Starvation Claiming Ethiopia's Tiniest
This CNN news article was written two days ago. It is real. It is still happening. In the 1990s we watched images come out of Ethiopia showing children grossly malnourished and starving. Photos of vultures walking behind young children just waiting for them to die. Now fast forward to 2008 and drought has once again taken its toll on the youngest populations of Ethiopia. The lack of change is frustrating and enraging. This land is racked time and time again with drought and famine. So what are we going to do about it? It is so easy to feel compassion yet turn and look away. We all have the power to change the lives of others so why do we pretend to be incapable of greatness?
This world will always be encompassed with pain and suffering, starvation and disease. This world will not be free of sin and injustice until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Yet this does not mean we can turn a blind eye. We are called to be people of passion. We are to be passionate about Jesus. We are to be passionate about spreading the gospel. We are to be passionate about positively changing the lives of others through the love of Christ. We are to be passionate about fighting poverty, starvation, and disease. We are to be passionate about caring for the orphaned and widowed. We all fail. We all fall short. But let us not ever be guilty of not being a people of passion.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
SO FUN!
THIS IS SO FUN!! Congratulations to the Davilas on their referral of a baby boy!!! God is so good. What is so awesome is that a referral is so exciting for everyone involved! How exciting for the adoptive parents, how exciting for the child, and how exciting for all of us who get to celebrate with them AND move one step closer to being united with our children. SO SO FUN!
P.S. This super exciting day for the Davila's makes us unofficially #
Hannah's Hope
Today, May 16th, my little sister is walking this road to Hannah's Hope Ethiopia. She is on her way to Burundi for a mission trip with other students, alumni, and faculty from Azusa Pacific. She decided to go a few days ahead of the rest and turn her couple hour layover in Addis Ababa into a couple day layover. I am so excited for her (and nervous too since I haven't received replies to my e-mails). I know God will use this experience to impact her life in such a positive way!! Although it is such an improbablity, it is so fun to think there is a teeny tiny chance that she could be meeting her future nephew today. WOW! Although they might not be there at the same time (our little boy might not be at Hannah's Hope yet) what an incredible bond that will be for the two of them to have. Emily won't be able to take any pictures but I am okay with that. We will be there soon enough. It will be so fun though to hear all about Addis Ababa, her experiences there and HANNAH'S HOPE!!
Emily
Hannah's Hope EthiopiaWednesday, May 14, 2008
Congratulations
Congratulations to my bloggin' buddy MICHELLE!!! Michael and Michelle have just received a referral of siblings. Since they were also on the boy's list, this unofficially makes us
I informed Brian of this change last night. As he was ironing his clothes for work I heard singing. I asked him what he was singing and he said "The #10 Song." It went something like this. "We're #10, we're #10, the baby's coming, ooohhhh." (Electric guitar noises). "We're not #12 or #11, but we're #10 which is so nice and round." (More electric guitar noises). It went on for quite a few minutes, but you get the point. We are EXCITED!!
I informed Brian of this change last night. As he was ironing his clothes for work I heard singing. I asked him what he was singing and he said "The #10 Song." It went something like this. "We're #10, we're #10, the baby's coming, ooohhhh." (Electric guitar noises). "We're not #12 or #11, but we're #10 which is so nice and round." (More electric guitar noises). It went on for quite a few minutes, but you get the point. We are EXCITED!!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day
Yesterday was a fun day for me thinking about how next year everything will be different. When I woke up, the first thing I thought about was how next Mother's Day, we will for sure have our baby, meaning I will be a mother. What a crazy and foreign thought. Most of the time I feel as far away from being a mother as I always have. It is just a distant thought, nothing that relates to me at this time. Sure we are waiting for our baby but I certainly don't feel like a Mom because technically I am not. Maybe if I had a child growing in my stomach the feeling on impending motherhood would seem a little more realistic. It was very weird having people tell me throughout the day, "Next year you'll be a Mom" or "This is the last year of your life that you will ever NOT be a Mom on Mother's Day" or even, "Happy Mother's Day." It all seems so far away. I caught myself saying, "Thanks, I BETTER be a Mom by next Mother's Day."
With still NO referrals of boys, girls, or siblings for the Ethiopia program (lameo-blameo) I am losing confidence that this is going to happen anytime soon. A month ago I would tell everyone who asked the famous WHEN question, "well... pray for a fast referral and travel before the courts close. It will be a miracle, but..." More recently I would say, "Probably October or Novemeber, but for SURE by Christmas." Yesterday, I was saying "It better be by next mother's day or I am going to be MAD."
