FOVC Update

Well, we just sent off the check that should take care of the rest of our in-country travel expenses for Ethiopia. Feels so good to have that done and taken care of. Again, thanks so much to those who've donated. One particular family has donated 3 times towards the FOVC seed project. You rock my socks off!

In other news, I'm still not sure what exactly I'll be doing. I read Desalegn's (guy who runs FOVC) Crops for Widows Project proposal the other night. He's an amazing dude and is a gifted visionary. I look forward to sharing more of that with you all. We had a brief FB chat last night and then I followed it with an email of questions to him about the crops. So, hopefully I hear back from him fairly soon on that.

I'm looking forward to meeting up with our team. Lory, Dr. Jo, Denise, and Rick, please don't be suprised if I hug you when I meet you the first time. So excited. And you guys will love Ryan. He's amazingly smart although quiet when he doesn't know people.

Donations are coming in. Although one big one is missing. Kaight and her friends sewed 85 dresses for the girls in Shanto, etc. She mailed them from Vermont on the 14th. They still haven't arrived here. 12 days later. Not sure why. So, if you're the praying type, please pray that those things show up in the next few days. I know, we don't need them to be here much before we travel, but it really would calm Kaight and my nerves if they did. *edited to add that Kaight's dresses showed up today. Whew!

One Year Ago

One year ago today we left for Ethiopia with 2 suitcases of donations, 2 suitcases of our stuff, a binder full of adoption information and a few pictures in my hot hands.

The first picture was of Shonda's family since we were meeting up with them prior to a stop in Amsterdam and I wanted to be able to find them in the airport. They sat right behind us on our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. So fun to get to know them over this past year.

The second, third and fourth photos were of Chrissy's kids. I didn't really know Chrissy but was drawn to her story of fighting for her kids and had been praying for them for months. I was carrying their picture around so that I could maybe see them at the care center in Addis and love on them for Paul and Chrissy. Boy did I ever see them. I think it was the middle one that attached herself to me upstairs when we were helping Judah finish his lunch. And it was Jamey who pointed out it was one of Chrissy's kids. Way to go Jamey. It was so good to pick her up, hug her, tell her that her momma was coming soon and pray over her. Well done.

One year ago was just the start of the journey. We had a few days of holiday in Amsterdam before going on to Ethiopia. But it was one year ago that we said goodbye to our oldest two as we headed off to get our youngest. Wow, how things have changed in that year!

Crops Proposal

Friday night I read Desalegn's Crops for Widows Proposal for FOVC. His desire to love and serve the widows and their families is awesome. Desalegn is a wonderful visionary. I'm so excited to participate with FOVC's crops for widows program!

If you have experience with crops and a heart for serving others, I'd love to hear from you!

wow

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

you know who you are.

I'm blessed. All the time. But feeling super blessed right now. Based on the gifts we've received, we are fully funded for our trip to Ethiopia. With 6 weeks to go before travel, I'm thankful to have this part of our trip done with and for the most part, taken care of.

Thank you for believing in us and the work that FOVC is doing. I'm super excited! So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Since the next 6 weeks will likely be spent doing normal life things, like planting a garden if it ever gets warm here, and preparing for being gone 12 days, formal thank you's aren't making the "to do" list. But I have a really cool idea for thank you's. And if I can remember my idea when we get back, I'll make sure to send you a formal thanks :)

Quick Update

I've heard that we're less than 7 weeks from travel. We're growing with excitement with each day. I thought I'd tell you a few things regarding our trip:

1. There are 12 people going on this trip focusing on various areas: livestock and crops (that's us), teaching, water, medical, and more. The email string and facebook messages have been a fun way to get to know each other just a bit before we travel.


2. Our airline tickets are purchased. We fly out on the 31st of May early in the morning. Thankfully, after our long flight to Addis Ababa, we won't be getting in a car and travelling hours South right away.


3. I've been told the women are being chosen for the crops training. I still don't know what I'm going to be training them on specifically.


4. Still having back problems. Improvement but not 100% yet. Borrowed a tens unit from a friend. It's electo-stimulation which calms the tense muscles in my back.


