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I've neglected this blog for quite some time. Life continues to become more and more full, thankfully it is all great stuff! Facebook has been much easier to keep up with so meet me there if you want! Maybe someday I will get back to posting here but I'm checking out for the time being.

Zeway Trip Video

The youngest member of our Zeway team, Drew, is 13-years-old. He put together this awesome video below from our trip. I think I've watched it 5 times, not wanting to forget a moment or a face. Please take time to watch the video.

Guess Who Lost Her First Tooth?

Lily let me pull her tooth! I was so honored she would trust me to pull her little tooth out. My brave girl did not cry at all even when it took me 3 attempts to get her tooth out. I was more nervous than Lily. She lucked out that my parents were over at the time and her grandfather was the high paying tooth fairy. She told us she is saving up to buy a horse.

Day 3 Recap

I'm way behind updating this blog on our ET trip. Aside from travel and busyness related to Chris's Ironman (yes, my husband is a total bad ass) my latest excuse is my fried computer and Dell's delay in shipment of a new laptop. I'm using Chris's computer right now.

I'm looking over my notes from Wednesday, May 27, wondering where to begin, wondering how so much happened on this one day. I can't share it all here without rambling but will try to hit the highlights.

I awoke in Ethiopia on my birthday. Seriously I could not have dreamt up a better gift. I still can't believe I'm here and that I get to be a part of this project. Plus I get to begin each day with the most delicious Ethiopian macchiatos (or 3-4 throughout the day).

We spent the morning playing with children in Bulbula, a village near Zeway. These children are part of FHI's child development program. The children are incredible, inspiring, strong. They are financially poor beyond our limited American imagination yet they sport the most dazzling smiles and infectious spirits.



They taught us their version of the duck, duck goose game --- wow, our version is so lame.

Next up we visited a child in the Child Head of Household program (CHH). Pictured below in the denim jacket is Meko (age 12) and her sister (age 17) who have lived on their own for 3 years. There is an obvious affection between them. The older sister quit school to care for Meko. She cooks, knits crafts for income, makes sure her sister gets to and from school on time and completes her homework each day. I'm in awe of this big sister who has been "mom" since age 14, and continues to love with a level of selflessness that I can only hope to emulate.

Kasim, Meko's FH social worker, is in the photo on the left. This guy radiates big time joy. Chris and I could not help but laugh and smile with Kasim around. His passion is contagious. After asking him about his typical day and wondering how in the world he fit so much in a 24 hour period, I asked him - "how do you recharge, do you get a day off???" He looked at me with great confusion and replied that he has the best job in the world. I began to realize our own culture of evenings and weekends off...does not occur here yet there seems to be no "burn out."

Next we met Leul, one of the younger kids in the CHH program. While foster families and adoption by non-relatives are uncommon in Ethiopia, Leul is one of the CHH children who has been placed with a foster family. He is now attending school regularly and excelling.

We also met Mieso today. After his parents died he went to a more rural area of Ethiopia to live with his grandmother. However because there was not a nearby school FHI helped to find him a foster family in Bulbula where he can now attend school.

The biggest thing I prayed about before coming on this trip was that I would see the hope. I felt anxious about coming here, meeting these children, catching a glimpse of how they live and then having to walk away, get on a plane and return home, knowing they were still orphaned, struggling and alone. Truly, with each home visit, in spite of the incredible poverty, I have seen great hope -siblings, caring neighbors, foster families, school attendance. I'm sitting there in these tiny mud huts and as bizarre as it might sound, I'm seeing hope. I'm so excited to be a part of this project and to have the opportunity to see change for the better and to see these kids SMILE.

And to top it off, sweet friends sang happy birthday to me at Lake Zeway. Beautiful, beautiful day.

Day 1 and 2 Recap

We left Austin around noon, May 24. Our route took us to Washington D.C., then to Frankfurt and finally to Addis Ababa, arriving 8pm, May 25 (ET is 8 hours ahead of Austin). It feels familiar to be back, a bit like a homecoming. I kept fighting back tears thinking of not only our son's adoption but that this country is a huge part of him, and now a part of me too. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be back in Ethiopia.

