was a man whose wife decided to become a Christian. He was an atheist, so this was more than a tad bit upsetting to him! A respected journalist, he decided to write a book disproving the claims of Christianity and Jesus. The book he wrote is very well organized, researched, and methodical. So, if the latter is where you fall, I think you'd really enjoy this book written from a skeptic's point of view.

Anyway, in celebration of Easter and the fact that we don't have to remain disconnected from God, I hope you enjoy this video about our adoption. Just as Yosef and Mihret used to be orphaned, I used to be orphaned in a spiritual sense. I didn't know God. I didn't know that He wanted to be a Father to me in the deepest, most intimate sense of the word. But He didn't leave me as an orphan. He showed Himself to me so that I could know Him. Some of you already know what I am talking about. And some of you haven't quite gotten to that same place yet. And that's okay. God knows where you are spiritually and He loves you. And He also wants to take you deeper. So, look into this Jesus thing. I know that if you will keep searching and not give up, that you will find what you are looking for. Happy Easter!

The Trip- Part 1

2007-04-05T08:44:00.000-04:00

When we took our last trip to Ethiopia, I kept a detailed journal each night. This time, that did not happen. You see, last time, it was just me and Avery. Each evening, I would take a shower and crawl into bed with my laptop. This time, I had four kids each night to deal with! Funny how I didn't have the heart, motivation, or energy to keep a journal by the time I got everybody to sleep! I did write down lots of random thoughts on the things that I didn't want to forget. So, I hope you enjoy reading about the close to the adoption phase of this adventure. Thank God I'm now in the "mothering" phase!

So, the day we departed from Washington DC was somewhat....somewhat...stressful. See Avery's blog for full details! He neglected to mention that our very, very old (but very free!) van began making a clunking sort of noise in the engine about two hours away from DC. I tried to ignore it for a while. I tried to pray it away. I tried to convince myself that I was the only one hearing it. Until I asked Avery if he heard it too. His reply, "So you noticed too, did ya?" We both began to pray and we made it! In fact, the van didn't make a sound (that I was aware of anyway) on the return trip home.

I was very happy to get to our friend's house just outside of DC and find that the generic "crocs" I had ordered for the entire family did indeed arrive on time. Don't ask me why, but it was of paramount importance to me that our family have these shoes for the trip. I honestly don't know why! But it made me happy.

As we were leaving our friends to go to the airport, I checked my email on a whim. Wouldn't you know, AFAA had decided they wanted almost $3,500 from our family by the end of the day. We hadn't received any invoices for any further monthly foster care, so we had assumed that they realized how ridiculously expensive this ordeal had become, and that they recognized that we had helped them out by escorting a baby for free on our last trip and that we were even. Nope. No such luck. I am just so thankful that I checked my email and that we actually had that much money. We just got our income tax refund. Easy come easy go! I was also furious that they had sent me an email instead of calling my cell phone. I was furious that they waited until the day we were leaving! I had clearly said in an email the day prior that I would not be checking my email any more and that they would need to call my cell phone with any further questions. Oh well. Par for course. In the end, it all worked out. In fact, we're now more than even. We're owed a refund on some of our foster care. I'm not holding my breath on ever getting it. It's hard not to get bogged down in the fact that we chose this agency because they were the cheapest. And money was a huge factor for our family. And in the end, they have charged us more than even the most expensive Ethiopian agencies out there. The most expensive agencies get your children to you in a very reasonable amount of time, especially when you choose waiting children, as we did. Seriously though, when I start to get upset about this, I have to remember that we started this adoption with pretty much no savings. And we now have pretty much no savings. But we also have no debt from it. God provided every dime we needed. I have to remember that it never was my money anyway. It's always been God's. And while we thought we were choosing the cheapest agency, God knew from the beginning how much this venture would cost us. And He had already established a plan for how He would pay for it. That's not to say that we won't pursue justice through the appropriate avenues in this situation. But pursuing justice with malice in the heart isn't right. God looks on the heart, and lucky for me, God also helps us to keep a clean heart!

So much of the heartache on this journey has been due to our agency. And up until now, I wasn't at liberty to even disclose which agency that was. But, finally, this is over, and I am free to share. The reason I share is because such a big part of what God has done has been in the area of grace and forgiveness and choosing to not harbor bitterness toward this agency. It has been sooooo hard! But I realized early on that it was completely my choice as to whether I would come out of this bitter. God has been so good to me throughout this process. We've had to endure some pretty harsh stuff, but God has enabled my heart to not get bogged down in all of the "stuff." Left to my own vices, I would be so angry and bitter that I wouldn't even like myself! But in God's hands, that's not happening. It's a choice, but it's one that He is enabling my heart to make. Sometimes I've had to make that choice a hundred times in a single day, but the point is that with God, it's a choice that I can make. And for those of you in similar circumstances, God can help you to make that choice too! :)

Anyway, by the time we got on the plane, I was a nervous wreck! But it felt soooooo good to sit down and know that finally, this was it! Kaitlyn and Lucas were so excited to be on the plane. I'm so glad that they came with us. It had been my desire all along, but until God opened the door wide for them to be able to come, I would never have seriously considered it. Having them with us made the whole trip feel so much more complete.

Long story short, after a very long flight, we finally made it! We touched down in Addis, and I felt such a peace knowing that tomorrow, I would be with all four of my children. On my last trip, I felt such peace knowing that I would be with my children. But this time was different. The peace was different. It was deeper. It was a knowlege that God had accomplished something huge. It was knowing that it was indeed finished at last.

A huge thanks to Anita, our missionary friend, who took care of our arrangements for us! And it was sooooo last minute! She was such a life-saver for us. And our guest house turned out so much better than a hotel room at the Hilton. It was so quiet and peaceful. The perfect place for our new little family to spend time bonding.

We all slept well that first night, especially Kaitlyn and Lucas. They slept for 14 hours straight at the guesthouse! The only reason they got up after 14 hours is because I made them! They were so exhausted! Poor little things!

We spent some time that next morning, Saturday, getting things situated at the guesthouse. And then, at 2:00, finally, it was time to go get our babies! It felt so good to approach that green gate with Kaitlyn and Lucas in tow. As we knocked, there was such joyful anticipation. Something that wasn't there last time. Last time there was joy, but also such sorrow. This time, only joy! The guard opened the gate with a smile and......

You'll have to wait until the next post! :)

Update

2007-04-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a week since our family got home from Ethiopia, complete with Yosef and Mihret at our sides. And I am finally rested enough to be feeling like a regular human again! I was seriously soooooo exhausted! The kids were all so tired and wanted to go to bed for the night by lunch time once we got back to America. All four of the kids, as we were in Ethiopia for over a week and we all pretty much acclimated to Ethiopia's schedule. Of course I couldn't allow this, so I had to endure eight hours of tired, whiny children before I could allow the to go to bed at night. Also, Kaitlyn picked up some sort of intestinal parasite while we were in Ethiopia and was sick. By about 3:00 PM each day, I could find her vomiting in the bathroom! I took her to the doctor this past weekend and she is improving. At the end of this week, the doctor is going to re-evaluate the situation. Did I mention that Kaitlyn was also waking up at all hours of the night because her stomach hurt? Oh yea, Lucas was also suffering from some mystery ailment that caused him to suffer fever and headaches...at least that's what I assumed it meant when he would say, "Mommy, I have a lot of rocks and they are bouncing around in my head!" Whatever that illness was, it cleared up on its own. So, I say all of this to say that I am so glad that I'm not tired anymore!!!!

Perhaps at some point in the very near future, I will post details of our most recent trip. We didn't get scammed by a bunna bet this time, but we did have some incredibly memorable experiences that will probably leave some wondering if we've completely lost our minds. But that's the stuff that memories are made of, right?! :) It was such a wonderful week for our new little family to get acquainted.

For now, just know that I have so appreciated the prayers of so many people on this two year journey. At points, I didn't know what the outcome of this adoption would be. We had to deal with (and I'm afraid will continue to deal with) so much grief from our adoption agency, Americans For African Adoptions (AFAA). That was an experience I wouldn't wish on anybody. And yet, in the end, I would walk this path all over again without hesitation, as it was the road that God laid before us to lead us to our children. They are mine and I would give my very life for them. The one thing that I know more certainly than ever before is that regardless of politics, corruption, paperwork, ethics, etc. God is sovereign. He is the One who has brought my children to me safe and sound at last. There was nothing I could do, but God has accomplished this.

Well, at the moment, everybody is sleeping peacefully in their beds, so I mustn't waste the next 30 minutes...you know....dishes, laundry, clean up from breakfast, contemplate supper, etc. More to come in the near future....

Four Beauties

2007-03-30T19:28:00.000-04:00

We're Home!!!!

2007-03-27T09:45:00.000-04:00

Finally, a picture with out entire family!!! I'd love to write more, but I was up in the night with Kaitlyn who was sick and throwing up. I just got Lucas to sleep, as he woke up with a fever and told me that it felt like a rock was bouncing around in his head. But, until I have time, enjoy a couple of pictures. :)

Final Preparations!

2007-03-13T08:37:00.000-04:00

I'm in my final couple of days of preparation before my entire family is together in Addis!!! Yesterday I washed the sheets for all four kids and made up the bunk beds. It's time to switch over to summer sheets. As I made the beds (which takes forever when doing two top bunks!), I thought of how many times I've already made these beds up for these two kids only to have the seasons change, or some friend stay at our house and sleep in their beds. My heart suddenly realized that this is for real. This time, my very own children will be the ones sleeping in their beds. I began to cry. Who knew that making beds could be such an emotional experience?! :)

I must write about my Saturday. Avery informed me that we couldn't go to the beach as a family as I had wanted to do. The reason being that he had an all important meeting with some guy in Bikers for Christ at 5:00 at a coffee shop. Evidently the guy had some donations for us to take to Ethiopia. I was a bit annoyed because I had really wanted to escape for a day with my little family of four one last time before we become six. But I did have a ton of stuff to do, so I didn't complain too much about staying home.

So, at 4:50 I was pretty dirty and in my sweat pants and still had more housecleaning that I was trying to accomplish before I started cooking supper. That's when Avery announced that in 10 minutes we all had to leave for this meeting....uh....WE???? What's up with this "we" business??????? But the guy did have donations for Ethiopia. Mind you, I'd never met him and wasn't feeling particularly social. But I did want to encourage his heart for Ethiopia. So I threw on some jeans and considered washing Lucas's face, but I don't think I ever actually did that...

On the way to the coffee shop Avery asked me if anybody had said anything about planning any sort of adoption shower for us and I told him that I didn't think anybody was going to do that. I was a little sad because I was sure that if I was adopting a baby that there would have been a shower. But these are older kids and I just figured that nobody in my life saw it the same way. Oh well. I knew that people would still love them very much....they just didn't think they were party material....sigh....

So, when we got to the coffee shop I could see somebody holding a camera in the back of the shop and they were obviously taking a video of me. I was quite annoyed. I figured that it was this mystery biker person and he was so zealous about his donation to Ethiopia that he wanted to capture the entire thing on video. I normally am not a grouchy person. But I was so busy, not particularly kept, had a ton of stuff to do, and didn't really want to be video taped. But what can you do? So I smiled. :)

When we got closer I saw that it was a friend of mine and I though, "Huh. What a coincidence. She must be trying out a new camera. Still. Weird! I'm not in the mood for a video!" (note: I'm slow sometimes!)

I followed Avery to a little socializing area in the very back and as I turned, I noticed that lots of my friends were there....and there were pictures of my kids all over the place....and there was a huge cake! :) It was an adoption shower!!!! And a surprise one at that!!!!

No wonder my friends haven't been calling lately! They were all purposely avoiding me! And I've been too busy to call them.

They made it all so nice. Two girls put it together. They had a cake and a huge container of coffee (Avery insisted that I take my Ethiopian spices for bunna which I thought was extremely inappropriate to do and I just wasn't in the mood anyway!). There were balloons, aranguade, bicha, kaiy (Green, Yellow, Red for the Ethiopian flag), pictures everywhere, a really cool Konjo Kids flyer, and gifts! That's right- gifts. Lots of gift cards! That's so great seeing as how I don't know what the kids actually need because I don't know what size they are....or how fast they're going to grow once they start eating a little bit of protein and fruits and veggies on a regular basis! And there were also non-gift card gifts too. We got thank you cards (oh yea...I have to add stopping by the post office to my to-do list today to mail them!), a flash drive so that we can store our millions of pictures that we're going to take in Ethiopia, a cool family photo frame, and the four kids got the most creative gift that I never would have thought of. They each got a disposable camera, a photo album decorated as a "travel album" and a giftcard to Walmart to get their film developed. Lucas was so excited that he wanted to take his pictures right then and there. But they're all four safely packed in their respective backpacks. I thought of how Mihret would always hold her hands up to her eyes and make a photo-taking motion with her hands when she wanted to use our digital camera. This kid is so cute! Oh yea, they even went to the trouble of playing all my favorite music at the coffee shop. Again, I was feeling slow that day. As I sat there talking I heard a song that has really been a huge encouragement to me these past two years. Then I heard another one. Then another one. They have all really been God's voice to a broken mother's heart....duh...Avery had burned a CD of all my favorite songs and given it to the coffee shop! :)

And to think that I was mad at Avery!

We are so rich in friends here. As I think back over these past two years of waiting, I can't imagine having done it without these people. They have faithfully prayed for us, cried with us, rejoiced with us, and just been there. I have had so many personal cheerleaders. Whenever I've felt completely spent of emotional energy, they've cheered me onward in this race. And now the finish line is just in sight. I'm almost there. And the joy in my heart is indescribable because the God who had made this happen is also indescribable.

To all my friends, thank you so much for Saturday. It really meant so much to me to see that my kids being added to my family really is a big deal. Just as important as a cute little baby. And people outside of my immediate family understand that. That really means so much to me. Thank you!

This Is The Week!!!!

2007-03-12T09:41:00.000-04:00

In just a few short days my family will be en route to Addis Ababa in order to join up with the other part of our family!!!! In church yesterday a little girl wanted me to hold her during praise and worship. I picked her up and was taken aback by how she held herself upright in my arms. It was exactly what it felt like to hold Mihret. She was the exact same size and had the exact same posture. I closed my eyes as the tears rolled down my cheeks, realizing that the next time I stand in church, I will be holding my very own precious daughter. God has been so good to our family through every horrible step of this adoption. In the darkest moments, He has been there with us. The Bible says that even when weeping lasts through the night, joy will come in the morning. Our night felt like it was very long and there was much weeping. But our morning has finally arrived and as the light of dawn is shining brighter and brighter on our family, our joy is increasing. God is so very good.

My Yummiest Injera Ever

2007-03-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I made my yummiest injera ever and want to share with my readers the slight variations I made to the basic instructions. This injera included barley flour which gave it a taste just like what I've had in the Ethiopian restaurants in NC.

If you didn't read the post where I gave basic instructions, check that out first. These are very step-by-step instructions for making authentic Ethiopian injera here in America.

But first, a tip for getting more ain in your injera: The first step I gave in my instructions was "The Night Before" step. If you pull the starter out of the refrigerator earlier in the day and feed it with some wheat flour (just because it's cheaper- use whatever flour you prefer) in the morning, then give it another feeding in the afternoon, it will have more ain when you cook it the next day.

Now, to incorporate barley (gebs for my Habesha readers!), here is how I did it. I'm sure you can experiment on your own for variations. But I'll tell exactly how I did it since it worked for me.