5. Some of the different things that FOVC is raising funds for include wells and the orphanage. I'm pretty excited having recently heard that we'll see a new well in "progress". Not sure if that means it will be running or in the process of being drilled. Either way, that means enough people have donated towards a well project because they see the value of people and choose to treat others as they want to be treated. So, thank you to those who've donated to such a worthy cause.

I think that's it for now. I'm sure I could have put together my thoughts in a better way but it's been a long week and I'm tired.

If you'd like to read more about what FOVC is up to, check out their blog here: http://www.fovc.org/fovc-blog.html

Both Books are Saying the Same Thing!!!

Okay, so a while back I posted on one of my blogs about the many books I have started. It was as bad as the crafts projects I've started. Only, I really want to get through the books.

• Foreign to Familiar. Done


• There's No Me Without You. 2/3 the way through.


• Decision Points. On part 3.


• The Connected Child. Collecting Dust.


• A Hole in Our Gospel. Umm, who knows where I'm at on that one. My lack of reading goes hand in hand with my increasing mid-section. Just for the record, I am NOT pregnant to those who might wonder.


• Isn't there one more?

Anyway, the two books I'm actively reading or listening to are saying the same thing right now. In There's No Me Without You (TNMWY), I was reading lots and lots about the details surrounding the aids crisis. It's sad and heart-breaking. The statistics are staggering. But I found myself feeling like the statistics were a bit on overload compared to the way the rest of the book has presented itself. Fortunately, I read through that part and moved on. I'm not trying to make light of the HIV/Aids pandemic, I'm just saying that it became very statistical and not very much of a story in comparison to the rest of the book. Okay, so don't get all crazy on me thinking I'm heartless and don't care about those dying of aids while I shop for another pair of keens. Really, these details are overwhelming. Anyway, the point of my post wasn't this.

Monday while I got my electro-stimulation during physical therapy, I listened to Decision Points on my ipod. Knowing I was near the end of a section, I wanted to finish that up yesterday while doing some mindless task at work. Suddenly I found myself laughing at the topic. Not because it was funny. But because it was saying the same thing as TNMWY. Seriously??? Am I listening to President Bush's memoirs and hearing the same facts that I just read the last few days in TNMWY. I most certainly was. And it was interesting to hear the same information from two different perspectives. Regardless of political interests, President Bush has a big heart. He thinks of others and not just himself. Does that make him without fault. No. Anyway, I wanted to get my notebook out and starting jotting down the stats. But I was WORKING and would never take away from my work. :) While GWB was president, he put lots of money towards Africa's HIV/aids pandemic. He also went on to talk about how malaria was killing "x" number of people (sorry, I'm not stats nerd like my hubby). And how he sought to focus on that too.

I really wanted to know how I could simply write to our past president and ask him if he's read TNMWY. I know he's an avid reader. I know he's interested in the aids problem. I wonder if he's read it. And since I was willing to contact him, why not share about FOVC, right? I bet he'd be interested in hearing about the success of FOVC and the work they are doing. Do you think I could google him and get his address in Crawford? I would so love to do that!

Anyway, isn't it amazing that I'm reading two totally different types of books and am hearing the same information. Wow. I'm so amazed by that today!

One Year Later

One year ago, we had recently passed court and were anxiously awaiting news to travel to get our son. Travel group 8 had all been notified that they were going on Friday. On Monday I chatted with Shonda from www.godwilladd.com. She encouraged me by telling me there was still a chance we could be called cause one family had backed out. Hours later, I refreshed my email one last time before leaving for the day. It was shortly after 5 and on my screen appeared the news from Holt I'd been waiting for. We would be travelling with Shonda and Jamey to get our son from Ethiopia. That was exactly one year ago.

About that same time we were selling raffle tickets for a quilt being made by my mom. It was a huge project and huge labor of love for Grammy. There was lots of washing, pressing, piecing, more pressing, and quilting done on this beautiful quilt each night after her daycare kids were gone. Pictured here is Judah in front of the quilt that was raffled to help bring him home. Thanks Grammy for making the quilt and sharing the picture. Thanks to those who purchased tickets. To the lady who won the quilt, if you ever decide to get rid of it, please let me know first :)