Monday, December 20, 2010

Cathedral Museum
Lunch at Metro Pizza
Played at Guest House

Dinner at Kaldi’s

We visited the Cathedral in Addis which was built by Haile Selassie. It is an Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral. We had to take off our shoes before we entered, and TJ and Brielle already knew what to do. The Ethiopian Orthodox religion has much ritual involved in it, and they obviously had been taken to church often by their birth family.

There are beautiful stained glass windows and beautiful décor inside. Haile Selassie and his wife are entombed inside. We met a priest in the area of the tombs who asked if I wanted to take his photo. I said, “Yes”, took the photo, and then he held out his hand and said, “Money.” There was a very nice lady who gave us the tour and explained much of the detail to us. There are many paintings of Haile Selassie on the walls and ceiling and many paintings and depictions of saints.

The Cathedral

The priest who wanted to be paid for his photo

A domed ceiling in the Cathedral

One of the stained glass windows - "Noah"

After the tour of the cathedral, we went to a small building which housed the “museum” part. About the time we went in there was a power failure (very common in Addis), so the guide used a scepter, which later he told the great significance of, as a rod to reach the curtains to open them and let in sunlight. There were many solid gold items covered with precious jewels, many historically important clothing and fabric items and several books and other delicate items. Even those in cases were not in air-tight cases, and many were just sitting out in the open with little more than a string as a boundary to keep people from touching. We were shocked at the lack of security, the lack of appropriate protection from elements, and the allowance of sunlight which could quickly destroy the aging objects. I just hated that their important historical items were in the process of decay before our very eyes because of the lack of proper preservation techniques. It was so sad.





A funny billboard next to Metro Pizza




The sisters at Metro Pizza

  We went to the Hilton to exchange some money and then joined other AWAA families at Metro Pizza for lunch. Afterwards, we went back to the Guest House for some rest and play time. Then we walked to Kaldi’s for dinner. We were seated in a dark corner at two tiny tables, and we were short one chair. Mattea and I moved our chairs together, and Brielle sat on a corner of each of them. In spite of not even having a chair, Brielle fell asleep at the table while waiting on her food. And being the true “brother” that he is, when she woke up TJ made fun of her for falling asleep and told her he ate her food while she was sleeping! After dinner, we went back to the room for baths and bed. Whew… long day!

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Facebook post from today:
Things we take for granted: Kids playing in the tub. Tonight is the first night that TJ didn't rush to get done and out of the shower. He sat down, then laid down on the bottom of the shower and giggled, giggled, giggled! I'm sure he never got to do that when there were dozens of other kids waiting to get a shower, too. Can't wait until we're home and he can play in the tub - wonder what he'll think of that! :)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Church
Island Breeze
A little discipline
Mirinda melt-down

Electricity was out for about 2 hours while everyone was trying to get ready to go to church.

The G family arrived last night with the shoes they bought for TJ. He tried them on and said, “bigger!” He loves them.

Went to International Evangelical Church for worship. The regular pastor was not there because he was visiting family in the US.

Fork and toothpick trick

"Island Breeze Pirate Burger" - need I say more?

Ate lunch at Island Breeze… AWESOME! My new favorite Addis restaurant! Deke entertained (himself and others) with his "fork and toothpick trick". TJ had to go to time-out at the restaurant because he refused to obey and come out from under the table. When we got back to the Guest House, Brielle had a time-out because she just refused to change her clothes. I was helping her get dressed, and she didn’t like the shirt I told her to wear so she just refused to put her arms in. In time-out she cried just a little but still refused to put her arms in her shirt so she just sat there with it hanging around her neck. Finally, she put her arms in, apologized, and was able to get out of time-out.
Back to the Guest House, rested for a while, then the kids played outside until after dark. They love playing soccer and jumping rope. Ate microwave mac and cheese for dinner with soft drinks and Teddy Grahams for dessert. TJ had a melt-down at dinner time because he thought Brielle got a tiny bit more Mirinda (Sunkist) in her cup than he did. A total melt-down. He pouted, cried, screamed, hid behind a chair, and then threw up. After he cleaned up his mess, he quit all the drama, ate his cold mac and cheese (which had been sitting on the table for about 20 minutes and was even worse cold than hot). He grimaced with every bite but ate it all, drank his Mirinda, and ate his Teddy Grahams.