From the airport we were off to Bole Rock (hotel) where we would spend the night before driving to Zeway in the morning. We were thrilled to connect with our children via Skype knowing it was very unlikely we would be able to call/email while in Zeway. Lily's first question was, "have you seen any giraffe or zebras yet?" Next it was lights out, time for bed, turn back on the lights, battle mosquitoes, then lights off once again. I'm still glad to be back:-)

Tuesday, May 26 - Our group met up for breakfast with Kristen, an FHI staff who has been living in Zeway the past 3 years. She was on her way back to the U.S. to work on a master's degree at the University of Denver. You could see in her eyes how hard it was to leave. I wondered what it had been like for her living in rural Africa for 3 years, the impact she was able to take part in, the needs that still needed to be met, and the only white face in Zeway (population 30K). Here we also met Rob from FHI. Rob would become our glue - keeping us together, on task, on time, and out of trouble. I love this picture of Rob looking at his watch. His patience was remarkable.

We walked 6 blocks to the FHI office in Addis for a team meeting before heading to Zeway. Reading I Corinthians 12:12 and John 13, we discussed team unity and serving one another and ended our meeting by washing one another's feet. It was a first for me and humbling to have my feet washed. It definitely thickened the glue of our team.

We loaded up to caravan to Zeway. I looked forward to the 120 km drive, to see more of Ethiopia. We saw acacia and fig trees, camels, women walking carrying heavy bundles of wood strapped across their backs, small children herding cattle, goats and sheep. Driving in Ethiopia would be a challenge even for NYC cab drivers. Mike Gould, our worship pastor from Grace, was riding with us and aptly compared it to playing Frogger. Our driver, Alem, was wonderful, and aside from one very near head on collision, we felt very safe.

And then...we arrived to Zeway. This is where our trip really gets going. This is where we began to learn why we had come so far from Austin to Zeway. We chose to go on this trip primarily based on James 1:27 which says "pure and undefiled religion is to visit orphans and widows..." Chris and I felt strongly God wanted us to go VISIT these orphans in Zeway. And, so here we are. We would quickly realize this trip held much more.

Arriving at the FHI compound in Zeway we joined a meeting underway between FHI staff and Zeway area community leaders (includes community leaders from Zeway and other nearby villages, including Christian, Muslim, teachers, govt, etc.). FHI had been working to engage the local community for quite some time. The staff shared a presentation on the CHH (Child Head of Household) project we started last Fall, explaining why we were in town. One of the community leaders then stood and shared the impact it made on him that we would travel so far to help orphans in his own community, and that because of it, he wanted to do more, get involved. The rest of the community leaders agreed. We had just arrived and already God was allowing us to see the fruit of our trip. We would later learn that leaders from Zeway and nearby villages committed to support 8-10 additional orphans in each of the villages! This is huge. We are talking about people who are already quite poor compared to U.S. standards committing to provide food, shelter, clothing, education, etc. to the most vulnerable in their communities - orphans. It was humbling. All we did was walk into a room. By obeying God's call to visit orphans, He was allowing us to be a part of something incredible.

And it is only 2pm.

After this meeting we broke into 3 teams and loaded up to go meet the orphans we have been supporting and praying for since last Fall. These faces we have been studying in photos, we would now get to meet face-to-face.

