Trust Him with the Impossible

"A woman of true beauty is a woman who in the depths of her soul is at rest, trusting God because she has come to know Him to be worthy of her trust."--Stasi Eldredge

We began this week hoping and praying that God would be merciful on us and allow Matt to be able to leave by the end of the week.  There were some big things that had to happen for him to be able to leave...some almost impossible things.

If there is one overall area that God has stretched us through this process, it has been trust.  From the day we said, "YES!" to Endale, we have had to trust God to see this to completion from deadlines to finances to traveling, etc.  He has proved Himself faithful over and over again in our lives especially through this process which allowed us to trust Him with the impossible.

During our weekend services at our church, our worship leader asked our church family to join in corporate prayer and petition that God might grant our family the things we needed to allow Matt to come home at the end of this week.  Three services full of prayer warriors lifted up our family, our baby boy and their Pastor...my Matt...to the Almighty God.  Praying for his quick and safe return home to all of us.  We were trusting that God would work in our behalf to make the impossible...possible.

This morning we confirmed that we cleared embassy!!! They have scheduled a visa interview on Thursday and assured us Matt would have Endale's visa in hand Friday and can leave Ethiopia Friday night!

My boys are coming home.  God receives all the glory and honor, because He is the One who made this happen.  We trusted Him knowing that He could move mountains to get Matt home...and He has.  He has a plane ticket booked to leave Ethiopia Friday night at 10:15pm and arrive in DC at 8:30am on Saturday.  We are working on a ticket to get me to Dulles to help Matt the rest of the way home. Matt and Endale will arrive in Albuquerque on Saturday at 7:28pm!!!!  You are welcome to come meet him at the airport and celebrate with our family.

To God Be the Glory Great Things He Has Done

If you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior, I pray that you seek Him.  Adoption is a beautiful story of what our Heavenly Father has done for us.  He has adopted us into His family to become His sons and daughters.  Jesus is our Redeemer.  He has paid our ransom on the cross.  He has made all things new.  Trust Him today with your all.

Psalm 62:8

Trust in Him at all times, you people; 

pour out your hearts to Him,

for God is our refuge.

Update!

Things are moving along over in Ethiopia.  I get to Facetime Matt and Endale usually once a day.  It is so fun to see them.  I have to brag on my hubby a bit.  He is doing great being a Daddy to this precious kiddo we just met!  Endale has flourished in the 8 days of being with us.  He went from being lethargic and apathetic to lighting up every time he sees us and responding to everything!  It is such a blessing to see.

-Receive Adoption Decree

-Receive Birth Certificate

-Get 3 MOWA letters

-Get Endale's passport

-Medical appointment for Endale at Embassy

-Submit our case to Embassy

-Get Embassy appointment

-Clear embassy

Get Endale's visa

-COME HOME!!!!

 

I woke up to an email from Matt this morning saying we had received the immigration paperwork so we could proceed with getting his passport and he planned to do that tomorrow.  Then, a bit later, he emailed saying...I went down to immigration and already applied for the passport today!  Woo-hoo.  Check!  We expect the passport should be ready for pick up by Monday.  Tuesday is Endale's Embassy medical appointment.  Then, we'll have everything we need to submit to Embassy.  In the past, agencies have had certain days they can submit to Embassy.   Our agency's day is Thursday.  So, by next Thursday, we will submit to Embassy.  From there, they would give Matt an exit interview and we'd wait for the visa for him to come home.  Right now, we have plane tickets (booked in faith) for Matt to leave Ethiopia 4/9.  I will meet him in DC the next morning and fly the rest of the way home with him.  

 

How you can pray:

 

We have seen God move mountains over and over again throughout this process.  We're praying that somehow, the Embassy might allow us to go ahead and submit on Tuesday with a possible visa in hand on Friday, so Matt could come home earlier!  We're praying for BIG things from our BIG God!   

He has been so very faithful to us every step of the way to Endale.  Please join us in giving Him the glory for all the things He has done.

 

A Word From My Man

Today is Monday, March 24, 2014.  It marks one week since our arrival in Ethiopia and the third day since Christy and Camden left to go home.  At this point I have at least 10 days more of being here (and that is best case scenario).

It has been an interesting visit so far and I am sure I will get to learn more as the days pass.

Here are some things I have come to realize in my time here…

1.  Speed is not a must.  Nothing happens here quickly.  The American way of doing things (that generally is thought of as the best way by most Americans) is to get “it” done now and then move on to the next two to three projects I have. 

In America, we want everything done now or five minutes ago.  We have cell phones we are either talking on or emailing on or texting on or digging through some app to get the latest information or… you know what I mean.  We have internet that is fast and we complain if it is slow.  Our phones have internet so we can keep busy even while sitting and waiting.  Why?  All in order to be “up to speed” on what is going on in the world.