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Facebook posts from today:

A good day. Church at the International Evangelical Church - 62 nations represented on a typical Sunday... a little taste of heaven. Glorious!

"Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 15:4

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Church, lunch at Island Breeze Cafe (delicious!), back to guest house for a little rest and outside play, then microwave mac and cheese for dinner (not so delicious) with chocolate Teddy Grahams for dessert. Kids had a few pouting sessions today: one was over not wanting to change clothes and one was because someone got more coke in their glass than they did. The new two act a whole lot like the first four! LOL

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Picked up late luggage
Entoto Mountain
An interesting walk
“Ding-dong-ditch”

Michael went to the airport to pick up our 5 donation bins that finally arrived. After breakfast we all got ready and went to Entoto Mountain. The kids loved seeing all the people and donkeys that carry things up and down the mountain. It’s amazing, really. We ate at Lucy restaurant with some of the other families and while we were there, our sweet friends the V family arrived. It was so good to see them again! We went back to the Guest House where the kids played outside again and played on their Fisher Price iXLs, which they absolutely LOVE!

A field of dirt and rocks where there are usually guys playing soccer

On the way to Entoto, there is a market that is open on Saturdays only.  They close down one half of the 4-lane road so people set up their "shops".

Market again

There are ALWAYS people and animals everywhere you look in Addis.  This is a shot out the windshield of the van on the way to Entoto.

Two of the amazing women who carry things up and down Entoto Mountain every day.  These two are carrying dung for fuel for fires.





Another... she is carrying eucalyptus



A donkey carrying hay



"Security system" on the top of many of the walls around houses

 



One of the rare traffic signs in Addis.  (Notice that the "STOP" sign actually appears to say "go" at the top... yeah, that's about right!) 



 After a while we went for a walk in the area around the Guest House, but we turned left out of the gate rather than right. We walked down some back streets without much on them. A man in a red car stopped to talk to us. He had two kids in the back seat of his car, and asked us about TJ and Brielle. He was very nice and seemed genuinely happy about them being adopted by us. Then we walked on some more. We made our way out to a main street and actually passed by the building where the Federal High Court is located. That is where we went to court to officially adopt them in November. I took a picture of a meat market, and then we met two older gentlemen. They were also happy about us adopting the kids. They asked where we were from in the USA, and we told them Alabama. One of them sang, “I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee!” It was hilarious!

Meat market

My little friend.  A boy who followed us and talked to us almost our entire walk today.  We gave him some birr.  (He came by the Guest House many more times during our stay, and we were able to give him some food, some treats, and a flashlight.)

We had NO time-outs today. Behavior was great.

TJ and Brielle played “ding-dong-ditch” on Wyatt. He had the other bedroom door closed and they would run up, knock, scream something, and run away laughing hysterically. It was SO funny!

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Facebook post from today:

"Funny stuff: TJ & Brielle sing "Wheels on the Bus" in Amharic until the get to "all through the town". They compete to see who can sing the alphabet song the LOUDEST! They were ding-dong-ditching Wyatt - Wyatt had the door closed, they would run up and knock and say something they obviously thought was absolutely hilarious and then run away screaming and laughing. We've had a great day so far! :)"

Friday, December 17, 2010

Light-up shoes
Discipline drama*
Shopping at the market
Dinner at Guest House
Toy Story2 and Cars

Brielle got up first today. We heard her in her room, so Michael went in to get her. We got out some books to look at together. Then we heard Wyatt and TJ get up, so they came in to join us. After a few minutes TJ left the room and we heard banging on the floor in the other room. He was banging his new light-up shoes on the floor to light them up. Then he put them back on – with his PJs.

We went down to breakfast and introduced them to hot chocolate. We had brought some instant hot chocolate packets from home, and it was a huge hit – maybe too much of a hit! We didn’t get showers until after breakfast because there was no hot water again, and one cold shower this week was enough. We stayed around the Guest House for the morning, had what I am sure is the first of many “Who’s the boss?” meeting with TJ, and the kids played outside for a while, and then walked to Zebra Grill for lunch. (This makes 3 out of our last 4 meals at Zebra.  Think we'll wait a while before going again.)

