I thought you would like to read this story and to know that there are people in our state who are willing and able to jump in and go to work for us when we need help. His office has told us that if they can help in any way to bring "Vince" home they are happy to do that. This is a nice story.
"Sen. Paull Shin is a name you don’t hear much around Olympia. As a legislator, he doesn’t speak very much on the floor of the Senate, but when he does it’s with a calm and assured demeanor. Never inflammatory, he’s rarely mentioned in the press. Nevertheless, Sen. Shin is one of the strongest voices in Olympia.
Sen. Shin’s journey from his native Korea to the halls of government is one of the most unlikely and amazing stories in Washington state history.
A childhood none of us could imagine
Shin was born in Japanese-occupied Korea in 1935. His mother died when he was four years old; shortly afterward, his father abandoned him in the streets. With the brutality of the occupation and the world at war all around him, Shin grew up in conditions that even Charles Dickens couldn’t imagine. Eating spoiled food and wearing filthy clothing, he had no relatives and no friends. Shin survived in the open elements through Korea’s sweltering summers and frigid winters. Just surviving until the next day was often a struggle.
“I remember at night, crouching down in the street and looking up at the stars,” said Shin. I would start tearing up and crying for my mother.” When he tried to go to school in Korea to improve his situation, they kicked him out on first sight.
In 1950, communist North Korea invaded South Korea. Under a United Nations directive, the United States led an international coalition to defend South Korea. Many residents of Seoul fled south to Pusan after U.N. forces were able to secure the area on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Shin joined the exodus. He was almost halfway there when news arrived that Gen. Douglas MacArthur had captured Seoul. Shin headed back to the capital city.
In their hasty retreat, both the U.N. forces and the Korean People’s Army had knocked out all the bridges crossing the major rivers. Walking north, Shin came upon a United Nations pontoon bridge crossing the Han River. Unable to cross (soldiers guarding the bridge gave priority to military vehicles), Shin begged the passing soldiers for food. Finally, one day an officer grabbed him and put him in his truck. The officer was part of a U.S. Army medical unit. The soldiers instantly took a liking to Shin, offering him a job at their base and making him a houseboy for the officers. For the first time in his life, Shin was able to bathe, wear clean clothes, and eat on a regular basis.
Even at the base, Shin felt alone in the world. Like before, there was no one he could talk to or be friends with. At night, he would sneak outside and look up at the stars, crying, thinking of his mother. One night, one of the officers from the base came upon Shin.
“I looked up at this man who was looking at me,” said Shin. “The next thing I know, he was hugging me with his big, powerful arms. That was the beginning of my new life.” The officer was a dentist named Ray Paull. Through the remainder of the war, Shin and Paull developed a close, father-and-son relationship. When the war ended, Paull adopted Shin.
Coming to America
It took nearly a year for the adoption paperwork to go through the system before Shin could start his new life in the United States. In 1954, he met his new family at their home in Salt Lake City. In honor of the man who gave him a new life, Shin changed his first name to Paull. Once Shin was here, he didn’t waste much time. He had always dreamed of getting an education, and now he had the opportunity.
At an age when most American children were finishing their primary education, Paull Shin was just beginning his. There were a few problems starting out. All of the schools in the area rejected Shin because of his age, his lack of previous education and his lack of English skills. However, this didn’t deter Shin. With the help of his new family, Shin started a GED program.
“I remember only getting three hours a sleep a night while I was studying, trying to memorize the English dictionary,” said Shin. “My new father and family were there supporting and believing in me.”
In less than 18 months, Shin finished his GED. He then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University. After a brief spell in the U.S. Army, he went on to get his master’s degree in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, and another master’s and a doctorate from the University of Washington.
While at the University of Washington in the Korean Studies Program, Shin rediscovered himself. “I had terrible feelings. I felt rejected by Korea,” he said. “When another Korean person would come up to me, I felt embarrassed because I didn’t know how to speak and read Korean.” Through the Korean Studies Program at UW, Shin was able to rediscover the country of his birth — something he has always been grateful for. Many years later, when the program faced the budget-cutter’s axe, Shin led the effort to not only fund it, but also set up a permanent endowment so the program could continue as a vital link between the two countries.
After teaching in Hawaii for a few years, Shin decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest. In 1969, he took a job at Shoreline Community College as a professor of history and East Asian civilization. He taught there for more than 26 years.
Into state politics
Paull Shin got involved in politics when, in 1976, Gov. Dan Evans called on Shin to help him increase trade with Korea and Japan. Through many changes of administration in the governor’s office, Shin served as a trade ambassador to the state, a role in which he continues to this day. By 1987, both parties were actively recruiting him to run for office. Secretary of State Ralph Munro tried to get him to run as a Republican, while Gov. Booth Gardner tried to get him to run as a Democrat. Gardner won out..."
Daniel Brunell
Article for Association for Washington Business.
12/30/09
12/23/09
Paperwork update
I just found out from the people in DC that the documents that we sent- to arrive no later than 8am this morning- did NOT get there until between 9-10 and they are Not being processed until Monday. We were hoping that they would be processed today, sent to the agency tonight and off to China tomorrow night, but God had a different plan apparently and so we are waiting on His direction and His processing power.
We had 1 month from yesterday, so this is getting pretty tight- ok really tight- but nothing is too big for God if this is what He wants to have happen.
I'll keep you posted and please keep praying that God would want us to have "Vince". We are ready if He is willing.
We had 1 month from yesterday, so this is getting pretty tight- ok really tight- but nothing is too big for God if this is what He wants to have happen.
I'll keep you posted and please keep praying that God would want us to have "Vince". We are ready if He is willing.
12/22/09
Wild Day in Olympia
The beat goes on.
Yesterday was Secretary of State day for the Weinbergs. We had to take all of our paper work down to Olympia to be authenticated and notarized. Since one of the documents had been notarized with a stamp that is now expired- apparently they cannot change stamps until the day of expiration- we had to go back to that person and have her re-notarize it for us, which meant we had to wait for their shop to open. We did that and were on our way down to the capitol.
We hadn't quite made it to Lake Stevens proper and I said, "Are you sure we have everything we need before we drive all the way there?" Teresa asked me a question about a document that I had received in email form. I had been waiting for it by fax and then the lady in DC decided to email it to me instead, so that was a bit confusing; was I waiting for a fax still, no it came by email.
Then there was still a letter that was supposed to be delivered from someone, I can't remember who, from again somewhere on the east coast, "Did we already get that one?". 'I think before we go all the way to Olympia that we had better go back home and make sure we have every single piece of paper we could ever need".
As we were driving home we past Kimmy leaving for Seattle with Ian and we waved as we passed. We got home and about 2 minutes later Kimmy walked in the front door; "What happened, aren't you guys going to Olympia". "Yes" we replied "But we think there might be a package we are waiting for on Fedex". She walked into the house, picked something, I don't know what up, and walked back out. She came back in 5 seconds later and said, "Fedex is here". Thank you Lord for not making us wait and for not letting us get all the way there w/o that piece of paper.
Still a little frazzled we made sure we had every thing we needed and headed back down. The mall parking lots are bursting as we drive past on the freeways- people attempting to find the perfect gift that will change their "listed people's" lives, while being in a frenzy because they waited until the last second to purchase this life changing gift. I'm glad I am on my way to Olympia- should we ever be super excited to go to Olympia to visit the Secretary of States office?
We get to the office and the people there are really nice. They do this kind of thing all the time, so they know a bit more about what they are looking for than we do, but each state and country is a bit different and each agency has a different set of docs, so they are not totally sure what they are looking for either.
We found out that they expect every doc to be notarized before it gets to them, even though our agency made it sound like there would be some that would have to be authenticated and notarized by them. The lady said it happens all the time, but thankfully she didn't send us home or back out, she just did that for us.
We had all of our family background checks done previously, with the home study, and we had to go to the local police station to get one done for Washington state, which really made no sense to me, since that is wHere T has lived almost her entire life. Our home study provider sent the ones they had to us, since we had already paid for them. We handed them over to the lady at the SofS office and she said she had never seen this form before, it always looked different. She advised us to go the WSP and get a new one and have it notarized while we were there. So off we went to WSP.
We got on the computer in their lobby, since it is cheaper to do that then have them input it for you, and finished that up, but then the lady there told us it would be between and hour and 1-1/2 hours to get that back completed. In the mean time we had copies to make, so we went for a late lunch and went to Kinkos to copy all the paper work.
We had thought that we needed to wait to copy all these forms until oAter the authentication took place, but the SofS lady said that this was incorrect and that many agencies tell their people the wrong thing to do, since once they have been authenticated the forms cannot be separated from each other. Ok, we'll do that now.
We checked the PU time for Fedex while there and got the copies made, went back to WSP and picked up basically the same forms as we had previously, just now they were notarized by them and back to the SofS's office.
Everything looks great there. They were really fast and told us of a BofA that was closer than the one tHe other lady had told us, as we needed to get a cashiers check to send in the packages for the processing fees for all these docs. Got the cashier's check and went back to Kinkos to send them all off.
While there we explained to one of the staff what we were trying to accomplish and he was excited because his sister is in the process of adopting. We have a lot of docs to send and some are going one place to be processed and some are going to another, but could arrive with the other packet. So we wanted to put them all in one single envelope so the first person could do the work and then send them all to the next person. "No problem, here is how we need to do this", was his reply.
He grabbed an envelope and had me put the docs in that one, but then it was not large enough to accommodate all the other papers, so I took those out of that one and asked if he had a larger one. He did so I took those papers out and transferred them. There is a point to all this rambling.
He finished the transaction with us, but had not put the stickers on the envelope. T and I were a little reluctant to leave w/o those stickers and the address being on the envelope, but after about 2-3 minutes I finally told her we were going to leave and let God handle this. We left, got in really thick traffic on the way home, were late to Garrett's non league game, which he didn't start, so it didn't matter thatf we weren't on time.
I went to the concession stand, at half time, to get a hot dog since we ate a long time ago, and went to pull out my wallet, which is normally in my jacket pocket. I put it there when I am logging many miles in the car, so it doesn't make me "crooked" in my back pocket. It wasn't there. It wasn't in my pants pocket. "Oh no, did I leave it at Kinkos in Olympia"?
I went out to the truck and thankfully it was on the floor of the back seat- it had fallen out of my coat pocket sometime in the long drive home. "Thank you Lord".
The rest of the night was uneventful and we got home, relaxed a bit and T checked the voice mail on the home phone. A message from the Kinkos guy in Olympia. A client of theirs had found our checks in the "first" envelope and they had not gone on with our forms. When I had taken the docs out of the first envelope the checks must have slid out of those papers and were in the bottom of that envelope and not made the transfer to the bigger envelope. They put them in the safe over night and I have to call him this am to give him instructions.
When T let me listen to the message all I could do was laugh and think about how many obstacles we had to cross and how many places we could have fallen down and what would have seemed to be one of the easiest parts ended up being the crashing point. God gave us some glimmers along the way yesterday and He can still make all this work. It's really is too big for us now and it will be fun to see what He does with all this.
Please pray that all this gets done in time, especially with all the holidays and weekends in the middle of it all. I'll keep you posted.
Yesterday was Secretary of State day for the Weinbergs. We had to take all of our paper work down to Olympia to be authenticated and notarized. Since one of the documents had been notarized with a stamp that is now expired- apparently they cannot change stamps until the day of expiration- we had to go back to that person and have her re-notarize it for us, which meant we had to wait for their shop to open. We did that and were on our way down to the capitol.
We hadn't quite made it to Lake Stevens proper and I said, "Are you sure we have everything we need before we drive all the way there?" Teresa asked me a question about a document that I had received in email form. I had been waiting for it by fax and then the lady in DC decided to email it to me instead, so that was a bit confusing; was I waiting for a fax still, no it came by email.
Then there was still a letter that was supposed to be delivered from someone, I can't remember who, from again somewhere on the east coast, "Did we already get that one?". 'I think before we go all the way to Olympia that we had better go back home and make sure we have every single piece of paper we could ever need".
