2 weeks home

Home now for almost 2 weeks and lots of people have been asking how things are going so far.  We had our first post-placement home visit with our social worker and what I told her was that 95% of the time things are going great.  For the most part, Solomon is happy and loving life.  He gets along with his brother most of the time and has made some great progress as far as bonding and attachment.  We are not sure if we are still in the honeymoon phase, but overall things are much better than we anticipated.

The 5% that is a bit tougher usually revolves around food.  Mealtimes often involve lots of pouting, tears and at times complete shut-downs.  He likes Ethiopian food (which we have been buying from some Ethiopian friends in town), pizza, pancakes, and hamburgers.  Fruits and vegetables are a major struggle.  When he sees them on his plate, he almost immediately tears up.  With our 3 year old, he has been trained well and knows that he has to eat what is on his plate or he is not getting anything else.  With older adopted children, this is not advised - at least at first.  It has been suggested from those with experience in this area that we just let him eat whatever he wants for the time being.  If you think about it, he has had to adjust to A LOT of change over the last few years - most of which he has had no control over.  So . . . . it kills me that he won't eat really anything with great nutritional value, but we will just let it go for now. . . 

And here is a glimpse what we have been doing since Solomon has been home!!  We are loving our family of 4!

Snuggled up for movies on the couch.

Visiting the penguins at the Zoo.

Soccer lessons with Dad (not sure what Joseph is doing.)



LOVING the pool!



Solomon's sense of humor is the best. 
Everyday after Dad comes home from work he finds his tie and shirt
and puts it on and runs around the house laughing hysterically. 

Airport Homecoming

Words would not do these pictures justice, so please enjoy what has been so beautifully captured from our Airport Homecoming. 

Donna Harris Photography - Airport Homecoming

We feel blessed by the family and friends that were there to support us and welcome Solomon home.  Thank you!  We continue to praise God for the gift of this child!

Welcome Home Solomon!

After over 35 hours of travel, Solomon is home!!  He did incredibly well during the journey home.  Here are a few pictures from our week!

Saying Goodbye to his favorite nanny at the orphanage!

At the Farewell ceremony.



After passing Embassy!

I told you he was a Mizzou fan already.

Landed!!

Loving his first American Meal at the airport.

Excited to see his new room.

Donna Harris Photography

Our family of FOUR formed since the beginning of time by our Almighty Father!







Final days in Ethiopia

We are settling in for our last night here in Ethiopia.  This time tomorrow we will be on our way back to the US!  While we have had a great time here, we are ready to be home. 

Today we were able to get out of our Guest House for a bit and visited a park where the kids were able to run around for the morning.  We went to a nice restaurant in town for lunch which was our son's very first time to eat-out.  Apparently he liked it, because he ate more than anyone at the table. :) This afternoon we played more soccer (imagine that) with the other families at our Guest House.

Overall things are still going really well.  The language barrier hasn't been too bad yet.  Our son's English is limited, but still better than we expected.  He doesn't understand a whole lot of what we say, and speaks even less English.  What we have been most impressed, though, is that he can read English pretty well.  This is amazing to us considering Ethiopians have an entirely different alphabet.  He is able to sound out most words when given something age appropriate to read.  Of course, we know that he is not actually comprehending what he is reading, but this is still a very good start.

Our prayer as we journey home is that God would continue to strengthen the bonds that are forming within our new family.  We know there may be struggles ahead, but we also know that our God will be present to us through all of them. 

Next post will have some REAL pictures!!

Definitely our son

The more we spend with our son, the more obvious it is becoming to us that he has been put with our family for a reason.  Most importantly, please look at what he picked out of his suitcase of clothes to wear today!  Seriously - the child melted our heart.  I mean he had lots of options, but this is what he insisted on wearing. 

And it gets better - this afternoon when it warmed up he asked to change into the Mizzou jersey!  Oh. My. Goodness.  Can you imagine how proud we were as parents?  :)

You'll also see behind him that his bed was made nicely.  That's right he woke up and made his bed right away without us saying a thing. (Those of you who know Jack will understand how big of a deal this was to him.) And after changing his clothes he neatly folded up his pajamas and placed them on his bed.  Then he motioned that he was going to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.  Apparently the orphanage really had him trained well - let's hope this lasts longer than the honeymoon period. 

The rest of the day we spent playing soccer and games at the Guest House.  Tonight we are having a special Ethiopian meal of Doro Wat which he is very excited about.  Oh yeah - I guess I should mention that we went to the US Embassy today for our visa interview.  It was really uneventful.  The only exciting part was that our son thought the security machines and drinking fountains were pretty cool.

