Happy 6th Birthday Peaches!

Hard to believe she's six.  The tiny, featherweight girl I held on the steps of Hannah's Hope in Addis Ababa 1.5 years ago has grown so much.  She's filled with smiles.  Filled with joy and warmth and energy.  The girl that I could easily toss high in the sky, now requires effort just to lift her into my arms.  What a year and a half it has been.  She's has grown into us and we have grown around her.  On a legal level, the inclusion of an orphan into a family happens with a simple decree from a judge.  But on a practical level, the inclusion of an orphan into a family happens with much time, patience, love, and selflessness.  It is a beautiful thing to watch.  It is a beautiful thing to be a part of.

For her 6th birthday, Peaches had some friends over.  It was a simple party that included musical chairs (all who stood nearby were forced into action by Peaches' mom), cake, presents, and playing outside.  Very normal things for any little girl in America.  Very different things for any little girl in an orphanage.  We are blessed to have her as part of our lives and thankful that we can share what God has blessed us with.  Not just the stuff, but the togetherness, family, and love.

Some pictures from the day.  Radiant, isn't she?

Sunshine and Peaches looking at her new Bible story book she received from Grandma and Grandpa.

 A GIANT coloring book with stickers!  Hours O' Fun!

 A new bike!  She has ridden one of her brother's old boy's bikes since she taught herself how to ride a bike last summer.  Never did it occur to her that she had been riding a boy's bike and never did it occur to her that she should have a pink bike.  Now she has one.  She was very excited!

 Off she goes!

 Determination!

 A fun time opening presents with a few of her friends.

 What must be going through her head?

 Love that glimmer in her eyes!

 Whoosh!  Out they go.

One happy group of girls ready for some sugar!

Re-adoption Court Hearing

With tears in her eyes, there was much going on in her mind and her heart.

We had our re-adoption court hearing today.  Re-adoption is the legal process of adoption in the US.  Even though she was already completely legally adopted and already a US citizen, we needed to take this last step to allow her to be granted a US birth certificate and a US Social Security Number.  Those things are necessary for us to receive the adoption tax credit.

The re-adoption court hearing seemed rather simple to us and we had not put too much thought into it.  We worked with a lawyer who specializes in social work and adoption and after many forms and some money the court date was lined up.  I didn't think about explaining it to Peaches since I figured she wouldn't understand any of it anyway.

As we were walking up to the courthouse this morning, I sensed some uneasiness from her.  I told her we were going to the courthouse to complete her adoption and that they would ask some questions, we would answer the questions, and then we would go home.  It would be very easy.

She quickly tensed and withdrew, walking very slowly right behind me.  She said she didn't want to talk to anyone.  Thinking I understood her concern, I picked her up and carried her.  We went up to the second floor of the Dakota County Courthouse, all eight of us, and were told to go into the courtroom.  It was about 8:15 am.  Our hearing was scheduled for 8:30 am.  After sitting for a few minutes, the judge entered, we all rose, then sat back down, and then we received a civics lesson while we watched the legal proceedings of someone suing another person for faulty car repair.  It was fascinating.

We were next.  Peaches, Bo, and I headed up to the bench and were told to sit in the witness chairs.  We were asked a series of questions related to the specifics of Peaches' adoption.  Toward the end of the questioning, we were asked if we understood that following this hearing Peaches would be considered as though she was born of us.  Those words struck me.  I pondered their importance in our relationship with Peaches.  Though ethnically we are a half-world apart, we are connected as if by blood according to the State.  Isn't that amazing?  A girl from Ethiopia who was abandoned is now connected to a family in the US as though she was born of us.  I was reminded that she is an orphan no more.

It was then, however, we realized Peaches was crying.  She was quiet and looking down.  She wanted to be held by her sister Sunshine.  We asked the judge if we could take a picture and he happily said yes.  He tried to talk to Peaches but she turned away from him, not wanting to make any eye contact.  He thanked us for allowing him to be a part of the proceedings and we headed out of the courtroom to finish some last paperwork.

