Pillow Talk and The Prosperity Gospel

One of my favorite times of day is those last few moments before you fall asleep when the events from the day and or your whole life are sort of processing and playing in your mind. Bill and I have had the privilege lately of spending some of this "pillow talk" time with the girls and we are learning so many things about them that humble us, break our hearts, make us laugh and amaze us.

Last night we ladies had a really deep talk about success and what that means, what it means to love God with your life and what our goals were for the future.

Some of our talk had been focused on "Going to university" and how important this was in order to make your dreams come true for jobs, and helping others etc.

So as Kalkidan shared her dream of having a "big big big house with many, many, many Mekina and a swimming pool ( Mekina =cars) , I tried to redirect the conversation a little bit to what really matters in life and share how the bible teaches us that if we have "everything" but not God we really have nothing.

So to bring that up I said, "Ok that's a really good dream, but lets remember there is one things that is the most important thing, above all other things." I was holding up a finger and pointing to the ceiling as if somehow that would give the girls a hint.

Kalkidan was jumping up and down on the bed and saying "I know, I know!!" and she blurted out "University!!!"

I laughed and said "Yes that's very good, and very important too, but even more important than that , the most important thing in life is that we must love God. Those other things are good, but loving God is "Betam Tru! ( Very good in Amharic)

Kalkidan paused her jumping for a minute, taking it all in and said "OK Good! I already love God!" And dramatically fell back on her bed in complete satisfaction as if to indicate that since she already loved God, the the big house and the many cars were sure to follow. :) Hilarious!

Oh no! I think I may have started teaching the prosperity gospel!

I guess I'll have to clean that up later!

Failing Forward

Time for an update from the Manchester family! Up to this moment, we've been too busy to even think about blogging, but finally as of yesterday, we are in a routine and it's working. It's our third week of Homeschool and we are finally catching our stride. The girls are working hard in every subject and making gains every day. The love gymnastics class, making music in a variety of ways and they even love MATH! Go figure! I spent a lot of time at my own kitchen table as a kid crying over my math homework...not these girls! Math is almost a reward! ( And Can I just say a prayer of thanks that I married a man who is actually very good at math!) I think this morning there was actually some excitement to be back at "School" after a four day Thanksgiving break. So this is a victory!


It's our fifth week of being together as a family and we are finlly finding a rhythm here as well. Last night for the FIRST TIME EVER the girls got the bedtime routine done in under an hour and if you had been livibng with us for the past five weeks, you'd know what an accomplishment this was!


So today as I refelct on the past five weeks, I can't help but also think about all the things we goofed up, did too slow, did too fast, were too deamdning in etc. And I pray that in those moments where we were or will be sort of failing as parents, that at least we will "fail forward", meaning we will learn from our mistakes, that we will persist in love and patience when things are hard and that we will always remind the girls that even though we are not perfect, their heavenly father IS and he will never fail them.

Photos: Top to bottom:
Ready for america!
Gymnastics
Science experiment
"Art"