When I did Step 1 (The Night Before), I added teff and kneaded it exactly as is written in my basic instructions. However, prior to adding teff, I set aside half of the starter. I had 3 cups of starter that I divided into 3 separate plastic containers. I kneaded teff into 1 cup of starter. Then I "fed" 1 cup with barley. And I fed the other cup of starter with self-rising. I did not knead the barley and self-rising. I just fed the starters. If you don't know how to feed a starter, please see my post about making and feeding starters.

The next morning I fed the barley and self-rising again. Then I made sure I had equal amounts of teff, barley, and self-rising starter. I blended it all up in the blender, just as my basic instructions say to do. Everything else I did was the same.

The reason for making the barley and self-rising into a starter the night before is that it adds to the sourness of the injera. Also, it allows more time for the ain to develop.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the emails I've received from people who are experimenting with their own injera. I must say though that my favorite emails have been the ones I've received from Ethiopians. I got the funniest email this morning from a lady who wanted to tell me all about the funny video she found on the internet. The reason it was so funny to her is that it was a "ferinj lady" teaching people how to make injera! I wrote back and told her that I too think that's hilarious! :) If you've tried injera and it still didn't work, don't give up! Try it again! I've gotten quite a few emails from people who have finally found success. You can do it! :)

Conversation With A Five-Year-Old

2007-03-01T13:06:00.000-05:00

Me: Lucas, I love you so much. I'm so glad you're my son!

Lucas: What if you were a Mommy who didn't have any babies? Would you have adopted me?

Me: Of course! I would have found you and adopted you so that you would be my son because I love you so much.

Lucas: What if I was a Chinese baby? Would you adopt me?

Me: Of course I would because you're my son!

Lucas: What if I was in Africa and my Mommy died? Would you adopt me then?

Me: I sure would have! I can't imagine life without you as my son!

Lucas: What if there were six of me? What would you do then? Would you adopt me?

Me: Well, I guess I would have adopted all six of you since I love you so much!

Lucas: But Mama, what if I was Chinese and it was my birthday, AND my mom and dad died?

Me: Wow! That would be a pretty bad day, wouldn't it?!

Lucas: I think we should adopt 6 million kids. Okay Mom?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 Million kids- the number of orphans in Ethiopia alone. If only life were as simple as adopting all of them. Oh, to be five again. God must know that I need the innocence of my children in my life. I love Lucas so much. But gee, 6 of him would be quite a handful!! :)

Yene Wendlidj- My Son

2007-02-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

Mihret With Ayat Kelemwa

2007-02-26T09:35:00.000-05:00

Injera Q and A

2007-02-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

I received an email from Carolyne in Canada, but was unable to email a response back. So I figured I'd answer her question on my blog since others probably had the same question anyway.

1. If you like your injera to be more sour, you can use a self-rising flour starter instead of adding it fresh on the day you cook it. This will add sourness. Also, allowing more time between feedings of a starter adds sourness. But you have to be careful because if you allow it to sit for too long without feeding it, some of the yeast begins to die and you won't have as much ain.

2. If you are only able to get good ain on some parts of the injera, it could be due to your heat. Injera depends on high, fast heat to force the CO2 that is released by the yeast "eating" the flour to come to the surface, thereby creating ain. Also, it could be an issue of not having enough active yeast to begin with.

3. When you cook your injera, if it gets slightly crispy on the bottom, it should soften after it cools.

Step-By-Step Injera Instructions- The Real Thing!

2007-02-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

Get out your sourdough starter and your mitad because it's time to make injera!

Warning: This seems complicated, but after you've done it once or twice, it will become much easier. So don't give up!

After trying and failing to make injera for about a year, I finally was blessed with an Ethiopian woman, Abeba, who has become a very dear friend. Abeba is a wonderful cook and has spent quite a bit of time with me helping me to make injera the way Ethiopians in America make it.

I've made enough successful batches of injera that I now feel comfortable sharing it with my readers. I will give written step-by-step instructions. For the visual learners, I have also uploaded videos demonstrating each step. As people begin their own experimenting with injera, I really hope you'll share your tips, as I have learned so much from other people's successes and mistakes alike. Good luck and don't give up! It might not work the first time, but even Ethiopians don't often get it right on the first try! :) Note: This is how the process works in America. I know that it is affected by altitude, quality of teff, and temperature. So, it may take some experimenting in order to get this to work in other places. For that matter, it may take some experimenting in some of the higher elevation places in America. This is NOT the same process that Ethiopians use in Ethiopia. This is the process that Ethiopians have adapted in order to make injera in America.

1. You need to start with a good strong starter. Click here if you don't know how to make a starter. All of the information contained in this post regarding making your starter is good, accurate information. There are also lots of ways to get a starter going that are quicker (and less smelly) than this method which relies on wild yeast found in the air. You can use a commercial yeast. Or you can even buy a starter from some bakeries. Since I haven't done it these other ways, I don't know how it works. But there is a wealth of information about sourdough starters on the internet. If you are using the "wild yeast" method, you'll need to give your starter at least 2 weeks to build up it's strength. The good news is that once you have a strong starter, as long as you take good care of it, you'll never have to make another one.

2. If your starter (lit in Amharic) is made of any grain other than teff, you'll need to convert it to a teff starter first. This only takes 2 feedings prior to actually starting the process of making injera. I believe it's detailed in the post about making a starter. By doing 2 feedings prior to the actual process, the injera will have more of the sour teff flavor that it's supposed to have.

3. Injera is a 3-step-process. About 8-12 hours is required between each step. I usually do step 1 at night before I go to bed. Then I do step 2 when I wake up the next morning. Then I am ready to cook the injera in the mid-afternoon.

Click here to see a video demonstrating all of the items/ingredients you will need to cook injera.
mitad
lid for mitad
sourdough starter
blender
sifter or metal strainer
at least 2 plastic containers
teff
self-rising flour
luke-warm water
bed sheet
something large and flat to remove injera from mitad

Step 1 (The Night Before)

Click here for a video showing the kneading step.
Click here for a video showing the "thinning out" step.

You will need your teff starter. If any liquid has gathered on the top, pour it into the sink. Usually, there will be a dark blackish liquid if you've kept it in the refrigerator. This is okay. But you don't want it mixed in.

I'm sure that with some experimenting, the amounts that I will give can be changed and altered depending on your personal tastes. Just as in America some people prefer whole grain bread, or wheat bread, or rye, or white, injera is a matter of personal preference as well. The amounts I will give produce a medium-dark injera. Most restaurants I've been to serve a more white injera. Most Ethiopians I know prefer to eat the darker injera. Experiment to find what your family likes best. This recipe will make about 10 16 inch injeras.

Start with 2 cups of starter. Mix in 2 cups of teff. The mixture will start out crumbly. You will need to knead (mopkwat) the starter (lit) ALOT!!! The more you knead it, the better the injera will be. If your arm starts hurting, you're doing a good job! As you continue to knead, the dough will become a solid ball. This is good. Knead it for at least 10 minutes. After you've done that, you'll need to begin adding luke-warm water just a little at a time. Add 1/4 cup water at a time, then knead the mixture some more. Once the water is thoroughly mixed in, add another 1/4 cup. Continue doing this until the mixture has become quite thin and watery. The test is to put your hand in, then pull it out. You'll know the consistency is right when the batter slips quickly off your hand, leaving behind just a thin residue of the batter.

Cover the starter with a lid and let it sit on your counter overnight. Go to bed! :)

Step 2 (The Next Morning)

Click here for a video showing the "blending the teff starter" step
Click here for a video showing the "self-rising flour" step

When you wake up in the morning, you will probably see a 3 layered starter (if you have a clear container that is!). The bottom layer will be the tallest layer consisting of injera starter. The middle layer will be a very thin layer of liquid. And the top layer will be another layer of injera starter. This is good. If yours doesn't look like this, just keep going anyway because even if it doesn't turn out good, you'll learn from the experimenting process.

You will need to use a blender for this step. My Ethiopian friend who taught me to make injera said that it must be a blender. She has tried using a food processor and her injera didn't work. So, I've done as she said, and I've been successful.

You will need to gently stir up the injera starter. After you've stirred it, SAVE 1 OR 2 CUPS FOR THE NEXT TIME YOU MAKE INJERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will be most upset if you accidentally use all of your starter and don't have any left! Trust me on this one. I'm speaking from personal experience! :) Store the starter in the refrigerator up to a month at a time. It's probably better to pull it out once a week and give it a regular feeding of water and flour, but you can get by with a month. It just might take 2-3 feedings to get it built back up in strength before making injera if you wait that long.

1 cup at a time, you need to blend the starter in the blender. The goal is to get rid of the gritty feel. Alternate settings on the blender. After maybe a minute, rub some of the starter between your fingers. If it feels smooth with only a very slight amount of grit, then it's done. Pour the starter into a clean plastic container after you've blended it up.

Next, you need 3 cups of self-rising flour. Add warm water to it and mix with your hand. The consistency needs to be soupy. After you do this, you'll need to blend it up just like you did the teff starter. It doesn't take as long in the blender though. The goal of this step is to get the mixture smooth and free of lumps of flour. Just as with the teff starter, you'll want to blend it up about 1 cup at a time. When finished, pour it into the container along with the teff starter.

Next, use your hand to thoroughly mix the two mixtures together. The final consistency needs to be thin and watery and soupy. Again, the test is to dip your hand in. If the mixture slides off quickly and leaves a thin residue, the consistency is right. If the consistency doesn't seem right, you can thoroughly mix in more water a little bit at a time until it is right.

Cover it with a lid and let it sit on the counter. Check on it every hour or so. You will notice that the mixture will begin to rise. This is good. In fact, the more it rises, the better the injera will be. Once the rising subsides and the mixture begins to settle back down, put it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes- 1 hour.

Step 3 (The Afternoon)

Click here for a video showing the cooking step

By the time you put it in the refrigerator, it will be the afternoon (unless you sleep in really late, in which case, your injera probably won't work because too much time will have passed between the steps!)

After the mixture has been in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, it is ready to cook!

Unfortunately, the video I made of the first 3 injeras that I cooked was too long for youtube.com by about 30 seconds! So, I am not able to show the consistency of the injera batter. It should be thin and watery. Just a little thicker than batter for crepes. If it's too thick, it doesn't spread out on the mitad very good.

Heat up your mitad to the highest setting, just slightly above 500 degrees. Each mitad is slightly different, depending on age, heating coil, etc. So you may need to experiment with the temperature. On my Ethiopian friend Abeba's mitad, she uses about 475 degree heat. I have to use 500 degree heat. We have the exact same mitad, but they were purchased at different times.

Once the mitad is good and hot (this takes a little while), you need to sprinkle about 1/2-1 tsp. salt on the surface. Using a damp, clean cloth, rub the salt into the mitad in a circular motion. You must do this after every few injeras. It aids in achieving the ain (bubbles) in the injera. But salt isn't good for the Teflon coating, so try to only use it as needed so that your mitad will last longer. NEVER use oil on the surface!!!!! I read that oil permanently adheres to and changes the properties in the Teflon. I use my mitad only for injera. Never anything else.

Once you have salted the mitad, gently stir the injera batter to get it mixed up and pour approximately 1 cup of the starter onto the hot mitad. In Ethiopia, injera is made by pouring in concentric circles working toward the middle. In America, this method does not work. It produces a very thick injera. Perhaps this has to do with altitude? I don't really know. But I do know what works!

Your pour the starter onto the mitad then pick it up and shake it gently in order to get the starter spread out over the entire surface of the mitad. You may notice the ain starting to appear. This is good. Cover it with the lid. Once steam starts pouring out of the small vent in the mitad, lift the lid just a little to check on the injera. If it has started to lift up a little bit around the edges, it is ready to come off.

If you cook injera too long, it becomes soggy and gummy, as the steam is trapped inside.

Removing the injera is tricky. Well, it's been tricky for me! The first time I dropped half of them into a gummy pile! I use a sufid (Actually, it's smaller than a suffid. I don't remember what it's called) that I bought in Ethiopia. Basically, you need to find something that is the size of the mitad (16 inches) and flat. Using your finger, you gently lift one edge and quickly slide the suffid underneath the injera. Set it down on the sheet, still on the suffid.

The injera will look gummy and not good when you first take it off. As it cools, it becomes the nice spongy consistency of injera.

Often, the first injera won't be good. It might be gummy or lacking in ain. Often though, the rest will turn out okay. So, if the first one isn't good, try another one.

Begin cooking the next injera. After you have the lid on, then go back and remove the injera from the suffid. Lay it on the sheet. Note: If you stack the injeras on top of each other right away, they will stick together and you won't be able to separate them. If you let them cool on a sheet first, then stack them, they will peel apart when you're ready to use them.

Variations:

Now, I will address the color and taste of injera. Most reseraunts that I have eaten at in America serve a whiter injera. However, as with American bread, darker bread usually contains more nutrients. The same is true of darker teff and darker injera. To make lighter injera you can use ivory teff which is usually the same price as regular teff. It's usually specified that it is ivory. Another way is to experiment with the ratio of teff to other kinds of flour. I have not tried this recipe yet, but an Ethiopian woman who sells injera for a living told me that she uses teff, barley, and self-rising all in equal proportions. Experiment. And let me know what you come up with! Just remember that if you use too much teff, the injera won't have enough ain in it.

Conclusion

So, this has been a lot of information. As with anything, when you've done it a few times, it's easy to forget steps in the process, or information that wasn't so obvious at first. So if you get started and run into a question that I haven't addressed, please feel free to email me with your questions. moore4jesus1@juno.com

Good luck! :)

More Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-17T09:01:00.001-05:00

These are all pictures from our latest trip to Ethiopia to visit Yosef and Mihret (who are irrevocably OURS as of Feb. 15!!!!!) in December. Though this has been a very long, dark night of the soul for us, God has brought us new joy and new blessings in the morning. I'm so glad that our morning has finally arrived! In the 16 months since we accepted our referral for Yosef and Mihret, I have come to know God, my family, my friends, and myself in a way that I never did before. Mostly, I know God more intimately than I ever knew I could. Without His faithful love for me, I cannot imagine what this journey would have been like. So, without further ado, presenting: Burakaeyae!!!!! (My Blessings!!!!!)

Avery, I'm sorry this isn't a very good picture of you, but I'm hoping that Mihret's absolute cuteness will make you appreciate the picture anyway! :)

Avery, here's a picture I know you'll love. Does it make up for the other one!? :)

I just love this kid! She makes the cutest faces! :) Not difficult when you're just so naturally cute without even trying!

He's never allowed to date anybody. Not ever! I never want to share this handsome face! :)

The day we met...a day I will never forget. I could have sat on that bench for an eternity...

What I said about Yosef never dating- it goes double for this one. Those eyes are enough to make anybody melt. And since Kaitlyn and Lucas are already never allowed to date, I guess Avery and I will just become two old folks with four adult kids! Hmmm... maybe I should rethink my "no-dating" policy??? ...........Not yet! :)

Introducing.........

2007-02-16T15:20:00.001-05:00

Yosef Justice Daniel Moore and Mihret Zoe Daniel Moore!!!!!
We found out today, Friday, February 16 that on February 15, 2007 we officially became a family!!!!!! Finally, the government has caught up with my heart!!!! Thank you to God. The One who is faithful to a thousand generations! Avery thinks I shouldn't put so many pictures all in one post. But, I've waited 506 days for this!!!! So truly, Enjoy the little chronological picto-story I've put together for you! :)

Yosef and Mihret, Dec. 2004 at their intake interview for our adoption agency

June, 2005 when Yosef and Mihret came to live at their orphanage

April, 2006- don't you LOVE her hair???? :) This is one of my favorite pictures of her!