As we stood in the hallway, I heard Peaches through her tears say to Sunshine, "but I want to stay with you."  Wow.  Now I understood.  She thought the men were going to take her away.  The legal proceedings must have brought back vivid memories of her being relinquished by her birthmom - which coincidentally was in a courtroom in Ethiopia 2 years ago almost to the day.  We quickly tried to calm her and explain to her that we are her forever family and that she will be our daughter forever.  The reassurance was not enough to overcome the reality of the memories that must have flooded her mind and her heart.

We left the courthouse which allowed her to begin to calm down and realize that everything was OK and that she was not being taken away.  She slowly began to calm down and the brightness in her eyes began to return.  We then headed to Perkins with the whole family for breakfast.  Some bacon and eggs were what she needed.  She loves her protein and the heavy cholesterol proved to be soothing to her heavy heart.

How do we process all of that?  We're thankful for our beautiful girl, thankful for our family, thankful for how God places each person in a family, thankful that He can heal the deepest wounds, thankful that her adoption is full and complete, thankful that our adoption in Christ is full and complete, thankful that she cannot be stolen away from us, thankful that we cannot be stolen away from Christ.

It was an emotional day.  But we are together as a family.  Forever.

Fall is here - a beautiful day for pictures!

Fall is here and is was a beautiful day outside. The kids had fun playing football and raking leaves. I had fun sitting and watching them and taking some pictures.

Eddie Joe was literally running around in circles.

You have to love the smile on that kid.

Peaches always looks good wearing Red, White, and Blue.

Flowers that have barely survived the drought.

It was quite a sight to watch these two try and play catch.

A successful catch brings a smile.

Eddie Joe loves to slide.

Raking was fun until they remembered that it is a lot of work.

Can you believe this girl was an orphan?  Her face lights up with happiness, and with family.

Fall is definitely upon us.

Even Doofenschmirtz was enjoying the fun.

Peaches loves to swing.

The Big Fella sat by and took it all in.

I wonder what's next?

After being home from Ethiopia for nearly 7 months, my mind wonders what is next? Will we go back again soon?  If so, where specifically will we go?  Does God have more orphans in our future? 

God knows the answer to these questions.  We walk in faith knowing that what He has for us is for our good and that His leading is perfect.  We wait for Him to lead us.  And we know that He will.

In the meantime, we've found that there are many people in the Sioux City area that are from Ethiopia and Eritrea.  Many of these people have desperate needs due to poverty, lack of language, lack of cultural understanding, and even discrimination.  We've found these people to be extremely warm, giving, and kind people.  And we've found that even though we think about helping people in Ethiopia, there are many Ethiopian people right here that need help.  With them set in front of us it is clear that God has great opportunities for us, and those opportunities only require a brief drive. 

Our hearts realize that this involves inconvenience to our schedule - and our schedule is very important to us.  Our schedule is often more important than the needs of the people around us.  And in addition to schedule impacts, it's just not as cool to drive across town as it is to fly to Africa!  But the needs are here and the needs are plenty. 

We're thankful to God for opening the doors to those around us to remind us that we are very blessed, that happiness is not found in possessions, and that there is joy in serving others.

Some Sunday Morning Worship....

All I Have Is Christ from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Easter Afternoon

Sunshine took this pic on Easter afternoon while the three younger kids were searching the ever elusive hidden Easter eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

This picture brings to mind several things:

1.  Lilacs are a great burst of Spring beauty and fragrance.
2.  Warm sunshine cures all winter blues.
3.  A butterfly is fascinating to watch as it flutters and floats and flies.
4.  Jesus rose from the grave.  He gives our lives the ultimate burst of beauty and fragrance.  He cures all of our blues, winter or otherwise.  He gives us escape from sin and death to allow us to flutter and float and fly.

