WE ARE GOING TO ETHIOPIA!!!

Friday, December 16, 2016 we got the call we have been waiting for since seeing our sweet boy's face in Oct of 2015.
I had just finished putting the ingredients in the crock pot to take to a Christmas party that evening when the phone rang. It was our agency...

All I remember saying over and over is "are you kidding me?" I hit my knees in the kitchen and put the phone down saying thank you Lord, thank you Lord. I'd pick it up and tell her I needed just a one more minute and put it back on the floor. I finally got myself together enough to understand her say "call your husband and ask him if Thurs, Dec 29 will work for court and call me back." I called Roger, Momma & Emily. I just remember literally jumping up and down for a min and then being on my knees sobbing.

I had been wondering what in the world this moment would be like.

The next few days were a mix of shock, overwhelming gratitude to the Lord, joy, anxiety, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, could barely think. I knew one thing I couldn't wait to get to the Lord's house on Sunday. We scheduled flights and started packing. We were to fly out Fri Dec 23rd and land Sunday, Christmas Day. Because we were going to be in country our agency moved our Court Date up to Tuesday the 27th.

We planned Christmas with our families for the Thursday night before we left and began packing & tying up loose ends with work.

The emotions were coming and going like a wave and honestly it was almost too much. I asked the Lord just to settle me down. Give me a peace. Calm me. We took the kids to see Star Wars and I was just fine and then right in the middle of it another wave came. It was a roller coaster of emotions that were difficult to manage.

Thursday Dec 22 came and our #3's cough turned in to a really bad can't breath painful circumstance that ended up with us in ER and before I knew it the dr was telling me he would be transported to Macon to the children's hospital. Elim began to cry. I sat down on the bed and looked into his eyes and said "You are more important than an airplane. Remember what we talked about this morning? What does Immanuel mean?" I asked him to tell me out loud and he did "God with us." "That's right baby boy, God is here with us, right here in the hospital room and everything will be just fine."

We were supposed to fly out the next day to Ethiopia.

I remember thinking... Is this really happening? Like, is.this.really.happening.

Roger was at home with the other kids with my daddy & I sent him a text that read "I need you here now."

What is happening? What's wrong with him? How long will we be there?
Can our court date even be moved? Do we cancel our flights?

A call from a brother in Christ reminding me that I have died and my life is hidden in Christ (Col 3:3) was exactly what I needed to hear.

I called our travel agent (HUGE Shout out to Erica Shubin with MKI travel. That girl!) she helped me focus,  asked a few questions and within about 1 hour had alternative flights for a few days later.
I called our agency and she said no worries, we'll put court back to Thursday the 29th.

Roger and E drove away in the ambulance and I stood there with Reid praying.

At this point there were 2 different decisions we could make.

Get really angry with the Lord.
OR
Trust Him and not my own understanding.

We decided to trust the Lord. I went home, took down all of the Christmas decorations, cleaned the house, and piled up on the couch with my boys and we watched Pete's Dragon while we waited for updates from Roger.

Slowly the peace came. He was there. Immanuel, our God with us. There with us on the couch, there with Roger in the ambulance. God is so good to us. In the midst of utter chaos He sustains, strengthens, assures, provides, all the while giving the Body of Christ the opportunity to pull together and pray and encourage. Text message after text message from our church staff and family and from FB friends offering their homes if we needed a place to stay. If there's one thing the Lord does in a difficult circumstance is He brings unity & generosity! One our people came up there and stayed with Roger spending the night & most of the next day! OUR VILLAGE GAME IS STRONG PEOPLE!! 

We discharged from Macon on Friday, the 23rd around 7pm and came home. They ended up treating him for acute asthma and gave us 2 inhalers. He is home and fine taking it easy.

Deep Breath.......

We are leaving tonight, Sun, Dec 25 to drive to Atlanta for our flight at 5:30am in the morning. 
We'll land in DC and catch a new flight that will take us directly to Ethiopia landing on Tues, Dec 27th around 7:30am. We have court Thursday the 29th and at that point we will take custody of him and SHOW YOU HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!!!!!!! 


We may never know this side of heaven why our time was delayed here but we trust in our sovereign God.
I do know that the devil hates anything that is of the Lord and adoption is a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord has a heart for the orphan and the goal of our enemy is to steal, kill, and destroy anything that is of the Lord.

I do know that the Lord has the final say and in the end HE WINS. He always has the victory.