Here, it is not like that at all.  If people have a cell phone, it is a basic phone with little to no features.  Internet works when it wants to.  And people really don’t care.  There are internet cafes (more like shacks) all around town because people don’t have it at their houses.  The only places to get fast reliable internet is at the Sheraton and Hilton (coincidentally both American style hotels).

In America, we have Fast Food, drive thrus, and microwaves.  We even have drive thru coffee places.

Here - they don’t know what fast food is and when I told one of the guys about getting coffee while still in your car he was shocked.  You see, the way they do their food, their coffee, their everything, it is about connection.  They don’t rush meals - you actually have to ask for the check because they are not trying to get you out the door.  Here at the guest house I am at - they roast their coffee beans every morning and then grind them and then brew them.  Why - so they can talk while doing it and connect with each other.  

In America, church is over in about an hour… give or take a few minutes.  We have our eyes on a clock knowing that three songs, announcements, a message and a song or two more and we will be done.  We stand in our place, stiff, singing quietly if at all and we call it our hour of “worship.”

Here - the music started and the people responded… it was over and hour a music to start and I didn’t see one person looking at their watch… probably because they didn’t have any other place to go or something more important to do than connect with God in a corporate setting.

While I love America and can’t wait to get back… I think we need to take a look at our schedules and ask the questions that the guy I was talking to about drive thru’s asked… “Why is everybody in America so busy?”  “What are they gaining in their busyness?”

Introducing Endale Matthew Sellers

This morning, we left Endale at the guest house and went to the court house.  I was expecting a little more pomp and circumstance due to the towers of paperwork and hoops we've had to jump through to get to this day.  We climbed 4 flights of stairs and walked down the hallway.  On one side was a room full of criminals.  Our in-country rep, Dereje, explained that they were there for committing crimes....like killing people.  Uuuhhhh....okay.  The other side of the hallway was our waiting room.  We sat down and watched another family go into the room with the judge.  In less than 5 minutes, it was our turn.  We went into the room with the judge.  She asked us several questions.  In less time than it took to walk to the court house from where we parked, the judge announced what God had already ordained for our family....
Endale is your son.

Leaving the transition house

At transition house

So from here....

After we booked our tickets to come home between court and embassy, we were told that one of us would have to stay until we could bring him home because our agency's transition house is closing.  We had always planned for two trips, but we had to change our plans.  After talking through all the options, we decided it would work best for Matt to stay.  He felt safer being the one to stay and he will have no problem taking care of Endale.  I have complete confidence in him as a Daddy.  Friday night, Camden and I will begin our journey home from Ethiopia and Matt and Endale will stay.  We're hoping for a fairly quick process.  It may be around 2-3 weeks, but the up-side to that is that Endale never has to be in anyone else's care.  He will be with Daddy until he comes home!  And that also means, he could be HOME...OUR HOME in 2-3 weeks!!!!!  I can hardly fathom this and cannot wait until our whole family is together.  These are the steps to cross off before Matt can come home:

-Receive Adoption Decree

-Receive Birth Certificate

-Get 3 MOWA letters

-Get Endale's passport

-Medical appointment for Endale at Embassy

-Get Endale's visa

-Submit our case to Embassy

-Get Embassy appointment

-Clear embassy

-COME HOME!!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers.  

*Please pray that the court here and the embassy will be diligent in processing everything for our case.  

*Pray for Dereje who is working so hard for our family (and many others) to make sure these children are placed in Christian homes.  

*Pray for Matt as he stays here with Endale.

Busy Day!

Tuesday in Ethiopia was wonderful for us!  We were still adjusting to the time change.  We all woke up in the middle of the night here and were wide awake.  Endale slept like a champ!  The guest house has a sweet cook named Hewitt who makes breakfast for everyone in the house.  Yesterday, we had something that would be similar to spring rolls (yes! with veggies) for breakfast.  She hand rolled them the day before.  They were yummy!

After breakfast, we were excited to get out and see what we could in Ethiopia.  We joined our new friends, also from our agency, and went out to the market place to shop.  As we drove through the city, I just took everything in.  We also visited a scarf making factory.  This organization provided a place where men and women could make scarves to earn money for their families.  The women would have to walk up a mountain to gather wood and carry it back down on their shoulders.  Now, at the factory, each scarf that is sold has name attached to it and whoever made the scarf receives the money.

Outside of the scarf factory, there were lots of kids playing and Camden went right over and started playing with them.  They loved playing with him.  Here are some pictures from our day.  Endale was right there with us, but we can't show you his face yet.....stay tuned!

We also took care of some things that needed to be checked off our adoption list.  The other couple also had to do the same things, so we joined them.  We had to get small passport photos of the babies and copies made of some of our paperwork.  Since there isn't a Walgreen's on every corner, we were taken to a professional photo shop to get the pictures.  We all laughed and smiled at all the props as we were there just to get a 2x2 head shot of our kiddos.  We weren't exactly sure what we were going to get, but it turned out perfect!