April, 2006- Yosef- This picture came at such a difficult time in this adoption. Priceless!

June, 2006. They have lived in an orphanage for one year at this point. In just one month, they meet Dad!

Avery with Yosef, Mihret, and Grandmother Ayat Kelemwa in July, 2006. A little over a year prior to this picture, the children left their grandmother, their only living relative, to go live in an orphanage to await a family. This picture is such a gift to our family and to our children. Kelemwa is holding a photo album that I made for her containing pictures of our family, all six of us. I pray I get to see her again so that I can give her this picture to add to her album.

Baetaseb- Family! At last!!!!

This was the last day we spent with Yosef and Mihret right after Christmas 2007

This is a million-dollar-smile! :) She said that when she lost her first tooth that she threw it on top of the roof, as is the tradition. Yosef informed us that there are lots of teeth on the roof!

Yosef discovering the joys of Kit-Kat bars! Notice his bracelet. It was made for him by two Ethiopian children who recently came to their new family in the US.

Still Nothing...

2007-02-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

I restrained myself from calling the adoption agency all day yesterday. But I couldn't hold back any longer this morning, so I called. I spoke with one of the women who work in the office and she said she hadn't heard anything from the country rep! Ahhh!!!! The director of the agency still hadn't come in to the office yet this morning, so perhaps when she opens up her email she will have news awaiting her. This is soooooo frustrating!!!!! Even if it's bad news, I'd rather just have it! I barely slept at all last night. I keep trying to remind myself that Jesus said to be anxious for nothing but to talk to Him about these types of things instead. So, I am going to make myself not check my email every ten minutes and instead I'm going to clean up our messy house today and talk to God about this. Check back later....

No News Yet...

2007-02-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

Well, since it's nearly 10:00PM on Thursday night in Ethiopia, and our agency still hasn't notified us of how our courtdate went, I have resigned myself to the fact that we will probably have to wait until tomorrow. Ahhh!!!!!! Okay. Screaming won't help! :) I keep telling myself that we have already waited 505 days since we first got their beautiful photos. I can certainly wait for just one more day! I think I can. I think I can. :) Check back tomorrow for great news!

Countdown To Court Date

2007-02-12T08:29:00.002-05:00

Court Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-08T14:24:00.000-05:00

Yosef and Mihret's court date is next Thursday!!!!!! That's Feb. 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please pray that:
1. Nothing will stand in the way of their grandmother being able to appear in court next Thursday

2. There will be no further delays of any sort

Next Thursday (or Friday if we don't hear how court went right away) this blog will be plastered with pictures of my absolutely adorable children!!!!!!! Get ready! :)

Super Bowl Sunday

2007-02-07T09:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, I do realize that the Super Bowl happened a few days ago, but this was pretty cute. We were on our way to a Super Bowl Party when Kaitlyn became very concerned in the backseat. She asked, "Mommy, I wore short sleeves. Do you think I'll be warm enough at the stadium?"

Poor thing thought we were actually going to THE Super Bowl. :) Ahhhh.... Kids. :)

Adoption Update

2007-02-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

Please pray for our adoption this week, as we are really hoping that our agency's country rep will be able to open a file for us in court this week so that we can be given a new courtdate. I'm trying to tell myself not to expect news this week, but hopefully next week. I figure that if I can convince myself that it won't be until next week, and it does end up being this week, I'll just be pleasantly surprised. My excitement level is rising by the day quite honestly, and I really really do hope it's this week. (Self- stop thinking this way! Accept next week!)

I had to fax a copy of our I600-A approval (a piece of paperwork from the US government that gives families permission to bring an adopted child into the US) to our agency today and in doing so I realized that our approval expires the last week of April. I had known this before, but I think I blocked it out! The US immigration office that handles that particular piece of paperwork in our state has been kind of slow in my experience, but this might not be the norm. One experience doesn't really signify a rule, now does it? I probably need to find out. Our homestudy agency told us that with an expiration date in late April that we need to renew this particular piece of paperwork right now. We're holding off on it though because it will cost another $545 to renew it. So, we're giving it until the end of next week. If we don't hear anything, I guess we'll just have to do it again. I have a feeling we'll be hearing very soon.

I really just have so much peace about all of it. I really feel like this time is for real. And even apart from that, I have had so many supportive friends remind me that my focus needs to be on God and not the difficulty of the current circumstances. And they are so right. When my focus is on God, all is well, even if the world around me is going crazy. I can still have peace inside of me. Pretty cool, isn't it?! :)

On a separate note, my injera over the weekend was a dismal failure, so there is no video. But, I made another batch today which turned out so perfect. But, I didn't video tape it. But I will be making some more soon and will video tape that batch. Kaitlyn and Lucas hated Ethiopian food when we first started cooking it, but I think they're developing a taste for it! We had Siga W'et (spicy ground beef stew), mesir aliche (mild lentil sauce), aiyb (like ricotta cheese, sort of), and gomen (cabbage- one of my absolute favorites) for supper tonight. We actually got through supper with relatively few complaints. Probably the fact that I'm no longer feeding them injera that tastes awful is helping them to develop a taste for Ethiopian cuisine. I know it's helped my palate!

What is (Red)??????

2007-02-05T17:08:00.000-05:00

Want this badge?

If you're observant, you've probably noticed "(red)" in a variety of places of late. So, what is (red) all about anyway?????? It's simple. When you're buying a product, you check to see if there is a (red) version of the same product available. If so, you choose to purchase (red). Then, a percentage of the profit from that sale will go directly to The Global Fund which distributes the money throughout Africa to be used in the fight against AIDS. The (red) manifesto says it pretty clearly, so check out their website.

So, why should we care about AIDS victims in Africa? It's simple. It's because we're all human. Most of my readers are from industrialized nations. That makes you one of the richest humans in the world, regardless of whether you happen to be a bit behind on your cable TV bill at the moment. And yet so many of our human brothers and sisters are dying of AIDS, which is not such a common occurrence anymore in the westernized world that we're privileged enough to live in. And this is thanks to ARV drugs that keep the amount of the HIV virus at not-s0-dangerous levels in the bodies of those who are HIV+.

The poor of Africa are just as much human as you and me. They are just as smart, or even smarter than you and me! They have hopes and dreams for their children. They want to see their children educated and successful, just like you and me. Again, they want to see this. They want to live long enough to witness it for themselves. They cry when they hurt, just like you and me. They bleed when they get cut. They laugh when their children take their first steps. And their children grieve when they watch their moms and dads die from AIDS, a very preventable death. Again. They are human. Just like us.

And furthermore, if you consider yourself to be a Christian, then you are undoubtedly responsible for the AIDS victims in Africa. Jesus said that whatever we do for the least of these (humans!), we do it for Him. It's not a choice to care for the poor. It's not something we are told to do someday when we have more time and money. It's a mandate. A mandate for now.

Our family's contract for our cell phone is set to expire in just a few weeks, and our phones are on the brink of death. So Avery began to shop around for a phone and discovered that purchasing a (red) phone would not cost us any more money than a non-(red) phone. In fact, often when you're selecting a cell phone contract, you can get a discount on a (red) phone that the cell phone company will more than make up for over the term of your service contract. This was the case for us. So the choice was really quite simple. We purchased new (red) cell phones and thereby have purchased the needed medication so that 200 HIV+ women can receive the drugs that prevent the HIV virus from being passed to their unborn babies. That's right. Also, we have paid for 2 months of ARV drugs that will keep one of these moms alive in order to care for her HIV- baby. That's right. By simply choosing to buy (red) on a product that we were already going to purchase anyway, we have made an impact in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

So I challenge you, beg you, plead with you, reason with you. Please choose to buy (red) products. Together, we can make a difference. Together we can keep more mommies in Africa alive to care for their children, which means that there will be fewer orphans like my Yosef and Mihret. That means more children get to stay in their native Africa with their biological parents. This is one "trend" that I am proud to be a part of, though with 5 million AIDS orphans in Ethiopia alone, I hardly would consider this a "trend" just yet. But won't you please join me and countless others in being a trendsetter for the sake of women and children in Africa?

God Is So Cool...

2007-02-03T14:34:00.000-05:00

I wanted to call this post "God Is An Awesome Secretary" but I didn't because I was afraid it would seem like I was being trite about a really cool thing that God has done for our family. But seriously, it was a matter of God arranging my schedule ever so precisely.

I have never had any inclination to ever call any radio station to win a contest before. Before yesterday that is. I was driving home with Lucas in the backseat and the radio was turned down because we were chit-chatting about 5-year-old "stuff." As we pulled into the driveway, we finished talking, and so I turned the radio back up just in time to hear the DJ say, "So, if your kid has an unusual name, be caller number three right now to win." They gave the phone number and I just automatically got out my cell-phone and started dialing. I had no idea why I was doing this, as I had never done it before. But I'm prone to random moments of, "Ahhh. I think I'll do this right now!" So, wouldn't you know it, I was caller number three. I had no idea what I was winning. I told the DJ all four of our kids' names and he wanted to know the story of how Yosef and Mihret got their names. I explained and he told me about my prize, a DVD.

So about ten minutes goes by and the phone rings. The radio station was calling me back because a woman had called and left her number and wanted me to call her. I called this woman and it turns out that a friend of hers had heard me on the radio. This woman lives only about 40 minutes from us and she just brought home her 4ish year old daughter from Ethiopia last September! I was so excited! And she was so excited too because up until yesterday she had absolutely no Ethiopian connections in our state. Our state has a really cool network of Ethiopian adoptive families and she didn't even know about it. So perfect!

Obviously God so sovereignly arranged my schedule yesterday as well as the schedule of this woman's friend so that we could get connected with each other. Oh, it's even better. The woman's parents live in the same town as us about 2 minutes down the road. She comes to our town all the time and she's going to come see us at our house today! So, I don't want to minimize the role of the Sovereign God of the universe, but He is indeed sovereign over the smallest details of our lives!

And, as though that isn't good enough, I have had such an incredible peace about our adoption. It's all so simple, and yet I'm so quick to forget. When I keep my focus on God and not my circumstances, God fills me with incredible peace and faith. When I choose to dwell on my circumstances, I feel tormented inside. So, the choice is obvious, isn't it?! And God is so faithful that He gives us opportunity after opportunity to make the choice to choose Him over our circumstances. Thank you for all of your prayers this week, this month, this year! One day at a time.

I am currently waiting for my injera starter to rise so that I can cook it. I have video taped each step in the process, so if the end result is successful, then I will be posting it next week. So, get a good strong starter going so you'll be ready!

More Progress...

2007-02-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

I really wasn't expecting any adoption news today, but I guess I gave up hope too soon! Our agency's country rep has "the letter" in her hands now. Next she has to show it to the courts. She is expecting to re-open our courtfiles next week, which means she can request our courtdates. Soon...

To all who have prayed for me this week and sent me encouraging emails, thank you!!!! Sometimes I wonder what in the world is wrong with me that God can do so many miraculous things for us and speak so clearly to my heart. Then two days later I seem to completely forget about it and fall into an introspective discouragement! You know, kind of like when God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, led them through the desert, took care of their every need, showed them the land He was giving them (which was a pretty incredible place!), then they STILL forgot all of God's faithfulness and complained! So, I guess I'm not the only one who has that tendency. Must be the human condition or something like that?! At any rate, the important thing is that when we find ourselves in that place that we can ALWAYS go running back to God. When we are faithless, He is still faithful. Good thing too! :)

I have this little problem right now though. We've been invited to a Super-Bowl party at the home of a gourmet chef. This chef is a friend of a friend. He really is a master at culinary arts. We've had the good pleasure of attending a reception that he prepared. So, this chef wants to sample Ethiopian food. The food is not a problem. However I'm completely out of teff! I ordered some from The Teff Company online, but it's still not here! I may have to break down and drive all the way to Raleigh where I'll have to spend a small fortune on a tiny little bag of the stuff! Abeba still hasn't found us a new dealer. Hmmm... that sounds kind of shady, doesn't i?! Anyway, my point is to let my readers know that as soon as my teff arrives in the mail I am going to make another batch of injera and I will videotape each step and post it on you-tube along with detailed instructions in writing. Soon there will be injera-making-ferenj all over the world! :)

Habesha Me?

2007-02-01T20:41:00.000-05:00

Is it vain to put a bunch of pictures of myself all dressed up on my blog? I sure hope not because that's exactly what I've done tonight! :) Last night Avery and I decided to play Ethiopian photo-shoot in our dining room and this is the result. The top picture is a wrap that I bought in Ethiopia to use as a sling for the baby we escorted. The next one is a fancy party dress that Abeba gave me. And the third one is a traditional Ethiopian dress that my dear friend Rosa sent me quite a while ago. It was the first thing I had ever received from Ethiopia and I still remember how much it completely made my day. I wonder if I could pass for Habesha?! :) (Ethiopian)

The news on our adoption is that our agency's country rep needs to pick up a letter from the appropriate government offices stating that the agency is relicensed. Once she gets it, then she has to take the letter to the courts. Then once they look at it she will be able to go back and request our courtdates. The letter is supposed to take a week or two before it is ready for pick up. It's already been a week. So we'll see what happens.

I was feeling pretty sad today so I called a very dear friend to ask her to pray for me. She's an older lady and one of the things I love most about her is that she tells me the truth. She pretty much told me that she loves me, she always prays for me, God has given me assurance after assurance that He will indeed bring my kids home, and that I need to praise God in all circumstances. She told me that she will pray for me, to go to God with this, and to call her back later. Now, I don't mean to say that she gave me one of those trite religious pats on the back that is insincere and totally misses our obvious human condition! This particular friend would never do that to me. She was incredibly loving in the things she said to me and as I listened I knew how incredibly right she was. The truth is that God has been so good to me my entire life, even in the most painful of circumstances. He has never left me. He is good and He is faithful. At all times. Always. And that alone is reason enough to give Him praise. I'm not totally there yet. But I'm getting there. Funny how life can be such a roller coaster! Completely at peace one day and so sad the next. And through it all God tolerates my mood swings. AND He even loves me in my mood swings! How's that for love?!

Enjoy the photo shoot! :)

Tamanyuh- "Faithful"

2007-01-31T08:23:00.000-05:00

Still no adoption-related news. Last week our agency said that the country-rep had to pick up a letter saying that the agency had been relicensed. Then she had to take that letter to the courts. Then she would be able to request courtdates. We haven't heard anything though. I'm hoping that she at least has the letter by now. I'm really hoping that we receive news of at least a little bit of progress by the end of the week. I really hope I can put a cool ticker on my blog soon that is counting down the days until our courtdate. Then an even cooler ticker to count down the days until we travel to Ethiopia to bring our kids home!