Just 2 more days here and we will be on our way back!  We can’t wait for you all to meet him.  (and to finally be able to post some good pictures!)

Answered Prayers

Just settling in at the Guest House after tucking our son in for the evening.  We had another amazing day.  The day started with a visit to the guardian who took care of our son before he was placed in the orphanage.  It was really a blessing to be able to meet this amazing woman and find out more about his history and birthfamily.  She works for one of the churches in Addis Ababa and helped arrange for our son to be sponsored by Compassion International before his time in the orphanage.  Their support as we found out was integral to where he is today.  (We will definitely be posting more about this sponsorship in the future.)  One of the best parts of being able to meet her is that she had a photo album that his family asked to be passed on - it is AMAZING - pictures of him as a baby and much more.  This is something that I am sure he will always treasure.  At the end of our meeting with her she told us that she had been praying for a Christian family to adopt him.  She wept as she told us that she was so happy to see her prayers were answered.

And the day just kept getting better - next we were reunited with our son!  When we arrived at the orphanage in the afternoon, he had the BIGGEST smile on his face.  Our SW told us that he had been asking frequently when we would be back to get him, and it was definitely evident that he was happy to see us.  We spent the afternoon saying goodbye to his friends and snapping lots of pictures for him to keep.  He had a book that we brought him that he went around and had everyone sign (hence the picture).  The most touching part was the farewell ceremony where the other children and caretakers stood up and told him their favorite memories of him and wishes for the future.  They all had beautiful things to say and it was certainly evident that he will be missed.

Today we definitely felt surrounded by all of your prayers.  I can't imagine the day going any better.  Please don't stop praying though, because this is just the beginning and while we are all so excited to be together as a family, there was so much lost today as well.  Our heart broke as our son had to say goodbye to the people that have been his family for the last 2 years.  And in a few days he will say goodbye for now to the country he was born in, his language, and all familiarity as he now knows it.  Nonetheless, your prayers are still needed.

Tomorrow is our day at the US Embassy and first full day to together as a family- will post more then.  From Ethiopia with love!!

GOAL!!!!!!

We're in Ethiopia!  After a long, but uneventful flight we touched down in Addis Ababa at 700am this morning.  We rested for the morning and then our in-country coordinator asked if we wanted to go to an Ethiopian soccer game.  Ummm.  YES!!!  Well, it just so happens that tonight the Ethiopian National team was playing in a World Cup Qualifier against Central African Republic.  This was a huge, huge game for Ethiopia.  We were ecstatic to get the opportunity to do this. 

After scalping tickets outside the stadium, we made it into a stadium that holds 30,000 people but probably had about 60,000 in it. (Not to mention that I think I was the only female there - definitely the only blonde female there.)  All I can say is the game was C.R.A.Z.Y.  I have never seen more dedicated fans.  I thought St. Louis had good Cardinals fans, but this was insane.  The Ethiopian team ended up winning 2-0 in an exciting game. Apparently this now gives them the most points in their group at the mid-point in the qualifying rounds.  The streets were mad after the game with celebrations everywhere - definitely an experience we won't forget. . .. 

Now for the important part - our son!!  We did not get to see him today as the orphanage does not allow visitors on Sundays, but we are eagerly awaiting tomorrow which is Gotcha Day.  This is the day we have been waiting for; our oldest son will finally join our family for good.  In the afternoon we will be going to his orphanage where they have a farewell ceremony planned for him.  He has been at the orphanage for 2 years so I am sure it will be emotional.  Please pray that he would immediately feel loved by us during this initial transition as he leaves one life and steps into another.

Embassy Clearance and On Our Way!!

Labor pains.  That's how I would describe the last few weeks.  On May 15th, our case was submitted to the US Embassy in Ethiopia and since that time we have been on pins and needles awaiting to be approved and given a date to travel.  We knew there was a good chance that we would be able to leave today so in order to secure tickets and avoid inflation of prices at the last minute we decided to go ahead and book tickets several weeks ago.  We waited beside our computers for 2 weeks to get an email from the Embassy that we could travel.  The last week we were sleepless as we stalked our emails throughout the night (Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us.)  FINALLY - on Wednesday at 515am we received an email that we had been approved for a June 12th embassy date!  That's right, 36 hours before our flight was to leave out of St. Louis, we got the official green light.  Whew! 