At the end of the day, Matt and I were blessed to meet up with a Southern Baptist missionary that is here in Ethiopia with his family.  We had brought some medicine and supplies for his family.  He came and picked us up and we spent the evening having dinner and sweet fellowship with them.

We are so in love with our little guy.  He is as mellow as can be.  He will be 20 months at the end of this month, but he is tiny!  He is wearing size 2 diapers and 6 month old clothes.  I will also add that he as cute as cute can be!  (Yes, that is a teaser....as soon as we pass court, we can show him to the world!)

And He Will Give You the Desire of Your Heart

Psalm 37:4 

Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

 Years ago, God placed a desire in my heart to adopt a child with Down Syndrome.  He gave me a special love for children with special needs and I knew right then that God was calling me to do something big.  In dating Matt, I shared with him this calling that God had on my life.  We had no idea how God would fulfill this calling.  We just knew that when He did, we would step out in obedience and say "yes".  God put Endale in our path and we knew, He was given to us by God to be a part of our family.

 

Today, my heart swelled as we drove to the transition house.  So many emotions flooded my heart and mind.  I still am in awe at God's faithfulness throughout this whole process.   I am so grateful that He chose our family as a vessel to love Endale.  

 

 We arrived at the transition house after a short ride from our guest house.  They opened the gate and we walked it.  It all seemed so surreal.  I had imagined it over and over again.  I immediately became emotional seeing the older children playing in the entry way and seeing other cribs holding babies waiting for their families.  We walked up the stairs to the room that has been home to Endale for the last 8 months.  We turned the corner and there he was.  Tears streamed down my face as I looked for approval from the nanny to pick up my baby from his crib.  He clung to me.  I cried.  Matt cried.  Camden cried.  It was a beautiful mess laced with God's glory. 

 

We walked him out of the transition house and he joined us at the guest house.  We held him, fed him and took a nap with him.  I have examined his every detail and can't wait to learn more about his personality. 

 

Also staying in the guesthouse is another family from our agency who we connected with online.  They had their court date a couple of weeks ago.  It was so fun to finally meet them in person and share in the joy of the new blessings in both of our families.  We went to a fun Ethiopian restaurant with them for lunch.

 

I can't wait for all this week as in store.  Very soon, I can show you our boy's sweet face. Camden is in love with his new baby brother.  He must have told Endale that he loves him fifty times already.  My heart is full.  God is so good.

 

We're leavin' on a jet plane!

This morning I got the best message ever from our agency director saying...

"Hurry, go get your boy!"  

We have our court date!  It is so surreal.  We are not going to disclose the actual court date online, but I can tell you that it is NEXT week.  

So from here, Matt, Christy and Camden will leave on Saturday to head to Washington, D.C. where we will have a connecting flight the next morning to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!  Since our flight leaves so early on Sunday and we had to arrive the day before, we have an added blessing.  We will get to see Matt's Dad and step-mom who live a short drive away.  Also, we get to see our dear friends from Rio Rancho, the Prospers, who have been away working in the DC area for several months.   We'll catch up with loved ones to pass the time!

We'll get on our LONG flight on Sunday morning.  We will arrive in Ethiopia on Monday morning (Sunday night US time).  It seems as though we will get to meet our boy THAT very morning. So while you sleep on Sunday night, we will finally get to hold him in our arms!! I can hardly stop imagining what that will be like.

We are so overwhelmed by everyone's prayers and excitement.  Please know that God receives all the glory for this story He is writing.  We can love big because HE loved us first.  My prayer over and over through this is that God's glory would be revealed and that our sweet E would know the Father's love in our family.  I cannot wait to kiss his sweet head and see his smile up close.

We will try and update our blog daily if internet allows.  Once we pass court, I can share his face with the world!  You won't want to miss that big reveal....he is CUTE.  Unfortunately, we cannot bring him home until after we clear embassy.  Many steps follow the court date and right now, it looks like it would be one month before we could clear embassy and go back to bring him home!

Let's do this.

Author of Life

We are currently at a standstill in the adoption process.  We are awaiting a signature from the region that our E is from.  This particular region is not giving out any signatures right now, because of some of the other issues going on in regards to international adoption in Ethiopia.  It is not just our case or region being affected.  We are basically indefinitely waiting. We have no idea how long it could take.  God has really calmed my heart and reminded me that whether he's 20 months or 10 years old when we bring him home, he was meant to be with our family.  We're in it for the long haul.