The “Who’s the boss?” meeting was about TJ not wanting to come to us when he is called. We call his name and he just keeps on doing whatever it was he was doing before – completely ignoring us. Michael had just gone outside with the other kids so TJ and I were left inside for a few minutes before going out to join them. He refused to come when called so I put him in time-out. He HATES time-out! He screamed, cried, and rolled on the floor. He even made himself throw up – twice – but it still didn’t get him out of time-out. It was obvious that he was trying to make himself throw up so I made him clean it up himself. I sat on the bed about 3 feet away from him the entire 15 minutes or so that this episode lasted and after he calmed down I told him that he could come give me a hug and then go outside. He stubbornly refused so he had to sit there about 5 more minutes until he finally smiled and gave me a hug. About 20 minutes later we had a round 2 (without the throw up), and about 20 minutes after that we had round 3. His daddy was present for round 3, so TJ had to up the drama level to see if he could get his way from his dad. He did try to throw up again, but apparently there was no more “ammo” after round 1. When his time-out time was up and he was calm, I called him over to the bed to give me a hug, but he refused again. I got up and walked out of the room. He screamed, cried, and pitched another fit. I let him calm down and then went back in and sat on the corner of the bed again. I called him over to me. He refused and sulked. I left again. This happened about 5 or 6 more times before he got the idea that Mom was not going to give in. We hugged, laughed, and giggled, and all was forgotten. The rest of the day was great with no issues at all. He’s a super-sweet and super-smart kid who is just testing us to see where the boundaries are. If only he knew how many times we been tested by kids before – and passed. God has prepared us so well for this kid. It’s so obvious that TJ and Brielle have been planned for our family from the beginning of time, and God has been so faithful in the process of bringing them to us. God is so good!

We went shopping at the post office area market after lunch. I bought a table cloth, a few gift birds, a knife, some wooden zebras, and some small baskets to use when we have an Ethiopian dinner. Then we stopped at Kaldi’s for some coffee and ice cream. The kids loved it, and TJ drank Michael’s caramel macchiato instead of his own soft drink. Then back to the Guest House for the evening.

TJ and "his" caramel macchiato

All enjoying Kaldi's ice cream

After baths for kids and dinner at the Guest House, I put in Toy Story for the kids to watch. They were excited at first, but then for some reason they not happy with it. I remembered reading on someone’s blog that their son loved Woody and Jessie, so I took out T.S. #1 and put in T.S. #2. THAT was what they wanted. Then they watched “Cars” which was a super big hit with TJ since he loves any kind of “machinas” – even CG ones.

At one point in the evening TJ told Brielle, with lip-zipping motions and all, “Zip your mouth!” They do know some English!

*I am sharing some of our discipline stories not to embarrass our children, but to let others know that we all go through some of the same things. Adopted kids are the same as any other kids – they’ve all got to test where the limits are and see how far they will be allowed to go. But with firm, loving, and consistent discipline, we've seen things get better already. It’s all just a part of being a parent, whether the kids are bio or adopted. So, I hope you enjoy reading some of our adventures. And if you’ve been a parent for longer than 5 minutes, you’ve probably been through some of the same things! 

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Facebook post from today:

"Just had a "who's the boss?" meeting with my newest son. He got put in time-out, cried so hard he threw up - twice - and finally we came to an agreement that Mommy is the boss, not TJ. One meeting down, only 999,999 to go! (Good to know he's just a "regular" kid!) :)"

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Quiet day
Addis stores
Shoe shopping
First burgers and fries
Playing outside
Hair

We decided to stay around the Guest House all day. We felt like it was necessary to just be together and having some quiet fun. We went walking along the busy street near the Guest House and visited some shops.

I love the stores in Addis. Many of them are smaller than a U.S. walk-in closet, and are just filled to the top with stuff. There is store after store after store with adult clothes or shoes or kids’ clothes and shoes. And every single one has at least 6 or 8 mannequins outside to display some of their items. They have very modern clothes and shoes that are really stylish and even some actual name brands to go along with the knock-off brands. (The kids’ favorite “fake” brand was “Zeropostale”, which would be pronounced there as “Zeh-ro-pos-tal” – just like Aeropostale but with a Z.) There are also many shops with water, soft drinks, toilet paper, soap and all kinds of miscellaneous things.