As we were driving home we past Kimmy leaving for Seattle with Ian and we waved as we passed. We got home and about 2 minutes later Kimmy walked in the front door; "What happened, aren't you guys going to Olympia". "Yes" we replied "But we think there might be a package we are waiting for on Fedex". She walked into the house, picked something, I don't know what up, and walked back out. She came back in 5 seconds later and said, "Fedex is here". Thank you Lord for not making us wait and for not letting us get all the way there w/o that piece of paper.
Still a little frazzled we made sure we had every thing we needed and headed back down. The mall parking lots are bursting as we drive past on the freeways- people attempting to find the perfect gift that will change their "listed people's" lives, while being in a frenzy because they waited until the last second to purchase this life changing gift. I'm glad I am on my way to Olympia- should we ever be super excited to go to Olympia to visit the Secretary of States office?
We get to the office and the people there are really nice. They do this kind of thing all the time, so they know a bit more about what they are looking for than we do, but each state and country is a bit different and each agency has a different set of docs, so they are not totally sure what they are looking for either.
We found out that they expect every doc to be notarized before it gets to them, even though our agency made it sound like there would be some that would have to be authenticated and notarized by them. The lady said it happens all the time, but thankfully she didn't send us home or back out, she just did that for us.
We had all of our family background checks done previously, with the home study, and we had to go to the local police station to get one done for Washington state, which really made no sense to me, since that is wHere T has lived almost her entire life. Our home study provider sent the ones they had to us, since we had already paid for them. We handed them over to the lady at the SofS office and she said she had never seen this form before, it always looked different. She advised us to go the WSP and get a new one and have it notarized while we were there. So off we went to WSP.
We got on the computer in their lobby, since it is cheaper to do that then have them input it for you, and finished that up, but then the lady there told us it would be between and hour and 1-1/2 hours to get that back completed. In the mean time we had copies to make, so we went for a late lunch and went to Kinkos to copy all the paper work.
We had thought that we needed to wait to copy all these forms until oAter the authentication took place, but the SofS lady said that this was incorrect and that many agencies tell their people the wrong thing to do, since once they have been authenticated the forms cannot be separated from each other. Ok, we'll do that now.
We checked the PU time for Fedex while there and got the copies made, went back to WSP and picked up basically the same forms as we had previously, just now they were notarized by them and back to the SofS's office.
Everything looks great there. They were really fast and told us of a BofA that was closer than the one tHe other lady had told us, as we needed to get a cashiers check to send in the packages for the processing fees for all these docs. Got the cashier's check and went back to Kinkos to send them all off.
While there we explained to one of the staff what we were trying to accomplish and he was excited because his sister is in the process of adopting. We have a lot of docs to send and some are going one place to be processed and some are going to another, but could arrive with the other packet. So we wanted to put them all in one single envelope so the first person could do the work and then send them all to the next person. "No problem, here is how we need to do this", was his reply.
He grabbed an envelope and had me put the docs in that one, but then it was not large enough to accommodate all the other papers, so I took those out of that one and asked if he had a larger one. He did so I took those papers out and transferred them. There is a point to all this rambling.
He finished the transaction with us, but had not put the stickers on the envelope. T and I were a little reluctant to leave w/o those stickers and the address being on the envelope, but after about 2-3 minutes I finally told her we were going to leave and let God handle this. We left, got in really thick traffic on the way home, were late to Garrett's non league game, which he didn't start, so it didn't matter thatf we weren't on time.
I went to the concession stand, at half time, to get a hot dog since we ate a long time ago, and went to pull out my wallet, which is normally in my jacket pocket. I put it there when I am logging many miles in the car, so it doesn't make me "crooked" in my back pocket. It wasn't there. It wasn't in my pants pocket. "Oh no, did I leave it at Kinkos in Olympia"?
I went out to the truck and thankfully it was on the floor of the back seat- it had fallen out of my coat pocket sometime in the long drive home. "Thank you Lord".
The rest of the night was uneventful and we got home, relaxed a bit and T checked the voice mail on the home phone. A message from the Kinkos guy in Olympia. A client of theirs had found our checks in the "first" envelope and they had not gone on with our forms. When I had taken the docs out of the first envelope the checks must have slid out of those papers and were in the bottom of that envelope and not made the transfer to the bigger envelope. They put them in the safe over night and I have to call him this am to give him instructions.
When T let me listen to the message all I could do was laugh and think about how many obstacles we had to cross and how many places we could have fallen down and what would have seemed to be one of the easiest parts ended up being the crashing point. God gave us some glimmers along the way yesterday and He can still make all this work. It's really is too big for us now and it will be fun to see what He does with all this.
Please pray that all this gets done in time, especially with all the holidays and weekends in the middle of it all. I'll keep you posted.
12/19/09
Crazy Week
Last Thursday I had shoulder surgery- torn rotator cuff- and I scheduled it only AFTER I consulted the surgeon informing him that on Friday our entire family was scheduled to go to Dept. of Homeland Security and be finger printed. He informed me this would be no problem and I told him if there was going to be ANY issue that I should schedule it for this week. Again, no issues.
It is awesome that God has allowed people to be smart enough to create all these different medical devices that allow repairing a shoulder that was pretty up with just 4 little holes and I came home the same day; though I was pretty beat.
We went, on Friday morning, to Tukwila, about an hour and a half drive from here, and took all our paperwork in. It's like the airport except they don't really seem to be protecting anything. I don't think there are a bunch of people who are going to try to hijack that building, but maybe I am naive.
We arrived early- in true Weinberg form- and then got our numbers. They called me up and took one look at my arm in a sling and decided that it would be too risky- for them- to finger print me. Humm. I told them the story about the surgeon and they told me that I would have to get a note from the doctor before they could proceed. I knew he had surgeries scheduled for Fridays but I couldn't not get these done if there was any possible way on my end. I got the doctor to write a note and he faxed it in. Then the man in charge told me that it didn't matter if I had a note of not, they were going to make the decision whether or not they were going to finger print me. Humm, why did I trouble the doctor to do that??
We arrived at 11:30 and finally left, all finger printed, at 1:30. Kind of nuts.
Then we had all our paperwork and now we have to get it in the mail. Next day here, same day processing there, fax this thing to them and emails burning up the airways. Will we actually get this all completed in time? Only God knows the answer to that question. It will literally comes down to the last day or 2 I'm sure, but God has this all planned out and if "Vince" is supposed to be part of our family, more than just in our hearts, then it will all get to the right people in time. Pretty crazy.
On Monday we have to go to Olympia and get a bunch of paperwork notarized, certified and authenticated. I had to next day my birth cert. to NJ, since that is where I was born, in order for them to authenticate the paper they sent me. Humm? You send it to me and then I send it back to you so you can make sure it is right. That seems a bit odd, but we are trying to play be the rules and get through the "game" as fast as we can.
Anyway, it seems as if adopting an international child who is about to age out is about as miraculous as conception. We have 3 kids to prove that God can do miracles, so it's easy for Him to do another.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement along the way. I'll keep you posted as we go along. BTW, I am supposed to be in a sling for at least 4 weeks and then I get to do some very light resistance exercises. I think I am going to be gimped up for quite a while, but this is all part of His plan so I had better just enjoy the process.
It is awesome that God has allowed people to be smart enough to create all these different medical devices that allow repairing a shoulder that was pretty up with just 4 little holes and I came home the same day; though I was pretty beat.
We went, on Friday morning, to Tukwila, about an hour and a half drive from here, and took all our paperwork in. It's like the airport except they don't really seem to be protecting anything. I don't think there are a bunch of people who are going to try to hijack that building, but maybe I am naive.
We arrived early- in true Weinberg form- and then got our numbers. They called me up and took one look at my arm in a sling and decided that it would be too risky- for them- to finger print me. Humm. I told them the story about the surgeon and they told me that I would have to get a note from the doctor before they could proceed. I knew he had surgeries scheduled for Fridays but I couldn't not get these done if there was any possible way on my end. I got the doctor to write a note and he faxed it in. Then the man in charge told me that it didn't matter if I had a note of not, they were going to make the decision whether or not they were going to finger print me. Humm, why did I trouble the doctor to do that??
We arrived at 11:30 and finally left, all finger printed, at 1:30. Kind of nuts.
Then we had all our paperwork and now we have to get it in the mail. Next day here, same day processing there, fax this thing to them and emails burning up the airways. Will we actually get this all completed in time? Only God knows the answer to that question. It will literally comes down to the last day or 2 I'm sure, but God has this all planned out and if "Vince" is supposed to be part of our family, more than just in our hearts, then it will all get to the right people in time. Pretty crazy.
On Monday we have to go to Olympia and get a bunch of paperwork notarized, certified and authenticated. I had to next day my birth cert. to NJ, since that is where I was born, in order for them to authenticate the paper they sent me. Humm? You send it to me and then I send it back to you so you can make sure it is right. That seems a bit odd, but we are trying to play be the rules and get through the "game" as fast as we can.
Anyway, it seems as if adopting an international child who is about to age out is about as miraculous as conception. We have 3 kids to prove that God can do miracles, so it's easy for Him to do another.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement along the way. I'll keep you posted as we go along. BTW, I am supposed to be in a sling for at least 4 weeks and then I get to do some very light resistance exercises. I think I am going to be gimped up for quite a while, but this is all part of His plan so I had better just enjoy the process.
12/7/09
12/3/09
Roller Coaster
Well this has been a roller coaster since we came back from Ethiopia.
There was no agency, then one came on and then went back off and today it appears as if God may have provided not one but 2 agencies to get these kids into homes. Time will tell and we'll know more on Monday or Tuesday, but it looks as if there is a real solid one that will start taking applications as early as today.
Praise God for His amazing provision for these kids. he never fails.
There was no agency, then one came on and then went back off and today it appears as if God may have provided not one but 2 agencies to get these kids into homes. Time will tell and we'll know more on Monday or Tuesday, but it looks as if there is a real solid one that will start taking applications as early as today.
Praise God for His amazing provision for these kids. he never fails.
11/20/09
Hard News
Much happened yesterday but one of the big things is that the agency that I posted about on the 13th decided yesterday that they were not going to work with KKids.
Hard news to hear but God has a plan and it is way bigger than I can imagine. Please pray for all who are involved that they would trust Him to care for these children and that He would provide for this situation exceedingly, abundantly.
Much is happening on this front and He must work in an amazing way for this all to work out. This is certainly not beyond His control or out of the scope of His power, we must take all things to Him in prayer.
Hard news to hear but God has a plan and it is way bigger than I can imagine. Please pray for all who are involved that they would trust Him to care for these children and that He would provide for this situation exceedingly, abundantly.
Much is happening on this front and He must work in an amazing way for this all to work out. This is certainly not beyond His control or out of the scope of His power, we must take all things to Him in prayer.
11/14/09
Ethiopia Slide Show
I am currently scheduled to show the slide show from our trip on Sunday morning. It will be in the SS class 1st hour at GBC. You can send me an email-chuck@pricelessgranite.com- if you have questions or need directions. It should be fun.
11/13/09
New Agency
For a few weeks now we have been praying for KKids agency situation; they had one that they had been working with for quite some time and that stopped and so there was no easy way for them to get the kids placed w/o an agency partner. Well, in very "only God" form, He came through for them and they not only have an agency, they have the agency that costs the least amount of any they had on the table.
Michelle is very excited, as they already have 4 families in the process, with the new agency, and quite a few more ready to jump in. This will mean that some of the kids we saw in Ethiopia will be placed in the not too distant future. God is so good. I hope that some of them will come to Washington so we can see them periodically. Our hearts are certainly connected with them.
It has been fun to watch God work all this out and He generally waits until there is no other way before He does act. In this way He maximizes the glory as there is no way we can claim any of the work. He is good.
Please continue to pray for the kids and the workers. Please pray that God would continue to bring families that want to adopt and that He would be moving in the hearts of the children to draw them to Himself. If they come to America to have a family and are not in His, they have not improved their situation. Please also pray for another agency to work with KKids, as this would allow them to place even more kids. God is THE Protector and Provider and it is up to Him to work and do those things, but we must still ask.
Michelle is very excited, as they already have 4 families in the process, with the new agency, and quite a few more ready to jump in. This will mean that some of the kids we saw in Ethiopia will be placed in the not too distant future. God is so good. I hope that some of them will come to Washington so we can see them periodically. Our hearts are certainly connected with them.