I have really been keenly aware of God's love for me lately. This adoption has been so hard in so many ways. I'm definitely not the same person that I was when we started this almost 2 years ago. For the past 16 months since we accepted the referral for Yosef and Mihret I have been in an absolutely helpless position where two of my kids are concerned. That's not exactly a position I'm used to being in! I have a real mother-bear spirit inside of me that tends to come out where my children are concerned. But this time, there's nothing I can do. I tend to have a very feisty spirit too. One of my good friends, an older lady I know, says that I have a real "fire ball" inside of me. And yet again, there's not a thing that I can do with my feisty spirit this time. All of this has made me feel so helpless which makes me feel even more feisty. And feeling more feisty makes me feel even more helpless when I once again remember that there's not a thing I can do to help my kids. You know, like a caged lion that paces around for a while, then gives up and lies down. Then he gets agitated again so he gets up and roars real loud and paces some more. Only to give up again. That's how I have felt!

It's in the "giving up" that I have felt God's love, perhaps more than I ever have before. Giving up feels like I'm letting go of my children. Giving up feels like I'm letting go of a piece of my heart. And maybe I am. It's definitely easier for me to spend all of my time trying to think up different ways that my kids might be able to come home. But even if I came up with some genius plan, reality says that there is nothing I can do. At least if I'm wracking my brain for an answer I feel like I'm doing something. Yet the truth is that there's nothing I can do this time. So in knowing this, I've come to a place where I have given up. It's not a bad thing though. For my own sanity I have had to accept that God is God and I am not. God is sovereign over Ethiopia, over my children, over the adoption industry, and over me too. Regardless of what answers I am or am not getting from the seemingly hundreds of people in charge of this adoption, God has the final say. I have come to a place where I understand that. I understand that sometimes hearts do get broken. I understand that perhaps my heart will be broken. Or worse yet, that Yosef and Mihret's hearts might get broken. But I don't think so.

But even if this adoption never happens, I've come to a place where I really can trust God in this. I can trust that He is sovereignly in control of the universe and I am not even in control of my own life! Much less the affairs of nations! He has given me so much peace in my heart these past several months. It's a peace that I couldn't achieve on my own. When we had our social worker come to our house recently to do an update to our homestudy, she commented that we seemed so laid-back about all of the problems we're having. I don't mean to seem like I don't care! And for a long time we were anything but laid-back about this adoption. And we're not really laid-back now. I feel very passionate where injustice for orphans is involved. And I think it's a definite injustice that two kids are growing up in an orphanage when they have a family who desperately wants them. But I understand that my only hope in this is God.

He is the only thing that has been constant throughout this process. He is the only place where I have always been able to turn for answers. He is the only one who has been able to give my heart any measure of peace. He is the only one who could have put us together with so many incredible people who so faithfully pray for us! He is the only one who could know exactly when I need a friend to stop by the house to hug me and cry with me without me having to ask. He has shown me just how faithful He is. Tamanyuh.

Addis!- New!

2007-01-30T08:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had one of those moments where you suddenly decide that you absolutely must rearrange the living room furniture all so that you can make a new decoration look just right. Except for me, it was a new count-up graphic that I wanted to add to my blog. It counts how long it's been since I had the burak (blessing) of meeting my Ethiopian kids who will be home very soon I hope. But the problem was that my new graphic was too big for my old blog. So Avery was so nice that he put his own plans aside so that he could give my blog a whole new look and allow for room for my new graphic. So, ta-da! Here is my new look!

I first saw this particular style of counter on a really cool blog by a family who is currently adopting from Ghana and is also in the very beginning stages of adopting from Ethiopia. The funny part is that I just stumbled upon this blog yesterday. I left a comment, and in turn, Anita, the mother on this blog, left a comment on my blog. It seems that she's been reading my blog for a little while, but I had no idea. I wish she would have commented a while ago so I could have found her blog! So, if you're out there and you're reading my blog, and if you also have your own cool blog, I hope you'll give me a comment so that I can know where to visit you!

And now, a picture to make your taste buds water (if you like Ethiopian cuisine that is!). This is the meal that we shared at our house with some good friends on Sunday afternoon. Good food. Good friends. God is certainly so good to us. So many burakae (blessings).

Goodbye For Now

2007-01-29T13:55:00.000-05:00

I didn't like the last day with Yosef and Mihret and I don't particularly like writing about it. But it's all part of the story of what God is doing in the lives of these two children, in my family, and in so many who have been touched by God's goodness in all of this. And in the end, I know that God is faithful until the end of the age...

The moment we walked through the gate of the orphanage, both kids looked up at us from their homework with eyes that were so sad that it immediately brought tears to my own eyes. They knew it was our last day and that they weren't coming with us this time. We knew that we had to make this a happy time with them though so I choked back the tears and sat down with Mihret to help her with her homework. She was so much more sullen today than she had been the other days. She just quietly practiced her reading and I tried to memorize how it felt to hold her on my lap, how her hair smelled, the softness of her cheek next to mine. How unnatural for a mother to have to leave her child on the other side of the world. My heart was breaking...

After a while I switched with Avery and went over to sit next to Yosef who was practicing the parts of the body in English. It's kind of funny to see a bunch of Ethiopian kids pointing at their chin and calling it a "knee...no....fingerrrrr (roll the "r" for full effect)....no....a ch...ch...cheeeen!" I sat next to him and kept my hand on his back. I've not been a mother to a kid this age before. I can't wait to have him with me everyday. He's so smart. He's older than Kaitlyn and Lucas and he already has an independence that I haven't mothered before. I can't wait to really know who this little man is. I wonder what he wants to be when he grows up? I know that God has surely made him for something very special.

As it was getting time to leave the nannies began to tell us goodbye. The first one (somewhat awkwardly) stuck her hand out to shake it and I told her, "Aiy- habesha" (No- Ethiopian) and all of the nannies smiled and laughed at this. They began to give us the traditional Ethiopian cheek kisses as we said goodbye. We were going to be taking a baby with us to escort him to America where his family had anxiously been awaiting his arrival since his courtdate last fall before the courts closed. The nannies had gotten him dressed in a traditional Ethiopian outfit that he would wear as he left his country. I was so happy to be able to escort this baby. But at the same time I pray that Yosef and Mihret don't feel betrayed because we took this baby but we didn't take them. I made sure that Yosef understood that the baby did not belong to our family and that we were just taking him to his new family. Then he explained it to Mihret in Amharic.

Those two little faces were so sad. They just stood there quietly, looking at us. We knew that we needed to leave them on a happy note, not a sad one. So we reminded them that the next time we come that Kaitlyn and Lucas will come too and all six of us will stay in a hotel and swim in the pool. We asked them again if they wanted to do that and both of them gave a smile as they replied, "yessssss." We asked them if they wanted to fly on the plane to America next time and again they both smiled and said, "yessssss." Lord, please let that be a promise that we can keep. Our friend who has so graciously paid for us to go has already told us that she will continue to send us back to visit until our children are able to come home. I am so thankful to know this. Yet my heart can't bear the thought of more visits. I want the next time to be their homecoming.

I took the baby in my arms, said a final goodbye, and quickly walked out of the gate to where the taxi was waiting to take us to the airport. No sense in having long, sad goodbyes. The moment I got into the backseat of the taxi with the baby, he began to cry. Poor little thing had just had his entire world ripped away from him. I would have cried too! I began to sing to him softly in Amharic, "Yenya Exhiabihair yinegsal, Yenya Exhiabihair yinegsal, Lazelalam Mengistuh yinges" (Our God reigns, Our God reigns, Forever Your Kingdom reigns). After a couple of minutes he stopped crying and snuggled up very close to me. I used a piece of cloth we had bought to wrap him tight to my chest. He was very still and very quiet for the next several hours. No doubt feeling very scared. I talked baby talk to him in Amharic ("baby talk" is about my level of fluency anyway, so we got along very nicely!). God is so good to have allowed me to have such a beautiful little baby in my arms on that long flight home. I held him most of the time. God knows me so well. He knew how much comfort I would have in holding this baby. It brought me so much comfort in knowing that at least this one was going to be safe and sound with his Mommy very soon.

God, let that be true for Yosef and Mihret too. They are obviously loved at their orphanage, but no love on earth can compare with that of a mother. Soon....

Random Stuff...

2007-01-26T23:55:00.000-05:00

It's almost midnight and we just got home from a most fun night with a family we are close friends with. They have a son and a daughter who are older than our kids, but all of the kids are great friends. Their son is 14 and Lucas is 5, but Lucas insists that they are best friends and wants his "best friend" to come for a sleepover. What's so sweet is that the 14 year old is so kind to Lucas and allows Lucas to continue in his "best friend" role. These truly are great kids. I hope mine turn out as well at that age.

No news about the adoption yet, but I really didn't expect any. However, I'm hoping to hear by the end of next week that the country representative in Ethiopia has gone to court to "open a file" for us, which means that our court dates will have been requested. We'll see what happens.

I spent some time with Abeba again today working on injera. She showed me exactly how she does the first step which did have a few little Ethiopian secrets that I never would have guessed. I have to back to her house tomorrow morning to do the middle step. Then from there I'll bring it home to actually cook it. My mitad lid came today! I'm so excited. I feel quite confident now that I've done this injera thing a few times. The next time I make it I will take some video and upload it to youtube.com so that anybody who is interested can actually watch. It is so much easier to watch the process than to try to make sense from reading it.

Next week I will post one final entry about our trip to Ethiopia. It will be about our last hour with our incredibly beautiful kids. Have I mentioned that they are the two most adorable children in all of Africa? Well, if you've adopted or given birth to an African child, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but this is positively true! :)

Tomorrow Kaitlyn is going off to a sleepover and Lucas is staying with "Miss Kim" whom he says is one of his "grown-up friends" so Avery and I are going to have an entire evening and night to our selves! Yipppppeeeee! I so cherish these little vacations with each other. Avery surprised me tonight with a ukulele. I can play "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" which is pretty funny on the ukulele. Avery is always so sweet to buy new a new instrument whenever he finds a good deal. (He knows me and knows that I would be upset if it wasn't a good deal!) Then he doesn't even complain while I'm learning to play it! Now that's love! :)

To all: Enjoy your weekend and thank you for your prayers.

Tasfa- Hope

2007-01-25T11:53:00.000-05:00

We just received the news that our agency has been licensed, though it seems that they still have to provide more paperwork. I was unclear. But the post definitely said that they currently have a license as of today. I'm so afraid to be excited, as this has been such a long road. Yosef and Mihret are totally ready for their courtdate. Please continue to pray for them to be quickly united with our family. I miss them more with each passing day. Also, we are seriously praying that God will protect their grandmother's health. She is nearly 90 years old and she is the only living known relative. She must be present for their courtdate. God is certainly able to preserve her health for such a time as this. Hopefully in the very near future I will have extremely good news about our adoption! Soon...

Our Final Day- Shintabet

2007-01-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

Well, this was our fifth and final day in Addis. We couldn't see our kids until 5:00 and we had to check out of our hotel in the morning so we figured we'd just explore the Shoa Market some more, eat, check our email, etc. until it was time. If my blog made you cry yesterday, hopefully it will make you laugh today!

It was lunch time and so we stopped at a little restaurant where we sat outside to eat. The waiter used his best English to tell us that he didn't have an English menu. We replied, "Amharenya eshi." He brought it, and while I could read it, this was only mildly helpful since I didn't know what most of the things on the menu were. I'm a very slow nonfunctional literate when it comes to Amharic! We just asked for fasting food knowing that was probably safer than ordering meat. You see, I'm not really a big meat eater as it is and I really have a hard time making myself swallow meat when it's tough, chewy, fatty, or greasy. The fasting food was absolutely delicious though! And we tried a mostly clear soda called "ambo." It seems to be all the rage. Some people mix their regular soda with ambo. I thought it was basically tasteless and when I mixed it with my coke, it just watered it down. But I couldn't leave without at least trying it!

So, after we ate I really had to use the bathroom. As in, waiting until 5:00 so that I could use the orphanage bathroom wasn't an option, as that was 5 hours away! Finding a bathroom hadn't really been a problem all week because we had always just used our hotel room bathroom. Now that we had checked out though and no longer had a room, this was a problem. The restaurant was behind a gate and I could tell that the back portion of the little compound was living quarters with small shacks that all opened up into a central courtyard. As I scoped it out, I saw a sign that read "Shintabet" (bathroom) and I thought that this was so perfect. Just to make sure, I asked the waiter if I could use the shintabet and he motioned for me to go back. I followed the sign and found myself in the family's courtyard, but I didn't see a bathroom. I asked some of the women, "Shintabet yet now yallo?" (Where is the bathroom?) and they pointed me in the right direction. I walked back a very narrow passageway between two shacks. I pretended that the stream of liquid flowing down the passageway was water. Only water. Only water. Only water is what I kept telling myself. So, at the end of the passageway there were three tiled "closets." I could hear that somebody was in one of the "stalls" so I peeked into the next one. It was a tiled room with absolutely nothing in it. Perhaps this is where you just pee? I really have no idea what it was for, so I didn't go in. The floor was wet though. Again, I am sure it was only water! Yes, I'm sure that's it. In fact, they had probably just cleaned and sanitized it and it simply hadn't had a chance to dry out yet! I looked into the third stall and saw that it was a tiled closet with a hole in the ground. Okay. I can do this I thought to myself. After all, I really have to go. Waiting for another 5 hours just isn't an option. It will be fast...self...you have to do this. I decided to go in...until I noticed that a previous person was evidently having a stomach problem and also a problem with their aim. I saw the pile of caca (send me a private email if you need an English translation!) on the floor just before I stepped in. Okay. I just couldn't do it. I quickly walked back through the passage way with WATER running down it. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do about my own personal dilemma, but I knew I couldn't solve it here! Avery was nice enough to walk a very long way to The Great Rendezvous, a more western-style shopping building. I had carried a tiny roll of toilet paper with me all week, but that particular day we had left all of our luggage, including the toilet paper, at the orphanage. So, much to my dismay there was no soft (toilet paper) at the Rendezvous. Oh well. At least it wasn't a hole in the ground with caca next to it and a stream of WATER leading up to it! :)

Now, since I don't really feel like crying today and since I'm sure my readers don't want to cry every time they read my blog, I'll save our last hour with Yosef and Mihret for another day. I mean, I have real-life obligations such as laundry to take care of and I'm not so productive if I'm crying about these kids! Tomorrow. :)

Moments With Yosef and Mihret

2007-01-24T08:32:00.000-05:00

Yesus On The Streets: If you sent a bag for this project and I did not email you a link to a video I put together after we got home, please send me a personal email so that I can do that.

Correction to previous post: Avery tells me that the mitad lid does not come from Bethany House Publishers. I need him around to correct me on this type of stuff! Regardless of where the lid comes from, I found it (Okay, Avery found it) and I can make injera with it!!!! I still was so positive that the website said that they were Bethany House Publishers...then again, I'm the same person who has watched a pink North Carolina (tarheels? UNC? I know nothing about sports) shirt at Target all winter. I really wanted it because it's pink (my favorite color) and it said North Carolina (my state of residence). My desire for this shirt had nothing to do with the sports team it represented. So, I watched it all winter hoping it would go on clearance so that I could buy it. Finally, my opportunity came last week. I sorted through rack after rack of random clothes until I found my size and I bought my pink North Carolina shirt. I got it home and pulled it out to show Avery and wouldn't you know it- my "North Carolina" shirt now read "NC State"????!!!!! How in the world did that happen on the way home?!?!?! When Avery saw it, he was less than pleased with me for buying it. He said, "Heather, you know that's not our team!" OUR team? I don't even have a team! All I know is that our "family's team" (this means that this is the team that Avery has designated as our family's team) is blue just like our car. That's how I remember it. Our car is blue and our team is blue. The fact that my shirt was pink had really thrown me on this little system for remembering. Evidently, I bought the competition's shirt instead. I really felt like I might be crazy since I had watched this "North Carolina" shirt all winter. Yet here was "NC State" in my bag. Well, I do feel better to know that I'm not crazy, as Avery later went to Target to try to buy me a more appropriate shirt and he did manage to find my "North Carolina" shirt. Unfortunately, not in my size! So, I've been wearing my "NC State" shirt and am discovering that they are really not the favored team in my circle of friends! People have been making derogatory comments to me and giving me dirty looks as though I just cursed at them! I guess this sports stuff is serious business around here!