Time on The Toilet Seat

Time On The Toilet Seat: Before you begin to think that this is a weird potty post, ( its not what you might think) just give me second to explain how I ended up spending a couple of hours (literally) parked on the same toilet seat in Adot Tina hotel in Addis Ababa this evening ... Today was amazing to say the least. Being parents has been just as much fun as we thought and thankfully not quite hard as thought. There have been dome minor challenges, but mostly joys! We started off the day with a gourmet breakfast at our hotel where the girls practiced using silverware.... Not necessarily for the first time, but an event for sure! Before we even began, my mamma skills kicked in and I decided to sit us in an area of the dining room that was in a corner and separated from everything else, and everyone else. I can't exactly count the miscommunications, and the times silverware ended up on the floor or flying , yes flying , in what would have been a dangerous trajectory had we been near other human life and not just the flowers on the tables. Then we all got dressed for church as the girls had requested we visit a congregation they knew of. The girls were so excited about their new dresses ( and new, new shoes.... a whole other story...)and I used my momma skills again to get all of the wrinkles out from being squished in the suitcases ... When in need of an iron and none is available.... A blow dryer will suffice! So off we went with no one getting stuck in the elevator door ( this time) and embarked on our first "worship experience". When we arrived at church, we were told we had to pay 50 Bir per person and that we had to wait for the priest and a tour guide..... So we discovered that there was NO service, we were just getting a tour. A tour that ended halfway through when some of the other guests started taking pictures in other areas of the building. Ha! Bill wanted to get his money's worth so we finished the tour ourselves as the tour guide "chill axed" . The girls were enthralled and spent significant time getting their photos just right. When we left I was kind of frustrated and felt like we had wasted time, but as I reflected, and as our driver pointed out, we are blessed, church service or not...we have two beautiful daughters that God has lead to our family and my worship today is just a grateful heart. Speaking of the daughters, after the church fiasco, and an akward lunch afterward, we decided to just stay in the hotel for the rest of the day and bond. Room service baby! We made a magnificent fort where we used bills IPhone flashlight app strobe light to do some dancing in the dark. We also pretended to be asleep and snoring and then " woke up" to scare the girls. They were dying with laughter at our snoring and trying to do it too! But they couldn't! So for now snoring makes me cool! We also tried out our gymnastics skills: doing back bends, flips and (probably somewhat dangerous for the all wood floors )and handstands. Kalkidan through guestures let me know she wanted to slide around on the floor , so we came up with all kinds of crazy ways to do just that. ( thankful for a long hallway and room big enough to do this in) she also let me know she liked bring thrown in the air, twirling around in our arms and getting that dizzy feeling. So we all did this until we all felt sick. We then played some serious hide and seek! Kumnager was almost always last to be found. She somehow contorted her body to hide in a space smaller than a microwave! Kumneger also wanted her hair " undone" which was a hour plus long project... So we all pitched in there to undo braids and thought we would be kind of done with big projects for the evening. Time for rest! But no, Kumnager had other plans. Even though she'd already taken a shower and had pjs on, she decided her hair now needed washed. A couple miscommunications later and we found ourselves next to yhe jacuzzi tub ( I know right! ) in our bathroom and a few minutes later Kumnager was in her swimsuit preparing for the Olympic swim team in the tub! Ha ha! Kalkidan eventually joined In the fun and again, my momma skills bubbled to the surface and I spent the entire "swim meet/bubble bath/ spa night/ chick fight" parked on the toilet seat beside them, getting splashed, getting covered in suds, breaking up altercations, washing hair and laughing myself silly! When most people think of being on the toilet for a couple hours in a foreign country, they assume gastrointestinal /medical problem"!! Ha ha! But in this case I can honestly say that there was no other place I would have rather been than on that toilet seat.

Jar of Joy

This weekend our amazing freinds hosted an adoption shower for us!

It was a beautiful and fun time!

 

We received lots of gifts for the girls all worth blogging about.... :) but one gifts contents in particular is the easiest to blog  about because it was a glass jar filled with handwritten messages and quotes of hope, parenting advice etc.

 

 One quote for each day for the next five weeks in case that's how long we have to wait!

 

Here are  two of the quotes so far:

 

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

-Elizabeth Stone

 

"Hope is greif's best music."

-author unknown

 

And how true this is! Our hearts are walking all around Ethiopia right now. Actually to be exact ..they are hopefully still sleeping for another half an hour or so! :)

 

And HOPE, it's the thing that's so easily crushed and grinded to a pulp when you walk the painful path of infertility ( or really any painful path where life deals you an unexpected blow).....but it's still alive in us and  now growing every day. 

 

And hope is one of the greatest gifts we could give our girls!

 

Hope that God really does love them and will take care of them.
Hope that he has an amazing future planned for them.

Hope that we will love them even when they act silly.

Hope that  they will be home with us soon!

 

And on a lighter note...I am hoping their birthday packages arrive by the end of the week so they know we haven't forgotten them! Feel free to post in the comments section or on facebook a happy birthday to Kumneger and Kalkidan!

 

So, while we continue to wait for the good news that we are on our way back to our beloved, we'll dip our fingers in the Jar of Joy each morning  and feel hope being renewed.

 

 

PS:Thanks EVERYONE for the outpouring of love at the shower!

If someone sends me more pics, I can upload! :)

 

SUPPORT PHOTOS OF TEENS FROM ZIMBABWE

LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS-http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/

We have been approved for fundraising support through Lifesong For Orphans!

So, we want to offer anyone who has felt lead to make a donation toward our adoption the opportunity to do so through Lifelong for Orphans, a well respected non-profit organization that can receive and distribute tax deductible gifts for our adoption.

100% of what is donated toward our adoption expenses is* purposed to go directly to us. No administrative fees will be taken out.

The total adoption costs including airfare and travel for us and Kumneger and
Kalkidan will total approximately $60,000-65,000.00 We have spent about $50,000
so far and have about 10,000-15,000 left to go, maybe a little less , maybe more,
considering we pay foster fees per each day the girls are not with us and that is ongoing until we bring them to the United States.

Please know that we have been blessed beyond our imaginations to have made it this far
and should you choose to donate we’ll be blessed even more. We wish to tell
Kumneger and Kalkidan someday just how many people participated in bringing
them home!

SimpleSteps for donating:
1.Please
make checks payable to: Lifesong. You may preference how your donation might be used by writing “preference
Manchester/#2924 Adoption” in
the memo section of your check.
PLEASEDON”T FORGET THIS STEP!