 

God has continued to bring the story of Gideon to me over and over the last week.  Gideon wasn't the obvious choice to lead the army, but He was God's choice.  What a challenge in the midst of not really knowing why God is doing what He is doing.  That's where I feel like we are.  We are not the obvious choice, but we're God's choice for this beautiful story.  Gideon had to be ready for the challenge.  God likes it when it's highly unlikely, because the reason for the victory is HIS.  Just like Gideon felt, there is mystery as to why God would use us, but that is an exciting place to be. We know that God hasn't brought us this far to not make His glory known in a big way.  I'm excited to witness close-up His goodness and glory.  It is all HIS.

 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”  
made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
 knowledge of God’s glory 
 displayed in the face of Christ.  
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that  
this all-surpassing power is from God 
and not from us.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 

We know that the glory of the Lord will be revealed.  E is His child.  We are His vessels.  Some might say their "hearts are across the world".....I say that our hearts are laser focused on God and what He is doing and how we can give Him the glory.  Certainly we miss our curly headed boy everyday, but God is holding him in His hands.

God is bigger than any government or signature.  
He is the Author of life. 

And just because I can....check out this boy's do!  He's getting SO big!

Never Stop Trusting Him

Psalm 37:7

Be still in the presence of the Lord, 

and wait patiently for Him to act.

I am trying so very hard to be patient....really, who is good at that?  

Let me back track for you.  First, let me assure you that our agency really doesn't have much control over our situation.  We are at the liberty of another country's government and court system.  We were told by our agency to prepare to travel back in December because they expected us to have a court date.  December came and went and we were told that we would most likely travel in January.  Obviously, we're not going anywhere.  Today, the judge announces that the Ethiopian court will be closed until February 24th for "staff meetings".  

That took the wind out of my sail.

This mama's heart wants her baby boy.  I don't know that anyone that hasn't been in this process can fully understand.  I am connected by heart to this little being that I have never rocked to sleep.  My heart aches to be the one that feeds him, holds him and sings softly in his ear.  God has written his name on our hearts.  We are ready to be a family.  Our kids pray for their "baby brother far away" daily.  They are ready for him to be here.  Just because we "want" it SO bad doesn't mean that God is going to move that way.  He longs for me to cling to Him, lean into Him and never stop trusting in Him.

Ironically, my morning devotion this morning (before hearing the news of the courts closing) reminded me that God's promises are still His promises even if He doesn't answer prayers the way we want Him to. 

Today, I am resting in His plan for our family, my heart and mind and our sweet baby boy across the world waiting for us.

Clinging to Him.
Leaning into Him.
Trusting in Him. 

Hebrews 4:14

Let us cling to Him and 

Never stop trusting in Him.

Let God Take Over....Again

"To pray is to let go 

and let God take over."

Philippians 4:6-7

There have been many areas in my life where God has taught me that I am hanging on too tight to the reigns and haven't fully given control to Him.  I am finding myself at that point with this adoption.  God is gently tapping me on the shoulder saying..."Hey, remember ME...I've got this."  Some days I need more than a tap on the shoulder...maybe more like a swift kick to the pants.  

We were blessed by a fairly quick and painless process up to this point.  Now, we've hit a minor bump in the road--cue my worry and arms reaching to grab the reigns.  Daily this week, I have had to out loud surrender this process to Him (again) and acknowledge that our little E is HIS.  Our agency really did think we would know our court date by the end of this week.  Here we sit with another week having passed and no progress in our case.

There is still much being talked about in adoption circles on the internet about what Ethiopia is deciding to do as far as "reform" the international adoption process.  Supposedly, they are going to announce the plan they've come up with in the coming days.  We do know that they are still processing adoptions at this time.

In our particular case, one of E's documents from the orphanage he was in had a signature of an official who is no longer in office.  The Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) will not issue our letter until the signature is updated.  They tried to get it done this week.  It seems with all the uncertainty of things going on in Ethiopia right now, they are hesitating getting some of these things done.  

At this point, we have no idea when we'll get our court date and be able to travel.  

We are so thankful for those of you that have prayed for our family through this process.  Here are some very specific ways you can pray:

• Pray for our agency's in-country representative as he works tirelessly to get everything needed for our case (as well as others' cases)
• Pray that he will be granted soon and easily the signature we need for our case
• Pray that once the signature is done that MOWA will issue our letter and court date quickly
• Pray for our sweet E who is waiting for us
• Selfishly....pray for my sanity in the waiting (my family will thank you for that)

We are trusting God in this whole situation.  It doesn't mean that we're not human and we don't worry from time to time or get frustrated in the way things are happening.  Our hope is in Him. We know He loves our sweet E more than we do and He has a perfect plan for his life.  We know without a doubt that God has instilled this desire in our hearts long ago and He will see it through!  We pray that we will represent God well through this process.  He deserves all the honor and glory and we can't wait to see the rest of our story unfold.

"We are confident that He who began this work in us will carry it on to completion."  Philippians 1:6