My team (Chris was in a different group) drove out to meet Beyelign, pronounced like "violin" but with a "B". This boy is in his early teens and lives with two brothers in a room smaller than my closet. Their home is one room with a dirt floor, and mud walls. Beyelign is going to school, his favorite subject is physics and he enjoys playing soccer. This small room he lives in, is part of the compound where his family lived before his parents died. Now he and his brothers rent out the rest of the compound to another family for income. We asked Beyelign about the meaning of his name. This is important in Ethiopia as parents continue to give their children names with personal meaning. Beyelign shared that his father died while his mom was pregnant with him. His name means "I wish you could have met your father." All I could think about what how his name sounded like the word "violin" which to me, its music often sounds soulful and haunting. When I asked what he would like to do after finishing school he replied, "I would like to do something to help orphans like me succeed." Much of Beyelign's story is heartbreaking. Yet I walked away hopeful. He has two older brothers. The family renting out the rest of the compound looks out for them and sometimes invites them into their home after dark, shares injera with them. At least there is someone closeby looking out for him. He is going to school and thinking about his future. He has a FHI social worker who sees him weekly and is building a relationship with him. It is not a life we would hope for our children but there is hope.

Our next visit was with Sophia. Sophia walks aided by crutches. She lives alone in a tiny 1 room, mud walls, dirt floor house that floods when it rains. She is in the 9th grade and also does embroidery to earn income. She hopes to one day start a small business with her craft. FHI is helping her look into this. She was cheerful and sweet. She loves children and storytelling. I loved her smile. She talked about her faith in Christ and how it filled her with joy and light. Again, I sat there and felt hopeful because she was hopeful.

We met back up with our group at the FHI compound, grabbed dinner and then checked into our Zeway hotel...which literally does not have a name. Our toilet did not flush. No water ran from the sink or the shower. I looked at the bed and was thankful I brought my own pillow, but wished I had also brought a set of sheets. Then I remembered all we had seen that day, got over my American over indulged self and crashed to sleep. Well, we might have stayed up a bit.

HOME

We arrived home yesterday after 24 hours travel. Aside from only sleeping two of those hours our flights and connections went smoothly. I slept 11 hours last night and woke up thankful not only for the sleep but to be in my own bed and under the same roof as my children. All of my 450 photos are stored on Chris's hard drive but hopefully I can get some posted this evening when he returns home from work. We had such limited internet access but I did journal each day and will post lots of those details.

The trip was incredible - heartbreaking but full of HOPE. Thank you to everyone who has supported us in this project. We are grateful to be included in your prayers. You are as much a part of this as we are. Thank you for walking alongside us.

We Are Here!

We were blessed with smooth travel and are now in Ethiopia!  I did not know what to expect flying back here but definitely fought back tears as we landed.  This is the place of my son's birth, his heritage and it holds a piece of my heart.  It is very special to be back.  We just grabbed a bite to eat and are checked into our hotel for the night.  We leave tomorrow for Zeway.  We will break into a few teams and do home visits with the children supported through this project.  We do not expect to have an internet connection for several days.  Will try to update when we can.  Keep praying for us!

Day 1

I'm sitting here looking at our packed bags which include 5 suitcases of humanitarian aid we are blessed to carry to Gladney in Ethiopia. Actually our group has about 9 suitcases of aid but only 5 of those are in my entryway. My mother-in-law (also named Chris) sent an email to her friends last week and quickly began delivering to us suitcases of aid (weighing no more than 50lbs each!). It was incredible. My husband and I have been swamped with last minute details and trying to soak up every minute with our children. Thank you, Chris, for your work to gather this aid and simplify it for us. You are a blessing to us (not to mention the sweet children in Ethiopia)!

We leave shortly for the airport. Not sure if/when we will be able to update here but we will make every effort. Here we go!

Tick Tock

Our departure to Ethiopia is just two days away. Thank you so much to those of you supporting us financially and/or prayerfully. You have been an immense encouragement to us. We are so excited to return to Ethiopia. When we traveled to bring our son home in August 2007 we certainly left a piece of ourselves there. While we had hoped and prayed to return, we did not realize it would be so soon. We feel blessed to have this opportunity and can't wait to share with you what God shows us.

As you know we have been working on a project with our church and Food for the Hungry (www.fh.org) to raise funds to support a group of 48 "head of household" orphans in Zeway, Ethiopia. These children have lost both parents and are living on their own (not in an orphanage) raising themselves and often younger siblings. These children are extremely vulnerable. Support has begun to flow to these children through FH staff in Zeway. We will visit these children, get to know them, see their living conditions first hand, and do long term planning. We look forward to seeing what God has in store.