(*Note:In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong and not to us. Lifesong retains fulldiscretion and control over thedonations use.)
*
* Also, There is a PayPal option. However, PayPal charges a % fee. If you wish
to try that route contact us directly and let us know.

2.
Mail checks to:
Lifesong
for Orphans
Att:Manchester/#2924 Adoption

DON’T FORGETTHIS PART! :0)

PO
Box 40
Gridley, IL
61744


Thanks eveyone! Feel free to check out Lifesong's Website! They are doing great things !


http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/

Happy Anniversary Girls!

Kumnager and Kalkidan,

Do you know what day it is? Exactly one month ago we legally became your parents. Even though you've been our daughters in our hearts for a lot longer than that, it's certainly something to celebrate.

We watched a movie today about adoption in your honor and bought you some gifts which you'll get soon when we see you!!

We are so glad you got to meet our Friends and that you got our care package...We bet you've already chewed the gum, wondered what in the world the columbus pin was, and looked at the photos hundreds of time.... We hope it reminded you that we are thinking of you, praying for you and we love you more than words can say.

We hope we can come to you soon!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Cute things Kids Say and Ask: Will He Fit and Will it Hurt?

Over the course of both my personal and professional life, I have had the priviledge of working with a lot of children. Anyone that has children or knows children, also knows they can say some really cute things and ask some hilarious questions!

For example, just recently, I was teaching one of my husband's classes a song, as a surprise for him, ( He was with another class) and one of the second graders said "Wow, Mrs. Manchester, it's really cool that you are married to Mr Manchester! Does that mean you are brother and sister?"

HILARIOUS!!!

A while back when the Twilight Saga became a big rage, I was in a school cafeteria setting and a student came up to me and said "Mrs. Manchester, you really look like a vampire!" Now, I think the kid meant this as some kind of compliment and I was ready to just roll with it. But another staff member overheard this and gave the kid a stern talking to. She even made the child write me an apology! When the child delivered the apology, she added on in a faint whisper right before she turned around to walk away, "But I actually really do think you look like a vampire! "

HILARIOUS!!

One of my earliest instances of getting comments about my appearance was also with a second grader. The child interrupted the whole class to say "Mrs. Manchester, it's hitting me that you look just like my momma." Again, I took it as a kind of compliment and just kind of nodded and smiled but all the while thinking to myself, "Hmm,I wonder how that's possible because I am Caucasian and this child is not ....So, the kid wasn't quite finished yet and added this last tidbit. "You look just like my momma because your teeth are almost as crooked as hers."

Wow! Thanks! :)

But one of my all time favorites was the night I was doing a devotional with my little sisters, and putting them to bed. I was telling them the salvation story and explaining that you can pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart. One of my sisters, laying quietly in her bed spoke up and said she was interested in doing it, but she just had two questions, "If I ask Jesus into my heart, will he fit? And will it hurt at all?

Super cute, right??

Well, thirteen years later I have a different answer to those questions than I gave back then.

Of course He'll fit...ha ha ha..., and no it won't hurt...trying to explain the abstract concept of a relationship with God....

But now, being older and wiser and I know a few more things about a relationship with God and this knowledge has drastically changed my views.

Does God really fit into me?? NO WAY! Just in part...there's nothing in this world that can contain Him! And at my brightest moments, I reflect only a mere glimpse of his goodness....at my worst, I block others from seeing him and being able to know him.... So No, he doesn't fit....even just trying to connect with God in my humanness is stretching and pulling and changing me....in ways I didn't even know I needed to be stretched and pulled and changed...

And Further, the way of Jesus is the way of the Cross. The way of the Cross is suffering....and so if you really start following Jesus, you will start finding yourself in some painful situations.

You might find yourself in the slums picking up your first adopted child.

You might find yourself in the hospital room with a girlfriend who has just lost ANOTHER baby for seemingly no reason.

You might find yourself giving up your six figure job to move overseas and work with street kids who have no place to call home.

You might find yourself letting go of ladder climbing type social engagements that cost you a promotion so you can serve meals to the homeless....

Because these are places Jesus would probably go.

So much of my christian life has been spent trying to get OUT of painful situations, and thinking, wrongly so , that God's ultimate plan was to get to me to the place where suffering was in the distant past...and it's only been in the past year or so that I am really starting to get this concept of becoming like Christ in his suffering.

While I wait for the day when I get to hear my own daughters cute little quips and qoutes about life...I am reflecting on and thankful for the kids from my past that God has used to help me understand some of the deeper mysteries of the faith.

So, does he fit? Not really.....

Does it hurt? Definately....

But is it worth it? ( A new question I ask myself sometimes..) TOTALLY.