So - here we are - on our way to Ethiopia where we will become a family of four.  Fortunately, just like labor, on the other side of those labor pains is a gift from God.  We will be in Ethiopia in hours and are so excited to be embarking on the last leg of this journey.

We covet your prayers this week for our son and his transition and adjustment period.  We know that there will be struggles in the days ahead, however we know that our God is greater and has called us to this journey.  We know He will continue to walk with us. 

Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1: 5-6

Our plan is to update our blog throughout the week if internet access is reliable.  We leave Ethiopia on Thursday and are arriving to St. Louis on Friday evening.  There will be a welcome gathering at the airport so if you want to meet us then contact my mom or sister and they can give you the details.  We can't wait for everyone to meet our newest addition!

The Missing Teeth

Chart compliments of ADA

When Joseph came home from Ethiopia at 22 months, he had 14 teeth.  He seemed to be right on track as far as teeth except that he didn't yet have lower canines.  We figured, though, that they would be popping through at any time.  Well . . .  a year later, when they still hadn't come in we started to wonder what was going on.  We had heard rumors from some online adoption communities of cultural practices in Ethiopia of removing these teeth in infants, but we were still thinking that they would just be coming in late. 

Fortunately, we were able to visit with Joseph's birthmother again on our last trip, so we had the opportunity to learn what happened!

And what we found out was VERY interesting.  We explained to his sweet, sweet birthmother that some of Joseph's teeth never erupted and we asked her if she knew of any reason why.  She said that when he was about 8 months old that they removed his canines!! We asked how this was performed and what we got through the translator was that some sort of "hook" was used.  She then preceded to tell us that the teeth were removed because this prevents diarrhea in the infant period.

And there we had it - our suspicions were confirmed. . . .

Further research on the subject has revealed that this is actually a common practice in a lot of areas of Africa, particularly in the region of Ethiopia where Joseph is from.  Tooth eruption is sometimes associated with the onset of diarrhea, leading many mothers to assume a causal relationship.  They, therefore, feel that the removal of these teeth will prevent infantile diarrhea.  The procedure is most often performed on children from 4-18 months of age (depending on what source you look at), typically without anesthesia, and with a sharp instrument such as a hot needle or knife.  It is usually done by a traditional practitioner known as yetirs awlakiy (tooth extractor).  As for long term consequences of this procedure, it appears that he may have a higher chance of needing orthodontic work, but we plan to discuss this further with our dentist as well.

For my friends in the Ethiopian adoption community, here are a few links to articles that discuss more about this procedure.

Dental injuries due to African traditional therapies for diarrhea

Tooth follicle extirpation and uvulectomy

Clinical Topics — Canine Extraction
 

Ahl-geh-bah-gnim

Ahl-geh-bah-gnim or for those of you (like us) who don't speak Amharic "I don't understand."  This is a phrase that we have practiced over and over as we are sure that it will be used quite often in the first few weeks that our son is home! :) 

We've had many people ask us if our son speaks English or if we speak Amharic?  Well, unfortunately, the answer to both is No.  On a positive note, though, we are both making attempts from opposite sides of the world to learn a few basics in each other's language.  We were able to set up private English lessons for our son at the orphanage for 3 hours per week, and we have recently begun a few Amharic lessons of our own!

Our son's progress seems to be decent.  The orphanage said he is now able to count to 100 and write the alphabet, and from our experience with him, we are guessing that he has maybe 50-100 vocab words.  He was not able to understand much (if any) of what we said to him in English or form sentences while we were there, but we think he still has a good start.

As for our progress, well. . . . we are trying. . . but this language is HARD!  Our Amharic connection and lessons have come through an Ethiopian refugee in St. Louis who a friend introduced us to.  Meeting this man and his sweet wife (who just came to the US 3 months ago) has been a true blessing. We have learned just as much about the Ethiopian culture as we have about the language.  When we went for our lesson last night - they had a traditional coffee ceremony for us - what a great surprise!  And our progress with the language you may be wondering . . . well we can count to 10 and have learned several important phrases like - Are you hungry?  Don't do that! and Do you need to shint?**  We are slow.  :)

So between us learning a little Amharic and our son learning a little English, plus a LOT of charades hopefully we will survive the first few weeks at home.  We have talked to several families who have had to overcome a similar language barrier and they have told us that the children catch on VERY quickly.  We know that their will be lots of frustration, though, in the first few months so we will covet your prayers when we embark upon that part of the journey!

For those of you in the Ethiopian adoption world - we have found this book to be particularly helpful.  We bought it on Amazon.