Deke went into one of the shoe stores to see if he could find some shoes. Since the U.S. sizes are different than sizes in Ethiopia, we couldn’t just say, “Do you have a 13 in this?” They guy kept grabbing shoes and showing Deke to see if he liked them. Deke kept saying, “Too small, too small.” The guy didn’t understand so we just pointed to Deke’s feet. His eyes got really big as if to say, “Wow, those are BIG!” He reached over to the side and grabbed what I assume was the biggest pair of shoes in the store – the whitest, puffiest, grandpa-looking shoes I’ve ever seen! Deke’s expression was priceless as he was trying to figure out how to refuse them. The guy kept insisting Deke try them on, so he did. They were too small, but the guy insisted they fit him since he could get his foot in them. It was quite entertaining to see Deke try to get the guy to understand that he didn’t want them, even though they “fit”!

We walked on some more and found a kids’ store where we could get TJ some new shoes. I had assumed that he would come to us with a pair of tennis shoes that would at least do until we got home, but he only had on sandals, and they were too small. I FB messaged the G family who would be arriving in a few days to see if they could bring some tennis shoes to him, and they were gracious enough to agree to do so. But this morning he found some size 9 tennis shoes that were to be donated and tried to put them on. Actually, he did put them on, but since his too-small sandals were size 11, he had trouble walking. It was so sad to see him limp around in those shoes, especially when he was out front trying to play soccer with the bigger boys, but there was no way we could convince him to wear the sandals for a few days until he got the new ones the G family was bringing. He did eventually put his sandals back on for a little while because those tennis shoes were just hurting way too much. At the kids’ store, he found some light-up Spider-Man that he LOVED, so that’s what he got (even though I can’t stand character clothing and shoes!). He was SO excited! They just barely fit, and there’s no way we would have bought shoes that close to being too small if we were at home, but he loved them so much we just gave in. So now TJ has light-up Spider-Man shoes!

He wore those shoes right out of the store and all day long. Then he put them right back on after his shower, and at bedtime he tucked his socks inside and hid them under his bed. I can’t wait until he understands that some things are “his” and he doesn’t have to protect them from us because we are not going to take them away. I’ve noticed that both TJ and Brielle take good care of their things and always put them away, though – they could sure teach their older siblings a thing or two in that area!

TJ is definitely testing his limits, but he does end up obeying. The hardest part is getting the older four not to laugh at his antics. He’s a showman for sure! And Brielle is so cute and so sweet and very obedient, too. She loves to be held and carried around by her big brothers and sister. Deke put her up on his shoulder while we were walking down the street. At first she wasn’t sure about it because it was SO high, but then she started loving it.

Zebra Grill for lunch. TJ and Brielle’s first hamburgers and fries. Not so sure about them yet and definitely not a fan of ketchup! When the waitress brought other customers their drinks before he got his, he fussed at her. Thankfully, she laughed and thought it was cute.  Oh, my.  We have some work to do...

Brielle and TJ do a little hand-jive rhyme that is so cute!

T, Job, Yonas, and Dawit played soccer in the Guest House courtyard with all the boys.

TJ and Brielle will only call Mattea “Sister”. They call all the boys by their names, but only call her “Sister”.

Deke has been so sweet with his new sister and brother and even with Eli, Mattea, and Wyatt. I love to see him play with them, and he has already learned a few phrases that he uses with them all the time.

We spent some time in the afternoon resting in the room and letting the kids play their video games.  Eli, Mattea, and Wyatt saved all year and bought DSi's for themselves a couple of months ago.  We bought Fisher Price iXL's for TJ and Brielle because we had heard they were a good choice.  They LOVE them!  We put some of our own pictures and music on them, and they have had such a great time playing with them.



Playing her iXL (AFTER I took the braids out...)

TJ, iXL, Monkey, and new Spider-Man shoes

Then we all went out for games in the court yard. FUN!