Pizza and Ice cream. An anniversary to remember.

Today was our last working day in Zimbabwe and it was also our anniversary. Eight adventurous years together.

And yes, after our time in Ethiopia we headed down south to Zimbabwe for a mission trip with an organization that cares for orphans and HIV positive communities in both urban and rural Zimbabwe.

We wanted to do something memorable today and we also wanted to keep working with the kids we had come to serve, so we decided to throw a pizza party for the teens from two different orphanages in the greater Harare region.

But, After seeing all the needs that exist with and for the kids, we weren't sure if it made any sense to spend a sizable amount of USD on pizza.... So we went back and forth about it.

One of the homes was mostly teenage boys who farm and weld and do hair cuts for income. These boys had a clean, decent smelling home ( which is a feat for males in my book) are doing well in school, but they faced some serious challenges. One was the fact that they only have water one day a week at the moment. They have resourcefully been storing water though as their group leader noted " water is life you know"

Very good point.

The other challenge is that they are out of power and need funds to restore it.

So again back to the question of , "does it make sense to throw these boys a pizza party or just buy them some bottled water and pay their electric bill?"

The organization staff that we were working with, at multiple levels , encouraged us that the pizza party was a great idea and we would have no way to understand what an impact it would have on the kids lives to get to be in the city and experience something of this nature.

So that's how it got started.

The kids from the other home, we had never met, so we were unsure whether or not the whole experience would be good or have flow etc. Would we have anything interesting to talk about?

Well, we have noticed since arriving on this continent that a lot of people talk about future plans. So that's where I started .

I was amazed and excited about their answers to my question of "what is your future plan?" In the group were hopeful lawyers, a journalist, a musician , a doctor, an architect, a pilot and I could go on!

These kids were so easy to talk to and so hopeful. When I asked them what their favorite food was they all said " pizza!" good answer since that's what we were having. :)

The conversations got a little more serious as time went on and we talked about life in general and favorite scriptures.

EVERY single teen quoted me a different scripture that when spoken juxtaposed against their stories of suffering , brought me to tears.

Since I am a professional counselor I am trained to be objective and refrain from taking on peoples problems.... But I'll tell you what , I desperately wanted to take on ALL of these kids problems.

I wish I could connect every single child with a mom and dad or even a mom or a dad who would solely care for and provide for their every need.

I wanted to scoop each one of them up, even though they are teenagers , and just hug them and let them cry until there are no tears left......

But obviously that would be weird...

So I didn't!

But we DID extend our lunch a little further beyond the pizza gallery because we had miscalculated the number of kids and had extra cash.

We decided to get some Ice cream for everyone. It's sounds like not a big deal but it really was. It was like Christmas! We bought cones and sprinkles and had a great time making jokes about licking the cones as only teenagers can do!

And then one teen said " This is a day to remember forever!"

Wow. Just pizza and ice cream? A day to remember forever?

But when you are coming from a place of survival , days like today ARE something to remember.

And for me too, I want to remember today forever. And I want to top it!

On the spur of the moment I decided I would help look for sponsors for these teens. So this is where you come in blog readers.

This group is not affiliated with world vision or compassion international, though They would love to be . And they have tried to connect. But the need is so vast not every kid gets the opportunity to be " marketed" that way.

So I let each of the kids take their own pictures and type in their names into my phone so i could report back to you all of their needs and maybe connect some to sponsors.

The fee is 35 a month and we are working on an efficient way to get funds back and forth. Five primary school children are already being supported by our church small group members which is great! But I also want these teens to have a chance to reach their goals.

When we are back In the states I will be checking emails and can try to connect you if you desire to help. Even just 35 a month for six months or a year. . It would dramatically impact these children .

Look forward to the posts with pictures, names and future plans.

Start thinking and praying about whether or not you have room in your budget for some " pizza and ice cream".

- Jeanette

farmgirl139@aol.com

Or Facebook message me at

Jeanette Manchester

Better Than Breakfast

Better Than Breakfast!

We were on our way to breakfast this morning, an exciting event for Bill especially as we were headed to an Ethiopian chain coffee shop, when we were interrupted in a big way.

Less than a minute into the trek , our driver received a call from Lemlem, the in-country representative that we were actually due at court at 9:00. We had been told 2:00 and were bracing our selves for a long wait without food, hence the splurge for breakfast.

We promptly turned around in the middle of the road and headed for the high court building.

We had both been somewhat emotional up to this point and this change of events , though welcomed, added a bit to the emotional overload.

However, we had nothing to fear or stress about. Court was fast and easy !! Almost miraculously so compared to what we had been expecting.