Okay, now...where was I...Oh yea. I was writing about my two incredible kids whom I had the good fortunate of spending a little bit of time with earlier this month. Day 4. The day before we left. It wanted to be a sad day, but we wouldn't let sadness steal the joy of spending an hour with our kids during our allotted visiting time at their orphanage.

This day was incredible. The moments that really stand out for me are as follows:

The kids spend this time doing their homework outside and it tended to get a little chilly as the sun was starting to set. Mihret's legs and hands would get really cold while she did her homework. She liked to touch me with her hands where upon I would exclaim in a whisper, "Beredo!" (cold!) She would smile. Then I would take both of her hands in mine for a few minutes until they warmed up. Then I would kiss them and she would smile. This was a game she liked to play all week and I was more than happy to be able to take care of her in this small way.

Today, she was sitting in an adult-sized plastic lawn chair so I picked her up to hold her while she rehearsed her reading book. She whispered, "aiy" as I picked her up, but I sat down with her on my lap anyway. If she really didn't want me to hold her, I was going to put her down, but she immediately relaxed in my arms. At one point, my hand that had been around her waist got so relaxed that it slipped down to my side. She stopped what she was doing, reached down for my hand, and once again placed it around her waist. I love this kid so much!

The nannies had oiled her hair before we came and some of it had run down her face and neck. She softly reached up to get some of the oil on her hand and with a most gentle caress, she rubbed the oil into my face. Talk about my heart melting!!!!! Would you think it was gross if I said that I still haven't washed my face since that moment?! Well, rest assured, I have washed my face. But I contemplated never washing it again! :)

Her school work this day was to read sentences about various pictures. She was so sweet. She would point at pictures of people and say their names. Their names were always, "Mom, Dad, Yosef, Lucas, Mihret, and Kaitlyn" in all varying orders. When there was a picture of a dog I would continue our "wusha wot" game. I would point and ask, "wusha wot?" (dog stew?) She would give me a mischievous smile and say "yesssssss!"

My time with Yosef was incredible too. He was reading sentences in English and saying whether they were true or false. One sentence said, "My mom is short and thin." He giggled and said, "false." False? I am only 5 feet tall and I'm not a skeletal model that you see in magazines, but I think I'm thin enough. I wondered if he didn't understand the sentence. Or maybe he thought i wasn't thin! Or maybe he didn't consider me to be his mom. But after he thought for a moment, he corrected it. He said, "My mom is tall and thin." I said, "Yes?" He replied, "Mom, you are very tall!" Oh gosh. I suppose in Ethiopia, where many grown men are shorter than me, I am rather tall! I don't think that has ever happened to me in my life! I'm usually mistaken for a little kid from a distance here in America! Funny. And how incredible to realize that yes, he really does consider me to be his mom. What an undeserved gift.

Yesterday I had told him that I would bring chocolate for all the kids. He was very happy when I told him I had brought it. The orphanage director had already approved the chocolate, so I passed it out to all the kids. Yosef really really really likes chocolate! What kid wouldn't?! :)

It was obvious that he really liked having me sit there next to him. As he continued to read the true/false statements about family, he would give answers about his family, us, where he was able. One sentence said, "My brother is good and healthy." He looked at me with a questioning expression and asked me if it was true. I assured him that yes, his brother is very good and very healthy. He was most pleased to learn that this was true. I think that only a very good God could have put the hope of a family in their little hearts...only a very good God could enable their little hearts to identify themselves as a part of our family on such a real level as this. Certainly, their fantasy is full of unrealistic ideas, but I'm so thankful that their little hearts can even engage in the fantasy of being in our family. They seem to intuitively know that we belong together.

As homework time ended and the kids were taking their backpacks to their rooms, Yosef turned back and said to me, "wait." So I stayed put in the chair I was sitting in. He came back was quite affectionate. We held hands. Both kids liked it when we hugged them, but didn't reciprocate the hug. This day, I instructed, "I hug you. Then you hug me." Simple enough. I thought that maybe they just needed "permission" to hug back. Evidently that was the case. As we hugged the kids, they returned with huge squeezy hugs. I love these kids so much. We took some pictures which I treasure so much. I wish they each had a copy of the photos we took that day. My prayer is that we will return to bring them home before I have the opportunity to send them the photos though.

They were sad when we left. They understood that tomorrow would be our last day. We promised them that the next time we come to Ethiopia that they will stay in our hotel with us and that they will go to America with us. I pray that this is a promise we can keep. This prospect made their sad little faces happy again. We said goodbye and stopped by the director's office on the way out to discuss a baby that we were supposed to escort for a family in the US. He had cleared the courts before they closed last fall and his family was anxiously waiting for his homecoming. When we left her office and headed for the gate, Yosef saw us and came running out to us again. He looked so sad. We hugged each other again and I promised we'd come tomorrow. I told him, "Aiy Zo, eshi?" (Basically, Be strong, okay? or Chin up, okay?). He smiled a sad smile and said, "eshi." Then he ran back with the other kids. We walked out the gate and the tears came down my cheeks yet again. I love him so much. My heart was breaking because my son was so sad and I was powerless to ease his pain. He just wants to be with his family and I cannot make that happen for him. There is no feeling as helpless as the one that overtakes a parent who is incapable of easing the hurt inside their child's heart.

For all who are praying for our kids to come home soon, our agency was not given their license on Monday as we had hoped. As usual, the answer was to come back another day. Wednesday is that day, so perhaps we'll hear good news today. Our prayer is that regardless of what happens with the agency that the government will do what is best for these children by uniting them with their families. Believe me, the moment we have good news, everybody will know about it! We are forever grateful for your prayers.

Yesus On The Streets

2007-01-22T22:01:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was our fourth day in Ethiopia and I couldn't even allow myself to think about the fact that tomorrow I would have to say goodbye to my children without knowing when I would be able to come back to take them home. Despite the sadness that was starting to overwhelm my heart, it was an incredible day. Before I get to my kids though, I'll share about how Yesus On The Streets went.

Avery had asked one of the hotel's receptionists if she could help us to take the Yesus On The Streets bags to her church. She came up to our room to see exactly what we had to give away and when she saw all of the bags she was completely astounded that we were giving it all away. She just kept asking us why we were doing this. We told her that when we had told the people in America about the people in Ethiopia that they wanted to help. We explained that each photo was of the person who had made the bag. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at them. We told her that she could have one and she was overwhelmed at this. She looked through the bags to choose one like a little kid on Christmas morning. As we saw how deeply she was touched by the gift, we had the idea to allow the hotel employees to have them first, then to take the leftovers to the church. You see, we knew that the employees of this hotel, though employed, made very little. Hana (the receptionist) was one of the highest paid employees and even she was overwhelmed at the prospect of choosing a bag filled with makeup, jewelery, medicine. When we asked Hana if this would be okay she exclaimed with tears, "Nothing...Nothing like this has ever happened at this hotel before!"

She had all of the bags carried down to the ground floor where she helped us to lay them all out on a table. We told her to allow everybody to take one for themselves and one for their kids as well. We asked her to take charge of the distribution and to make sure that everybody understood that though we were the ones who had brought the bags that they were not really from us. We told her to make sure the employees understood that the people in the photos had made the bags because they understood how much God loves the people of Ethiopia. We put a little card inside each bag that said, "Exhiabihair kananta gar yehun" (God is with people everywhere---this is the best translation I can offer. Abeba wrote it for me).

As the maids, cooks, wash people, waitresses, etc. began to file into the room to see the gifts that the ferinj had brought, the scene was truly sacred. We had our camera with us, yet we couldn't bring ourselves to take a single picture. It felt like we would have been completely intruding on a very private moment of joy. As much as we wanted everybody in America to see how much their gifts had touched the recipients, we just couldn't do it. People began excitedly shouting at each other in Amharic as they would hold up their bags to display the incredible treasures contained within. Hana was explaining to them how to use the various medicines and they were in awe that taking just two advil would make their fever go away. Or that giving their kids Pepto Bismal would make their diarrhea stop. One maid held up a size 3T boy's T-shirt and exclaimed to another, "For your baby!" They kept coming up to us gushing with gratitude and we just kept pointing up and saying, "Amasegenalo Yesus! (Thank you Jesus). They would look up toward Heaven and say with great emotion, "Amasegenalo Yesus!"

One maid seemed to be acting quite selfishly, as she was hoarding bags in a corner and chasing away anybody who tried to go near them. Hana was handling things though, so we just stepped back feeling confident that she would do what was right. Later, we saw this same maid congregating on the 3rd floor with all of the maids and wash people who hadn't been able to get down to the ground floor in time to choose a bag. The "selfish" maid had been thinking of her coworkers the entire time! She gave all of the bags away.

These are good, hardworking people who were created in God's image. And yet because they were born in a 3rd world nation instead of America, life is so hard for them. And despite their difficult circumstances, we saw such contentment and happiness on the faces of the people we came into contact with during our short stay in Addis.

This project didn't turn out anything like we expected, but we know that it turned out exactly as God intended it. To all of my readers who sent bags, please know that your gift gave these people hope that God has seen them and cared for them. I wish you all could have been there to see with your own eyes.

Now, since I've received many emails from people who would like to do this project, this is what we learned. This particular project is not something that will work for street people. I've already talked about this with a few people who seem to know a lot more than me, as they kind of already knew this. But, some of us seem to have to learn these things the hard way! (US!). Anyway, even though this didn't reach the street people, this really showed God's tangible love to many employed Ethiopians who though they have an income, still struggle just to survive in an unfair world. I would absolutely recommend this project to people looking to reach this group of people. However, we have found out just how imperative it is to have a person, church, or organization in Ethiopia that can assist in the distribution. God, (because He knows Avery and me so well!) was good enough to provide Hana to us. But I wouldn't do this again without a solid plan in place ahead of time.

I forgot who sent me this idea, but one of my readers shared that they bought ALOT of bread and drove around in a taxi for 2 hours distributing it to the poor on the streets. She said that she was amazed at the selflessness of those who wanted the bread to be given to those who hadn't eaten, as they had already had bread that day. I don't know if we'll have time when we go back to Ethiopia to bring Yosef and Mihret home, but if we do, this is something we'd like to do.

I'd love to hear from anybody else who has done a successful project like this. The more of us who are working toward helping those who are less fortunate than the majority of Americans, the better place this world will be.

My Genius Husband Found The Real Mitad Lid

2007-01-22T21:48:00.000-05:00

Well, after I finally resigned myself earlier today to buying a 16 inch stainless steel bowl to go on top of my mitad, my husband came home and saved the day! He was so smart that he looked on the box that my mitad came in, saw that it was made by Bethany House (yes, the book publishers), then he found Bethany House's website where he located the actual lid that goes with the mitad! So, here is the link for the real deal. They don't make it easy, as you can't order it on the internet. You have to call. It was $22 including shipping. Rich over at No More Counting The Cost also found a 16 inch lid that will work, but I couldn't figure out how much it would cost. My guess is probably about the same, as that seems to be the going rate for a lid based on my shopping experience this morning.

Abeba came over today and let me borrow her lid so that I could cook the injera that I started working on last night. And I'm so excited because it actually worked! I did it totally by myself and it worked! There wasn't quite enough ain (the bubbles) around the outside edges, but Abeba said it's because I used too much teff and not enough self-rising flour. It tasted like injera should and I did it completely by myself! Did I mention how excited I am?!?! After I do it a few more times, I'll share everything that Abeba has taught me. I just want to do it myself a few more times so that I can be confident in what I share.

Mitad Lid

2007-01-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, I spent several hours this morning dragging two not-so-enthusiastic kids from store to store trying to find a lid to go with my new mitad. Well, I failed miserably! It seems that there is very little demand for a 16 inch lid. Or a 16 inch bowl or cake pan, or a 16 inch anything! So, I finally gave up and did what I should have done to begin with. I checked the internet! So, for those who have thought of buying a mitad, here is a link for the lid. It is a stainless steel mixing bowl. It is the best I could come up with and I already ordered. It will be here within a week. The total cost including shipping was $18.??. (I can't remember exactly how much).

More about our Ethiopia trip later this week. (Maybe tomorrow!) For those who are praying for our kids, keep on praying. Tigist did not get the license for the agency today. She is checking back on Wednesday.

Day 3-The Best Part- My Kids!

2007-01-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

Monday. The best part of Monday, though Merkato was great fun, was definitely the hour we spent with Yosef and Mihret...But before I go on, I must correct myself. It is not Merkado! I know, this is probably not news to most of my readers! But it was news to me! I have such a hard time hearing certain sounds when an Amharic speaker is talking. But an Amharic friend let me know that it is Merkato, which makes a lot more sense since it is like the Italian word for Market. Anyway...

When we got to the orphanage, I was kind of disappointed to learn that 5:00-6:00 is homework time, as homework is very serious and quiet business. Oh well. Just having the privilege to lay eyes on my kids in real-life was such a blessing. I was pretty impressed with how well Mihret can read Amharic! She recited page after page in her little sing-song whisper. She was having a snack, kolo (it would be like the Ethiopian equivalent to Americans eating sunflower seeds), and I was most honored when she gave me some of her kolo. After I sat next to her for a few minutes, she remembered what I had told her yesterday. She looked up at me with her huge chocolate eyes and whispered with expectation, "Mom- Gum?" I whispered back, "Oaw. Ye muz mastika tefelagialesh?" (Yes, do you want banana gum?) She gave me her adorable smile that is missing a tooth and raised her little eyebrows to say "yes." Such simple moments like these were so priceless to me. I had already checked with the director of the orphanage to make sure the gum was okay, so I handed it out to all of the older kids.

When I went to sit down by Yosef, he had laid out a picture of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. He handed it to me and said, "Gift!" Again, what a priceless gift. I pointed at each person so he could tell me their name. When he got to Joseph and said, "Yosef", in disbelief I asked him if it was a picture of him. He thought that was hilarious. Oops! Better not make him laugh lest he get in trouble for not doing his homework! :)

As the hour drew to a close the kids packed up their homework and went off to play while they waited for supper. But, it was time for us to leave. Once again, I cried as the gate shut behind us. These kids couldn't be anymore mine, and yet legally, they are not. How I long for the day when the government will catch up with my heart!

Soon...

Yesterday I spent the day with a very dear friend. She is a lady who is nearly 60 and I have learned so much from her friendship these past few years. She's been stuck at home for a couple of months due to a broken leg, so I wanted the day to be special. I took my fancy djebena (coffee pot) along with my pretty new sini (little coffee cups, but I learned this word from Ma'aza and Abeba who are both Tigray and I think this might be a Tigray word, not an Amharic word, but I'm not sure) and together we sipped shai (Ethiopian tea) and caught up with each other, as I haven't seen her since I went to Ethiopia and in this time, she has had a new grandchild born.