**  Sidenote on "Shint."  So the Amharic word for urinate is "shint."  I know - interesting, right?  When Joseph came home from Ethiopia he used a handful of Amharic words and one of them used regularly was "shint."  One day after tireless efforts at potty training, while standing in the checkout line at Target, Joseph starting YELLING, "Mommy, Daddy - I need to go SHINT!"  Oh my - can you imagine the looks we got from everyone standing around us!  That was certainly a hard one to explain. . . .

A sneak peak

Well - we are home, over our jet lag, and finally getting caught up on things after being in Ethiopia.  We've had lots of requests for more pictures from our trip so wanted to post a few.   Unfortunately, we can't post any revealing pictures of our son until he is back home, but we'll give you a sneak peak today since there isn't anything identifying about him in the picture.  :) 



Building under construction in the capital Addis Ababa (notice the scaffolding)



The road to Hosanna







More countryside on the way to Hosanna



 

Rural Ethiopia - Lining up for water at the well



Water being transported from the well



Rural famer

Meeting the child my mom sponsors through Yelezelam Minch



Our son's room!



Your sneak peak!! (Measuring his foot so we can figure out shoe size!)



  

And we can't forget Joseph - he celebrated his 3rd birthday while we were gone!



We are still praying that we will be able to go back to Ethiopia within the the next 6-8 weeks to pick up our son.  We learned last week that they have secured his new birth certificate with our last name on it and hope to hear soon that they also have his passport.  After that our file will be submitted to the US Embasssy in Ethiopia so a Visa can be assigned.  Thanks for praying with us!



A Day to Remember

April 25th will go down as possibly one of the most memorable days of our lives.  This morning we had the privilege of telling our son that he is going to be part of our forever family.  We were both nervous and excited about this.  When we arrived at the orphanage, our son immediately found us and gave us a big hug.  I imagine he had an idea what was going on, but we had our social worker sit with us and translate the good news.  We gave him a book of photos of our family and told him we were so excited to be adopting him.  He had a HUGE smile on his face as he looked at the pictures of us and his new brother Joseph.  We showed him pictures of our house, his room, grandparents, and cousins. He did not quit smiling the entire time. I think he was the most excited, though, when he saw the picture of the bicycle we bought him.  When the social worked translated that the bike was for him, he said multiple times "that's for me?"  It was precious.  He then asked a lot of questions about going on the plane - specifically if it was "scary" and if he "could open the windows."  :)

The rest of the morning with him was awesome.  He kept saying things like "Look Mom" or "Look Dad" and then would show off a flip on the trampoline or soccer move.  The older kids at the orphanage quickly caught on that we were adopting him as well.  They kept running up to us saying things like, "You his momma and dadda?"  and  "He going to America with you?"

Our social worker then had to explain that unfortunately we will have to go back to America for a few months while the paperwork is processed.  He seemed to understand, but we will certainly be praying that he will be at peace during the rest of the process and fully understand that we WILL be back soon.

We are still on cloud nine from today's experience.  It was honestly one of the best days that we have ever had.  Thank you God for your provision, thank You for placing adoption on our hearts, and thank You for giving this child to our family.

Our Day in Court

Today we appeared before the Ethiopian courts to finalize our adoption.  We arrived to the courts around 9:00 am and finally were called in at about 10:30.  The judge asked us about Joseph, if we had completed any training on identity issues with international adoption, and if we were making the Ethiopian heritage a part of our life at home.  We were then asked if we understood that after today the adoption was final and of course we said yes.  And then. . . . the judge told us that our case could not be approved because there was a document missing.  Ughhhh!!

This story does have a happy ending, though.  Apparently there was one document that the court lost.  Our agency had a copy of it and the director was able to go to a nearby internet cafe, print it out, and then run it up to the judge before she left.  We were then granted approval!  We are now a family of FOUR!!  All praise to God!

The adoption is considered final at this time and now our agency will work on getting a new Ethiopian birth certificate and passport.  They will then submit this information to the US Embassy so our son can get a visa to come to the US.  We expect this to take 2-3 months.

We are excited to see our son tomorrow and tell him about our family!

In Love

Today was the day that we met our son!  And I must say that we are IN LOVE!  After barely sleeping due to the excitement we finally made our way to the orphanage at about 10:00 am this morning.  Our son is normally at school outside the orphanage but they had him stay back today since we were visiting.  They have not yet told him that he is being adopted by us as they want to wait until after we hopefully pass court tomorrow and the adoption is final.  (Surely, he had to know something was up, though, considering he stayed back for the day with all of the younger kids.)