After a years worth of paper chasing, details that would make the most organized cringe and the ongoing ups and downs of not knowing whether or not this adoption would succeed, we were finally in front of the high court judge after waiting less than five minutes!

She asked us a few simple questions like:

Will you love these children as your own?

" yes!"

Have you spent time with these girls?

"yes"

Do they like you?

"uh we hope so, your honor!" ( smiles)

Will you learn about Ethiopian culture and share it with the girls, as it will be very important to them?

" yes"

Have you taken courses on international adoption?

" yes!

Do you understand that if finalized today there will be no reversing this decision?

"yes".

Ok then , we are finalizing the adoption of Kumnager and Kalkidan today. Congratulations.

Tears.

Smiles.

Hugs from Lemlem.

So If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing about today. For we legally became the parents of

Kumnager and Kalkidan Manchester and that is most certainly better than breakfast.

Today was hard...

Today was hard for us both.

Everything has been going great, so it's not a bad kind of hard, it's good, but still hard.

It warmed my heart that when we arrived, Kalkidan was quietly coloring in the doodle book we bought her and was so proud to show me. She doesn't speak much English at all, but the one word sentence "mom " with her excited gestures for me to check out her art, that was enough.

Then, a little later, we broke out the face paints for the whole orphanage ( cause who travels to Africa without face paints, right?) and spent a decent chunk of time creating arm tattoos for the boys and fanciful face designs for the girls.

Kalkidan was us awe when her face was all done. Then, through gestures I showed her that she could do some design on me as well.

She took my hands and created a masterpiece! :) I just wish I knew what it meant! I think it was Amharic script... With an "M" placed purposely in the center. Her way of writing "mom". She puts "M's" wherever she can!

But the awe of the face paints didn't even come close to when we gave her a boxed set of origami supplies that were prepped for making cute little animals like penguins and such.

The box was glittery and fancy and inside there were many different colors of paper and "attachments". Kalkidan couldn't wipe the look of shock off of her face and she kept whispering "wow". Gingerly, she touched each part of the package , opening and closing the little drawers that separated out the supplies and she tried to get Kumnager's attention.

Kumnager was pretty into the origami too, though she was also quite content to just hang with dad and make good use of all his mobile devices. "Fruit Ninja" kept her absolutely captivated until we called her away to the face painting station.

And oh the hugs! The girls just want up be hugged constantly. We thought it might be hard for all of us in the hugging department since they are older and we are strangers from

America! But no..they are constantly looking for hugs!

So, you may be thinking, "Whats so hard about all of that?"

Well, quite simply, we are overflowing with love for these little girls and we will have to leave them here for about 2-3 months while their paperwork is processed.

It makes sense, I see why it needs to be this way..., but we just found ourselves crying quite a bit today to think about leaving in just a few days.

I wonder if this is how God views the time we spend with him? We are quick to rush into prayer and then back to "life". If only we knew and basked in the great love God has for us, more regularly, more richly and more fully. How much more content and at peace we would be.

So until tomorrow, we wait for and dream about another few hours with our beloved!

We have safely arrived and have spent two joyous days with our beautiful daughters!

Kumnager ran out to great us screaming in joy... There was no other way to describe it!

Kalkidan tagged along behind excited but unsure.

Just like new moms and dad meeting their infants for the first time ,we have been discovering how the girls are connected to us and similar to us already.

Kumnager is VERY gifted musically. She has amazing rhythm, pitch with her voice and she moves like a professional dancer! Watch out bill. You've got competition!

Kalkidan also shares her daddy 's sensitive and sometimes quiet , reflective spirit. She wants to be drawn out rather than jumping in and stealing the show.... Just like her dad! But also as soon as she is in her element, she becomes the boss! Also like her dad! :)

Like their momma, both girls love clothes and shoes and nail polish! Ha!

They are also very giving. Which I hope is like me.

Everything we gave them that was a snack or had multiple parts, they immediately began to give away to their freinds. They would even give a bit to us!

After introductions, they ceremoniously gave us each a piece of jewelry.

We have laughed together as we bungled up their language and shared games and toys.

We cried a little when Kumnager said she wanted us to be her parents for "always" and when we got home at night to our guest room.

The girls essentially have nothing of their own.

Until now.

They have a family.

Everyday we are taking gifts to them and cards from others in America who are waiting to meet them and love them. Every time they open something from someone and see their pictures, they gasp and say in English ," for me?? " this person is for me??

Yes, that's a good way to say it.

We are "for " them.

Thank you for being "for" them too.

We love you all and thank you for your support.

On the lighter side , there's just no way to describe this city. :) You are just going to have to come and experience it for yourself!

Blessings!

Jeanette and Bill

THANKS COFFEE BUYERS

Thanks to everyone who has purchased some coffee to help support our adoption.