We went to Zebra grill again for dinner, and TJ and Brielle asked the blessing about 10 times. “Thank You,

God, for giving us this food.” But whenever Michael prays, they giggle and giggle. It was very sweet and touching to think about them thanking God for their food and made us all more thankful for how blessed we are. The waitress tonight insisted we order injera and tibs for them for dinner, so we did. They were SO excited when they saw it, but it was VERY spicy! They kept eating and eating and after every bite they would cringe because it was so hot, but they both ate all of it. We also ordered samosas, and everyone in the family loves them. Definitely something we’ll be having several more times before we leave Addis.

Brielle had little braids all over her head when we got her, but she kept tugging on them so I took them out tonight. It took me about 45 minutes to get them all out – can’t imagine how long it took for someone to put them in. I combed it out and put in her head band which she LOVED! She may even take the sunglasses off her head for a while if she’s wearing a headband. (She has worn those sunglasses on her head constantly, and some of the other families here have started calling her “Hollywood” because she never takes them off!)

A good day overall. Many more to come, I’m sure…

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Facebook post from today:

"Thursday's Update: Another great day! Things are going very well. TJ keeps saying, "Tebarek Jeremiah Pierce!" over and over. Biruk laughs and laughs. They both call Deke, Eli, and Wyatt by their names but will only call Mattea "Sister". When we went to dinner tonight, we asked the blessing about 10 times - just because they wanted to. "Thank You, God, for giving us food. Amen." Now everyone is asleep - yay!"

"GOTCHA" DAY! - December 15, 2010

Lunch at Amsterdam

"Gotcha!"

Baths

"PASTA!"

Sleep

We got up and got showers. COLD showers. (Apparently the early birds not only get the worms, they also get the hot showers!) Breakfast downstairs at the Guest House was next, and David always makes amazing breakfasts. After breakfast, we came back upstairs so I could get all of our stuff unpacked and organized. I needed to figure out where everything was and get everyone situated before we added two new ones to our family.

Yonas came to pick us up for lunch at Amsterdam restaurant, and afterwards we went to the Transition Home to get TJ & Brielle! It was a sweet couple of hours of playing and laughing, and even sweeter that we got to leave WITH them rather than having to leave without them again. Never again will we have to leave WITHOUT them!

 The Pierce Family - finally together!

The "roomies" 

Back at the Guest House, the kids all played out front in the courtyard. It was fun to watch them all finally playing together and getting to know each other.

We gave TJ and Brielle their showers. They were so independent. We just turned on the water, they held out their hands for shampoo, then conditioner, then soap. They washed their own hair and bathed themselves and then got out, dried themselves off and put on their pajamas. It was very sweet, but sad when I thought about the fact that they were just used to doing it all themselves because they had no one to do it for them.

Then we had our first dinner as a family of 8: cup-o-ramen. But thankfully TJ and Brielle LOVE it. They kept calling it, "Pasta! Pasta!" They ate and ate and ate.

"PASTA!!"  (a.k.a. ramen)

Wyatt, TJ, Brielle and Mattea slept in the 2nd bedroom lined up across the room with Wyatt and TJ sleeping on cots next to the big bed that the girls are sharing. Everyone went right to sleep. Maybe with so many kids sleeping together in one room, it just makes TJ and Brielle feel like they are at the Transition Home!

TJ hid his hot wheels car under his pillow so no one would take it…

Before bedtime, all they kids were lying in the beds and tickling and giggling. It was a beautiful thing… a moment that as a mom you never want to forget.

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Facebook posts from today:

"Picked up the kids this afternoon! YAY! We're spending the evening "in" tonight. Took the cutest picture of all of the kids eating Cup-O-Ramen and watching "Cars" on the computer. I just don't know how today could have been better... :) Thank You, Jesus... Thank You."

Thoughts about adoption – written on the plane to Ethiopia to pick up TJ & Brielle.

(See, I didn't waste ALL of my time on the plane watching ridiculous movies!)


Tebarek and Biruk are coming to us with NOTHING. They have no belongings at all. All they have are their own tiny little bodies. They will be given some clothes and a pair of shoes that they will be wearing when we pick them up, and they may have one or two of the things we sent to them in care packages if they were able to keep them. That is such a sad thing to me. And they are only 2 of millions and millions around the world. It’s hard to imagine owning nothing except our own bodies.

But as I think more about it, God is revealing to me how that is exactly a picture of us as we come before Him. We have nothing. We may “think” we have something that we bring with us, but we don’t. We literally have nothing to offer but our very selves. Our own bodies. Any possessions we have were given to us by God. If we have any talents or abilities, they also came from God. We can use those for Him, and we can give them to Him – as well we should.