This situation with Elim has settled me emotionally. No more waves of overwhelming emotions.
I am peaceful and ready for the task at hand relying solely and placing all confidence in our God.


Roger, Cameron and myself will be traveling and Roger and Cameron will be returning on Tues, Jan 3rd in Atlanta around 2:30pm.

I will stay behind with #4 & obtain the paperwork necessary to BRING HIM HOME!! Prayerfully this can be accomplished in a week or 2.

Ways to pray:

*For many opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with many.

*Safe traveling

*For immediate connection with our son

*For open doors & favor with government officials and all involved finalizing his documentation so we can exit the country.

*For Cameron. This is his first time on a plane & in another country. This was a specific prayer request that the Lord would financially provide so that we could bring him. We are praying the Lord would use this to reveal Himself to Cameron is ways he has never experienced, that He would draw Cameron closer to Himself and that He would use this later in His life. (It gets me so excited to think about!!!)

*That God would be glorified in every aspect of our time there and traveling.

*For our children back home. For E to remain healthy.


THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!!


We are going to ETHIOPIA!!!

last picture of us!! *tears*

May the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory & grace,

Kim

As I am lifted up from the Earth, I will draw all everyone to Myself. -Jesus

This is probably my favorite blog post because it has nothing to do with us & everything to do with the Lord. There are several stories only He could write and I wanted to share them! 

So here we are lifting up HIS NAME.

Story #1  The day we met our son

April 2016

You might remember about this time last year me posting to Facebook about a sweet lady, Stefanie, that LIVES DOWN THE STREET FROM US knocking on the door one Sunday afternoon and saying "we heard that you are adopting from Ethiopia & I just wanted to let you know we will be moving to Ethiopia in October (2015) to serve as missionaries & we are happy to take your baby anything it needs." 

At that time we didn't know if we would be matched with a boy or a girl.
1 or 2.
And had no idea how old he or she or they would be!

October of 2015 came and this sweet family found out their departure date was delayed.

October of 2015 also came and we were matched with our SON!! 

They found out they would be leaving in January of 2016 and again Stefanie said she would take anything we wanted her to take to him!!

So, we made him a book of us to send with her. 

Our picture was on the front along with John 3:16. 

Pictures of Roger and I that said "momma & daddy."

Pages of the kids together and individually with their names and ages showing him his brothers.

Pictures of grandparents & our cat, Wrigley Ann. 

Pictures of our house, his bed where he will sleep, the yard, the kids at the beach, playing soccer in front of our church.

We also included a storying scarf we got from the IMB that's used around the world as you minister to oral learners and asked her to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our son using this. 

You can find one here: http://imbresources.org/index.cfm/product/detail/prodID/1619

Our agency told us our son did not know about us and they would not tell him until we were submitted to PAIR, which is one of the final stages we are currently in!

So........on Thursday April 28, 2016 at 2:30am (our time) Stefanie along with her son, our gracious new Ethiopian friend Fekadu who translated for her, visited the care center in Ethiopia and she introduced our son to us. 

Roger and I got all of the kids up and sat on the couch & got to FaceTime with him for about 30 minutes. <insert cry face>

Fekadu's face came on the screen first, then to Stefanie's face and then Fekadu said "are you ready for your boy?" 

HOW CAN I BE READY FOR THIS MOMENT?!?!!?

We said yes and saw his face. The sweetest, cutest, most precious face I've ever seen. He was smiling and holding the book we sent him. Looking through the pages pointing and looking back at us. 

It's still overwhelming when I think about. Stefanie and her family were supposed to leave in October & THIS would not have happened if she would have left then. We didn't even know about our son at that time. What a gift. A gift from the Lord. In His sovereignty He arranged this moment. I can't describe to you my thoughts.

  

Stefanie is also an adoptive momma. She said she prayed over him and loved on him from me. The Lord just knew it needed to be her. She has identified with the waiting, the longing, the hard, the ups and downs, the delays, the victories. All of it, she knew and wrapped her arms around our son with all of that in her heart. 

The voice we have longed to hear, the face we have longed to see smile and giggle. We saw him and he saw us. And he knows he is loved and wanted by 5 crazy americans across the big pond. 