We hope are enjoying your brew!

We just got our first check today! It was exciting!!!


Anybody else in need of some Coffee for your self or a gift!

Here's the link:

https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/manchesterethiopianadoption/

Thanks Again We are so grateful!

We have a Court date!!

We got the call with our court date this morning! We are going to Ethiopia to meet our girls very soon!!

What an exciting day!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and encouraging us along the way.

It's finally happening!!

The girls will now be told as well, that they have a family coming for them.

Once we pass court, we Can post pictures of them!!

For those interested in supporting us somehow, I just got a call earlier this week that one of our grants will be giving us a final answer in the next three weeks.

If we are approved, you can make tax deductible contributions toward our adoption through their foundation and it all goes to our case. They charge no administration fees etc.

Just FYI for those who have expressed interest and are waiting/wanting to give.

Praise God for this great day!

Bill and Jeanette

A long week.....best case scenario...

Well, it's been a long week for us, anticipating hearing something from our agency.

But basically, we heard nothing. Until today, we called them and they said our documents are in process of being authenticated by the Ethiopian Government and once that is complete our court case will be filed.

Usually, the court case for international ethiopian adoption is opened and dates set within two weeks of filing. The dates for court are , according to our agency, usually set for two weeks and four weeks from the date the case is opened. ( There are two hearings. One we attend and one we do not.)

So, as best we understand, our case is not actually open yet, but should be within the week, if the documents return ready to go in the next couple of days.

So, best case scenario, we file for court by Monday July 2nd , the preliminary hearing, which we do NOT attend, will be on the 16th. Then the final hearing date on the July 30th...... Which we DO attend.

The next few days are critical in determining whether or not we meet our girls before the rainy season, when the courts close for a minimum of 8 weeks, sometimes 12.

So praying people, could you ask for a miracle?

We are hoping for this best case sceanrio to juts play out. And if not, then peace while we wait.

It's very hard to just wait!!!

In the meantime, let me just say that while I have been waiting, I have been becoming more and more passionate about kids who need homes connecting with parents who want kids! or more kids to love!

Posts to come on that soon!

It's on!!!

We received word today that our Dossier is in country. Yeah!!! We are almost there!!

I am trying to get confirmation of dates etc, but it looks like we could be travelling for court anytime after July 9th!!

I have a packing list in hand sent to us today!!

It's on!!

SOME GOOD NEWS: A letter from our agency.

Dear Bill and
Jeanette,

I'm SO pleased to be able to report to you that we received
your federally-authenticated paperwork back from Washington DC on Tuesday, and
that your entire dossier was shipped to Ethiopia officially yesterday evening
(Weds., 6/13/12), so it should arrive at our office in Addis
Ababa very soon.

Then your dossier will be considered officially "in-country" in
Ethiopia. We are very excited for you to have this portion of the
Ethiopia adoption journey accomplished now, and we're looking forward with you
to what's unfolding next for you, Kumneger and Kalkidan--your whole
family!
Congratulations!
Yours sincerely,joy

THE LATEST:

Our Dossier has been shipped to Washington DC for processing. If it can get processed and back to our agency in less than two weeks, it is still possible for us to get a court date this summer and meet our girls before August.

We have no control over this process. We are just praying and hoping for  speedy processing!!

If we don't get a court date this summer, we won't meet our girls until late fall as the courts close in Aug/Sept/Oct for the rainy season.

Any prayers you have time for would be greatly appreciated!

Why Ethiopia In General:

Some details:

-Ethiopia is the birthplace of the drink many of us know and love-Coffee

-Ethiopia is home to one of the oldest civilizations in the world. That's neat!

-Ethiopia is home to more than 5 million Orphans.

-Ethiopia is the fabled location of the Ark of the Covenant

Why Ethiopia? FINAL SEGMENT


Fast forward to March of 2011. I was waiting on a friend at a medical center. I had some time to kill sitting in the waiting room. All of my classwork was complete, personal stuff etc.


I was actually kind of down emotionally and needed something to occupy my mind.  Bill and I had tried to take a vacation  in march to have some positive movement in our lives, but there were some serious problems with the vacation....starting with missing our flight....because neither one of us paid attention to the time on the tickets. :(


The classes I was taking were good but really heavy and dark subject matter..so didn't really want to think about that.


We had been getting more and more bad news from the infertility people. Just when we thought we'd hit the bottom, the bottom would give way and we'd be sliding down another tunnel of questions and pain and just anger really.


So, I tried to pray that day. My prayer was something like this:


"God, if you have kids for would you just show us dang it."


And the reply  I felt in my spirit was." Well, Jeanette, you haven't exactly been looking."