Lucas made sandwiches for us for lunch, as he said to me earlier this week, "Mom, I think your New Year Rev-o-luj-an should be that you will let your son cook." So, I've been letting him be the "chef" for lunch. Then he went off to watch a movie in another room. I had brought my guitar with me and together, we began to sing some worship songs and we spent some time praying for Yosef and Mihret, for Ethiopia, for justice to be carried out for these children and also in their situation. Without a faithful God to fall on, I cannot imagine having gone through the past 2 years! And not only is God always there for me, but He has blessed me with some of the most amazing friends to walk this road with me. Truly amazing!

For any who would like to pray, the Ethiopian person who is processing our adoption is supposed to meet on Monday with the government officials who have authority to license our agency, thus enabling our case to go to court so that the kids can come home. We are praying that she will have great favor with this official and that the matter will be cleared up next Monday so that justice can be carried out for these kids and they can have a family restored to them once again. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers!

Day 3- Photos

2007-01-18T09:19:00.000-05:00

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Ma'aza pointed out to us that you can only afford to live in these apartment buildings if you're rich! Funny, but here, once you're rich you move out of an apartment building (unless it's some luxurious penthouse suite!) and build yourself your very own house!

Day 3 With Ma'aza Continued

2007-01-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

Here I continue the story of the day we spent with Ma'aza, my new hand-holding Ethiopian friend!

So, after Mercado, we went back to the hotel for a bite to eat before it was time for Avery and me to go visit Yosef and Mihret at the orphanage. We had injera (of course!), doro wot (spicy chicken stew), 2 types of gomen (cabbage), mesir wot (spicy lentil stew), and aiyb (Ethiopian cheese similar in appearance to ricotta cheese). Our meal together was delicious! And so much fun. Here's the thing about girsha (Ethiopian method of eating where the people feed each other bites of food to show love, intimacy, respect, etc.) that I don't care for. Whenever people feed me bites of food wrapped up in injera, they give me such big bites that I can barely chew them! Everybody does it to me. So I am assuming that I must take smaller than normal bites. But when I have a huge bite of food in my mouth, I just keep chewing and chewing and chewing, then I feel sick! If it weren't for that little problem, I wouldn't mind girsha one bit.

However, that's not really my point. Because overall, the day was incredibly wonderful! As we ate, we discussed America and Ethiopia, and our lives, our families, God, etc. Ma'aza's perceptions of America were so funny to me. She couldn't understand why I don't have a job. I tried to explain that because Avery makes enough money, I am able to stay with our kids because it's what I want to do. She said with disbelief and utter lack of comprehension of the situation, "But why doesn't your servant take care of them?!" Servant? I don't have a servant! I AM the servant at our house! We tried to explain what Walmart is, but I don't think we really got through to her. I'm going to take a picture for her when we go back next time.

The funniest part was that she was enjoying the food very much, as did we. Once Avery and I were full, we stopped eating, but Ma'aza continued to eat. Now, she's a tiny little thing! She's about the same height as me (5 feet), but skinnier. And I'm only 105 pounds. So, I was amazed that she could pack away the food like that. As she continued to eat, she kept telling us, "eat, eat!" and we kept saying that we were full. She finally explained to us that if we didn't eat it all that it would be very rude. Now, I really didn't want to waste the one hour I was going to have with Yosef and Mihret on being sick from eating too much food! So, we told her we'd ask for a bag so that she could take it home to her family. She thought that idea was hilarious. She said she couldn't possibly do that. She wanted to do that, but she thought it was so funny to even consider it. She said with laughter and her heavy Ethiopian accent, "My father will say, 'What are you now? A beggar?!?!' " But, she did like the idea of giving so much good food to her mother. So, we called the waitress over to ask for a bag, but her English was non-existent and I don't know the Amharic word for "doggy bag." So, Ma'aza asked for one. The waitress seemed very confused and Ma'aza started laughing. Ma'aza tried to explain what she wanted and the two of them talked back and forth for a few minutes while Ma'aza just kept laughing and the waitress continued to look confused. Without understanding a word, just watching them was quite amusing. When the waitress walked away, Ma'aza explained that the waitress had asked her, "Why do you want a bag? Do you want the food for a beggar?!" The only bag the waitress could find was small and used. So I went up to our hotel room to get a Ziploc bag (I travel prepared for any circumstance!) for the food. Ma'aza said that in Ethiopian restaurants, people don't take the food home with them unless they're going to give it to a beggar. We had been taking the food all week for beggars! No wonder the waiters always looked at us kind of funny!

I explained to Ma'aza that in America, all restaurants have special little boxes so that you can take your food home with you. She wanted to know why we would do such a thing. I explained that the next day, when you're hungry, you can heat it up in the microwave. "Micro....Micro....Micro-wave?" was Ma'aza's response. How do you explain what a microwave is?! We explained that it was a tiny little oven that was electric and you put the food in, push the button, and 1 minute later, it's all hot. I'm not sure that she believed us! I saw her later in the week though, and her family was so very happy with the food, especially her mother. So, it was worth it!

After lunch, we walked back up to our room until it was time to go see the kids. She saw all of the Yesus On The Streets bags everywhere and asked about them. I explained to her what they were all about. She started looking at them and was amazed at all of the medicines. I told her that she could have one and pointed her to the pile of bags made by women. As she started picking them up, she kept asking about the various medicines and it was obvious that even to this girl with two professors for parents that medicine was a luxury. She just couldn't believe that she could really have one of the bags. After she chose one, I told her to pick one for her parents too, and she was so happy. She really just couldn't comprehend that she was allowed to have even one bag, much less three. She carefully chose for her parents and we sent her home with a bunch of chocolate for her brothers. I also gave her all of the cough drops I had in my backpack, something she had never heard of. She was amazed that eating just one would help her to stop coughing. My goodness! How many times have I been unable to sleep at night due to a nagging cough and one little cough drop afforded me a good night of peaceful sleep? And have I ever once stopped to be grateful for a cough drop? Have I ever once stopped long enough to be truly grateful for a chocolate bar, or Advil, or hair conditioner, or an ink pen? If I stopped long enough to be grateful for each of the luxuries that God has blessed my life with, I wouldn't get a single thing done in a day because I'd never be finished with thanking God! And I just kept realizing that these things were "luxuries" to this girl from a professional family!

Now, we'd distributed 3 of the bags, what about the rest of them that were flooding our hotel room?! We had given up on reaching our contact in Ethiopia. You see, we'd actually ridden over on the plane with him, and he gave us his phone number, but when we arrived, we discovered that the phone systems had been revamped since his last visit and his phone number no longer worked the same way. We tried everything! We got in touch with friends in America who had his number, but their number was the same as ours and didn't work anymore! We began to really pray to find out what God wanted us to do with all of the bags. But that's another story for another day!

As fun as this day was, it was finally almost 5:00PM, the very best hour of the entire day, as this was the hour when I would see my sweet Yosef and Mihret. We exchanged our customary Ethiopian kisses with Ma'aza and said goodbye. What a sweet young woman she was. Whenever we find ourselves in Addis, her family will be our family. God is so good to have put her in our path. It was really one of the most fun days I have ever had.

Ma'aza, Me, and Mercado

2007-01-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

This is Ma'aza and me at Sheromeda. It was a smaller market that we visited before going to Mercado. The photo is of standing on a hilltop with Addis in the background down below.

Mercado was delighfully busy. This game is like "Where's Waldo?" except it's called "Where's the Ferinj?"

Ma'aza and me walking back one of the crowded walkways at Mercado.

Day 3, Part 1- Mercado Was So Much Fun!!!

2007-01-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

We woke up this third day in Ethiopia, as we knew that a lovely young lady named Ma'aza would be there for us very soon. Ma'aza worked in one of the internet cafe's from Avery's first trip and was so very helpful to him. She had helped him with buying a few items so that he wouldn't have to pay the ferinj price, which is always much higher than what would be charged to an Ethiopian. Ma'aza, whose name means "perfume", arrived at the hotel right on time, 9:00AM. As we walked out of the hotel together, she casually reached over to hold my hand. Whoa!! I was fully aware of this practice throughout most of Africa, that is the fact that same-sex friends are quite comfortable with showing non-sexual affection to one another. I had never considered that I might be in a position to practice this local custom though...let's just say it was a bit weird at first. But, I didn't want to offend this nice young lady, so I returned the gesture. I evidently wasn't doing it right though because she took our hands and entwined our fingers. Okay. Note to self- there must be a right way and a wrong way to do this! So, we got into the taxi, Avery in the front and the two girls in the back. Rather than leaving the middle seat empty, which most Americans with all of our "personal space issues" would have done, Ma'aza scooted over right next to me. She reached out for my hand and casually placed it on her thigh. Then she rested her hand on top of mine. How many of my American readers are already freaking out?!?! Well, I was freaking out too, but only on the inside. On the outside, I was as cool as a cucumber. :)

Honestly, by the end of the day, I was perfectly comfortable with Ma'aza and realized that as Americans, we could really use a dose of healthy, same-sex affection. Perhaps men even more so than women, as women do tend to be at least a little bit more affectionate than men in our western culture. Anyway, off to Mercado we went.

No wait. Before it was off to Mercado, Ma'aza had to negotiate the taxi fare down to about 1/5 of the original asking price. There it is again- the meaning of ferinj! To be ferinj is to be rich, at least in the minds of most Ethiopians. And truly, next to the lifestyle of so many in this country, the poorest of the poor in America is rich by comparison. But I still don't like to have to pay more than somebody else for the same service!

So, off to Mercado we went, and what an incredible experience it was! Due to the conflict with Somalia, we almost missed out on this. But before we left, my Ethiopian friend here in America, Rosa, told me that it would be a tragedy to visit Ethiopia and not go to Mercado. That was the best advice I've gotten in a very long time. Next to seeing my kids, this was the most fun we had in Ethiopia!

Mercado is the largest open-air market in all of Africa, and what a busy place Mercado was! It was so large that we didn't even begin to discover all of its wonders. And it was so full of vendors selling bunna and shai (tea) spices and frankincense that the smells permeated every corner of the market. And I got to have lots of up-close and personal encounters with goats and donkeys wandering around the streets and walkways. To me, they seemed to be wandering aimlessly without owners, but if you watched long enough, eventually an owner would come along to steer them in the right direction. Too bad for me that I'm really prissy when it comes to animal dung on my shoes!

Ma'aza said that she'd never seen Mercado that crowded before in her entire life! She figured that it was partly due to the fact that Ethiopians were preparing to celebrate Christmas in just a few days.

I got to try out my Amharic a lot on this day, and I learned a lot too. Really, when you're willing to try out a second language regardless of how stupid you fear you might sound, you will learn so much faster. Mind you, I was far from fluent, and Ma'aza had to step in and help a lot, but I was able to negotiate price by myself. Mind you, I usually had no idea what a fair price would be. And of course, Ma'aza could negotiate a far better price than I could ever dream of since she's an Ethiopian, but knowing Amharic fluently still won't change the fact that I am forever ferinj. I managed to get myself a sufid (round, flat, basket-like object used for removing injera from the mitad after it's finished cooking) for only 10 birr more than my original stated price. It didn't look quite like Abeba's sufid, but I was pretty proud of myself! When I was able to make another shop owner understand that I wanted to buy a wrap for securing a baby to my back, I was equally as proud of myself. His sudden look of recognition told me that I had communicated the right thing to him. But, he returned a few minutes later with some humongous leather and seashell contraption, and I knew that there had been a breakdown in communication! Sure enough, it would hold baby to my back, but it wasn't quite what I wanted. It was more like a horse saddle! But, I did manage to make him understand when I said, "Aiy! Cotton efelegalo ebakah!" (No, I want cotton please!) That's when I got the sorry look with a polite, "Yellum" (Not here). All I can say is, FUN!

Everywhere we went, we saw street- side vendors holding huge bouquets of green vegetation. I asked Ma'azawhat it was and she negotiated a price on a handful for us. It's called "eshat" and it's a vegetable. You pick off small pods to find a pea-like vegetable inside. You eat the pea. It tasted like soybeans to me. It must be a popular thing to eat though because two days later when I gave the remnants to one of the hotel maids she was really excited about it.

One of the things I needed to buy was roasted whole coffee beans for a friend in America who is putting together a fundraiser. Various baskets of coffee from all over the world will be raffled off (I think). Well, it was no easy task to find pre-roasted beans at Mercado! Duh! Ethiopians roast their own beans at home. Why would they sell them pre-roasted?! The only pre-roasted beans we could find were also pre-ground, which I did not want. When Ma'aza would try to explain to the shop owners what we wanted they seemed perplexed that anybody would want to buy coffee that way. Finally though, we found a nice up-scale Ethiopian equivalent of a Star Bucks. Sure enough, they had exactly what we wanted. We even had the choice of buying clean or dirty beans. Okay, really they were called "washed" and "unwashed" beans, but it sounds funnier to say "clean" or "dirty." I've never been faced with such a choice in America!

Another thing I wanted to buy was a traditional dress. The clothing shops were mostly very tiny, and though you could see just fine from outside, the owners would always insist that we come inside and sit down on a little stool. Mind you, these shops were so tiny that with Avery, Ma'aza, and me along with 1-2 employees, we were so close we were touching. But, I'd already realized that Ethiopians definitely aren't hung up on "personal space", nor do they seem to realize that Americans are hung up on this concept! I finally found one that I liked and Ma'aza said I could try it on. I wasn't exactly sure where the fitting room might be since we were in a tiny little shed, but before I could inquire the male store owner left. I signalled Avery to leave too. That left me alone with Ma'aza and the female store owner inside this little shop with no door. I was positive that people on the street could see me, but when in Rome....I really didn't know what the proper protocol was in this situation, so I just asked Ma'aza. Apparently, it's appropriate to take off your clothes to try on the new clothes. Perhaps everybody is just on the honor system to not peek in through the door?! What a day! Nothing like being totally immersed in a culture! I loved every minute of it!

I was particularly amused when a young Ethiopian guy came up behind Ma'aza and me holding hands and began singing Michael's Jackson's song, "It doesn't matter if you're black or white..." Ma'aza and I both laughed hysterically at this. We had such a fun day together. Ma'aza later in an email said that it was one of the happiest days of her life. For me, it ranked pretty high too! More about this incredibly fun day in a later post...

Day 2- My Kids Are Awesome!

2007-01-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

As I sat in our hotel room recording this wonderful day on my laptop journal, I could hear the staccato beat of the music playing loud outside just a few blocks away. It was a beautiful, cool night in Addis. I had spent glorious 3 hours with my kids, followed by something at a restaurant called an "Egg Burger". Mind you, in Ethiopia, I'd much rather eat Ethiopian food, as at least I know they can do it well! This particular place didn't have anything traditionally Ethiopian on the menu though. By the way, an "egg burger" means a hamburger with a very strange taste topped with a fried egg with an equally strange taste! But at least my belly was full! Now I sat here nice and clean after a shower that had washed away all of the dust of the day. Along with the music, the smells of Ethiopia wafted through the open balcony door; berbere, incense, dirt, bunna, goats. All of the things that signified the nearness of my children....oh yeah...it's also New Year's Eve. Well, that's what CNN said anyway! Aside from those wanting to be welcoming to the ferinj, you wouldn't know it, as Ethiopia's New Year celebration happened back in September!