I always felt like this had to come. Sooner or later there was going to be a point that our adoption would not go as smoothly as planned. It is inevitable. I doubt there has ever been a single adoption in the entire world that has gone PERFECTLY according to the adoptive parent's plan. I know this because of all the blogs I read and "Adoption Stories" on Discovery channel that I watch (thanks, DVR). It just doesn't happen. So, when we were told we had the "FASTEST ADOPTION RECORD EVER" with our agency (that statement, as exciting as it was to hear, felt like a big old JYNX) I knew something HAD to go wrong. I was actually hoping that our disappointment would come sometime sooner rather than later and that we didn't leave that "inevitable kink" for our court date or something really important like that. Even though I am getting what I wished for in my ultimate PLAN B (my ultimate PLAN A would be to have the only perfect adoption in the world to date :) and ultimate PLAN B have the kinks now rather than later), I still can't help but be disappointed that AS SOON as we got on THE LIST, it STOPS MOVING. Darn. Seriously, LAME.
Our agency promised that referrals would be coming sometime this month. I don't know how times flies so quickly (except that we are always SO BUSY) but we are already a good 2 weeks into this month. That said, the referrals HAVE to come SOON. So, hurry up referrals, we are WAITING (not so patiently any more, actually, in complete honesty, getting a little ticked off).
Ok, I purposefully thought I wanted to blog my feeling about yesterday but didn't want to be a big giant whiner. I think it's important to share exactly how I am feeling because that's what I wanted this blog to be - a reflection of our adoption process, the good, bad, ugly, and WONDERFUL GRAND FINALE! We're in a slump here but there are so many fun things to think about during this slump. Like the fact that our baby boy is MOST LIKELY alive and living in ETHIOPIA. CRAZY. I am technically not a mother, and I don't feel like anyone's Mother, but OUR BABY is somewhere out there in this big world and God has the perfect plan to bring us all together. It will happen - FOR SURE by next Mother's DAY :)
***Thanks Anthony for the baby bottle. Maybe someday you will get your own blog post, but for now, you get your 2 sentences of fame!
With still NO referrals of boys, girls, or siblings for the Ethiopia program (lameo-blameo) I am losing confidence that this is going to happen anytime soon. A month ago I would tell everyone who asked the famous WHEN question, "well... pray for a fast referral and travel before the courts close. It will be a miracle, but..." More recently I would say, "Probably October or Novemeber, but for SURE by Christmas." Yesterday, I was saying "It better be by next mother's day or I am going to be MAD."
I always felt like this had to come. Sooner or later there was going to be a point that our adoption would not go as smoothly as planned. It is inevitable. I doubt there has ever been a single adoption in the entire world that has gone PERFECTLY according to the adoptive parent's plan. I know this because of all the blogs I read and "Adoption Stories" on Discovery channel that I watch (thanks, DVR). It just doesn't happen. So, when we were told we had the "FASTEST ADOPTION RECORD EVER" with our agency (that statement, as exciting as it was to hear, felt like a big old JYNX) I knew something HAD to go wrong. I was actually hoping that our disappointment would come sometime sooner rather than later and that we didn't leave that "inevitable kink" for our court date or something really important like that. Even though I am getting what I wished for in my ultimate PLAN B (my ultimate PLAN A would be to have the only perfect adoption in the world to date :) and ultimate PLAN B have the kinks now rather than later), I still can't help but be disappointed that AS SOON as we got on THE LIST, it STOPS MOVING. Darn. Seriously, LAME.
Our agency promised that referrals would be coming sometime this month. I don't know how times flies so quickly (except that we are always SO BUSY) but we are already a good 2 weeks into this month. That said, the referrals HAVE to come SOON. So, hurry up referrals, we are WAITING (not so patiently any more, actually, in complete honesty, getting a little ticked off).
Ok, I purposefully thought I wanted to blog my feeling about yesterday but didn't want to be a big giant whiner. I think it's important to share exactly how I am feeling because that's what I wanted this blog to be - a reflection of our adoption process, the good, bad, ugly, and WONDERFUL GRAND FINALE! We're in a slump here but there are so many fun things to think about during this slump. Like the fact that our baby boy is MOST LIKELY alive and living in ETHIOPIA. CRAZY. I am technically not a mother, and I don't feel like anyone's Mother, but OUR BABY is somewhere out there in this big world and God has the perfect plan to bring us all together. It will happen - FOR SURE by next Mother's DAY :)
***Thanks Anthony for the baby bottle. Maybe someday you will get your own blog post, but for now, you get your 2 sentences of fame!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sometime This Next Month?!?
We received an update e-mail from our agency. There are still NO referrals, but they tried to assure us that nothing was wrong, they are just still gathering documents for the children. We were told in our e-mail that referrals would be coming soon, meaning sometime this next month. Hmm, when I think "soon" I don't think "in the next month." Monday is soon, within the next 4 weeks, not so much. I guess it is all relative. Right now, with no referrals for 6 weeks (ouch) it seems like this is going to take FOREVER. I suppose though, once we have our baby FOREVER, this wait will seem like a brief distant memory. Up until this point the wait has been okay, but if we don't move down (at least 1 spot) soon the patience is bound to fade!
In the meantime, we got stylized by Blogs for a Cause. It cost $20 and all of the money goes toward good causes. So for now, we will wait, at #12, lovin' our new and improved blog!
In the meantime, we got stylized by Blogs for a Cause. It cost $20 and all of the money goes toward good causes. So for now, we will wait, at #12, lovin' our new and improved blog!
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