Our hope is to share live updates from Ethiopia but connectivity will be unpredictable. We will email and/or post updates on our blog. Upon our return we do plan to post pictures and lots of details, so come back and check in with us here.

It is humbling to have the God of the universe take us halfway around the world to be part of what He is doing in the lives of these 48 children. Please pray for our safe travel and that we will know how to be an encouragement to these children. Please also pray for our own little ones who are staying with my parents - and for my parents:-)

Again, we appreciate your support and encouragement. Can't wait to share this adventure with you!

FIVE

Just one week until we depart. I am trying to soak up every minute with our children. I hate thinking about being gone from them for 10 days. Our oldest will turn 5-years-old on the day we depart. We have taken the liberty of rewriting the calendar a bit this month and celebrated her birthday last weekend, Texas style, at a local ranch complete with pony rides. Our Lily is a lover of animals, particularly horses and dolphins. Being land locked we opted for a horse party. She declared it "the best day ever."

Stories with African Endings

There have been many ways that our Zeway team has prepared for the Zeway trip. We have had chapters to read out of manuals, trip logistic discussions, vaccinations to get, prayer and team building time.


We had our final prep meeting last week discussing and seeking God's truth on how we mentally, spiritually and emotionally prepare for the sights, sounds and smells we will experience in Ethiopia. Poverty in Africa is like no other experienced in the world. And the team is coming from a culture in which prosperity is experienced like no other place in the world.


Which made it especially timely that the pastor of our church (Grace Covenant Church,) Matt Cassidy, taught a couple weeks ago a sermon entitled "Faith to Endure" (click here to listen), focused on Psalm 42. The introduction to this sermon was that we have values as Americans that are culturally true but not biblically true. In our value system, the ending of our stories always end happily. It is as if we don't know how to respond to anything else. In most parts of the world, endings are not happy. The psalmist says in 42:3, "My tears have been my food both day and night".

Nothing could be more true for the people of Ethiopia in a literal sense that we can't even comprehend. Because of our deeply embedded value system, there is a valid fear that when we are faced with a culture like Ethiopia, where orphans are thrown aside, parents die of HIV/AIDS, food and water is no where to be found, and children die of diseases that are easily cured here, we may place a barrier between ourselves and the Lord with the big question "WHY?". "Why do you allow such suffering?", "Why do you not do something?", "Why do I have all that I have?"

Matt Cassidy's spoke directly to how we overpower this fear. In Psalm 42, the psalmist says many times over to himself "Hope in God. Hope in God" . It is believing in this that is the only true emotional and spiritual preparation for the poverty in Zeway. Our hope in this world is not in a trip to Zeway to love on 48 orphans, our hope is not in the billions of dollars sent in aid, our hope isn't even in teaching men how to fish instead of giving them fish. Our hope is in the Lord. Our hope is in His eternal perspective and His faithfulness in working out all things for good. Our hope is in His return to rule over His kingdom in the way He intended.

So, there may be 3 ways we can return from this trip: 1. bitter and blaming God for the world's suffering. 2. Complacent and with a loss of hope that anything can get better. OR 3. Hoping more fervently and with more conviction that only in Christ's return will the wrongs in this world be righted. We are praying for #3.

Funny

Want to hear a funny story? So last summer Christopher signed up to participate in his first Ironman. Yes, my husband is beyond human, nuts, and he pretty much rocks. Anyway, you have to sign up for this race a year in advance. Registration opened the day after the 2008 race concluded and was filled within days. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 21, 2009 is where Chris has planned to be since June 2008.