It has been fun to watch God work all this out and He generally waits until there is no other way before He does act. In this way He maximizes the glory as there is no way we can claim any of the work. He is good.
Please continue to pray for the kids and the workers. Please pray that God would continue to bring families that want to adopt and that He would be moving in the hearts of the children to draw them to Himself. If they come to America to have a family and are not in His, they have not improved their situation. Please also pray for another agency to work with KKids, as this would allow them to place even more kids. God is THE Protector and Provider and it is up to Him to work and do those things, but we must still ask.
11/11/09
Tick, Tick, Tick
I have to share all these stories- tales, as my friend Curtis calls them- with you because it is so amazing to see God work in the small and the big things in our lives.
Teresa and I had to send in a big packet of papers to the USCIS in Texas. What the letters mean really doesn't add to the story. We had received an 18 page set of instructions from our agency for use in a particular set of documents, but with any instructions there is room for interpretation, even if they are in English.
She had a few questions and so she called the agency before actually sending the paperwork and the cashiers check off. I had asked her if ALL of those papers needed to go and she told me she had talked to the agency and they gave her the nod. The problem was that they could not see what she was actually sending.
Off to the Fedex place. We went to the first place and found out that they did have cashiers checks, so we would be able to get the package off from this location. But then we found out that we had to have $1000 CASH in order to get it there. Yeah, like I am carry a grand around in my pocket. OK, not from this location.
We get the envelope paid for and then we had to get to the bank to get the cashier check. Drive 15 minutes, tick, tick, tick. The lady called ahead and said that the driver picks up at 4. We have a half an hour. OK, we have time.
We get to the bank, T runs in to get the cashiers check and runs back out. Tick, tick, tick. We go over to where the Fedex place is suppose to be, but we can't find it. We drive around the block, but it is not where we thought it was. Around the block again, but now from a different angle. "Oh, there it is". 4:06.
"Sorry, the driver picked up about 10 minutes ago". Ok, why all the driving around to miss the truck, by 10 minutes, until tomorrow?
We got home and the agency called and asked how it was going. Many questions and answers forth coming. Then the lady said something and I looked over to the counter with all the piles on it and noticed that the one BIG pile was completely gone. I asked some questions of her and T and came to the conclusion that we had sent too much paperwork in the packet. Then an hour later T looked through some more of her many stacks and noticed that there was 1 piece of paper that had gotten separated the pile that was supposed to go.
The next morning she went back down to the Fedex place and asked if she could take some papers out and add 1 in and they were nice enough to give it back to her so she could.
Humm, I wonder why the driver came just before we got there? I wonder why we had to go to the bank 15 minutes away to get the check? God is like that. He even cares about Fedex deliver and pickup times.
Teresa and I had to send in a big packet of papers to the USCIS in Texas. What the letters mean really doesn't add to the story. We had received an 18 page set of instructions from our agency for use in a particular set of documents, but with any instructions there is room for interpretation, even if they are in English.
She had a few questions and so she called the agency before actually sending the paperwork and the cashiers check off. I had asked her if ALL of those papers needed to go and she told me she had talked to the agency and they gave her the nod. The problem was that they could not see what she was actually sending.
Off to the Fedex place. We went to the first place and found out that they did have cashiers checks, so we would be able to get the package off from this location. But then we found out that we had to have $1000 CASH in order to get it there. Yeah, like I am carry a grand around in my pocket. OK, not from this location.
We get the envelope paid for and then we had to get to the bank to get the cashier check. Drive 15 minutes, tick, tick, tick. The lady called ahead and said that the driver picks up at 4. We have a half an hour. OK, we have time.
We get to the bank, T runs in to get the cashiers check and runs back out. Tick, tick, tick. We go over to where the Fedex place is suppose to be, but we can't find it. We drive around the block, but it is not where we thought it was. Around the block again, but now from a different angle. "Oh, there it is". 4:06.
"Sorry, the driver picked up about 10 minutes ago". Ok, why all the driving around to miss the truck, by 10 minutes, until tomorrow?
We got home and the agency called and asked how it was going. Many questions and answers forth coming. Then the lady said something and I looked over to the counter with all the piles on it and noticed that the one BIG pile was completely gone. I asked some questions of her and T and came to the conclusion that we had sent too much paperwork in the packet. Then an hour later T looked through some more of her many stacks and noticed that there was 1 piece of paper that had gotten separated the pile that was supposed to go.
The next morning she went back down to the Fedex place and asked if she could take some papers out and add 1 in and they were nice enough to give it back to her so she could.
Humm, I wonder why the driver came just before we got there? I wonder why we had to go to the bank 15 minutes away to get the check? God is like that. He even cares about Fedex deliver and pickup times.
11/9/09
What's going on with our Process?
I have purposefully left the last post on top for a long time in hopes that many would add their stories and "Thank you" to those who have done that.
Just a little update on where we are on our process. We have our home study completed-finally- and we are now starting the I800 form, which is a whole bunch of paper work that Teresa is really knocking out. This will all have to be completed and then we have to take it to Olympia to finalize it. Then finger prints and...
Last week I told the agency that it didn't seem like we had done that much paper work yet and really just had to answer a bunch of questions and wait. She told me that since the HS was completed that now was the time when we were going to have to do lots of paperwork. So here we go. If you have helpful hints about this process feel free to comment, as it seems like there are those, other than just us, who can benefit from your insight into these things.
Please be praying for "Vince" as I don't think if he knows yet and if he understands the process in China he may be getting discouraged at his chances of having a home. Also, pray that God would already be working in his heart, drawing him to Himself. It is amazing to think that God can work right now in his heart even when he may not be getting any Biblical teaching. There is a God shaped hole in each one of our hearts and God can make us see that it is empty whenever He wants. Pray that he would feel the great need he has.
Just a little update on where we are on our process. We have our home study completed-finally- and we are now starting the I800 form, which is a whole bunch of paper work that Teresa is really knocking out. This will all have to be completed and then we have to take it to Olympia to finalize it. Then finger prints and...
Last week I told the agency that it didn't seem like we had done that much paper work yet and really just had to answer a bunch of questions and wait. She told me that since the HS was completed that now was the time when we were going to have to do lots of paperwork. So here we go. If you have helpful hints about this process feel free to comment, as it seems like there are those, other than just us, who can benefit from your insight into these things.
Please be praying for "Vince" as I don't think if he knows yet and if he understands the process in China he may be getting discouraged at his chances of having a home. Also, pray that God would already be working in his heart, drawing him to Himself. It is amazing to think that God can work right now in his heart even when he may not be getting any Biblical teaching. There is a God shaped hole in each one of our hearts and God can make us see that it is empty whenever He wants. Pray that he would feel the great need he has.
10/9/09
Please Post a Comment
I know some of you who read this have adopted and I need you to tell the other readers about God's faithfulness in providing in all kinds of crazy ways to make that happen. This is a request from me to you to tell about how good God really is in order that those who are reluctant to start the process can be encouraged.
Please even just tell a little story.
Some have gone to pick up their kids recently, some have had them for a long time, I don;t really care which one you are please just share. I would love it if there were 50 stories on here about God's faithfulness. We can't praise Him too much.
Please even just tell a little story.
Some have gone to pick up their kids recently, some have had them for a long time, I don;t really care which one you are please just share. I would love it if there were 50 stories on here about God's faithfulness. We can't praise Him too much.
Ants
Teresa and I were talking yesterday about the needs we just saw a week ago in Ethiopia. There is so much need and we have so little resources. She said she feels like a little ant.
Imagine the ant going back and forth from the scrap of food to the ant hill. The ant doesn't get discouraged and say, "Well it's too little food for such a long walk so I just won't do anything". The ant leader picks the closest food and the colony starts the work. Back and forth, back and forth; one crumb at a time. What are they really getting done? This is way too much work for one little crumb, but is it?
If they didn't, each one, do their part the entire hill would die.
Now imagine that we are ants but we have God as our Provider. God gives us some work to do and it seems like the "crumbs" are really far from the "hill" but that is where we are called to work. We work each day going to and from that "crumb", and as we work we pray that God would deliver to us a feast closer to the hill. Well, it only takes God dropping an entire picnic basket right next to the hill to change both our attitude and the effectiveness of our work.
So, we must not get discouraged that we are undertaking too great a task. We must not grumble that God has made the task too far away. We must not grumble at His provision. We must rejoice in His provision and pray that He would give us fruit in our labors and if He decides to drop a "picnic basket" right next to us, then He alone is the One who is deserving of our praise.
I hope this encourages you as you contemplate God's faithfulness to the ant hill.
Imagine the ant going back and forth from the scrap of food to the ant hill. The ant doesn't get discouraged and say, "Well it's too little food for such a long walk so I just won't do anything". The ant leader picks the closest food and the colony starts the work. Back and forth, back and forth; one crumb at a time. What are they really getting done? This is way too much work for one little crumb, but is it?
If they didn't, each one, do their part the entire hill would die.
Now imagine that we are ants but we have God as our Provider. God gives us some work to do and it seems like the "crumbs" are really far from the "hill" but that is where we are called to work. We work each day going to and from that "crumb", and as we work we pray that God would deliver to us a feast closer to the hill. Well, it only takes God dropping an entire picnic basket right next to the hill to change both our attitude and the effectiveness of our work.
So, we must not get discouraged that we are undertaking too great a task. We must not grumble that God has made the task too far away. We must not grumble at His provision. We must rejoice in His provision and pray that He would give us fruit in our labors and if He decides to drop a "picnic basket" right next to us, then He alone is the One who is deserving of our praise.
I hope this encourages you as you contemplate God's faithfulness to the ant hill.
10/5/09
Opportunities Abounding
I got an email from Michelle last night; a very long email. I need to talk to her today and make sure I have all the facts straight before I post too much. But here is what I know right now.
They brought a good group of kids to the orphanage after we left; close to 20 more. They hit a hyena with the van and had to do some repairs to the van while on the road with all the kids. There are some relatively large financial obligations that are looming over head right now and with the US and world economies doing less than stellar, it is difficult for them to make ends meet. Michelle is still very hurt from all the slanderous remarks made about her on Australian TV; the entire program was very anti-Christian. Since their vision is to place kids in only Christian homes that makes them a key target. There are some real positive opportunities in Ethiopia right now, but all these things take dollars, and they just don't have lots of dollars right now. Now there are a lot of mouths to feed there and that all takes money and staff, which takes more money.
I personally don't even have any idea where to begin. The needs are so great and we don't have enough to "fix it", but God knows where the support will come from and He works in some crazy ways to show off His great power.
Please pray that Michelle and her team would have wisdom. That God would show Himself strong to provide for each one of these issues. That each one of us would trust Him in our daily lives and live in such a way that He would be shown great.
What can you do? Whatever God calls you to do, in whatever way He calls you to do it. Don't quench the Holy Spirit and don't limit His power to provide, but also don't feel guilty and then give. Pray that God would make it clear what you are supposed to do. The Macedonians were delighted to give out of their poverty, not because they felt guilty, but because God provided a way for them to show off His greatness as they were lead to give.
What is God going to do and how is He going to provide? I don't have the slightest idea, but it will be fun to watch Him work through His saint and then to watch Him provide for His faithful ones.
They brought a good group of kids to the orphanage after we left; close to 20 more. They hit a hyena with the van and had to do some repairs to the van while on the road with all the kids. There are some relatively large financial obligations that are looming over head right now and with the US and world economies doing less than stellar, it is difficult for them to make ends meet. Michelle is still very hurt from all the slanderous remarks made about her on Australian TV; the entire program was very anti-Christian. Since their vision is to place kids in only Christian homes that makes them a key target. There are some real positive opportunities in Ethiopia right now, but all these things take dollars, and they just don't have lots of dollars right now. Now there are a lot of mouths to feed there and that all takes money and staff, which takes more money.
I personally don't even have any idea where to begin. The needs are so great and we don't have enough to "fix it", but God knows where the support will come from and He works in some crazy ways to show off His great power.