The first thing he asked was "when are you coming?" We didn't make any promises but told him as soon as we could!  He told us his favorite color is yellow and as Malachi held up Wrigley to the phone he said "I no like cats!" We might be in trouble ;) He showed us his bed and we showed him his here. The boys were so excited to meet him. Elim is going to be stuck to him like glue I can already tell <3 At one point we were making fishy-kiss faces to each other. I can't WAIT squeeze himmmmmmmm!!!!!!!

After we hung up Stefanie shared the Gospel with him using the pictures on the story cloth and said that he has been attended a Protestant church and has seen the Jesus film! We are SO GRATEFUL!!

Stefanie, thank you so much for doing this for us. We are forever grateful. I can't wait to hug your neck in Ethiopia soon! We are continuing to pray for your family as you serve Jesus in Africa! 

Story #2: a visitor

May 2016

My friend Danielle who is adopting 2 children was traveling to Ethiopia THE VERY NEXT MONTH to visit her kids and graciously offered to take him a package from us. Some of the things he specifically asked for while we were Face timing with him were a book bag, some crayons and coloring pages so he's got it :) Along with pjs, blue crocs from Aunt Em, suckers, some of the boys favorite cars, fresh paintings & a precious story book that we recorded our voices reading to him. 

Earlier in the month of April my best friend put together a surprise birthday party for him. Including an incredible cake that my sweet friend Karen made & gifts from everyone for him. <insert many many tears> So we included a couple of pictures from that party in with this care package. This is a picture of him holding the picture we sent.

Our first picture together (cry face)

She videoed him opening his book bag . Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry faccccccccccccccccccce.

He was grinning the whole time!!!!! Couldn't hardly wait to get inside of it and see what treasures his family sent him!!

 Welcome to the gun show ;)

look what's on his shirt #4 :)

This timing of this visit is God ordained & was the first step in establishing trust with him. He asked us for a bookbag with color book and crayons and then the very next month it showed up. This is huge! 

Danielle I can't thank you enough for this treasure. Thank you for loving on him while you were there. I know you know just how much this means. We are praying for Mek's paperwork!

Story #3: Another visitor

June 2016

A fellow adoptive momma with our agency traveled to Ethiopia to get their daughter and while she was there she spent some time with our #4!!! She sent me these pictures. She said he was thrilled to show her his book we sent him. 

Thank you so much Addie for visiting with him and loving on him for us! Are continued prayers are with your family as guys as you transition home with your daughter!

Story #4: another visitor 

August 2016 

Danielle is in Ethiopia right now & has passed court with her son and is waiting for paperwork to be finalized so they can pass court with their daughter. Would you please pray this is quickly resolved so they can all come home?

She's been visiting with our son at the Care Center while she was there and sent us these pictures <3

They played hacky sac and she said he made up his own ruled to tic tac toe :) Rascal <3 

that smile tho!

We are praying Danielle! Love you friend! 

Story #5 another visitor

August 2016

My friend Tisha who has adopted 5 children from Ethiopia is there THIS week as well for her Organization called  A Heart for Korah.

 I encourage you to check it out! She's been posting families that are available for sponsorship on their FB page  and on their Instagram.  This is a way for you to:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

-Proverbs 31:8-9

The rainy season is beginning and the temperature drops in Ethiopia. Tisha was gracious enough to take a care page over to our son for us!! She visited with him this week and gave it to him.

Here are a few pictures.

 sitting on his bed

This hoodie was a hand me down from our neighbors. I was so excited to text her and tell her it made it all the way to Ethiopia!! 

This kid!! He smiles all the time!!!!!! 

We stand in awe of You, Jesus.  

There's no way in the world we could have arranged all of these visits!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a thrill & privilege to be used as Your hands to extend love.

I hope you are SEEING JESUS my friends!!!!!!!!!!
Look at the people He has sent to love on him!

 The story of his life God is writing, it is incredible. There is no mistaking the hand of the Lord all over it. He is seen and known by the Creator of the Universe.
There is a plan for his life and while we live in this broken world and we can never replace his birth mother and father we are so ready to receive &  love him.

SO WHEN CAN WE GO GET HIM??

That's the bazillion dollar question.

As I have been composing this post we received an email for the FINAL step of our PAIR process with the US Embassy. An interview with his finder. 
After this interview is complete we will be issued a PAIR letter and will be DONE with the paperwork! #chills

The next thing is to receive a positive recommendation from MOWA on his case and be issued a court date! THEN WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

We are inline with several other families waiting for this positive comment already. I have zero idea of the time frame. All I know to do is pray.