So, I thought, Hm, I guess I could start looking. And for the next few hours I did. I had been given by friends some websites where you could view photo listings of waiting children and i began to do that.
I started praying for a connection with a child. Maybe a name, or maybe that the child loved music like we do. Something to let me know that the child was meant to be in our family.


I signed up on one particular sight that allowed me to create a profile where I could be matched to children according to our specifications of age etc.


Oddly,  I guess I was being too picky, because I didn't get ANY matches.


So, then, I remembered something our friends had said about special needs kiddos. I included them in my profile and BINGO! Matches abounded.


I started looking at photos and watching videos and soon had about 100 kids in my profile. I wanted to parent them all! I knew that wasn't realistic though. So We had to narrow it down.


I was so excited to show Bill.


He was totally on board with a special needs child and so it began. In the end, god did the narrowing for us, because out of the original children I put in my profile, only two remained in five months when we finally got serious about putting in our application.

When we finally made the call about the only two children left in our profile, we foudn out what coutry they were in. Just take a guess!


YOU GUESSED IT!!!


Ethiopia!


So there's your answer.


The kids we felt called to parent were not in Haiti.  Had they been in Haiti, we'd be going there. Had they been in Madagascar....off we'd be.


But they were in Ethiopia.  So THAT is Why Ethiopia!

Why Ethiopia? The Long Answer Part Five:

OK so I said this was a long answer....so for those who have asked me in person "Why Ethiopia?" and I don't know what to say...this is why. Its a lot for one conversation.

So, after reading the book, we kept pressing ahead with our infertility things that were going on at the time, and also, we were both taking classes for various things, so we were really busy. I didn't have time to be looking into adoption or so I thought.

For weeks, there were lots of little news soundbites, etc that kept coming across my path about people adopting from Ethiopia. One family, kept hearing about more siblings of their adopted child and went back to adopt them all!

And eventually, I did take some time here and there to look into adopting from the Congo and Zimbabwe...and it really just wasn't something that was set up and easy to do.

During this time, my husband and I were leading a small group bible study at our church with another couple and TWO different families in the same month contacted me asking for more details about our group and mentioned the fact that they were in the process of or had already adopted Ethiopian children! CRAZINESS!

Ethiopia was everywhere! :)

Why Ethiopia? The long answer Part Four:

Fast forward again to the meeting with our freinds who adopted from Ethiopia. The night we met with them, I remember thinking that I wasn't exactly looking to adopt from Ethiopia specifically.  Though I had felt connections with other countries on the African continent at varous points in my life. I had kind of fallen in love with the Congo in college and more recently Zimbabwe and would love to adopt from there. So that's what was in my heart.

However, they gave us a book that night anyway, called, "There Is No Me Without You." a secular but powerful story about one woman's triumphant journey to try and care for the orphans in her country...Ethiopia. I read it right away because I love to read...and I was deeply moved. I cried a lot! The stories were heart breaking. The pictures too. One chapter spoke a lot about older children and how they kind of fall through the cracks in the system and when the age out of the orphanage, they often have no plan, nowhere to go....and no home to move back into. The main character in the book spoke highly of Americans though and said "American's they are the ones. The only ones who will take these older children."

I remember kind of waiting to see what Bill would think when he got to that part. It had a similar effect on him, so there it was. We were considering adopting an older child.

But for me, again not necessarily from Ethiopia.  :)

Why Ethiopia? The Long Answer Part Three:
 
Strange Dreams:

I am kind of terrible with remembering dates....maybe this has something to do with the fact that I was born on leap year and I don't even have a birthday except every four years...i don't know. Anyway, sometime around the same time that our friend went to Ethiopia, I had a really strange and vivid dream.

In the dream I was talking with my girlfriend Cortnee and she was trying to feed her firstborn son. He was really crying and she couldn't get him stop. She needed a break so she handed him to me and said "Do you think you can get him to stop crying." Magically, I did. He was soon at peace in my arms...however, the crying had not stopped and Cortnee and I were both stumped by this. I handed her son back to her and looked down in his playpen. What do you know, there was another baby in there. A dark skinned little girl. So I picked her up , grabbed a bottle and began feeding her too. She began growing and growing and growing until soon I realized that she wasn't an infant at all, she was more like and elementary aged child. She was just malnourished.

Once she had everything she needed food wise. She kind of hopped down out of my arms and said, "Thanks for feeding me."

I wondered for a long time if this dream meant anything or not.

If nothing else, it meant to me that I was being called to listen for the cries of those who were hungry around me and respond.

Why Ethiopia? The Long Answer Part Two:

Our first real connection with Ethiopia was really before we knew much about what was going on with us infertility wise. A friend of ours traveled to Ethiopia for a short term mission trip and we supported the trip and excitedly awaited hearing all about it. He had beautiful, life changing types of experiences to share. Pcitures of smiling little faces and lving being enriched and given hope by the ministry.