Please pray that Michelle and her team would have wisdom. That God would show Himself strong to provide for each one of these issues. That each one of us would trust Him in our daily lives and live in such a way that He would be shown great.
What can you do? Whatever God calls you to do, in whatever way He calls you to do it. Don't quench the Holy Spirit and don't limit His power to provide, but also don't feel guilty and then give. Pray that God would make it clear what you are supposed to do. The Macedonians were delighted to give out of their poverty, not because they felt guilty, but because God provided a way for them to show off His greatness as they were lead to give.
What is God going to do and how is He going to provide? I don't have the slightest idea, but it will be fun to watch Him work through His saint and then to watch Him provide for His faithful ones.
10/4/09
I Need a Little Help here
For those of you have adopted previously and are much more savvy than I, will you add your thoughts to the site on the initial steps to adopting, please?
Since our return, and really before we left, we have some people in our church who are getting very excited about the prospects of adopting and want to know how they should begin, as well as where all the money will come from.
It would be very encouraging if you could just say a little about those 2 things. We started the process in a less than "normal" way and so if you could speak to this that would be great. Also, I know that all of you who read this are loaded:), and so if you could tell us some stories about how God provided for your friend's adoption, who aren't loaded, that would be awesome. I am giving you license to post a long comment.
It certainly is fun to watch our Magnificence God show off His power so we can only give Him glory when it is finished.
Since our return, and really before we left, we have some people in our church who are getting very excited about the prospects of adopting and want to know how they should begin, as well as where all the money will come from.
It would be very encouraging if you could just say a little about those 2 things. We started the process in a less than "normal" way and so if you could speak to this that would be great. Also, I know that all of you who read this are loaded:), and so if you could tell us some stories about how God provided for your friend's adoption, who aren't loaded, that would be awesome. I am giving you license to post a long comment.
It certainly is fun to watch our Magnificence God show off His power so we can only give Him glory when it is finished.
What's going on?
Just an update on the adoption process for our family.
Before we left I contacted the home study guy and he told me everything is going along fine. As someone who likes to keep the ball rolling and stay involved, it is a little difficult to just sit here and wait for others to do their part and not want to push, but he assured me everything was fine and that we would have time to get all the necessary components completed.
It is very interesting to be where we are right now and to watch God work. I am not sure, ministry wise, what it is that God has for us in the future. It certainly seems that He is changing our direction slightly, if not significantly, but at the same time He has not diminished our absolute love for the ministry we are currently in. So maybe He is just expanding it.
The great part about being in partnership with The Father in ministry is He knows EXACTLY where and what we should be, and He equips us to do the work that He has planned for us to do. When you sit back and think about that it really is amazing and can be overwhelming. The God of the universe has something very specific for each of His children and He doesn't ever give us anything we can't handle. In our weakness He is strong and I am much too weak to do any of this on my own, so it is good that He is really strong.
In Ethiopia I was expecting Teresa to be much more overwhelmed than she was, and at least as emotional as me, but God really protected her and she was able to contribute much. Often it is hard to think objectively when emotions get in the way and God worked mightily in and through her.
So how is God going to use us, with our new son coming soon and the kids going off and doing their own ministry things? I have no idea. But that is the best part. I don't have to know and I don't have to be concerned with any of the details. He is in control and He will direct our paths when we wait on Him. All of these things are for our refining and make us into useful vessels for His Kingdom. We get to participate in ministry for The King. WOW.
As I am still not a little messed up on the time change I was reading this morning James 1 and was thinking about how often I hear The Word and discount it as if it is for someone else. There are some pretty pointed statements in this passage and also some pretty encouraging as well.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
We certainly don't want to be deceiving our own heart, which are deceitful enough without us helping, but look at the end of this section. When we act on what we hear and know to be right and we persevere, God blesses us in our doing. He blesses our work when we do what we are obey. He doesn't have to make that promise, but He does.
So, what does God want form each one of us? He wants us to trust Him and obey. And the words of the song are true that when we do this we will "be happy in Jesus".
Before we left I contacted the home study guy and he told me everything is going along fine. As someone who likes to keep the ball rolling and stay involved, it is a little difficult to just sit here and wait for others to do their part and not want to push, but he assured me everything was fine and that we would have time to get all the necessary components completed.
It is very interesting to be where we are right now and to watch God work. I am not sure, ministry wise, what it is that God has for us in the future. It certainly seems that He is changing our direction slightly, if not significantly, but at the same time He has not diminished our absolute love for the ministry we are currently in. So maybe He is just expanding it.
The great part about being in partnership with The Father in ministry is He knows EXACTLY where and what we should be, and He equips us to do the work that He has planned for us to do. When you sit back and think about that it really is amazing and can be overwhelming. The God of the universe has something very specific for each of His children and He doesn't ever give us anything we can't handle. In our weakness He is strong and I am much too weak to do any of this on my own, so it is good that He is really strong.
In Ethiopia I was expecting Teresa to be much more overwhelmed than she was, and at least as emotional as me, but God really protected her and she was able to contribute much. Often it is hard to think objectively when emotions get in the way and God worked mightily in and through her.
So how is God going to use us, with our new son coming soon and the kids going off and doing their own ministry things? I have no idea. But that is the best part. I don't have to know and I don't have to be concerned with any of the details. He is in control and He will direct our paths when we wait on Him. All of these things are for our refining and make us into useful vessels for His Kingdom. We get to participate in ministry for The King. WOW.
As I am still not a little messed up on the time change I was reading this morning James 1 and was thinking about how often I hear The Word and discount it as if it is for someone else. There are some pretty pointed statements in this passage and also some pretty encouraging as well.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
We certainly don't want to be deceiving our own heart, which are deceitful enough without us helping, but look at the end of this section. When we act on what we hear and know to be right and we persevere, God blesses us in our doing. He blesses our work when we do what we are obey. He doesn't have to make that promise, but He does.
So, what does God want form each one of us? He wants us to trust Him and obey. And the words of the song are true that when we do this we will "be happy in Jesus".
10/2/09
Finally back to posting
While away I added my thoughts to the computer and now have put them in for you to read. I did this differently than normal, as I want you to be able to start on the first day and read down the week. So, just keep scrolling down until you have finished the trip.
I really am serious about having people over for dinner, or whatever, so you can ask us questions and you are able to see more clearly what is going on in Ethiopia.
We pray that God would call some to adopt and some to help in other ways so we can, each one, fulfill the purpose He has for us. Don't ignore the Holy Spirit's calling on your heart to move. God is big and somehow He will provide for you everything that you need to complete the task He has called you to do. But, you have to step out in faith and trust Him. If we don;t trust Him we are sinning and we put ourselves in His place, as we think we know what is best.
I certainly do not have all the answers about the subject by going there for a week, but I have some and we would love to help you in whatever way we are able.
Pray that God would work mightily in your own heart and in the heart of others that His work may be carried out by His servants.
I really am serious about having people over for dinner, or whatever, so you can ask us questions and you are able to see more clearly what is going on in Ethiopia.
We pray that God would call some to adopt and some to help in other ways so we can, each one, fulfill the purpose He has for us. Don't ignore the Holy Spirit's calling on your heart to move. God is big and somehow He will provide for you everything that you need to complete the task He has called you to do. But, you have to step out in faith and trust Him. If we don;t trust Him we are sinning and we put ourselves in His place, as we think we know what is best.
I certainly do not have all the answers about the subject by going there for a week, but I have some and we would love to help you in whatever way we are able.
Pray that God would work mightily in your own heart and in the heart of others that His work may be carried out by His servants.
Italy to Ethiopia
We left with 3 hours to travel what would normally take 2 but there was a lot of traffic and so it took almost the entire 3 hours. We made our flight and were told we were the last to check in, but the gal gave us the exit row on both the flight to Dubai and also to Addis; God is so kind.
The travel in flight with the lay over was another 9 hours. Tack that onto the already long day and then loose another night of sleep and we are tired. Something new I had never seen was there was a video camera attached on the front of the plane and so we could actually watched the take off and landing. There was a serious cross wind on approach to Addis and it literally looked like we were going to land in the field rather than on the runway, but of course they know what they are doing and we landed fine.
The sights of Addis were close to what I expected, looking much like India. The roads into the orphanage are terrible, reminiscent of India/Sao Paulo. But what a treat awaited us when we got to the orphanage. The kids were ready in the room when we arrived and they sang us a song. Their little eyes just light up with joy as they sing and the boys sing so enthusiastically that the veins stick out in the neck.
The older kids are like big brothers and sisters to the little ones. They are really caring for their needs. Teresa immediately became attached to one little guy named Abenezar. 
He just loves to be held.
There are many sibling groups and it is not best to split up, so that is more of a challenge to place them, but they really are awesome little ready made families. Take a look. We would love to tell you about them over dinner:)Invite yourself over and we'll talk.
After dinner we found out that the orphanage is going to be moving tomorrow so the girls started to sort through all the things, some to be left here and some to be taken to the new location. The infants will stay in Addis and all the rest will go to the new place. There are so many politics involved with all of this kind of thing and especially because it is in a different country. The “normal” way is not normal here at all. But God knows and He cares for these little ones and all that can be done is to do what is known to be right and let Him take care of the rest. His ways are not our ways and our thoughts can’t even begin to comprehend His thoughts, so we work as unto Him and rest in His provision and care.
The staff here seems to work hard and to really love and care about the children. With the world economy going south, it is impossible to carry on this type of work without God providing even the most basic of needs.
Currently there are about 30 kids here in the orphanage that could hold as many as 80, but since He is in control He knows that the move was coming and it certainly will be much easier to move 30 kids rather than 80. They have placed about 40 this past summer, which has obviously diminished the numbers here and they would like to try to place 80 or more each year.
Imagine going from the village, which we have yet to see, where daily food is a luxury and certainly not the norm, and water is at a premium.
Imagine the staple food costing at the very extreme of what a family can afford and so often they go without food for more than a day at a time. Imagine living in the same clothes everyday until you can no longer actually fit in them.
Now imagine coming to the orphanage and having food 3 times a day, clothes that are periodically cleaned and past down, so you get different ones, and a firm roof over your head. Now imagine coming to the normal American home and how crazy that would look comparatively.
For sure, individually we can’t solve these problems, but we can make a difference in the lives of one or 2, or maybe 80 this year. It really doesn’t take that much to significantly change the lives of these kids, but we must start the process or nothing will ever happen.
It’s late and it’s well into tomorrow by my clock. God is amazing as He has allowed us the privilege of being here and hopefully making some sort of small difference in the lives of these kids. We can certainly go into all the world and preach the Gospel, but we can also bring them into our homes and have a huge impact on some.
The travel in flight with the lay over was another 9 hours. Tack that onto the already long day and then loose another night of sleep and we are tired. Something new I had never seen was there was a video camera attached on the front of the plane and so we could actually watched the take off and landing. There was a serious cross wind on approach to Addis and it literally looked like we were going to land in the field rather than on the runway, but of course they know what they are doing and we landed fine.
The sights of Addis were close to what I expected, looking much like India. The roads into the orphanage are terrible, reminiscent of India/Sao Paulo. But what a treat awaited us when we got to the orphanage. The kids were ready in the room when we arrived and they sang us a song. Their little eyes just light up with joy as they sing and the boys sing so enthusiastically that the veins stick out in the neck.
The older kids are like big brothers and sisters to the little ones. They are really caring for their needs. Teresa immediately became attached to one little guy named Abenezar. 
He just loves to be held. There are many sibling groups and it is not best to split up, so that is more of a challenge to place them, but they really are awesome little ready made families. Take a look. We would love to tell you about them over dinner:)Invite yourself over and we'll talk.
After dinner we found out that the orphanage is going to be moving tomorrow so the girls started to sort through all the things, some to be left here and some to be taken to the new location. The infants will stay in Addis and all the rest will go to the new place. There are so many politics involved with all of this kind of thing and especially because it is in a different country. The “normal” way is not normal here at all. But God knows and He cares for these little ones and all that can be done is to do what is known to be right and let Him take care of the rest. His ways are not our ways and our thoughts can’t even begin to comprehend His thoughts, so we work as unto Him and rest in His provision and care.
The staff here seems to work hard and to really love and care about the children. With the world economy going south, it is impossible to carry on this type of work without God providing even the most basic of needs.