The best part about our second day in Addis was seeing Yosef and Mihret. They were a bit more comfortable with us today. Mihret came up to me and kissed me on the cheek all of her own will. It was worth gold. I bribed her to sit on my lap. She wanted to use the video camera and I told her she couldn’t unless she sat on my lap. So she agreed and after that, she was okay with sitting on my lap. She’s so cute!

Yosef handed his Bible to me and said, “Gift.” I thought he was trying to give it to me, but it’s very important to him, as Avery gave it to him on his first trip in July and Yosef told me that he reads it everyday, so I of course didn’t want to take it. I laid it down and later he tried to give it to me again. I was incredibly honored that he wanted to give me something that is so important to him. Yet I couldn’t take it. So I asked him if I could have a different gift from his room instead. He agreed and took me to his room. I noticed that he has a bunch of small religious pictures, mostly Mary and some Jesus pictures too, taped up in the corner of his bed where he lays his head. He hunted around for a minute before choosing a different gift. He handed me a small pink booklet and said something to me about “Catholic” I think. It’s all in Amharic and the front says something about Mary and the back has “Ye Exhiabiher Law” which I assume is the 10 commandments. Anyway, I will definitely treasure it! It's one of the best gifts I've ever received.

Today was definitely a little more relaxed than yesterday. I sang the Aiya Djebo (Mr. Hyena) song, which helped them to relax and laugh a little, especially Mihret. The nannies must play that game with them too, as when one of them heard me singing it to Mihret, she got the little kids in a circle and put one in the middle, the Djebo, and they sang. When Mihret got to be the djebo, she was so cute, as she ran around pretending to bite the kids.

I laughed at the boys, as shortly before we left, all of the boys were near the gate riding bikes and scooters. That’s when two of them got a jump rope, held it out across the courtyard, and all the rest lined up ready to…to...I actually don't know what they were thinking! But one of the nannies saw it just as I did and made them stop, as they were obviously getting ready to hang themselves! Boys are boys the world over! Yosef was right in there with them. Lucas is going to love having Yosef for a big brother!

A couple of times, Yosef and I were trying to communicate, but we just couldn’t find the words and when that happened, I would start laughing and then he would laugh too. I will be so glad when I can really know him; his thoughts, his dreams, his fears.

I was sitting on the floor holding a couple of toddlers and Mihret kept coming over to me to kiss me or touch me. I really think that she understands that I belong to her. At least I hope that is what she was demonstrating. Once, I felt little hands rubbing my hair and it melted my heart all over again to turn around and see that it was her. Priceless. Truly priceless.

About 10 minutes before our visiting time was over, I was watching them play and was so overwhelmed with the fact that I will have to tell them goodbye. I felt the tears come to my eyes, but knew I had to hold it together while I was there. It will be so hard to leave them. They are so very much mine. When I was holding Mihret, I teased her saying, “Yane Mihret!” (My Mihret) like a little kid saying, “Mine” over his favorite toy. I squeezed her close when I said it and she thought it was so funny.

Yosef read some of his Bible to me, and he reads Amharic really well! I read a book to Mihret, sort of! She chose a kids’ Bible story book. I suggested an ABC book, but she shook her little pointer finger at me and said, “aiy” and held up her Bible book. So, the way we read this English book is one of the older girls read the English with my help, then I explained what it meant to the older girl in broken Amharic/English/pointing, then the older girl explained in Amharic to Mihret. Perhaps not the most efficient way to read a book, but it worked and all three of us had a great time.

When we had to say goodbye to the kids, as soon as we walked outside the gate I began to cry. I can't tell you how fast three hours feels when it involves spending time with two of your favorite people in the whole universe! Two kids who are so very much mine, yet the "system" hasn't realized this yet! I just looked up all of the synonyms for the word "sad" but none of them really even touched on how sad my heart was. When I looked up the synonyms for "anguish" we started to get a little bit closer: "torment, agony, torture, pain, distress, sorrow, grief."

And yet, in spite of my sorrow that day, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Those three hours were so precious to me. I wish it had been more. But I've said before that no amount of time will ever satisfy my heart until they are safe and sound in America with our family. Soon...

Happy Birthday, Mihret!

2007-01-15T20:22:00.001-05:00

To my beautiful little Mihret,

Today you are 6 years old!!! I doubt you're aware that today is your birthday, but my prayer is that by this time next year you will be here in America celebrating with our family. Did you know that in our family, the tradition is to fill the living room with balloons? Oh, and we don't always do this, but a particularly fun birthday tradition in our family is to eat cake and ice-cream for breakfast. (But that only works when the party was the weekend before). Your birth- mother, Denkenesh, must have been so thrilled to pieces on this day just six years ago! She must have marveled at your little toes and your enormous chocolate eyes. I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on you, well, your picture; they said that you were just 3 years old! And you were so beautiful to me that day. And just to think that only a couple of months ago, when I accepted that you wouldn't be home for your birthday, I was so sad that I wouldn't know you before you turned six! Isn't our God so good like that? He was so good to give us the opportunity to know each other while you were still five, wasn't he? My beautiful little baby, someday soon, I pray that I will be holding you in my arms again, but next time, for more than just a few hours. Forever sounds like a much better plan to me! Soon...

With Love,
Mom

Mom, Are We Having Chicken For Dinner Tonight?

2007-01-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

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This was one of my favorite things about Ethiopia. The best is when I would somebody carrying a live chicken with one hand while they talked on their cell phone with the other. I loved the collision of the traditional with the modern. Classic!

Day 1, Part 2- The Bunna Baet Scam

2007-01-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

So, we got to see our kids on this first day, which was great. Afterwards, we decided to walk down the street to a little restaurant for a bite to eat for dinner. Well, a block or so from the hotel, this guy came up to us and started speaking terribly accented English with us. He said he was a construction worker at our hotel and that he was going to church, it’s a Muslim festival day, blah blah blah. He invited us to come with him to see a "special program" and have bunna (coffee). It did seem a bit odd to me that this guy who was named Dawit (A traditionally Christian name) who was headed to church would be so interested in informing us of the Muslim holiday, but I'm a very trusting person. I was unclear as to why he kept telling us about the Muslim holiday, but assumed the "special program" had something to do with the festival and thought that maybe Christians took it as an opportunity to have a festival too????? Too bad I often miss these types of serious red flags until I'm already in over my head! So, we, the silly ferinj (white foreigners) that we are, agreed. We should have stopped at our destination restaurant as originally planned, but we decided to continue on with him. He took us to a different section of town that was far from our hotel. He stopped on the way to “call his sister.” Then we walked some more. And some more. And some more. But Dawit was so nice and so hospitable in wanting us to be able to experience Ethiopian culture, blah blah blah. And what a nice bit of Ethiopian culture we got to experience that night!

Finally, we got to the place, and we were the only ones attending this special “program.” This too was odd to me, but I actually had a lot of fun at first. There were 12 or so dancers who performed traditional dances from all of the various regions and tribes of Ethiopia. They wanted me to dance with them, so I did, and it was a lot of fun. Avery played the cabarro (drum). I was actually really enjoying myself. I was a bit thrown by the fact that our “friend” Dawit had told us the “program” would be very interesting, yet he barely paid any attention at all and even disappeared during the “program.” I was also a bit concerned when he started talking on his cell phone, yet on the way, we had to stop at a little shop where he paid money to "call his sister." And yet, because I'm trusting and want to believe the best about people until they prove to me that they are less than honorable, I continued to have fun.

Avery and I ordered a soda to share. Then, the “manager” asked Avery (unbeknown to me) to buy drinks for all of the employees there (about 16 people). He asked how much and was told “70 birr.” He clarified that it was 70 birr total, which is about $8 US dollars, so he agreed. They all enjoyed a round of tej (Ethiopian honey wine). Then the “manager” asked him to buy another round and when he refused, she wasn’t pleased. I didn’t know that all of this had happened.

However, I could see that Avery was no longer having a good time, though I assumed he was merely bored with the music. We waited until they served the bunna (coffee) and then said we needed to leave. They brought us the bill for 800 birr! That’s $100 US dollars! Avery argued with the guy for a bit, to no avail. He said he would pay 200 birr. The dude was not into bargaining at all though. Avery had already caught on to the fact that our “friend” was actually part of the scam on the ferinj and said that since Dawit brought us here, he would pay the rest. I hadn’t caught on to that yet! Boy, am I slow sometimes! I began to pray, as I was pretty scarred at that point! And I didn't want our "friend" Dawit to have to pay. Eventually, Avery gave them 600 birr ($70!) and said we were leaving. They said we could not, but Avery grabbed my arm and I knew it was time to just leave. We walked out, praying the entire time, mind you! That is when we discovered that we were gated in! And when we got to the gate, the padlock was locked! Talk about panic! I was thinking I could climb the gate easy enough, but I didn’t know how fast I could do it and I didn’t think Avery could climb it at all. I'm really very attached to Avery and certainly didn't want to leave him behind! I was ready to go back in and demand that the gate be opened. Then, Avery tried the latch and somehow got it opened. We briskly walked away and let me tell you, I was scarred to death! We walked very quickly. And they did not try to come after us. Why should they?????? They made an absolute fortune!

I didn’t realize until after we left that Dawit was part of the scam! I can be so slow sometimes! He hadn't stopped to call his sister! He stopped to alert this little bunna baet (coffee house) that we were on our way! As we walked home, Avery told me that the reason he had suddenly stopped having a good time was he had looked out the window and realized they had closed the gate on us and he saw a guard with one of those nice big guns with ammo strapped around his neck! I don't know if I've ever been that scarred in my life!

So, we’re halfway back to the hotel when another man starts speaking even more terribly accented and hard-to-understand English to us. He wanted us to see a program about Oromiya culture and started telling us how Ethiopia is really Oromiya. Pretty lousy sales pitch to people who are obviously visitors to Ethiopia! You don’t visit a country you don’t like and the dude's pitch made it evident that the “program” was about how Ethiopia was bad and Oromiya is good! Not that I'm taking a political stance either for or against Oromiya. I just think it wasn't a very bright sales pitch to a couple of ferinj tourists! Anyway, we kept telling him “aiy” but he wouldn’t take “aiy” for an answer. He kept asking us why. I told him “Yane alga efellagallo” (I want my bed) but he didn’t seem to like that answer either. He kept walking with us and we told him “chow” several times. He was pretty persistent. Or maybe he didn't understand our good-bye? He was so persistent that I thought there might be something wrong with him! I thought that maybe he was drunk, but he was walking just fine. Then I thought that maybe he was mentally handicapped. He was not. He was just a persistent salesman because he wanted a nice little cut of the profit just like our friend Dawit got. He asked if I was English. I laughed and said, “aiy” so he asked if I was American. I said, “aiy” (please forgive the lie, I just wasn't into chit chatting with the guy given our little experience with Dawit that I still hadn't recovered from!). He persisted in asking where I was from. I turned to him and said quite sarcastically, “Neny Abesha! Ow! Abesha!” (I'm Ethiopian! Yes! Ethiopian!) I was scarred to death at that point, as I didn’t know how my sarcasm would be taken. But it worked! We crossed the street and he didn’t follow. It probably helped that we stepped right in front of a taxi and he wasn't brave enough (or stupid enough???) to follow suit. Good grief!

We should have gone with our first instinct and eaten supper instead, as my legs were so sore from the long walk. Well, maybe they were sore from the time I spent jump-roping with Mihret. But still, all that walking, all that money, and we were still hungry. We could have fed the entire hotel for the price we paid just to get out of that place in one piece!

Now, mind you, Avery and I went back and forth on whether we should share this on our blog. We finally figured, what the heck? Of course we'll share it. It was definitely not funny at the time, but now it's kind of funny. Okay, it's kind of funny as long as we don't allow ourselves to think about how much money $70 is! At some future point, I'm sure it will be extremely funny! And if nothing else, maybe somebody else will recognize this scam when it happens to them so that they won't agree to go the way we did! Now, mind you, we were fully aware of the "bunna baet scam" but we didn't understand that the scam artists would befriend you on the street in order to draw you in.

Oh yeah, the next morning when we left the hotel, we saw Dawit hanging out in the alley behind the hotel! He saw us and he turned around and started running the other direction! We were solicited two more times this week. One time, it was the exact same scam for the exact same location. He had the exact same story about being a hotel employee. The hotel was very upset and assured us that neither man was an employee.

When I told my Ethiopian friend here in America, Abeba, what had happened, with her limited English, she just kept exclaiming, "He is a bad bad man! He did a bad bad thing! That was a bad bad thing!" For sure. A bad, bad thing indeed!

***Disclaimer to my family who might be reading: please don't have a heart attack. You're reading this blog, so we obviously made it back to America in one piece. Just to make you feel better, I'll let you know now that nothing else that dramatic happened to us that week. The rest of the week was much better than that first day. :)

Ferinj!!!

2007-01-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

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This is what it looks like if you walk down the streets of Ethiopia and you happen to be a ferinj like us! Talk about turning heads! It's really hard to blend in here. :) Coming next week, you'll get to hear about how the silly ferinj ended up drinking the most expensive Coca-Cola of our lives.

Love At First Sight

2007-01-10T21:43:00.000-05:00

I expected to hear Avery's mosque ringing in the dawn this first day here, but I didn't. (Read Avery's blog about his first trip to Ethiopia in July if you don't know what I'm referencing!) In fact, I never once heard a mosque the entire time we were there! Avery says it's because he was on the other side of the hotel last time, right next to the mosque. So, instead, we slept until about 9:00 AM before we got up. We got ready and headed for the orphanage with a bunch of supplies. When we got there, we were told that we had to come back during visiting hours, so we left the supplies and headed out to explore until 3:00PM, the hour I have awaited for a very long time now.

Really, we didn't do much that first day in the way of exploring, as we were both just so ready to be with our kids! We went to the Shola Market for a little while. It's an open-air market, smaller than Merkado and more geared toward locals than tourists. And it smelled like Ethiopia to me. You know, incense, bunna, goats, berbere, fire, sewage at some places, and Ethiopian cooking. Ahh... the smell of Ethiopia; the smell of being near my children; the smell of adventure and excitement.

We took about 20 pounds of chocolate to Ethiopia with us and never left the hotel without our pockets full, so we handed out some chocolate. However, it quickly became evident that the market, though small, wasn't a very good place for this. We were almost immediately surrounded by people wanting some chocolate. It was one of those "okay, let's get out of here NOW moments." Silly ferinj! (white foreigners) Lesson learned. :) The first lesson of many on this trip!

Finally, after a day that seemed entirely too long, it was time to head for the orphanage. It is within walking distance of both our hotel and the market, so we pretty much always walked. We turned off of the main road and headed down a dirt alley. There it was. The huge green gate that keeps their orphanage secure. As we approached, I couldn't hear any children, but it was surreal to know that my Yosef and Mihret were separated from me by nothing more than a sheet of metal. The orphanage guard opened the gate when we knocked and we bowed ever so slightly, a sign of our thanks. Then one of the nannies brought our kids out from one of the rooms of the orphanage into the little paved courtyard and in an instant, my heart melted. I really can’t even put words to what it was like to first lay eyes on them. The moment I saw them was…I don’t know….they were so very much mine. Suddenly, right before my eyes I was looking at my children. Just an overwhelming flood of love…unconditional love…they were so much smaller than I expected. They’re both very tiny, especially Mihret. And very shy too. Yosef was wearing a sports jersey Avery gave him in July and Mihret was wearing a necklace and ring that we sent her a while ago.

