From Ashes to Africa

Just finished reading the book "From Ashes to Africa" by Josh and Amy Bottomly.  The book is a candid view of the Bottomly's struggle with infertility and their journey to adoption from Ethiopia.  The book is written in a beautiful narrative where both Josh and Amy take turns telling different parts of their story, from their own point of view.  The writing is very descriptive and well done.  One of Josh's comments in the book is that in order to write purposefully, an author needs to "cut open a vein."  Josh and Amy do this many times in the book as they share the details of the pain of infertility and the joy that they found through adoption.

The Bottomlys also share their heart on many difficult points of international adoption.  In their meeting with Silas' birth mom Hermela, they share the pain of a mother who is unable to care for her birth-child as she says goodbye to Silas Tesfamariam, they share of saying goodbye to Silas' grandmother, of saying goodbye to Silas' country.  They share their feelings that this broken world often results in many difficult and painful situations woven together through the loving touch of the hand of God.  They share that in this world of infertility and abject poverty, the whole creation groans (Rom 8:22) longing for healing and leaving us to know that we are not meant to "feel at peace in our skin."  In the chapter where they meet Silas' birth-mom Hermela, Amy reflects upon their meeting and their departure and writes,

Part of me felt the rightness of adoption, the rightness of God fulfilling a dream of ours, the rightness of God meeting a need of Hermela's, and the rightness of Hermela's courage and sacrifice.  The other part of me felt the wrongness of adoption, the wrongness of broken families, and the wrongness of abject poverty.  Reflecting back on the times I had complained about my struggles with infertility or I had expressed anger toward God for my life's unfairness, I now felt remorseful and ashamed for what I had though and felt, how it all paled in comparison to Hermela's plight, along with the hundreds of thousands of others like Hermela who struggled every day just to survive.

Since the 2007 adoption of Silas, the Bottomlys have also adopted a beautiful little girl from Ethiopia named Olive.  You can catch up with their story at their blog .....Ethiopia or bust.....

If you've ever struggled with the thoughts of how infertility and adoption can exist in God's "Plan A" for our lives, this is a good read!

Jumpin' Jimeny....

I borrowed a camera from work to try it out.  After taking a few boring posed pics of the kids, I decided to liven it up and asked them to jump for me.  At first it was met with "why" and "do we have to," but then in no time it became a game and I couldn't get them to stop.  It was great fun and believe me there are many, many more pics where these came from.  There was lots of laughter, and I have been instructed to not share the pics of Bo doing her cheerleading jumps!  But, for the right amount of money......

Anyway, here are the kids.....

Sunshine!

Rye Bread!

T-Bird!

The Big Fella!

Eddie Joe!

Here are the latest pics on our addition.  It has seemed very slow, but we have had a lot of rain recently and we are now starting the "framing" stage which I have been told will go very fast.  Hopefully that will be true.

 

Oh, and Rye Bread got some cool new shoes which need to make the blog....

Another Gotcha Video - Another Amazing Story!

Amy from Filled With Praise and her family share their amazing story through their Gotcha video.  This is one of the best Gotcha videos that I have seen.

You must watch this! You must be moved! You must enjoy!


Our Journey to Elijah Mihretu - Ethiopia Adoption from Amy @ Filled With Praise on Vimeo.

Video - Leeland and Brandon Heath in Cambodia

Check out the video of Leeland and Brandon Heath in Cambodia.

A Must-See Video!

The Strobels (adopting through our agency AGCI) traveled to Ethiopia in July to meet their new baby girl.  Watch the video below as they meet her for the first time.  We were moved by the video but were especially moved because at around the 5:15 point of the video several little girls are shown.  Is one of them Peaches???  God knows.

The Strobels' blog can be found at:  http://thestrobelfamily.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the video....and, as always, prepare to be moved. 


Meeting Ava Ethiopia Trip July 2010 from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Op-Ed on International Adoption from the Washington Post

There is an excellent post on the Christian Alliance for Orphans website about an Op-Ed from the Washington Post on the topic of international adoption.  If you've ever had questions about the ethics of international adoption - specifically, bringing an orphan out of his/her culture to America - this article makes some great points toward the realities of the life these children are coming from.  It also points out what a great nation we live in, a nation that has at its core the notion that race and ethnicity are of lessor importance than the person living inside the skin.  We are a nation that declares itself the "melting pot."  A nation which has taken in immigrants for several centuries from all over the world.  International adoption is a small picture of our country's rich heritage of openness toward receiving those in need.


Here's one excerpt from the Washington Post article written by Mike Gerson:

International adoption has its critics, who allege a kind of imperialism that robs children of their identity. Simon responds, "We have adopted real, modern little girls, not mere vessels of a culture." Ethnicity is an abstraction -- often an admirable abstraction, but not comparable to the needs of a child living in an orphanage or begging in roving bands. Adopted Chinese girls are refugees from a terrible oppression -- a one-child policy that Simon calls "one of the great crimes of history." Every culture or race is outweighed when the life of a child is placed on the other side of the balance.

To read the Christian Alliance Post, click here.  To connect directly to the Washington Post Op-Ed article, click here.

She's our little girl, though we haven't met her yet

As we continue to wait for our referral, we think daily about the fact that there is a little girl out there that is our little girl, even though we haven't met her yet.


She's Our Little Girl
~written by & humbly posted by Russ


She's our little girl
Though we haven't met her yet
Her face still unseen
Her hand still untouched
A distance still between us
Keeps our lives apart
But through this distance now a love
Grows within our hearts


She's our little girl
We pray for her each day
That God would be her Father
While we're still away
That He would love and comfort her
And rain upon her soul
His lovingkindness and His grace
To heal and make her whole


She's our little girl
Some day we'll bring her home
From pain and fear to love and care
Never again to be alone
We'll welcome her with loving arms
To help the hurt to heal
To be with us, to be one of us
To be a family.