Currently there are about 30 kids here in the orphanage that could hold as many as 80, but since He is in control He knows that the move was coming and it certainly will be much easier to move 30 kids rather than 80. They have placed about 40 this past summer, which has obviously diminished the numbers here and they would like to try to place 80 or more each year.
Imagine going from the village, which we have yet to see, where daily food is a luxury and certainly not the norm, and water is at a premium.
Imagine the staple food costing at the very extreme of what a family can afford and so often they go without food for more than a day at a time. Imagine living in the same clothes everyday until you can no longer actually fit in them.
Now imagine coming to the orphanage and having food 3 times a day, clothes that are periodically cleaned and past down, so you get different ones, and a firm roof over your head. Now imagine coming to the normal American home and how crazy that would look comparatively.For sure, individually we can’t solve these problems, but we can make a difference in the lives of one or 2, or maybe 80 this year. It really doesn’t take that much to significantly change the lives of these kids, but we must start the process or nothing will ever happen.
It’s late and it’s well into tomorrow by my clock. God is amazing as He has allowed us the privilege of being here and hopefully making some sort of small difference in the lives of these kids. We can certainly go into all the world and preach the Gospel, but we can also bring them into our homes and have a huge impact on some.
Day 2
As I sit at the desk and read I hear the sounds of birds, children and the voice over loud speaker chants out “prayers” to someone who can help less than the children. These children are a light to this world, though, for right now, they are relocated to staying within the walls of the “compound”. By God’s grace someday they will be set free to spread their light and hope into this dark world around them.
Like any other children they need Jesus; they need the Gospel. In this life they have no hope unless it is given by some outside means- they need a hero to rescue them from their plight here. But even more than how desperate is their current plight- which in many ways is difficult to comprehend- they have a much greater need of eternal rescue. How great it is that The Father has not only made the one Way, but He has offered it freely to all who will accept it. As foolish as it would seem for any here to refuse the gift of help from outsiders, is the foolishness of any man who refuse The Father’s gift of His salvation.
I think that in our comfortable life we can often lose track that we truly are in such a desperate situation- without hope and without God- until He rescues us. The picture of the beggar is literally everywhere you look here. We are all beggars until we are made heirs of the King. How clear the picture of Ecclesiastes seems to be here in Ethiopia. Life is hard and then you die is much more “in your face” here than it is in America. For the most part we have no idea what a hard life looks like. Our “hard life” would equate to camping and not having a microwave or missing the show we like to watch.
Separating sheep and goats is part of the daily life here; dogs that are not pets, but scavengers. The poor and the needy are truly with you everyday and in every way. Jesus’ call to bring Him the little children has a different feel to it here than it does at home. Here, the children are the poor and needy; they are the helpless, homeless and fatherless.
What a privilege to bring some help in a small way. The people here in the orphanage work hard. The nannies work in 2, 12 shifts. Currently there are 2 nannies per shift, plus a cook, a house keeper and 1 guard. The orphanage director lives pretty close by and goes home each night to his family. He is a former taxi driver who was found to be faithful and they have trained him to carry this responsibility. He loves the Lord and is a very sweet, gentle man. This is 2 Tim. 2:2 in action; as he has been faithful and now he needs to find another faithful man who will be ale to be taught and pass this on to the next.
There is so much work, so little earthly reward, yet so vital in impacting the Kingdom for Christ.
Is. 41:8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
There are so many sweet and precious promises right here in these few verses. It is our delight to be His servant. He has chosen US. He calls us Friend. He brought us from the ends of the earth. He didn't bring us all this way to "cast us off". He is going to be with us; He will strengthen us and help us to do the things He has planned for us to do and He will hold us up with His righteous right hand. Think about that next time you are feeling lonely or overwhelmed.
We just had a very difficult experience; one that we had planned on having, but I had not thought it was going to be so soon.
A young, maybe 16-18 year old, mom just came to the orphanage and dropped off her little- one month old- daughter. She is working as a house keeper, the father is no where to be found, she can’t work and care for the baby and if her employer finds out she has a child they will fire her. She loves her child as much as any other mother but she has no way to provide and so this is her best option. What she really doesn’t realize is how much of a change her daughter will undergo. This little baby is absolutely beautiful; looks very healthy, well fed and responsive to movement. She smiles at the future, though she doesn’t have any clue of what her past was, and what her future could have been, she now has hope.
The baby- Yepsura, which means from God- came to the orphanage in literally rags; no diaper, just a shirt, and a couple of small shirts to wrap her in, with a make shift cloth for a blanket.
Maybe this is similar to what Jesus was born into, and yet He chose to come to earth to win us back. WOW! We have hope of the future because of a little baby.
On the way to this young girls “home” I was talking to the orphanage director and the evangelist. There is no plight so grim as one who faces eternity w/o Christ, not even the future of an Ethiopian mother like this, or this little girl. Without Christ their situation is more than grim; at least in America there is some pleasure to life under the sun, but here there is no pleasure and no hope to get out.
We went shopping while waiting for some guys to come up from the orphanage in Sodo. This is an experience everyone should have at least once in their life, but for some that would certainly be enough. We bought beads, purses, an antique shield, a shepherd’s club, scarves, necklaces, a stool, spoons and some other trinkets, all of which we could live w/o, but I guess we are doing our part to support their economy.
After getting our fill of the shopping we had to go to the internet café, as the only people, here in Ethiopia with internet in their homes are the very rich. After taking 17minutes to just load the program to receive emails we gave up a few minutes into actually trying to down load them. While driving to the next station we had a flat tire. I know what to do in this situation. The irony of the entire situation is that the tire blew out and the one they put back on literally had only the liner- like an inner tube for a tubeless tire- left.
My estimate is 10-15 minutes driving before this one blew out. We drove just a few blocks and traded this cab in for another one- which also had a huge separated- ready to blow out- tire on my side. Oh well, it’s Ethiopian and no one is ever in a hurry to do anything, so you have to go with the flow.
We had a nice dinner, probably the last “normal” food we will have in the next few days.
Oh the goodness of God; it’s so hard to comprehend why He would allow us to “help” Him with ministry.
Like any other children they need Jesus; they need the Gospel. In this life they have no hope unless it is given by some outside means- they need a hero to rescue them from their plight here. But even more than how desperate is their current plight- which in many ways is difficult to comprehend- they have a much greater need of eternal rescue. How great it is that The Father has not only made the one Way, but He has offered it freely to all who will accept it. As foolish as it would seem for any here to refuse the gift of help from outsiders, is the foolishness of any man who refuse The Father’s gift of His salvation.
I think that in our comfortable life we can often lose track that we truly are in such a desperate situation- without hope and without God- until He rescues us. The picture of the beggar is literally everywhere you look here. We are all beggars until we are made heirs of the King. How clear the picture of Ecclesiastes seems to be here in Ethiopia. Life is hard and then you die is much more “in your face” here than it is in America. For the most part we have no idea what a hard life looks like. Our “hard life” would equate to camping and not having a microwave or missing the show we like to watch.
Separating sheep and goats is part of the daily life here; dogs that are not pets, but scavengers. The poor and the needy are truly with you everyday and in every way. Jesus’ call to bring Him the little children has a different feel to it here than it does at home. Here, the children are the poor and needy; they are the helpless, homeless and fatherless.
What a privilege to bring some help in a small way. The people here in the orphanage work hard. The nannies work in 2, 12 shifts. Currently there are 2 nannies per shift, plus a cook, a house keeper and 1 guard. The orphanage director lives pretty close by and goes home each night to his family. He is a former taxi driver who was found to be faithful and they have trained him to carry this responsibility. He loves the Lord and is a very sweet, gentle man. This is 2 Tim. 2:2 in action; as he has been faithful and now he needs to find another faithful man who will be ale to be taught and pass this on to the next.
There is so much work, so little earthly reward, yet so vital in impacting the Kingdom for Christ.
Is. 41:8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
There are so many sweet and precious promises right here in these few verses. It is our delight to be His servant. He has chosen US. He calls us Friend. He brought us from the ends of the earth. He didn't bring us all this way to "cast us off". He is going to be with us; He will strengthen us and help us to do the things He has planned for us to do and He will hold us up with His righteous right hand. Think about that next time you are feeling lonely or overwhelmed.
We just had a very difficult experience; one that we had planned on having, but I had not thought it was going to be so soon.
A young, maybe 16-18 year old, mom just came to the orphanage and dropped off her little- one month old- daughter. She is working as a house keeper, the father is no where to be found, she can’t work and care for the baby and if her employer finds out she has a child they will fire her. She loves her child as much as any other mother but she has no way to provide and so this is her best option. What she really doesn’t realize is how much of a change her daughter will undergo. This little baby is absolutely beautiful; looks very healthy, well fed and responsive to movement. She smiles at the future, though she doesn’t have any clue of what her past was, and what her future could have been, she now has hope.
The baby- Yepsura, which means from God- came to the orphanage in literally rags; no diaper, just a shirt, and a couple of small shirts to wrap her in, with a make shift cloth for a blanket.
Maybe this is similar to what Jesus was born into, and yet He chose to come to earth to win us back. WOW! We have hope of the future because of a little baby. On the way to this young girls “home” I was talking to the orphanage director and the evangelist. There is no plight so grim as one who faces eternity w/o Christ, not even the future of an Ethiopian mother like this, or this little girl. Without Christ their situation is more than grim; at least in America there is some pleasure to life under the sun, but here there is no pleasure and no hope to get out.
We went shopping while waiting for some guys to come up from the orphanage in Sodo. This is an experience everyone should have at least once in their life, but for some that would certainly be enough. We bought beads, purses, an antique shield, a shepherd’s club, scarves, necklaces, a stool, spoons and some other trinkets, all of which we could live w/o, but I guess we are doing our part to support their economy.
After getting our fill of the shopping we had to go to the internet café, as the only people, here in Ethiopia with internet in their homes are the very rich. After taking 17minutes to just load the program to receive emails we gave up a few minutes into actually trying to down load them. While driving to the next station we had a flat tire. I know what to do in this situation. The irony of the entire situation is that the tire blew out and the one they put back on literally had only the liner- like an inner tube for a tubeless tire- left.
My estimate is 10-15 minutes driving before this one blew out. We drove just a few blocks and traded this cab in for another one- which also had a huge separated- ready to blow out- tire on my side. Oh well, it’s Ethiopian and no one is ever in a hurry to do anything, so you have to go with the flow.We had a nice dinner, probably the last “normal” food we will have in the next few days.
Oh the goodness of God; it’s so hard to comprehend why He would allow us to “help” Him with ministry.
Day 3
Is.41:17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
The Holy One of Israel has created it.
Notice the One doing all the work in this passage. I want to be a servant of the King, but there is nothing I can do that He does not do through me. As I observe all that takes place in Ethiopia each and everyday and want to find a solution and be a help in some way, but this passage tells me that all I can do is sit back and watch what He does and be amazed at His power; power to create rivers in the desert, an oasis where there should be none. He is the King of Glory, the creator of all things, His name is Jesus, Precious Jesus, the Lord of Glory, the King of my Heart, The King of Glory.
We are moving the bulk of the orphanage today from Addis south about 6 hours drive to a place called Soddo. The purpose is that most of the kids come from this district and Addis is expensive. So only the infants will remain here, as they may need to go the clinic and it is too far for them to get back. Toddlers and up will move to Soddo today. From here on the plan is to bring the kids to the new facility upon completion of paperwork and then in small groups they will be brought here for a day of 2 to visit the clinic and then returned to Soddo.
Today will be very interesting as there is a lot to do, but not like we would normally think of moving an orphanage.
There are 25-ish kids, the clothes they have on their backs and very few other supplies; they just don’t have much to move. A couple of desks, few tables, some plastic chairs, some bunk beds and a few regular beds and that’s about it. We are praying for safety as we go and the Lord’s blessing on this new location; that He would make this new location a place of springs in the desert for these kids.
You can see the day unfolding in the next post.
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
The Holy One of Israel has created it.