Late last summer we also began to discuss a trip back to Ethiopia as part of this Zeway project we are so blessed to work on. Before Christmas we learned that it was very likely the Ethiopia trip would occur late May, early June. Chris looked at me and said, "I'm out. It just does not work with the Ironman." I agreed and within 60 seconds we decided I would go to Ethiopia with the group since he would need to remain in Austin for training - seeing as how that was just about the time he would need to peak for the race. It was just simple Bauer logic.

A week or so before our first Zeway trip meeting in January, out of the blue, Chris said, "You know, I would really love to go to Ethiopia. I wish I could make it work out somehow. But it just does not make sense, right?" I agreed I just could not see how it would work, although I would love for him to join me. The following day our friend, Matt Kouri (who is also going on the Zeway trip), called Chris and asked, "Is there any way we could work around your training so you could go to Zeway?"

That evening Chris and I decided, you know - we should back up and start where we should have began in the first place...actually praying about it and seeing what God would have us do versus what we think makes sense. Let me think...my peon brain versus GOD. Yes, back up and pray. Let's do that.

Laughing, Chris and I both arrived for that first Zeway trip meeting in January. We were giggling and shaking our heads at how absurd it was for Chris to consider going on this trip after all the time, money and sweat Chris had invested in this Ironman. It just did not make sense. BUT, he was feeling strongly that God was leading him to join us on this trip and for us, that was all that mattered. It didn't make sense but we've learned better than to argue with the God of the universe.

It gets funnier.

One of Chris's partners at his accounting firm has a client - Glimmer of Hope. They are based here in Austin and they do incredible humanitarian work in Ethiopia. As it turns out, as part of the audit, SOMEONE needs to visit a few of Glimmer's project sites in Ethiopia....hmmm...just about the time Chris and I will be there. Wonder who could do that? Again, we found ourselves laughing.

We also found ourselves encouraged at God's further affirmation that in spite of it makeing no sense to us, Chris is supposed to go on this trip. We have yet to figure out how in the world he is supposed to swim/bike/run in Ethiopia, and we are taking a step of faith in hoping he won't get sick.

By the time we return from Ethiopia, Chris will have just 2 weeks until we head to Idaho. I love God's sense of humor and the way He teaches us that He knows the big picture and all we see is this microscopic view. I can't wait to see how it all works out.

Zeway Update

We continue to plan for our Ethiopia trip in May. Our current focus is raising financial support for the trip and shots, lots of shots. Chris and I need to get a couple extra immunization shots as we will be traveling outside the capital city this time. Lily and Claire are excited to watch us get shots since they (and Zane) are usually on the receiving end of that needle at well check appointments.



Our team met with Food for the Hungry's in country director to Ethiopia last month. He was in town and able to provide the group with more details on our day-to-day iteniary while in country, as well as cultural insight. We were also excited to send him back to Ethiopia with these:









...these sweet little hand cutouts made by the children in our church for the Zeway orphans. I divided them up into 48 envelopes and marked each envelope with the child's name so they would have something of their own to open.

Last week Chris and I went to visit The Gladney Center in Ft. Worth to attend an Ethiopian cultural dinner. The infamous Belay (Gladney's in country director to Ethiopia) was in town, and as always it was such a treat to visit with him and get a bit of an update on the children in Ethiopia. There are now estimated to be 6 million orphans in Ethiopia. Just 400 of these children were adopted last year. Gladney's staff works tirelessly on behalf of so many children, and not just in relation to adoption but in terms of programs they have developed to help those that are not being adopted - leadership programs, college scholarships, job training, etc. To learn more about Gladney's humanitarian projects in Ethiopia and to donate, visit here.

My Comedian

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work

Going


Going


Gone

Zeway Faces

These are the sweet faces we get to visit!

Ethiopia Bound, AGAIN!

Yep, Chris and I are Ethiopia bound! I am excited, thrilled, amazed, and humbled. I still can't believe we get to go back so soon. And no, we are not traveling to bring home a sibling for Lily, Claire and Zane (although they are already asking for another sibling, and we do hope to adopt again one day). This trip is about 48 children who have lost both their mothers and fathers, and are living on their own, raising themselves and often their siblings.