An Afternoon in Ethiopia

There we were, Sunshine and me on a bus in southern Ethiopia with two other families.  We were visiting the families of our sponsor children.  The children whom we had only known through photos and a few sentences that describe their family living situation, their likes/dislikes, etc.  We visited the sponsor children of the other two families first.  Stepping into the homes of these families was emotional.  In their abundance of poverty they overflow with hospitality and kindness.  You are royalty to them.  You are honored as their guest.  Even so, the living conditions and smells and dirt deeply penetrate your senses, deeply penetrate your thoughts, deeply penetrate your heart.

It was our turn to visit our sponsor child's family next.  The child whom we had been sponsoring, I will call him Gwatalo, had moved away from the area shortly before we traveled to Ethiopia.  We weren't sure why he had moved.  We were given another child to sponsor, whom I will call Dregos, and that would be the child we were to visit.  As we were driving, the social worker mentioned we were going to see Gwatalo next.  I told him Gwatalo had moved and we were no longer sponsoring him.  I insisted we were supposed to go see Dregos.  The social worker insisted that Gwatalo had traveled a long distance and was here to be visited by his sponsor family.

Although many of the Ethiopians know English, the conversations generally become very difficult when trying to convey complex concepts or feelings or emotions.  To try and communicate all that was transpiring became impossible.  We had brought gifts for Dregos, not Gwatalo.  We won't have enough gifts for both children.  Is Gwatalo even still part of the sponsorship program?  Would it be better to just skip this house and go to Dregos' house?  What do I say to him since we don't even sponsor him anymore?  My heavily structured mind was reeling with this curve ball and was unsure how to proceed.  Sunshine, however, was certain that we should go visit Gwatalo.  Regardless of what material things we had, we needed to go see him.  So we quickly dug through the gifts we had and split them in two and headed in to see Gwatalo.

As in all houses in Ethiopia, there were no lights.  So as we entered the house, it took a few moments for our eyes to adjust and to begin to make out the dark-skinned silhouettes in the dark room.  With our eyes straining and finally adjusting, we could see a man sitting at a table and sitting next to him was Gwatalo.  We recognized him immediately from the picture we had of him. The man sitting next to him was wearing a suit jacket.  Ethiopians are so respectful of others that they will always wear their best clothes for these types of occasions.

Within minutes, we were immersed into the details of his situation.  This man sitting next to him was his uncle.  This was not Gwatalo's house or even his uncle's house, it was just a house being used for the visit.  The sponsor information regarding his father was correct, his father was no longer living.  We were shocked to find out that his mother had died also.  He and his five siblings had to move away because his parents were dead.  Yes, in a matter of minutes, Gwatalo went from a child we had only known in a picture, to a real child who was sitting next to us, who had been orphaned, who was poor beyond imagination.  And yet Gwatalo was such a normal kid.  He smiled, he was amazed by the crank flashlight we gave him, he was thankful for the blankets and clothes we gave him.  I still can feel his hands inside my hands.  Though dirt penetrated every wrinkle and callous on his hands, they were still the hands of a child, hands similar to my own children.  I couldn't help but think of the Big Fella or of Eddie Joe.

Sunshine and I both were brought to tears at his story.  A story that can be repeated over and over by the many, many children we met.  A story that is so common that it does not even create a pause or emotion from the Ethiopians.  This is life to them.  This is normal.  This is why they have sponsorship programs and why they give their lives to reach out to hundreds of children in this one town alone.

I'm thankful to have met Gwatalo.  I'm thankful to have brought a few gifts to him.  I'm thankful to have had the chance to hold him, to tell him that even though his mom and dad are no longer with him, God loves him and God cares for him.  Even though Gwatalo now lives in an area where there is no sponsorship program, I still pray for him and know that God can reach him no matter where he lives.  God can bring peace to the life of this little boy who lives in untold chaos.  God is the answer to every need he will ever have.  And yet it still pains me to wonder who is holding him now, who is caring for him, who is providing for him?

There are thousands and thousands of Gwatalos in Ethiopia.  What will we do to help?  There are also many, many hurting souls in our own city.  What will we do to help?  How will we be involved?  God is the answer.  He knows the deepest hurts and He alone can heal them.  Whether in remote parts of Africa or in the prosperous areas of our own neighborhoods, He is present, He is working, He is alive.