Notice the One doing all the work in this passage. I want to be a servant of the King, but there is nothing I can do that He does not do through me. As I observe all that takes place in Ethiopia each and everyday and want to find a solution and be a help in some way, but this passage tells me that all I can do is sit back and watch what He does and be amazed at His power; power to create rivers in the desert, an oasis where there should be none. He is the King of Glory, the creator of all things, His name is Jesus, Precious Jesus, the Lord of Glory, the King of my Heart, The King of Glory.
We are moving the bulk of the orphanage today from Addis south about 6 hours drive to a place called Soddo. The purpose is that most of the kids come from this district and Addis is expensive. So only the infants will remain here, as they may need to go the clinic and it is too far for them to get back. Toddlers and up will move to Soddo today. From here on the plan is to bring the kids to the new facility upon completion of paperwork and then in small groups they will be brought here for a day of 2 to visit the clinic and then returned to Soddo.
Today will be very interesting as there is a lot to do, but not like we would normally think of moving an orphanage.
There are 25-ish kids, the clothes they have on their backs and very few other supplies; they just don’t have much to move. A couple of desks, few tables, some plastic chairs, some bunk beds and a few regular beds and that’s about it. We are praying for safety as we go and the Lord’s blessing on this new location; that He would make this new location a place of springs in the desert for these kids.You can see the day unfolding in the next post.
More Day 3
We left the Addis orphanage at 1, which is about 3 hours later than what was originally planned, but in Ethiopia the clock is just something that hangs on the wall and sometimes they pay attention to it. The real clock is the sun- “Are there not 12 hours in a day?”.
I taught the kids the song that goes, "Holy, You are Holy, King of kings Lord of lord..." and so they sang that on the bus for a while. It was very nice.
We left the compound, on the very bumpy road, but only the main roads are paved, even in Addis. One of the reasons for moving away from that compound is that it is very expensive and the road in front of it is so bad, and often people can’t find it.
There are no road signs anywhere, that I saw, and so finding anything is very difficult. After leaving and driving about an hour we had to stop and get a pass to drive on the road to Sodo. About a half hour after we left there Michelle realized that we were still very close to the original starting point. We had just driving an hour and a half with 25 kids, ranging from 11 months to 12 years, and had barely gotten anywhere. We also found out that since it was now getting close to 3 that we had to take a different route to Sodo, because the short route- 4 hours drive- is filled with thieves at night, and so we took the longer one. We had no idea how much longer it would really be.
The kids ate lunch, which we were seriously considering NOT given to them. For some, this would be a very trying trip. We have one HIV positive child and he was the one most affected by eating lunch. In fact, he threw up about 10 times. We had him in the front of the bus and he used the “bucket” often. In all there were about 5 kids who threw up and 10 we pretty sick. They were so good. We could not stop to go to the bathroom more than once and in all the trip took 10 hours. We gave a few of them a cracker, but other than that they ate nothing on the way. The adults were talking about how American kids would do in this situation. There was almost no fussing, even from those who were really sick and no one complaining about being hungry or having to go potty. Imagine not eating for 10 hours and not going to the bathroom. The littlest one- 11 months- was dry when we arrived in Sodo.
There were more than a few serious wrecks on the way, but God protected our small “vessel” as we journeyed. One of bus helpers was amazing. He held the HIV+ kid for most of the trip and cleaned him up after every event.
We had so many serious road challenges. Even as we were within a mile of the new place were had to carefully navigate so the bus didn’t get stuck. It is the tail of the rainy season and the locals are ready for it to quit. The roads take a beating when the rains are so heavy, which makes life even more difficult than is normal.
The truck with all the beds and everything else arrived previous to us and we were really hoping that the guys would have everything set up, but nothing was done. So when we got here we threw the mattresses on the floor and everyone crashed, including us. When you’re this tired the bed does not matter.
I taught the kids the song that goes, "Holy, You are Holy, King of kings Lord of lord..." and so they sang that on the bus for a while. It was very nice.
We left the compound, on the very bumpy road, but only the main roads are paved, even in Addis. One of the reasons for moving away from that compound is that it is very expensive and the road in front of it is so bad, and often people can’t find it.
There are no road signs anywhere, that I saw, and so finding anything is very difficult. After leaving and driving about an hour we had to stop and get a pass to drive on the road to Sodo. About a half hour after we left there Michelle realized that we were still very close to the original starting point. We had just driving an hour and a half with 25 kids, ranging from 11 months to 12 years, and had barely gotten anywhere. We also found out that since it was now getting close to 3 that we had to take a different route to Sodo, because the short route- 4 hours drive- is filled with thieves at night, and so we took the longer one. We had no idea how much longer it would really be.The kids ate lunch, which we were seriously considering NOT given to them. For some, this would be a very trying trip. We have one HIV positive child and he was the one most affected by eating lunch. In fact, he threw up about 10 times. We had him in the front of the bus and he used the “bucket” often. In all there were about 5 kids who threw up and 10 we pretty sick. They were so good. We could not stop to go to the bathroom more than once and in all the trip took 10 hours. We gave a few of them a cracker, but other than that they ate nothing on the way. The adults were talking about how American kids would do in this situation. There was almost no fussing, even from those who were really sick and no one complaining about being hungry or having to go potty. Imagine not eating for 10 hours and not going to the bathroom. The littlest one- 11 months- was dry when we arrived in Sodo.
There were more than a few serious wrecks on the way, but God protected our small “vessel” as we journeyed. One of bus helpers was amazing. He held the HIV+ kid for most of the trip and cleaned him up after every event.
We had so many serious road challenges. Even as we were within a mile of the new place were had to carefully navigate so the bus didn’t get stuck. It is the tail of the rainy season and the locals are ready for it to quit. The roads take a beating when the rains are so heavy, which makes life even more difficult than is normal.
The truck with all the beds and everything else arrived previous to us and we were really hoping that the guys would have everything set up, but nothing was done. So when we got here we threw the mattresses on the floor and everyone crashed, including us. When you’re this tired the bed does not matter.
Day 4 for real
The night of rest was sort of a mess. There were people knocking on the gate starting at 5, and we didn’t get to sleep until around 1. The bus got stuck as it was trying to leave and so they wanted us to come and help push them, but that was not happening. They eventually got themselves out around 7.
There was NO food here and so the guard and I went to town to buy bread for the kids. We took a “taxi” and it took about 25 minutes for the whole turn. If we had walked the entire way it would have been about an hour or more. 50 small loaves of bread for was about $4.5, so that was cheap enough. The kids ate and are now playing in the yard.
There is so much to do and so little to do it with. The land lord is going to paint the bedrooms today, which mean we can’t allow the kids to sleep in those rooms until tomorrow. We will have the same sleeping arrangements tonight as last night, but there is a roof over our heads and the rain isn’t on us. God is so good.
We had a meeting with a “social worker” who is advising the staff what the best means to go forward on several fronts. He really likes the idea of the donkeys, especially when we told him we thought they should pay the “fund” back so that there would be donkeys in the future for other needy widows. He suggested that they start a water service; meaning the widows would hire a man who would work the donkey and get water to sell to the local workers. The widow and the man would split to profits and he would provide housing and she would provide food and she could still probably put a little money away at the end of each month and provide her a “salary”.
We had pasta for dinner. The Ethiopian food gets to me after just a few meals and so it is nice to have something that is normal to me.
Tonight we are sleeping in a hotel and here are a few pics of a "5 star" hotel in Sodo. This literally is the nicest one. The first night we had only a cold shower, the second night there was no water at all.
Overall a good day and it seems we got a lot accomplished.
Day 5
We started the morning off early. We wanted to get out to pick up the kids so we could in turn go back out and get the donkeys.
We stopped by the bread store and got a bag full of bread loaves and took them to the kids and off we went. We take a mini van most places, as this is the only way we can get so many people moved around. We drove about 1 hour from town into the villages. We had some meetings already set up. 2 meetings were to deliver photo albums to relatives of the kids who are already in the States. This is a pretty big celebration for them as they get to see what is happening in their lives and see how they are growing.
We went from there to another village; the village we were scheduled to pick up a bunch of kids. Today is a festival holiday here and so many things are either stopped or at least postpones. This was the case with picking up the kids as well. We intended to pick up 15 and we were only able to pick up 2. This was best anyway, as we were not as prepared as we could have been to receive them, so they will be picked up on Monday.
We dropped off the kids at the care center and then went to town to rent trucks to pick up the donkeys. The girls went to see Dr. Mary and were very encouraged and we went to get donkeys. Everything here takes much longer than we are used to. It only took just a little less than an hour to drive out to get them, but then it took almost 3 hours to have them selected and then loaded onto the truck.
We drove back to the care center and dropped them off, but since the widows were not selected, we have to give them out tomorrow morning. So the donkeys are staying in the compound over night. The kids thought that was great, we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow morning.
We got back to the hotel to find out that we still did not have hot water, so we switched rooms. Unfortunately the entire hotel doesn’t have water, so I guess having only cold water was better than having no water at all.
We stopped by the bread store and got a bag full of bread loaves and took them to the kids and off we went. We take a mini van most places, as this is the only way we can get so many people moved around. We drove about 1 hour from town into the villages. We had some meetings already set up. 2 meetings were to deliver photo albums to relatives of the kids who are already in the States. This is a pretty big celebration for them as they get to see what is happening in their lives and see how they are growing.
We went from there to another village; the village we were scheduled to pick up a bunch of kids. Today is a festival holiday here and so many things are either stopped or at least postpones. This was the case with picking up the kids as well. We intended to pick up 15 and we were only able to pick up 2. This was best anyway, as we were not as prepared as we could have been to receive them, so they will be picked up on Monday.
We dropped off the kids at the care center and then went to town to rent trucks to pick up the donkeys. The girls went to see Dr. Mary and were very encouraged and we went to get donkeys. Everything here takes much longer than we are used to. It only took just a little less than an hour to drive out to get them, but then it took almost 3 hours to have them selected and then loaded onto the truck.
We drove back to the care center and dropped them off, but since the widows were not selected, we have to give them out tomorrow morning. So the donkeys are staying in the compound over night. The kids thought that was great, we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow morning.
We got back to the hotel to find out that we still did not have hot water, so we switched rooms. Unfortunately the entire hotel doesn’t have water, so I guess having only cold water was better than having no water at all.
Day 6
I didn’t sleep much, as the orthodox were doing their chanting literally all night and are still going this morning. What a sad life. They certainly are good at saying their prayers before men and being loud in the square.
The girls want me to meet Dr. Mary so the plan is to go there before we go to the compound to deliver the donkeys. It should be a busy morning, but then we are headed back to Addis, as we leave tomorrow evening. It will be nice to get a real shower.
AS in all of Ethiopia it seems, the schedule is only to think about, not really do. Instead of going to Dr. Mary’s we went to do the donkeys first, as the widows were supposed to be already waiting for us. In reality there were a couple of them there, but by the time we actually delivered the donkeys we certainly could have gone to see Dr. Mary. But this is Ethiopia and we are not going to be culture changers here, especially in just a week.
There was no water in the care center starting at 1 yesterday and the guy is supposed to come and fix the pump today, but I would be shocked if that happened. So the nannies ordered water to be brought up by the water service guy and his donkey; kind of ironic to have so many donkeys in the yard and then hire a guy to bring water, when there is actually a faucet in the front yard.
The nannies couldn’t make breakfast for the kids until they had water so we were encouraging the guys to get the water here quickly. The kids were really excited about the donkeys yesterday when they came in, but being hungry takes some f that fun away.
We found out that today is like our Christmas. We knew there was supposed to be a huge celebration, but we didn’t know that it was this big and it has really stopped a bunch of things from happening that could have easily happened had it been another day on the calendar, but God knows.
Since it is “Christmas” the kids told us that they always have meat, but the meat markets are all closed. We sent one of the guys out searching and he came back with about 10 lbs. of beef, so the kids will be very excited about that. They don’t often get to have meat, as it is so expensive.
Michelle thought that they needed something to distract them so she got out the bubbles and gave each child a small bottle. They LOVED it. So for an hour or so they played with those.