When we arrived at the orphanage, he was initially playing an a room with the younger kids - we picked him out right away. . .  SO cute.  I don't think he quit smiling the entire morning.  We brought a new soccer ball for the orphanage so we spent most of the morning outside with him and a few others playing soccer.  OK - by the way I am pretty sure we have soccer star on our hands.  Jack is so excited about this!  We will definitely be getting him on a team when he comes home.

The orphanage got a trampoline last week and our son was showing off some of his skills to us the rest of the morning.  He was doing all kinds of flips which was cute.  (Although now I am just praying that he does not break a bone before he comes home.)  Jack videotaped him on the trampoline and he loved watching the replays of the flips. 

The cutest part of the day was that he was hanging ALL over Jack - he LOVES him.  It was really sweet to see this.  He also was playing with Jack's arm hair which he thought was SO funny.  (Sorry Jack - had to mention this.)

I can't say it enough - we are already SO in love.  We can't wait to show him pictures of our family on Wednesday and tell him that we are MOM AND DAD!

Tomorrow is court - please pray that the judge rules in our favor.

A Special Meeting

Another great day in Ethiopia!  Today we woke up early to travel 4 hours south to a town called Hosanna where our agency had arranged for us to meet again with Joseph's birthmother.  The drive there was beautiful - mountains, grass huts, farmers, animals - rural Ethiopia at its finest!

Upon arrival, we learned that Joseph's birthmother was very tired as she had to walk 4 hours to meet us.  I knew from the last visit that her village was far away, but  what I didn't know was the reason she was so tired from the walk was because she gave birth to TWINS - 20 days ago!!!  Yes - these Ethiopian women are AMAZING.  We learned that she got married soon after we saw her last and we were able to meet her husband who also came along for the visit.  And how cool that Joseph now has a half brother and half sister!  We were very excited for her and felt so blessed that she sacrificed to come and see us.  We brought a photo book of about 50 pictures of Joseph from the last year and it was precious to watch her look at them and kiss the pages.   We also showed her a video of him on our phones. In addition, he made her a picture with his handprints that we gave her that she loved.

I will keep many of the stories and memories private to share with Joseph when he gets older, but I will say that the meeting was SO very special.  We feel blessed that we were able to see her again.

Tomorrow we meet our oldest son - not sure we will sleep tonight!

Yezalelem Minch

After a long flight we arrived this am in Addis Ababa.  The local time was 7:45am so it felt a little bit like we were in residency again and finishing up a 30 hour call. :) Our agency picked us up from the airport and brought us to Morning Coffee Guest House where we stayed during our last two trips as well.  The owners of the guest house run a program called Yezelalem Minch and the money they make from the guest house supports their ministry that serves destitute families in and around Addis Ababa. 

We were certainly tired on arrival, but still wanted to make the most of all of our time here.  So instead, of napping at the guest house we asked if we could pariticipate in the weekly feeding program run by YM.  Each Saturday YM holds three feeding programs throughout the city which provide a hot meal and health education for sponsored children.  The experience was awesome!  And it certainly reminded us of the great need that their is here in Ethiopia.  Our son is from here in the big city so I just kept imagining when I saw boys his age at the program that this may have been him before he went into the orphanage.  Praise God for wonderful Christians like Birtukan and Nesibu who run this program and serve where there is such a great need.

In the afternoon, we actually were able to get in a nap and then we toured the Ethiopian National Museum.  Dinner at the Guest House was great - a nice mix of American and Ethiopian cuisine, and then off to bed.  We are getting up early in the morning to travel to Hosanna to meet with Joseph's birthmother and are very excited about this experience!

Thanks for your prayers during our travel!

Here we go!

Well, we made it to DC last night and are now sitting at Dulles airport anxiously awaiting our flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We are flying Ethiopian airlines which has a direct flight - about 13 hours. Yes - in 13 hours we set foot on African soil!! We are both very excited about all the adventures this next week will hold.

While we do not know all of the details of our itinerary quite yet, there are three events that we know will happen for sure. (1) Sunday we are travelling out of the city and taking a daytrip to meet up with Joseph's birthmother. (We are very excited to have this opportunity as Jack was not able to meet her since we wasn't with me on our last trip.) (2) Monday we will meet our son!!! (3) Tuesday is our court date.