The four of us sat on a bench for a little while as I tried to soak in the fact that we were finally together. Yosef wanted me to see his room, and he proudly showed me his bed where his Amharic Bible that Avery had given him in July was neatly laid next to his pillow. He told me that he reads it everyday. He showed me his journal that we had sent him a while back. He has used it, which is what I was hoping for when I sent it. He has glued pictures of his favorite sports stars into it, especially pictures of "Reyes", his favorite Arsenal soccer player. On one page was a picture with the words, "I love Mom" and on another page, a picture with, "I love Dad." He showed me all of his pictures that we've sent. This kid loves our family so very much and he wants nothing more than to come to America with us. I think that only God could have given his heart such a deep understanding of this. I was truly shocked at how much he identifies himself as a part of our family. Pleasantly shocked, that is!

Mihret wanted me to see her room too. She showed me her "Abesha" doll that sits high on a shelf in her room. It's a Barbie doll that I transformed into a traditional Ethiopian woman. She also showed me all of the other things we've sent her. She really likes the pictures of her room here in America especially. She especially likes the pictures of her bottom bunk bed with a new baby doll sitting on it. I looked at her Abesha doll and asked the doll, "Samesh mano?" (What is your name?) and Mihret thought that was funny. Finally, I got to hear her famous to-die-for giggle in person. And I assure you, she has a giggle that truly is out of this world. This first day, I didn't get to hear her voice though, as she is a typical Ethiopian child and whispers whenever she talks to me. A friend of mine who grew up in Ethiopia explained that often, the culture dictates that children are to be seen and not heard, so children learn to whisper when speaking to adults. She mostly just smiles and whispers occasionally. She is so beautiful. Everything about her is beautiful. I can see in her eyes that her heart is beautiful and radiant too. I can't wait until her true self starts to come out. She has lost a tooth too. When I noticed, she was quite proud of herself and told me (through Yosef) that as is the tradition, she had thrown it on the roof. She said that there are lots of teeth up on the roof!

Our visiting hours lasted from 3-6:00 that first day, Saturday. Needless to say, they were all too short, but truly, no amount of time will satisfy my heart until they are safe and sound in America with our family. They had started to warm up quite a bit by the time we left.

I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around these kids and lavish my love upon them the way I do with Kaitlyn and Lucas. But because I love them so much, I knew that I had to restrain myself, lest I scare the daylights out of them! I have to love them quietly and let them come to me when they are ready. This is exactly what it's like with Jesus. He just quietly knocks on the door to our hearts, asking us if we won't please open our lives up to His incredible love. He's not pushy though. He knows that unless we willingly choose Him, that our love won't be genuine and lasting. But when He gently waits for us and we respond to His love, it's a love that's so deep and real that we can't possibly turn away from Him. So it is with our adopted children. We love them unconditionally as we wait for them to return that love. And in allowing them that time and space, we are assured that their love is deep and genuine. From their hearts. And what a special, priceless gift that is. No hugs or kisses from my kids today, but stay tuned, as tomorrow is a new day and there is still more to come of this tale. Hint: It only gets better! :)

I really hate that the Ethiopian government doesn't want picture of orphans on the internet! I know that every agency's policy on this is slightly different and I honestly don't know what our agency's policy is, or if they even have a policy. But, I figure I'd better just wait. It's really too bad because I sincerely think that I have the two cutest kids on the entire continent of Africa! No, I'm completely serious about this! Below is a picture taken by Mihret of Avery and me at the orphanage. For now, it will have to do. Once we have a courtdate though, this blog will be full of pictures!

We're Home!!!

2007-01-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

We've actually been home for a few days, but I haven't had a chance to post anything. You see, I came home to a throwing-up Lucas, then I spent a few days throwing up myself (jet-lat/exhaustion/migraine induced), and now today, Lucas is throwing up again! Anybody want to come for a visit to our house right now????

I will spend the next several days giving an account of our time in Ethiopia. I will be telling the tale for the benefit of those in our family, our local church, our local friends, and those who haven't had the good fortune to experience Ethiopia first-hand. So, for those who have already had this experience, please forgive me if I seem to belabor the obvious. Maybe I can be used to help recapture for you what it was like when all of this was still so new.

First, let me just say that it is a very long plane ride to Ethiopia, especially if you're prone to motion-sickness and Dramamine makes you feel completely out of your mind. Enough said.

On the plane, you can follow the plane's path on a monitor that tracks location, altitude, temperature, etc. As we traveled across the endless Sahara Desert, it was so exciting to know that Ethiopia was getting closer by the minute. As soon as I could look down to the earth below and know that I was seeing Ethiopia, the land of two of my children, I began to cry. So much of this week is nearly impossible to capture with words, as the human heart in a situation like this is so teeming with emotion that it's perhaps impossible to describe. But I will try. I can't really say why I cried. It's been nearly two years since we took those first steps in this adoption, so maybe it was just the release of two years of anticipation. And yet, it was something deeper. Something that my heart has felt for this land since I was a little girl watching the famine of the 1980's on television. It was like God was showing me the fulfillment of a deep connection to this land that had previously existed only in my heart...

Later, as we began our decent over Addis Ababa, I was once again overwhelmed with emotion knowing that somewhere in the dark city below, Yosef and Mihret were fast asleep in their beds, completely unaware of the arrival of their Mom and Dad who had traveled so far just to be with their babies. The entire world felt right knowing that I was so close to my children for whom I have prayed since before either of them was conceived.

Once we left the airport, I smelled first-hand all of the smells of Ethiopia that Avery had brought home with him on his luggage after his first trip to visit our kids in July, 2006. That first night, the smell wasn't so bad; a mixture of city traffic, berbere, incense, bunna, fire, and goats. It was the smell that signified the nearness of my children. I loved that smell.

I was as emotionally prepared as I could have been for the overwhelming poverty. However, I wasn't ready after that long, tiring flight for my first glimpse of true poverty to be looking into the eyes of a dirty little boy asking for money, signaling that he was hungry, separated from him only by the taxi window. As Avery handed him some money through the front window, I sat in the back seat with tears streaming down my face, knowing that two years ago, my Yosef was this dirty little street kid.

Yes, there was a lot of crying that week in Ethiopia! There was also a lot of laughter, a lot of pain, and a lot of peace. My life lately has reminded me of Charles Dickens novel, "A Tale of Two Cities" where he opens the book by writing, " It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..." I slept very little that first night in our tiny hotel room that had a smell that never did become identifiable. How can a mother sleep under the weight of anticipation that comes from knowing that in the morning, her children will be in her arms for the first time?!

Below is a picture of the great unpacking of Yesus on the Streets that happened that first night. Not a very flattering picture of me! But let me just say that any direction you turned, you saw a flood of treasure-filled ziploc bags. We had to climb over them to get to the bathroom, the door, and the TV. I'll get to Yesus on the Streets later in the week. For now, let me just say that it didn't turn out anything like what we expected. But we're completely confident that it turned out exactly as God intended it. But you'll have to wait. :)

10 Days/ Truly Perfect Injera At Last Thanks To Abeba

2006-12-18T16:16:00.000-05:00

ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT UNTIL I GO TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET MY YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!

And, the other exciting thing that happened to me today is that I have made a truly perfect injera at last thanks to my new friend Abeba. Abeba called me today to say that she was going to make injera, so I drove to her house and watched and learned. There is a step that she did last night that I missed, but the next time she does that, she is going to call me. Then, I think I can do it on my own. I actually made the injera in these pictures! I am so proud of myself! I have a whole stack of injera on my counter that I made! Also, Abeba had an entire 25 pound bag of teff that she only paid $30 for! I have been paying about $6 for a tiny little bag that is probably just about 1 pound! Who knew all of these secrets?! Evidently, Ethiopians living in America know all of these secrets, and now I get to know them too!

11 Days/ Families Needed

2006-12-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

11 DAYS LEFT!!!! The packing of treasure-filled gallon-sized ziploc bags has begun! Our living room is filled and I can't seem to find a tape measure to measure the potential suitcases. The response to Yesus On The Streets has been phenomenal. There are so many truly caring people out there. The kids have touched me the most. I'm amazed at their selflessness. "Inspired" is the word.

Below is a video that I wanted to share with my readers. If you haven't already adopted, but have that "tug" in your heart (If you've had that "tug", you know exactly what I'm talking about!), please consider adoption. The children in this video will give you some pretty good reasons why this is so important.

Music Video:ALL I REALLY WANT (by Steven Curtis Chapman)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

12 Days!!!!/Mitad

2006-12-16T21:19:00.000-05:00

JUST 12 DAYS UNTIL I GO TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET MY YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!!!

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I would like to share what I have learned about this well-kept secret of making injera in America- the mitad. We had supper with some new friends last night who are from Ethiopia and Abeba showed me her mitad. This wonderful cooking device that a couple of Ethiopian women now have said can only be purchased in very large cities that have large Ethiopian populations is the exact same item that our local Target sells! It is available online by clicking here. This is what Abeba uses as her mitad. Now, you must have a lid to cook injera, so you need to purchase a lid separately that will fit. Yene addis wadadj (My new friend) is going to let me come to her house so that I can actually watch and learn how to do it. She said that something else that is essential is a blender. Evidently, in Ethiopia, she stirred the injera with her hands and it was find. But in America (elevation perhaps?), the only thing that works is to stir it by putting it into a blender. She said that once her blender broke so she used a food processor, but that didn't work. It must be a blender. So, a blender it is.

It occurred to me the other day that there are lots of shortcut recipes for injera, some of them not so bad. But they're just not the real deal either. For me, the quest to learn how to make injera stems largely from the desire to honor the cultural heritage of two of my kids. It has to do with honoring their parents. We are supposed to honor our parents, and I feel that by honoring their culture, their parents are being honored as well. That's why I won't settle for a shortcut recipe. I want the real deal. Mihret told Avery that her favorite food is injera! I must learn this! :) I've been discussing injera via email with a woman who lives about an hour from me, who is also an American mother to adopted Ethipian children. We've been trying to share all of the secret tips we've picked up. It suddenly struck me that we would be extremely entertaining to any Ethiopian woman! It would be like me watching two Ethiopian mothers dicussing the finer technicalities of making mashed potatoes, yet still not coming up with good mashed potatoes! Perhaps someday I'll be such a good injera maker that I will have Ethiopians lining up at my door in the hopes of having the opportunity to buy my injera...hmmm....what is that verse in the Bible about faith being the evidence of things hoped for and not yet seen?

14 DAYS!!!!/Mitad

2006-12-14T08:52:00.000-05:00

Just in case anybody missed my happy little ticker at the top of my blog, we're now down to 14 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE TO GO TO ETHIOPIA TO VISIT OUR YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!! I've had so many thoughtful personal emails sent to me that have used the phrase "bitter-sweet" in regard to our trip. True, I wish this was the trip to bring our kids home, as we've waited a very long time. But as of yet, it doesn't feel bitter. Just sweet. The wait and separation from my children has felt bitterly painful at times. But this visit is only sweet. I love a song that says, "You turn the bitter into sweet..." Indeed, God is turning the bitter pain into only sweetness. And He is so good to me. Knowing how painful it will be to leave Ethiopia without my children in my arms, it looks like He has opened a door for us to escort a baby back to his new family in America. It already brings me such a measure of comfort to know that my arms will at least have somebody else's baby to love on that long plane ride home. God knows my heart so well. He knows how much comfort it brings me to have a baby in my arms.

Now, I have learned a most valuable and well kept Ethiopian secret about injera! I just can't seem to get the right consistency. So, last week I traveled an hour and bought some injera from an Ethiopian restaraunt. When I got home, I discovered that the local woman who made it had a sticker on the bag with her name and phone number! So, I decided to call this wonderful injera maker named Tenu. I explained to Tenu who I was and that I had tried for over a year to make injera, but just couldn't get it quite right. I asked her if I could pay her to give me a cooking lesson. She thought this was quite funny and agreed to help me free of charge. Then, she asked me if I had a pan. I told her that I have a frying pan. She said, "Oh no. You need a special pan." She said she'd find out what it's called and where to buy it and call me back. She hasn't yet.

So, on Saturday we had lunch with our new friends Tedros and Abeba. Abeba knows exactly how to make injera and said that she will teach me. She said that the name of the special pan is a "mitad" and that it is what they call the clay fire pit in Ethiopia. In America, you can buy an electric mitad. Who knew?????? In all of my research on injera, I have never come across the word mitad before! BUT, if you do research on the word mitad, you will find all kinds of nice sociological and anthropological articles discussing the use of the mitad to make injera in Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djbouti, and Somalia. Also, the mitad is used in Congo, but I'm not sure what they cook on it. I just can't believe this special stove/pan wasn't mentioned in anything I've found about injera! It's expensive though. I only found one place to buy it online and it was $190. Tenu said she thought you could get it in DC for $90. So, I am going to use all of the money I get for Christmas, which will hopefully be enough, and try to find myself a mitad when we go to DC to catch our plane in 14 DAYS- THAT'S RIGHT- JUST 2 WEEKS!!!!!!

Must See Video Concerning HIV+ Ethiopian Orphans

2006-12-13T16:48:00.001-05:00

This is a must-see video. It features the well known HIV+ Ethiopian orphanage, AHOPE. This is an issue that has become very near and dear to my heart these past months. Also in the video is Dr. Jane Aronson, known as "The orphan doctor" for her care for orphans and children adopted internationally. Also, Dr. Sophia Mengistu appears briefly. She is the doctor who cares for my children in their orphanage while they await their homecoming to America. It is 12 minutes long, so if you have dial-up, you might need to bypass this one or wait until a time when you're not in a hurry.

By the way, only 15 DAYS UNTIL I GO TO ETHIOPIA TO VISIT YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!

Click here to see the video.

Must See Video Concerning HIV+ Ethiopian Orphans

2006-12-13T16:48:00.000-05:00

In 16 Days I'm Going To Ethiopia To Visit My Kids!!!

2006-12-12T16:40:00.000-05:00

That's right! In 16 days at this time, I am scheduled to be in Washington DC trying to find the airport with Avery so that we can get on an airplane headed for Addis Ababa where I will spend 4 1/2 glorious days with Yosef and Mihret! A most precious woman has given us the best gift ever- two tickets to Ethiopia! My babies can't come home to my family, but what a measure of comfort and peace I have in knowing that very soon I will be with them. God reminded me of my lament from a couple of weeks ago when I realized I wouldn't know Mihret while she was still five. Indeed, I will know her while she is still five! :)

So, anybody who still wants to send a bag, I need to have them by Dec. 23 so that I will have time to pack. We know a man (who generously helped us to fund our adoption) who is from North Carolina, but he spends about 6 months out of each year in Addis doing humanitarian and community economic development projects. He's a most humble, generous man. He will be helping us to distribute the bags so that those in need will receive them and also to ensure safety for Avery and me. Some call it a small world- I call it God's sovereignty- but this man is going to be on the same flight as us going to Ethiopia!

As far as our adoption, our agency is still awaiting their relicensure. It seems that once some requested documentation is provided to the Ethiopian government, the license is expected to be issued. Of course, this all takes time. I would ask though that if you're reading this, and if you're the praying type, that you take a minute to pray for the director of our agency. She had been traveling for the past couple of weeks in Africa when all of this was discovered about the documentation. On top of the stress of having to deal with that, her adult son has become critically ill and she is having to deal with that too. As a mother, my heart aches for her right now. Hopefully good news will be coming soon. But until then, I'M GOING TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET MY KIDS!!!!!!