In the mean time the widows slowly came to the compound and we finally had them all lined up. We had to tell them what they were agreeing to, as we just didn’t want to give them a donkey with no stipulations. Some of the stipulations were things like they had to take good care of them, they had to find shelter for them, the couldn’t abuse them and they had to pay back a portion of the cost of the donkeys into the donkey fund so this could go on again in the future for some other needy widows; there are so many. After they all agreed we started taking names and getting their pictures. There is nothing that happens fast and to give away a little less than 30 took a couple of hours. We were limited to getting only this much this time because of the holiday no one was really excited about doing business; they will get more later.
Giving them away was every bit as emotional as I expected. There were very old women- 55-ish, all the way down to 20. For sure they all have a story to tell, but we didn’t have time to listen to them all and have them translated. They were all very excited about the future, though some were a little nervous about caring for them. Close to half were taken down to the church by a young man, so the widows didn’t have to be drug all over the place. They will in turn find some one to work the donkeys and make money, which they will share in.
One lady told us she had been an orphan, as her parents had dies some how the same day, and that from 12 on she had to fend for herself. Somehow her husband had died and she was back to being alone again. Life in Ethiopia is very hard; death is common and starvation, or at least severe hunger, is the normal existence of so many. When we handed her the rope of the donkey she was so thankful. We reminded them often that these were gifts from God for their care, and they were even more excited.
One grandma looked to be about 50. If she were an American she would look 75-80. Here she was, all dressed up coming from church, coming to get a donkey. I am not sure how it can be, but I told Teresa, she was very elegant; very classy. She is absolutely beautiful, and she has had no cosmetic surgery. But in Ethiopia time takes it toll so fast and life is so hard. They don’t complain because that would do no one any good. What a lovely lady.
As we did our work I could not stop thinking of Matt. 7:11 which says, “if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask”. I kept thinking about how desperately wicked my own heart is, and how they were trying to make me to be the hero. I don’t want to be the hero and I don’t even know if this is the best way to help them, but we were there to do this. Since our Father knows exactly what we need it is amazing to think of the care that He extends to each of us. He is So Good. In Ethiopia I say, “God is Good” and they respond with “All the Time”.
From here we did get to go and meet Dr. Mary and see the compound they have. It is huge and for Ethiopian standards id gorgeous. There are many buildings and gardens that the kids could use and work in. Please pray that God would allow them to use this facility, as most of it is empty now, and it would be an awesome home for them, while they wait to go to their new homes.
We then went back to the compound to pick up the 2 newest kids from the village to take them to Addis. When kids are first brought in they are taken to the city to be thoroughly checked out by the Dr. and get all their paper work in order.
When we arrived at the compound a young lady-12- was there to talk to Michelle. She has been in the other care center for 3 years and sleeps at home each night, as her mom is dying. She speaks English well and is very sweet. She walked a long way to make sure that she got her face in front of Michelle again before Michelle left again. This is the “persistent widow”, though she is only 12 and has never married she gets the idea.
She told us that her mom is dying of kidney disease and that she and her 14 year old sister can’t go to school any more because they can’t afford the $40 per year for books and uniforms. They have no way of making money and they rent a house for $17 a month. All told, their entire daily living expenses are about $125 per month. The 12 year old has been asking Michelle for 3 years to find her a home, and if the 14 year old can go with her they would love it. The mom is likely to die very soon, as there is not much care for these kinds of things here. The girls really are very lovely and I hope that God finds some one to take them both.
From there we got on the road back to Addis with the 2 new kids. They are 2 and 4 and yesterday they were in a village, in a hut, with a dirt floor and we are pretty sure they have never taken a real bath. Zalech, the little girl’s big toe nail is almost totally gone from running barefoot and we assume she has some sort of fungus on it. Taydros, the little boy, 2, had some sort of “onesy” type of affair on and it had been on so long that Teresa thought she may have to rip it to get his head out. All their clothes were brown-from dirt.
Since our experience on the bus on the way down, we were a little concerned that there would be some throwing up, especially since they look malnourished and we are reasonably sure they have either a parasite of worms. A great combo for a 5 hour first time ever in a car.
Taydros is stoic to say the least. Teresa said it is like he is a paralytic. He doesn’t move from where you place him. Zalech is trying to hard to be happy and to please me. I look down at her and she musters a smile every time. As we drive, he slept for the first hour or so and she slept for about 2 hours. Then when she woke up she was looking out the window and watched as an entirely new world flew by her. She only knew her village and had possibly never even gone into Sodo. Imagine, the Ethiopian countryside, your first sights.
The ride was supposed to take 5 hours and it did almost to the minute. With about a half hour to go Zalech was looking out the window and saw the lights of the town. We are not talking Las Vegas, but literally single lights hanging from a cord in a shop. She was so excited. It was like our kids seeing the Christmas tree for the first time; pointing and gasping, laughing and talking. I couldn’t understand anything she said, but joy is easy to interpret.
About 10 minutes into the excitement, without warning, she threw up all over me and her self. She didn’t have any idea what was going on, and there was a lot coming out. We had forgotten to take a bucket so Teresa made a “bucket” out of a diaper and she filled 2 of those up. It only lasted maybe a minute, but the results were all over the seat and the both of us. Immediately she wanted to be happy again for me. I felt so bad for her and h looked up at me with a sweet smile, as if to say, “I love you Daddy”, even though we just met.
As you can tell my heart is broken for these kids. I can’t take them all, but we can each do our part, whatever that might look like and allow God to work through us to care for these helpless ones.
We had peanut butter and jam sandwiches for dinner and it was off to bed. By the way, that sandwich was really good.
Last Day
We knew this would be a difficult day. The Addis compound is almost empty. The 3 infants are here, there is a 12 year old who stays here to go to school, the little girl with the heart problem and Zalech and Taydros. Just a few staff are needed and the balance either went down to Sodo or had to decline the invitation to go, as it is just too far from here.
We packed up our things and then just played with those who remained. This proved to be a very serious bonding time. The car ride was the first step, but then this almost one on one time with them
was really sweet.
There is no question in my mind that you can love these
children as much as you do your biological kids. We have only been here for 6 days and my heart hurts so bad for these we are leaving behind.
By the time we return home we will have flown some 18,000 miles and missed not a little sleep, but I would do it all over again. Teresa told me that behind Grant’s event this has been the most life changing thing in her life. I agree.
9/19/09
One Leg Done
We are just about to leave NY 6+3 Milan
We will land Sunday AM and spend the night just north of Verona
Monday we go to the slab factory and then fly out that night to Addis Ababa
God is good to let us be His ambassadors
Worship well tomorrow
We will land Sunday AM and spend the night just north of Verona
Monday we go to the slab factory and then fly out that night to Addis Ababa
God is good to let us be His ambassadors
Worship well tomorrow
The Trip begins.
The prince of this world does not want any of us to be doing things for the King of Kings. I often forget that Satan's power is not even close to that of our Father's. When we are doing God's work, in God's way, there will always be opposition.
Travel is romantic up until you leave the house and it doesn't gain the romance until you get back home; everything in between is work, especially if you are trying to do some sort of ministry.
Please don't stop praying for us and for Michelle as well. There was a video released on the 16th slandering her work in Ethiopia and even the Ethiopian government. It is interesting that it released so close to the time we are leaving, but light and darkness have no union and maybe this trip is hitting a little too close for comfort for Satan. I can only pray that this is the case.
So, little sleep already, couldn't check in to the flight last night, wrong hotel-twice- and the journey begins. But, you know what? God is good and we must find our delight in Him. And these are simply light and momentary afflictions compared to the weight of glory that awaits us and this is amazingly comfortable compared to what the Ethiopians have every day.
We have to get ready to go to the airport. Thanks for all you encouragement.
Travel is romantic up until you leave the house and it doesn't gain the romance until you get back home; everything in between is work, especially if you are trying to do some sort of ministry.
Please don't stop praying for us and for Michelle as well. There was a video released on the 16th slandering her work in Ethiopia and even the Ethiopian government. It is interesting that it released so close to the time we are leaving, but light and darkness have no union and maybe this trip is hitting a little too close for comfort for Satan. I can only pray that this is the case.
So, little sleep already, couldn't check in to the flight last night, wrong hotel-twice- and the journey begins. But, you know what? God is good and we must find our delight in Him. And these are simply light and momentary afflictions compared to the weight of glory that awaits us and this is amazingly comfortable compared to what the Ethiopians have every day.
We have to get ready to go to the airport. Thanks for all you encouragement.
9/18/09
Random Thoughts before the trip
I just had my last night of sleep in my own bed for close to 2 weeks. Thinking about the trip is sort of ominous. I have traveled to many different places; all over the US, Europe, Brazil, Japan and India. I can't remember the last time I felt this uncertain of what the journey would hold.
I talked to Michelle yesterday and she told me that we would be driving about 5 hours out of Addis Ababa to a small town named Soddo. This is apparently going to be our hub. From Soddo we will drive another 1-1/2 toward the villages but will park the car and walk another hour-ish to the village. I asked "why are we walking so far, when we have a car?" She said, "There are no roads".
When was the last time you went to a "town" but had to walk the last hour? That is certainly different than anything I have experienced in America, or anywhere else for that matter.
Please pray for us as we go that we would be a light to those we come in contact with. Everyday, here in America, we are lights, but most of the time I am not thinking about that. I don't have any idea of the spiritual condition of the people we are going to see. We will see their financial condition, but as physically poor as they are, if they have Christ they are much better off than the wealthiest person you and I know here who is without Christ. If they don't know Christ they are doubly cursed.
This will be very difficult for me to see and my sweet wife is much more tenderhearted than I am. Pray for her that she might be able to remember that God is good, even as He allows some to be in these kinds of conditions, He also brings many to repentance.
Pray that we would be an encouragement to some along the way and that we would find ways to serve others as we are away. What a weighty task; to minister in some lasting way to those who have so little. How can anything really last in this part of the world? How can we make a difference that will not be gone with the first meal?
God's Amazing Grace to us is so Long and High and Wide and Deep, that it leaves me shaking my head. May His love be shed abroad in our hearts as we go to share The Hope with others. The vanity of this life will come into much clearer focus while we are on this trip. The need for a Savior should always be in clear focus. I need the Gospel just as much as these people we are going to see.
Can you imagine the gap between an Ethiopian village and the splendor of Heaven? The comparative difference between here and Ethiopia is really small in light of what Heaven is going to look like. Our fanciest dinner here is going to look like a village "meal" when compared to Heaven's feast.
Just some random thoughts this morning as I am preparing my heart to start this chapter/page of our life.
I talked to Michelle yesterday and she told me that we would be driving about 5 hours out of Addis Ababa to a small town named Soddo. This is apparently going to be our hub. From Soddo we will drive another 1-1/2 toward the villages but will park the car and walk another hour-ish to the village. I asked "why are we walking so far, when we have a car?" She said, "There are no roads".
When was the last time you went to a "town" but had to walk the last hour? That is certainly different than anything I have experienced in America, or anywhere else for that matter.
Please pray for us as we go that we would be a light to those we come in contact with. Everyday, here in America, we are lights, but most of the time I am not thinking about that. I don't have any idea of the spiritual condition of the people we are going to see. We will see their financial condition, but as physically poor as they are, if they have Christ they are much better off than the wealthiest person you and I know here who is without Christ. If they don't know Christ they are doubly cursed.
This will be very difficult for me to see and my sweet wife is much more tenderhearted than I am. Pray for her that she might be able to remember that God is good, even as He allows some to be in these kinds of conditions, He also brings many to repentance.
Pray that we would be an encouragement to some along the way and that we would find ways to serve others as we are away. What a weighty task; to minister in some lasting way to those who have so little. How can anything really last in this part of the world? How can we make a difference that will not be gone with the first meal?
God's Amazing Grace to us is so Long and High and Wide and Deep, that it leaves me shaking my head. May His love be shed abroad in our hearts as we go to share The Hope with others. The vanity of this life will come into much clearer focus while we are on this trip. The need for a Savior should always be in clear focus. I need the Gospel just as much as these people we are going to see.
Can you imagine the gap between an Ethiopian village and the splendor of Heaven? The comparative difference between here and Ethiopia is really small in light of what Heaven is going to look like. Our fanciest dinner here is going to look like a village "meal" when compared to Heaven's feast.