Paul spoke of us giving our bodies as a living sacrifice. Sometimes we forget we have nothing else to give. Anything else is not truly a sacrifice made by us – it was given to us by God. We’re just giving us what is His. Our bodies are the only things we have that “belong” to us. That makes our bodies the only things we can really sacrifice. So, we come before God with nothing to offer but ourselves. Nothing we could possibly bring would make us more valuable to Him. Nothing. We must be living sacrifices. Our gifts, abilities, and possessions (that came from Him in the first place) can be offered, but if God so desired, He could take it all away and give it to someone else. Because of the way He made us, what He can’t give to someone else is our bodies. That is why our bodies are the ultimate sacrifice. When we view our very bodies as belonging to God rather than to us, we will also view everything that our bodies accomplish as God’s, as well. We will recognize that all gifts, talents, and abilities are from God and that anything we have earned by using these resources also belong to God.

So, our new children come to us with nothing but themselves. And that’s all we want. There’s literally nothing they could bring with them that would make them more valuable to us. Nothing. All we want is them. There’s nothing better.

And that’s all God wants – us. Just us.

Travel TO Ethiopia - December 13-14, 2010

We left from Mobile, AL on our trip to Ethiopia. We had 6 carry-on suitcases, 3 regular size suitcases, and 8 red bins (7 full of donations, one full of FOOD for us to eat while in country). We had so many bags and bins that we had to borrow the church van to carry all of us and all of our stuff to the airport! After a wonderful US Airways customer service rep helped us overcome an issue with US Airways’ policy about number of free checked bags, we were off to go through security (the first of MANY times over the next 2 ½ weeks) and board the plane. We had some sweet friends who came to see us off, and that was very special to us. (Thanks, guys!)

You can see 4 of our 8 red bins and a couple of our suitcases in this photo

Loading up!

We had a long layover in Charlotte, NC while waiting for our US Airways flight across the Atlantic to Frankfurt, and ate our last “American” food for a while.

The flight to Germany left the U.S. late, arrived late to Frankfurt, and almost made us miss our connection to Addis. We were very concerned all the way to Frankfurt that we were going to miss our next flight, so Michael spoke to one of the flight attendants about it. When we arrived in Frankfurt, they announced on the plane’s loud-speaker that the people with the connection to Addis were to meet two airport guides who would take us to our next plane. They were amazing, and we could NOT have made the flight without them. We went through back corridors, were rushed to the front of the security line, and walked out to our plane which was already disconnected from the gate and about 45 minutes late leaving. We totally would have missed that flight without that help. God smoothed our way yet again!

We arrived in Addis later than expected (because there was “some family” who made the plane leave late!) and then 5 of our donation bins were not there with the rest of our luggage. (It was the five that were causing “issues” in Mobile.) We had to wait in line at the “lost luggage” counter for a LONG time and finally completed the process to file a claim for our missing luggage before we left the airport. We are SO thankful for the great AWAA staff who were waiting there for all of us weary Pierces!

Finally we were able to go to the Guest House to sleep in an actual bed! (A “taco” bed, but at least we could be horizontal!) We had a suite which has two bedrooms – each with its own bath – and a living area and small kitchen, so everyone could finally get some rest before our big “gotcha!” day.

Packing, packing, packing!

Packing for 8 people for 2 weeks in Ethiopia plus organizing bins and bins of donations is a little overwhelming!  (But I wouldn’t trade it for the WORLD!  It’s SO much better than Christmas shopping for people who have too much already!)

EMBASSY!

Our paper work HAS been submitted for us to have the December 22^nd embassy appointment! 

Everything SHOULD be fine!

Making travel plans…

As I posted back in April, I have been praying for our entire family to be able to travel to Ethiopia to pick up our sweet Tebarek and Biruk. God has answered that prayer with a “yes”. Thanks to the hard work of Nick Fraas at Raptim Travel, we will be able to get tickets for our entire family to travel to Ethiopia and to stay for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!