 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Pray for his finder interview to be completed, if it is missed and has to be rescheduled it would delay us for weeks.

Pray for a flood of positive comments to  be issued and court dates to be given. (The courts are closing for rainy season and will re-open end of September.)

Pray that our eyes will remain on Jesus and not the months passing by, that our faith will be strengthened and that He will continue to be honored in our wait.

He knows. He sees and He knows. That is my greatest comfort. And we are clinging to His promises.

We can't thank you enough for interceding for us. For stopping us & asking how it's going and immediately  praying with us right then. For the random texts and prayer cards that arrive just at the right time.

I wish I were better with words like my friend Candace but I'm not.

We are in awe of our God and His perfect timing and undeserving grace.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

    for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Psalm 115:1

May the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the Light of His glory & grace,

Kim

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.

Psalm 107:28-29 

Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for Him to act.

Psalm 37:7 

 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff reassure me.

Psalm 23:4

 You will keep perfectly peaceful the one whose mind remains focused on you, because he remains in you.

Isaiah 26:3

#allthethings

The battle has intensified since October when we got the news of our son.

Fighting to keep my eyes fixed on the things unseen, you know Jesus and eternity vs. the things seen, you know, the weeks and months passing, the email not there, other cases moving forward in their process and the list goes on and on.

Its this hard thing of wanting to close so my eyes so I don't see it all. Thinking that will help me not be so stirred up all the time & I can focus more on Jesus.

If I could just close my eyes that will help me tarry in this blissful state of not knowing and seeing so I won't have to fight the battle. But if I close my eyes that won't stop my mind from wandering. Oh but if my mind is distracted by the upcoming wedding season it will shift my attention and thoughts on someTHING else and I won't refresh my email every 5 minutes. That honestly sounds much easier.

Hogwash.

We are in a BATTLE for crying out loud. And it's not against the adoption agency or the in country staff or your husband or your boss or your fill-in-the-blank.
It's against the world, our flesh & against our enemy the thief who wants to kill us and steal from us and DESTROY us & evil rulers & authorities of the unseen world. John 10:10 / Eph 6:12

I can't close my eyes and wish for peaceful easy dreaming of rainbows and unicorns or sitting by the water with my Bible and feeling the cool breeze on my face, although that would be REALLY nice about right now.

I can put on my armor of God & trust in my Sword. Depending on the Holy Spirit to help me with the confidence according to His Word that He hears me and as I draw close to Him He promises to draw close to me knowing He is fighting for us. Empowered by the Holy Spirit putting to death the desires of my flesh and using my eyes & mind for righteousness sake. Seeing the whole picture with fixing my focus on Christ and renewing my mind with His Word.

I shout from the roof tops GOD IS GOOD and WHO IS LIKE OUR GOD when things are going good, but what about in the valleys? Because we are weary and weak and feel guilt from our lashing out in our flesh day to day out of bitterness and frustration on the delay of the thing, worried about the weeks ahead. Hand raised-my current situation.

Who or what really is my treasure? My thing? Who or what am I waiting on?

The child? The job? The good report? The house? The promise fulfilled?

All of those things are good, but they can all be taken away. Then what's left?

The things unseen, the things of eternity, eternal value, things that will never pass away.
And will always satisfy. The Person of Jesus Christ. I know how weak I am. I know the potential of my pride. I know my wandering heart, Lord I feel it. Proned to leave the God I love.

It's my greatest fear. Getting to the end of this current thing in my life that the Lord is sanctifying me with, obtaining the earthly prize and forgetting Him. The thing I've longed for, prayed for, lost sleep over, raised money for, worried over for so long....... I get it and then what?

Oh Lord bind me heart to Thee. Take my heart and seal it. Don't let me become proud and boastful and forget You.

Keep my eyes FIXED on you. You are my Treasure. You are my reward. You are the prize. You are the goal. Becoming more like You is my desire.
Help me Lord Jesus not to long for ANYTHING more than You. Not to go to the well for water in any other place for satisfaction other than Your well of Living Water. For You alone satisfy. I want to hunger and thirst for righteousness MORE than this child. Jesus set my mind on things above, not on the things that are on this Earth. Because I have died with You and my life is hidden with You.
Thank You for grace. And fresh mercy waiting for me every morning. And for the occasional mountain tops. You are faithful in it all.  

May ALL THE THINGS grow strangely dim in the light of His glory & grace,

Kim