Just some random thoughts this morning as I am preparing my heart to start this chapter/page of our life.
9/17/09
Adding to the Herd in a BIG way.
Anyone who says God is not alive and working is crazy. He works in the most crazy-amazing ways.
Many of you have given so generously and sacrificially, it blows me away. I just sit here, in tears, when I think about the financial place some of you are in and you still have trusted God to care for your needs and given out of your poverty. I don't know how God will bless you, but if we have given with the right heart and motive, He promises to take care of us.
That being said, would you please tell us, in whatever fashion you desire, what amazing thing God does, so we can be encouraged.
It was very hard for me to have to say that I totally messed up the amount of each donkey. I really didn't want to let anyone down that maybe they had given "less than an entire donkey" or even a smaller part, but I had to do it.
God is so kind. He took something that I could not do well and made it into a sweet offering. Yesterday we received a single donation for the donkeys of $5000. This is on top of everything you have given. With this money we should be able to negotiate the price down, as we should be a good customer. I am not exactly sure where this takes us, but wherever it is, it is much more than we had when we started and God will be shown great for His provision of those who have so little in Ethiopia.
I am having a hard time with the fact that we get to be the "flower delivery people". What an immense privilege. Thank you all for caring so much. May God RICHLY bless you for your gift. It really is going to be amazing to watch God work.
When I talked to Michelle about this gift coming in we also talked about ways to encourage the people that are going to receive these animals to think about giving back to their own people because of this stewardship opportunity. This would be kind of like a living, micro loan. If these animals do really change their lives so much, then how can they spread that help out to those around them? I am not sure exactly what that will look like but hopefully was can have some of those discussions while we are there. Pray that God would give us wisdom to know what to suggest so that this can come about.
We only have 2 more days here and then we are off. There is much left to do here. Please pray for Teresa that she would be able to get what she needs to get done before we are flying out. There will be much "emotional roller coaster riding" on this trip so please pray that God would work His perfect will in our lives while we are there that He would be most glorified in the outcome.
What a great God we serve. Can you believe that we get to serve HIM? We could be living in the tents of the wicked, but instead we get to call Him Abba- Daddy. Pray for us that we would be pure ambassadors for Him.
Many of you have given so generously and sacrificially, it blows me away. I just sit here, in tears, when I think about the financial place some of you are in and you still have trusted God to care for your needs and given out of your poverty. I don't know how God will bless you, but if we have given with the right heart and motive, He promises to take care of us.
That being said, would you please tell us, in whatever fashion you desire, what amazing thing God does, so we can be encouraged.
It was very hard for me to have to say that I totally messed up the amount of each donkey. I really didn't want to let anyone down that maybe they had given "less than an entire donkey" or even a smaller part, but I had to do it.
God is so kind. He took something that I could not do well and made it into a sweet offering. Yesterday we received a single donation for the donkeys of $5000. This is on top of everything you have given. With this money we should be able to negotiate the price down, as we should be a good customer. I am not exactly sure where this takes us, but wherever it is, it is much more than we had when we started and God will be shown great for His provision of those who have so little in Ethiopia.
I am having a hard time with the fact that we get to be the "flower delivery people". What an immense privilege. Thank you all for caring so much. May God RICHLY bless you for your gift. It really is going to be amazing to watch God work.
When I talked to Michelle about this gift coming in we also talked about ways to encourage the people that are going to receive these animals to think about giving back to their own people because of this stewardship opportunity. This would be kind of like a living, micro loan. If these animals do really change their lives so much, then how can they spread that help out to those around them? I am not sure exactly what that will look like but hopefully was can have some of those discussions while we are there. Pray that God would give us wisdom to know what to suggest so that this can come about.
We only have 2 more days here and then we are off. There is much left to do here. Please pray for Teresa that she would be able to get what she needs to get done before we are flying out. There will be much "emotional roller coaster riding" on this trip so please pray that God would work His perfect will in our lives while we are there that He would be most glorified in the outcome.
What a great God we serve. Can you believe that we get to serve HIM? We could be living in the tents of the wicked, but instead we get to call Him Abba- Daddy. Pray for us that we would be pure ambassadors for Him.
9/15/09
Please Join Us
In the Gospels Jesus taught the disciples about fasting. It was not that the had never considered fasting because they had certainly heard of fasting from Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester, and David, Jeremiah, Joel and Daniel, to name a few. Jesus was telling them "When you fast", not IF you fast." Jesus made the assumption that they would fast. He was just going to give them some guidelines to follow in the times they were fasting.
The Pharisees heaped up extra burdens so that no one could possibly keep up with all they we trying to require, like fasting 2 times a week. Is this what God required of them; fast 2 times a week? On the other side of this coin is "Is my fasting null and void if anyone knows I am fasting?"
For sure Jesus is expecting us to fast when we are coming into a situation that requires much of God's work to be done on our behalf. We can demonstrate to God that we are serious about our endeavor if we not only pray fervently, but also fast. Jesus fasted. The disciples fasted. The early church fasted when they were making decisions that were crucial, or when they were sending someone out on some missionary journey. Do you think their instruction was, "Don't let anyone know that you are fasting"? I think many of the people that were close to them not only knew they were fasting, but were fasting along with them.
Jesus teaches us that we are not to go around looking like we are fasting, trying to get attention for our fasting. Don't walk around acting like you're starving and when some one asks " are you ok?" tell them, "Oh I am fasting". Jesus' point is that we will fast and people may find out that we are fasting, but don't try to show off your spirituality by broadcasting that you are fasting, so you can get "spiritual points" like the Pharisees.
Jesus is not telling us to stop fasting, as much as "stop acting like the Pharisees who do everything to be seen by men". It is ok to be seen by someone, but don't fast for the sake of being seen. Don't fast as some religious calisthenic to show off how spiritually fit you are, like some sort of spiritual push up contest, "I fasted for xx days- what about you?"
With that being said I would like you to consider fasting at some point in time from now until we return from Ethiopia. We will physically be in Ethiopia from the 22nd-the night of the 28th, but doing this before we leave is also perfectly ok.
I will not tell you what my fasting plans are or what yours should be. I will tell you that it may be difficult to skip a meal, or meals, but Jesus was expecting that we would fast about something, and Jesus was more than a little concerned for those who can not help themselves. He literally came to earth because He was so concerned about those who could not help themselves-sinners.
The kids we are going to see on our trip have probably never known a time when their bellies were full more than a day or two in a row. For us, "starving" is when it is 2 o'clock and our normal time to eat is noon.
This will not connect our hearts more with the Father, as He sees our seriousness about this undertaking, but it will also help us to relate to the people pf Ethiopia. Can you imagine the idea of "normal" being that each section of the family only gets to eat every 3rd day? The reason they don't sit down to eat together, as a family, may be because there is often not enough food to feed the entire family at one time; not that both parents are working late tonight to get a bigger ....
So, please join me in fasting either for a meal/meals and pray in that time that;
God would allow us to be used by Him in some way.
We would have our eyes opened and our hearts prepared to see and understand what He would have for us.
We would be an encouragement to other believers while we are away- both here and over there.
In our going others may desire to go, or help go, as well.
Our affections would be hot for God and our view would be increased as we see what He would have us to see.
While we are there we will be able to share the Truth of God's love to those who need to hear the Gospel and maybe they will "hear it for the first time" because they are seeing it lived out. Everyone needs the Gospel- even and especially believers. We need to preach the Good News to ourselves everyday, and we need to live the Gospel so others will see what The Gospel does.
God's will would be done in our lives as it is continually being done in Heaven and that His name would be high and lifted up.
Those who have given sacrificially would be blessed by our Father who gives back in ways we can't even imagine.
We would grow closer to Him as we see ourselves in the eyes of the orphans. We, who are saved, were all once orphans BUT GOD adopted us into His family. Jesus, our Big Brother, not only loves us but He laid down His life for us, so that we could come into the family,
We learn what God would have us to learn and that we will be able to convey the need to those interested in helping when we return.
We would have wisdom and discernment to know if this is a good fit for our youth ministry to take a short term missions trip here.
God would be glorified in using these tools that are not sharp and are broken down and old. That He would delight to give increase as we decrease.
We are not the heroes of this story and our desire is that God would be pleased with our offering of ourselves as we go. Please pray, and fast-if you are so lead- to that end.
If you would like to add something to this list feel free to post a comment.
The Pharisees heaped up extra burdens so that no one could possibly keep up with all they we trying to require, like fasting 2 times a week. Is this what God required of them; fast 2 times a week? On the other side of this coin is "Is my fasting null and void if anyone knows I am fasting?"
For sure Jesus is expecting us to fast when we are coming into a situation that requires much of God's work to be done on our behalf. We can demonstrate to God that we are serious about our endeavor if we not only pray fervently, but also fast. Jesus fasted. The disciples fasted. The early church fasted when they were making decisions that were crucial, or when they were sending someone out on some missionary journey. Do you think their instruction was, "Don't let anyone know that you are fasting"? I think many of the people that were close to them not only knew they were fasting, but were fasting along with them.
Jesus teaches us that we are not to go around looking like we are fasting, trying to get attention for our fasting. Don't walk around acting like you're starving and when some one asks " are you ok?" tell them, "Oh I am fasting". Jesus' point is that we will fast and people may find out that we are fasting, but don't try to show off your spirituality by broadcasting that you are fasting, so you can get "spiritual points" like the Pharisees.
Jesus is not telling us to stop fasting, as much as "stop acting like the Pharisees who do everything to be seen by men". It is ok to be seen by someone, but don't fast for the sake of being seen. Don't fast as some religious calisthenic to show off how spiritually fit you are, like some sort of spiritual push up contest, "I fasted for xx days- what about you?"
With that being said I would like you to consider fasting at some point in time from now until we return from Ethiopia. We will physically be in Ethiopia from the 22nd-the night of the 28th, but doing this before we leave is also perfectly ok.
I will not tell you what my fasting plans are or what yours should be. I will tell you that it may be difficult to skip a meal, or meals, but Jesus was expecting that we would fast about something, and Jesus was more than a little concerned for those who can not help themselves. He literally came to earth because He was so concerned about those who could not help themselves-sinners.
The kids we are going to see on our trip have probably never known a time when their bellies were full more than a day or two in a row. For us, "starving" is when it is 2 o'clock and our normal time to eat is noon.
This will not connect our hearts more with the Father, as He sees our seriousness about this undertaking, but it will also help us to relate to the people pf Ethiopia. Can you imagine the idea of "normal" being that each section of the family only gets to eat every 3rd day? The reason they don't sit down to eat together, as a family, may be because there is often not enough food to feed the entire family at one time; not that both parents are working late tonight to get a bigger ....
So, please join me in fasting either for a meal/meals and pray in that time that;
God would allow us to be used by Him in some way.
We would have our eyes opened and our hearts prepared to see and understand what He would have for us.
We would be an encouragement to other believers while we are away- both here and over there.
In our going others may desire to go, or help go, as well.
Our affections would be hot for God and our view would be increased as we see what He would have us to see.
While we are there we will be able to share the Truth of God's love to those who need to hear the Gospel and maybe they will "hear it for the first time" because they are seeing it lived out. Everyone needs the Gospel- even and especially believers. We need to preach the Good News to ourselves everyday, and we need to live the Gospel so others will see what The Gospel does.
God's will would be done in our lives as it is continually being done in Heaven and that His name would be high and lifted up.
Those who have given sacrificially would be blessed by our Father who gives back in ways we can't even imagine.
We would grow closer to Him as we see ourselves in the eyes of the orphans. We, who are saved, were all once orphans BUT GOD adopted us into His family. Jesus, our Big Brother, not only loves us but He laid down His life for us, so that we could come into the family,
We learn what God would have us to learn and that we will be able to convey the need to those interested in helping when we return.
We would have wisdom and discernment to know if this is a good fit for our youth ministry to take a short term missions trip here.
God would be glorified in using these tools that are not sharp and are broken down and old. That He would delight to give increase as we decrease.
We are not the heroes of this story and our desire is that God would be pleased with our offering of ourselves as we go. Please pray, and fast-if you are so lead- to that end.
If you would like to add something to this list feel free to post a comment.
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