Hezen Baird Lebs- "Baby Blanket"

This is the hezen baird lebs (baby blanket) I made for a very dear friend who just had a tiny little baby boy. I got the idea from an adoption group on Yahoo and I sort of adapted the idea for this gift. I asked the friends and family of my friend to each give me a 6x6 inch square of fabric to be quilted into a baby blanket. Some people chose cute little "baby prints" while other selected fabrics that were significant in a personal way. Each person was then supposed to attatch a piece of the same fabric to a card for the baby, wishing him blessings, prayers, etc. That way, the giver of each square can be identified. I worked day and night for almost a week to finish the blanket in time (the baby came early!), and in the end, it was all worth it just to see how much my dear friend was touched by the gift.

Locks of Love

This is a picture of my daughter, Kaitlyn, with her friend Katey. The girls have a friend at church, Shannon who has alopecia, a skin condition that prevents hair growth. Both Kaitlyn and Katey had waist-length hair and decided that they wanted to cut and donate their hair to Locks of Love on behalf of their friend, Shannon. Both girls absolutely love their new do's!

A-feck-a-shallow- "I love you"

A-feck-a-shallow is the Ethiopian way to say "I love you" when addressing a female...well, sort of. When we made our Ethiopian kids a DVD of our family a while back, we tried out our knowledge of Amharic (which is tinesh tinesh- "small" to say the least!). There's something to be said for effort! Anyway, when Avery was in Ethiopia, the director of the orphanage said to him, "About your DVD..." It seems that everybody in our family said "A-feck-a-shallow" to our daughter and "A-feck-a-hallow" to our son, which does mean "I love you" but it's a very romantic way of saying "I love you"....I'm amazed that they still let us adopt after that! For those of you with Amharic speaking kids, we've discovered that it's much more appropriate to say "A-wad-a-shallow/hallow"! No wonder all of the kids at the orphanage laughed when they watched our DVD! There's no telling what else we said that was completely inappropriate! It's a wonder social services didn't pay us a visit after that DVD. :)

Aver- "Avery"

Aver seems to be the Amharic word for Avery. Well, at least that's what I assume since most of the kids at our agency's orphanage called him Aver all week! Avery got home on Monday afternoon from Ethiopia where he spent the week with our two Ethiopian children. Now, Avery has an awesome blog. He has only had his for a few months longer than I've had mine, but he has had over 1,000 visitors! Yea, quite impressive. Anyway, I've not previously posted a link to his blog on my blog because...well... sometimes he prints things that are a bit brash and could possibly be offensive to my family or our church. You see, I'm the p.c. one in the family. But, hey, I guess my family and our church already know Avery anyway, and what's the point in putting on a facade to please the public? So, I'm going to be referring all of you in my family and in our church to Avery's blog for the latest updates on how his trip to Ethiopia was. He will be writing all about it throughout the next week or so. So, check out my awesome (though somewhat unorthodox) husband's blog!

Avery's Blog

Kimale Yesusio- "Praise Jesus!"

Avery is in Ethiopia right now, and what a blessing to have him with our two Ethiopian children this week! For this blessing, kimale Yesusio! (Praise Jesus!) They both sound so wonderful- all of the kids at their orphanage sound wonderful. Our son's favorite women are ME!!!! and two other teenage girls at the orphanage. His favorite drink is sprite, just like Lucas. Our daughter is very very sweet and loves to quietly draw pictures, just like Kaitlyn. It turns out that the version of "I love you" that we told the kids on the video we sent is a very romantic term! oops! No wonder all the kids laughed when they watched it! :)

Things aren't looking so great for us to get a court date before the courts take their recess, but we won't give up hope until they actually close. As much as I want them home right now, and as much as my heart is broken that they are not with me, I'm overwhelmed with the sense that God is faithful to a thousand generations. When Avery met their grandmother, she kissed the cuffs of his pants while praising God.These children are dearly loved by their grandmother and were dearly loved by their mother before she died. I felt in my heart before we ever knew who these kids were that God was going to restore to them a Christian family so that He could honor their mother by caring for her precious offspring. Indeed, God is faithful to a thousand generations. He has shown his faithfulness to their grandmother, to their mother, to me, and he will be faithful to these children. He's faithful to a thousand generations, and what God is speaking to my heart is to not fear or be anxious, for He is also faithful to THIS generation.

To A Thousand Generations