not forgotten

Luke and I got to go to a home for kiddos who don't have moms and dads today. It was good for both of us in different ways.

We arrived at the home, and our first impressions were that it was a typical building for where we live: lots of concrete, no greenery at all, old metal playground equipment, kind of depressing. But I did notice it was clean-the outside of the building was covered in white tiles which tend to stave off the grayness that is inevitable for the concrete buildings here.

We went up to hang with some older kids. All of whom had down syndrome. Which was new for my 5-almost-6-year-old. It wasn't comfortable for him, and my normally extremely independent little boy wanted to plant himself on my lap and watch tv. But a friend had brought markers, playdoh and paper, and when the other children started drawing and playing with playdoh, I noticed Luke inching up to the table. He started telling them how good their drawings looked. He took some playdoh to play with it at the table. And then, next thing I knew, he was taking some playdoh over to a girl standing in the corner of the room, rocking by herself. She didn't take the playdoh, but smiled at him. He noticed the little girl that no one else was paying attention to. And gave her what was most valuable to him in the room at that moment. I was touched by my little man and his heart and his courage in what was, to him, an uncomfortable few minutes...

(the picture was not taken at the home--I didn't feel comfortable getting my camera out. I wanted to keep the focus away from the camera...)

Next, we saw the babies. Seven sweet babies. Two healthy babies who have people lined up to adopt them. And five who are ill. One sweet little girl captured my heart. Doctors have said she only has days to live--her liver is not good. She's seven months old, and no one has ever given her a name. I think no one thought she'd survive. And I felt so stirred by that: it seems like society has forgotten her...

But as I prayed for her, I felt that she wasn't forgotten. That her Father hasn't stopped thinking about her for even one second. And so, if she lives on this earth for 7 months and goes to meet her Creator, it'll be a celebration as her Father welcomes her home. His treasure.

roller coaster

I almost wrote this on my facebook update, but couldn't do it. This isn't really so much like a facebook thing.

We have had quite the roller coaster week. We thought my mom was going to come visit. But my dad got sick and she couldn't come. My Luke has been praying every day for Papa to get better so Nana can come. We were sad.

But then the next night, we received an email that started like this: Well, I hope you're ready for this. I have a referral for you. And he proceeded to tell us that he had a little boy, almost two, who could be ours within the next year. If we wanted him. We didn't see his picture or look at his medical records--we said yes. So we have been thinking about a little man living in Ethiopia all day and dreaming about going to meet him and then bringing him home.

And tonight we got an email from the same aforementioned man who told us he needed us to call. So I did, and he told me he didn't even know how to tell me, but sweet little man had passed away. I guess he died yesterday. He got sick and couldn't recover--it happens a lot in third world countries. So, we're trying to pick our jaws up off the floor. It is so sad--not for us, but for this little man who we were already falling in love with. We have been hoping all night that he had someone who was loving on him in the hospital this week.

I guess this happens once every 20 years, but it's made me think.

We actually already have another referral. Another little boy who's 7 months old. And we're excited about that one, too, but I feel just a little sad about the loss of a little almost 2 year old that we actually never met. I hope he's having fun with Jesus.

"Skydiving"

We had a retreat of sorts a couple of weeks ago, and Johnny jumped into a wind tunnel to "skydive". It was a simulation. In a big country where things just aren't the same quality as, say, western countries. But when I was going through our pictures, it made me feel philosophical, for whatever reason. About the symbolism of skydiving. There's a lot of faith involved in sky diving--depending on a piece of thin cloth and strings to catch me when I'm falling from hundreds of feet, right?

I think the Father wants us to be the same way with him: depend on him to catch us when he tells us to jump out of that plane. To change our lives. To ask our friends to completely go against their families to follow the unseen. I truly get afraid to think of all the bad things that could happen when I look out that door and hear those words, "trust Me." And yet, I'd regret if I didn't jump...

Two

We decided to go for 2 children from Ethiopia. And when Johnny gets back from traveling this week, we'll start on the paperwork for grants/loans!

Super L

Something I have to say about my number one child is that he is nothing if he's not creative. He is always thinking of a story. He thinks of the most fun ideas of things to do and make. He thinks of fun games for his friends to play. This was totally his idea one day: L's cafe. And his menu includes: pizza, pancakes, cherries (that's my favorite), pie, noodles, hamburgers...It includes pictures.

There's also a cold soda machine on the side of the cafe. For a mere 25 cents, you can have a cold Coke, too.

I always want to remember these days...

adopting

We are in the middle of the adoption process. We have turned in our dossier and have been told that we will get our referral sometime in the next few months. But now we have to decide (read: hear clearly from the Father) whether to do 1 child or 2 children. And we have always thought that we'd do 2. Because it's a little less expensive to do 2 at once. And we want 2 so that they will have each other to relate to and know what it's like to be adopted from Ethiopia together...

BUT we found out it is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive to adopt 2. And we don't have the money for the second one. Sooo...we need a sign to appear hanging out our bedroom window.

People have, at one time, asked where we are in the process. That's where we are today.

Trip to the Temple

The areas that we most love to go are often closed. There are various reasons. And I can't go into all of it on here. But suffice it to say, we feel like it's a treat to get to travel to the mountains when they are open.

And I got the chance to travel out in August. It was a really great trip--I got to travel out with a friend, so I got to meet lots and lots of family and friends while I was there. We've found that traveling out with friends is so much more fun (and tiring) than just going on our own...

Anyway, our first day in town we drove out to a temple. And I watched my friends do all the rituals that are done in the temple. It was nothing I hadn't seen before. But it had been long enough that it was fresh, and watching my friends walk through the rituals actually drives the reality home a bit more. So, here are some pictures from the temple. They are a bit smoky just because of the incense burning (the oven that is shown is an incense burning oven)...

The last picture is a friend throwing up her prayer cards into the wind to carry them off to the gods, and she's surrounded by prayer flags. Such is the reality here...