His connectioon with the trip and minsitry in general was through a church he attended while living in Washington DC. Basically, his friend form church gave up working a  decent job on the "Hill" in DC and decided to move to Ethiopia and be there full  time to care for boys who were literally living in the sewers.
Today this is a thriving ministry that keeps expanding and being blessed by God.

I'll try to post a link to their information.

As a result of all he saw on the trip, our friend, though single at the time, was considering adopting one of the children who had captured his internal "parent's heart."  Little did we know at the time, God was moving in our hearts to make room for children from the very city this friend visited.

Why Ethiopia?

This is a question we have been asked frequently. It has a long answer and a short answer.

The short answer: WHY NOT!  :)

The long answer: Coming soon to another post! Stay tuned!

Our Adoption Testimony Part Two:

Six months passed and one day, Jeanette was waiting on our vehicle to get repaired and she was checking items off of her to-do list which included setting up the next appointment for our medical procedure in New York City. That seemed like a really personal thing to be doing when strangers could hear her conversation, so she waited and didn’t make the call.

She spent the rest of the time reading the book Radical by David Platt. When she got to a section where he describes going to his county foster system and asking how many children needed homes  ( 164) and then essentially challenging his church to take in all of those children, Jeanette started weeping in the car dealership and she remembered the two little girls and all of the other children she had put in her profiles. She immediately began looking back at her profiles and discovered that all of the children she had viewed were now in the  process of being adopted except for the two little girls. Upon further investigation, she discovered the cost of the adoption at the time was estimated at 35,000.00 . The same as the medical procedure. Jeanette felt like this was a sign and an opportunity to make a choice.

The choice we ended up making, obviously, was to stop our pursuit of medical assistance and pursue the adoption of Kumnager and Kalkidan. We discovered that during the six months we weren’t pursuing them, someone else was and then dropped their case without any explanation to the adoption agency. We take that as another sign that God is trying to build a family for these girls with us as their parents.

We know there are risks involved in this process and there is no guarantee these girls will become our daughters, but for now, in our hearts they already are, and we will do everything we can to bring them home.

We are currently in the fundraising process for our adoption. ( As mentioned in our last post.) Lately, we have been filling out grant forms, collecting documents that the grant managers wish to see etc. So far, we have applied to two grants that are from faith based organizations and they wanted to hear our "adoption testimony". So, we thought maybe you would too!

Adoption Testimony Part One

We feel called to be parents and give children a loving home. At one time, we thought that would happen through getting pregnant and over the course of a grueling and expensive infertility process, we discovered that that would be medically next to impossible for us.

We were somewhat open to adoption, but Jeanette had some conflicting emotions about that.  Jeanette was wrestling with the idea of never being pregnant and not having that experience. Jeanette wished to pursue Assisted Reproductive Techniques, and Bill was willing, but also more interested in adoption. Jeanette was also really wrestling emotionally with the whole process and felt like she could not adopt if it were only to ease her emotional pain or meet her own needs. She only wanted to adopt if it were for the sake of the children who needed a home.

So, for two years, most of our “infertility energy” was spent on trying to get medical help for our issues. One procedure in particular was only done in  New York City and cost about 35,000.00  Jeanette had been the one making all the calls and appointments up to this point and this particular appointment  was now just another item on her lenghty to do list.

However, we had invested some time and energy in adoption “work” as well. We had met with couples who had adopted and gone to seminars etc and had sort of begun putting feelers out in that realm, including looking on adoption websites for waiting children.

God was slowly beginning to heal Jeanette and one day in prayer she asked God if he would just show her if there were children “out there” in the world for them. That afternoon, Jeanette started getting matches for a lot of children and put maybe 100 in her profile. But, she didn’t really do anything about any of them. She wanted to finish the medical stuff first before pursing adoption full time.  Two little girls in particular stood out to her that day, and they were on her mind a lot, but she didn’t do anything other than put them in her profile. 

 In the meantime, Bill continued making connections with couples who had already adopted, looked into resources for adopted children and just in general kept waiting and praying for Jeanette to heal in hopes she would be willing to pursue adoption full time......

 After seven years of marriage, we are officially expecting! Two little girls from Ethiopa that is! We are excited to say the least. It's been a long and interesting journey so far, and we can tell you more about that later.

First we want to start posting about our fundraising efforts so that you can begin partnering with us to bring our girls home!

We just set up an online store where you can purchase fair trade coffee and a portion of the proceeds will be donated toward our adoption.

Check out the link below.

https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/manchesterethiopianadoption/

Tons of posts coming!

Stay tuned!

Grace and Peace!
-Bill and Jeanette