It has been such an incredible answer to prayer – more than I ever would have dreamed to ask for. Not only will our entire family get to go, we will get to stay for an extended period of time, AND spend Christmas in Ethiopia! Staying longer will work out to be a good bit less expensive than flying right around our embassy date which is tentatively December 22nd with visa pick-up on the 23rd, since Christmas-time flights are ridiculously expensive. According to this plan, we will leave on the 13th and return on the 30th of December, thus avoiding the Christmas rush. The “catch” is that we have to purchase our plane tickets before our paperwork has actually been submitted to the US Embassy for processing. So, we are praying that our embassy date will be confirmed to be on the 22nd. If not, it will not be until at least January 5th, and I will have to stay in Ethiopia with T & B while Michael travels home with the other 4 kids.

We believe everything will work out fine and feel God is answering our prayers to allow us all to travel to Ethiopia through this great deal on plane tickets, but as happens many times, the answer to our prayer requires more faith and more prayer! We have chosen to buy the tickets and pray for the 22nd embassy appointment rather than wait for confirmation of our embassy date and then pray for cheap flights. We leave Monday for Ethiopia, and we are so thankful to be able to take the entire family!

Merry Christmas!

Want to give some "unique" gifts from Christmas?  How about some diapers and plastic pants for a bunch of orphan babies in Ethiopia?  We will be collecting money to purchase these items to take to Ethiopia when we go to pick up our TJ and Brielle (which will be very soon!)  Click on the "donate" button below to contribute.

  
 

"And the King will answer them,

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "

(Matthew 25:40 ESV)

(What would please Jesus more than to celebrate

His birth by blessing "the least of these"? 

Really, can you think of ANYTHING better?  I can't!)

THANKS!

Orphanage Donations

(If you would like to read about us giving the donations to the orphanage in November, please go here.)

Happiness...

One day, T was singing so we asked him to sing a song so we could record him on the cell phone.  Instead of "singing" he began to yell... and yell... and yell.  The video below is of T & B watching the cell phone video of T yelling.

This makes us laugh so hard.  Hope it makes you smile, too!

Urgent need...

When we returned from Ethiopia on Nov. 10 we shared with all of you that we needed $20,000 to complete the adoption process. Thanks to the generous giving of friends we have raised $7,000 in just 3 weeks. We are amazed & overwhelmed at the generosity of so many people who are now forever a special part of our family. As the date of our anticipated Embassy appointment nears we are asking that you would take every opportunity to advocate for us with everyone that you know.

It is the time of year when business owners and individuals begin considering making charitable contributions to many worthy causes. We are asking you to recommend our church's adoption assistance fund and actively promote this as an option to those you know who own businesses & individuals seeking to make a difference in the world. Gifts to the Moffett Road Baptist Church Adoption Assistance Fund are tax deductible, and those who give will receive a charitable contributions statement in January 2011.

We trust the Lord to provide all that we need but we also feel the urgency to ask for your help. We would appreciate your consideration of what you can do personally to help us and also for actively promoting this giving opportunity to businesses and individuals within your sphere of influence. We believe that our Father desires to involve as many people as possible in this endeavor, and at this time we need anyone who is willing to spread our cry for help. Thank you and many blessings to you and your family during this great season of giving, sharing, and celebration!

Make checks payable to: Moffett Road Baptist Church
Memo Line: Adoption Assistance Fund

Mail donations to:
Moffett Road Baptist Church
5555 Moffett Road
Mobile, AL 36618

Adoption T-shirts!

As of tonight, we have 40 Southern Belle adoption t-shirts that we still need to sell.  It would be GREAT to have them all gone before we go to Ethiopia to bring home our kids in December.  (I would just LOVE to make so many trips to the Post Office over the next few weeks that I know all the workers on a first name basis! LOL)

Adult sizes are $20 and youth sizes are $15.  They would make great Christmas gifts!

Here is what we have right now...

YS -  Bue -  1

YS -  Pink - 0

YM - Blue - 2

YM - Pink - 1

YL - Blue -  4

YL - Pink -  3

AS -   Blue -  6

AS -   Pink -  3

AM -  Blue -  4

AM -  Pink -  4

AL -   Blue -  3

AL -   Pink -  0

AXL - Blue - 2

AXL - Pink - 4

2XL - Blue -  3

2XL - Pink -  1

Get yours before they are gone!