Imagine Leul who is 14-years-old and lives with his 12-year-old sister. His father passed away 12 years ago and his mother died 3 years ago. They survive by the support of their neighbors who help with room rent and food expenses. Leul is in the 5th grade and has asked for prayer for he and his sister that they would be successful in the future and would contribute to their country. He also requested prayer for the daily necessities for sustaining life and their ability to attend school.






Imagine Ibsa who is 14-years-old and lives in a closet-sized room on the compound where his family used to live. He has lost both his parents and a sister. He has a brother that lives in a different village who helps pay his $5/month rent. Ibsa is extremely lonely. He requested we pray for his success in school and to live with someone who could be his family.




Can you imagine? I can try to imagine but I think I only allow my brain and heart to go so far. The heartache is too much.


Our church set out to raise a reasonable sum of money to provide assistance to these 48 children. The money was designated to go towards food, clothing, shelter, education, small business development and hopefully towards identifying local families that can adopt these children within their own communities. Our church blew us away because within just 2 weeks God provided over 3 times the amount of money we hoped to raise!


We are so blessed to have partnered with Food for the Hungry on this project. Their staff continues to visit with these children and provide us with updates. We know the names of these children. We have their photos. We know their stories. They know about us - this small group of people in Austin, Texas that are praying for them, raising support, and planning to soon come visit. It certainly does not come close to replacing a loving mom who tucks them in at night, hugs them before they go off to school, feeds them, and encourages them. It does not replace a loving father who provides them with shelter, guidance, and security. We hope it offers them some hope that someone out there, even so far away, cares and is working and praying on their behalf.


Lily, (my oldest daughter who is four) recently asked me a tough question. She asked, "are these orphans God's children too, like I am?" I told her, "Yes, these children are very important to Him and He loves them very much just like He loves you." She asked, "then why does He not give them food to eat and families to care for them?" I told her that God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He also tells us to care for, and visit orphans. God has blessed our family with resources and wants us to give these children food and help them find families. When we ignore the suffering of others, get caught up in our own materialism and comfort, we disobey God. He does not make His people obey, just like I can not force my little ones to obey. He gives us a choice.


Something we frequently discuss with our children is that when we disobey, bad stuff happens (natural consequences of our actions/choices) but that when we choose to obey, good stuff happens (blessings, joy). For example, if (ok, WHEN) one of our kids throws a tantrum, they have to take a "time out" from playing to cool off. But when they respond in love to one another, they get to continue to have fun, learn together, and play.


Chris and I have made bad choices, we continue to screw up - but we are works in progress. God continues to work on us and our hearts, teaching us how to better "love one another". God led us to adoption and has used it to teach us more about Him. I have learned much through adoption about how He sees me, how much He loves me, how powerful and real He is, and how He wants good for us and longs to bless us.


We are so fortunate to be connected to this project, and humbled to have the opportunity to go to Ethiopia in a few months and spend time with these children. There is much more to this story that I will share in the next post. So come back and visit!

Happy Birthday Zane!

Little man Zane is two-years-old today. He was sick yesterday and I actually loved it. All he wanted was for me to hold him as he dozed on and off throughout the day. He was so sweet and cuddly. He is better today but we will hold off celebrating until next week. I would like to claim that Zane's fever is the result of his delayed celebration but...

In all honesty, it sucks being the third child and mama has not spent any time planning a bday celebration. I love birthdays but my plate has carried extra items these last few weeks and a certain someone's birthday snuck up on me in the midst of it.

In other news, my Ironman-in-training husband completed his third marathon on Sunday! I'm so proud of him. The kids swung between enjoying trying to catch Daddy at as many mile markers as possible and so ready for him to be done so they could go home. The pics to prove it....

waiting for Daddy with Gu in hand...


Still smiling...


Still cheering!

And then they had enough.

But the reward is sweet...and short. You might have just run 26.2 miles but a Daddy still has to carry kids and get everyone home for naps.