Please join us in prayer specifically for these three events. Pray that God would make his presence known to us during these times. We hope to update our blog while there, but internet is not always reliable so we will see.

Packing Up

We're just a few days away from leaving for Ethiopia. Life has been a bit crazy as we have been preparing. We'll post more about the trip before we leave, but in the meantime here are a few pictures of what we're packing up. . .

A book that we are leaving with our son with pictures of his family, room, house, etc.




Gifts for my mom's and our sponsored children at Yezelalem Minch.



Toys and games to play with the kids in the orphanage when we visit our son.



All the pajamas and socks that YOU have donated!!!! Thank you! More on this later.





And comfort for the VERY LONG plane ride. :)

Court Date!

We found out today that we have been assigned an April 24th court date! This is the day we will appear in court in Ethiopia, and if we pass, the adoption will be finalized at that time. (We won't get to bring him home for several more months, though, until he receives a visa.) Once again - we can't believe how quickly this is happening. Today has been crazy as we have scrambled to make various travel arrangements. It is hard to believe in a few short weeks, we will be meeting our son! We are beyond thrilled.

This also means that our PJ and sock drive has been accelerated a bit. We are now needing to move our deadline up to April 15th (April 18th at the very latest) to give us time to pack things up.

Thanks for celebrating the great news with us!

PJ and Sock Drive Update

Thanks everyone for your support of our drive for AHOPE I have listed below an update of what sizes are still needed. No worries if you have already purchased a size that we already have - we'll still take them. We have just had a lot of people ask what sizes are needed so wanted to update. Again we are happy to pick up donations or you can drop them by our office.

Girls under 5: 2
Girls 12 and up: 9
Boys under 5: 6
Boys 5-12: 12
Boys 12 and up: 22

Thanks again!! We are so excited to be able to provide new pajamas and socks for these children!

Submitted to Court!

We received news this morning that our case has been submitted to the Ethiopian courts. The courts will get back to our agency within the next several weeks with a court date, which will likely be in the next 6-8 weeks. This means will be in Ethiopia meeting our son in the next couple months!!!

WOW! Talk about hitting the fast forward button on things - we were thinking it would be another 6-8 weeks before we found out we were submitted to court. Praise God for this progress.

On another note, we are starting to receive PJs and socks!! Thanks to everyone for your support and I will update soon on where we are at with the numbers.

PJ and Sock Drive

Jack and I have people ask us all the time if there is anything that they can send with us when we visit Ethiopia. Well . . . now you can!! For our upcoming trip, we are collecting donations for AHOPE for Children, a ministry in Ethiopia for children living with HIV.

We are so excited that we are going to get the chance to visit this ministry when we travel to Ethiopia. It is the only place in the country of Ethiopia that cares exclusively for HIV+ children and right now they have about 100 children that are living there. Through the wonderful world wide web, I was able to get into contact with someone from the organization and told them that we would be in Ethiopia in the next few months (no - we don't have a court date, yet). They relayed that the children living there were really in need of new pajamas and socks. I quickly told her that we have it covered!

Would you like to help us with our PJ and sock drive? We would love to provide each of the children with their very own new pair of PJs and socks. Here is the breakdown of the number of children that we are gathering for:

Girls under 5: 2
Girls 5-12: 10
Girls 12 and up: 12
Boys under 5: 7
Boys 5-12: 20
Boys 12 and up: 23

If you would like to donate, just decide above what age range and sex and then either drop them off at my house or clinic, or call and I will pick them up from you!! Remember we need both a pair of pajamas and a few pair of socks for each child. (Let's treat them to new rather than used!) I will update the blog periodically on how many we still need in each age group.

Thanks so much for helping us provide for the children in Ethiopia!!!

Update from Ethiopia

We received an update from our agency in Ethiopia this week about our son. We got some great pictures and a report that everything is going really well. The updates provide everything from social, motor, and language development to who his best friends are, favorite foods, and daily routine. It is exciting to get a glimpse into his life in Ethiopia.

Some of the fun things we learned in the update are that his favorite subject in school is Math, and that he wants to be a professional pilot or professional bicycle rider when he grows up. They also commented again on how much he likes soccer and his impressive artistic ability. We even got a picture of some of his artwork. . .



We can't wait to love on him in person in the months to come. To update you on the process, our dossier is currently in Ethiopia being translated into Amharic. Once that is completed it will be registered and submitted to court, at which time we will be assigned a court date to travel to Ethiopia. We are hoping this will happen in the next 3 months or so. Thanks again for your continued support and prayers.