Community: Miles Away!

I have been continually amazed at how people from all over the country have chosen to join us in this adoption journey. You know, at first, it is probably somewhat fun to join in the excitement; however, as our journey stretched into week after week, month after month of waiting, it just wasn't as fun. Really. Yet, many of you chose to continue to walk the walk with us. We are so grateful for how many people prayed with us, talked with us, and encouraged us as we waited.

I am particularly amazed with one group of women who joined us because I have never met them. They live thousands of miles away in Alaska. They are not adopting, so they don't have the common ground that many of us adoptive moms have that draw us together. But, we do have a common thread: my sister!

My sister's small group has continued to pray for us as she updated them on our process. I didn't realize how invested they were in us until some of them facebooked me. (Love it!) Then, this past week, they threw us a baby shower! Wow. I am both humbled and thankful to have community all over the place. Today, I am especially thankful for this group of women. They have touched my heart with their generosity by investing their time to pray and give to us. I think Melissa loved opening all the fun gifts!

Melissa assured me it was a very "boyish" shower, complete with a camo cake!

First Day of School

Everyone headed back to school this past week. There were a lot of changes for all of us.

First, Sydney had to get up early in order to get to school one hour earlier. She gets to ride with Chris, so that is different. Fifth grade is in the intermediate building, so she moved to a new building, complete with lockers! I think the change was a lot tougher on me than on her. :)
Since Sydney moved to a new building, Jackson went to his school all by himself. I think he was a little nervous at first, but after earning several rewards for a job well done, he is pretty happy with second grade.
The last big change includes me and Raegan in preschool! Actually, I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Raegan. I really thought I had. Maybe it is lost. Anyway, I am teaching Raegan preschool from home this year. She is excited to learn to read, but she has asked me several times, "Can I go to a school with friends?!" So, we will be looking for many play dates!

Our last week of Summer

When we arrived home, we realized we had just one week before school started. For the most part, we just stayed at home, allowing me to get over the crazy jet lag. Toward the end of the week; however, Chris's mom convinced us to get out to pick some of the last sandplums. We headed down to the river and started picking.

It was getting hot, even early that morning, so we had to take some breaks!
We sorted them out and let them start ripening. We had a lot of sandplums! Then, this week, Chris's mom came over to help us can the juice and make jelly! It took most of the day, but we ended up with a bounty!
(My computer is giving me fits, and I can't get the final picture uploaded. I'll try again later.)

Home Sweet Home

This is what brought us home:

We love our kids and are so thankful for them.

They had so much fun dancing in their Ethiopian outfits.

Today, we received Isaiah's birth certificate! Our names are on it. It seems somewhat surreal. But, we are one document closer. I think they will now apply for an Ethiopian passport for him. Once they have that, they will submit our case to the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia. Once they approve our case, they will give us an embassy date. This is when we will go to get Isaiah's visa! Realistically, I think we are looking at traveling during the later part of September or early October. At least, this is our best guess although we would love to go earlier! We will see. Keep praying!

Day 7: The Rain Finally Came

On Friday, we were excited that this would be our last day in Ethiopia. We woke up and finished packing all of our suitcases. We had brought four large suitcases (2 1/2 filled with donations), These were some of the donations we had taken!

so we had to combine suitcases since we were taking back much less than we had brought. This was a good feeling!

Here is a last look at our guest home. We shared a floor with two other families; however, when they left on Tuesday, they left us to ourselves for the rest of the week. Relevance: we then had our own bathroom for the last three days. This was nice, not that it wasn't nice sharing. It was just nice to have our own. :)


When we got everything packed, we headed up to the other guest house to tell Jen and Abram goodbye. While there, we got to connect with another family who highly suggested eating lunch at Island Paradise. They said it was very "American". That sounded good to us, so we booked a driver and headed over there! Getachew (sp?) was our driver for the last few days, and we grew to love him. He ate lunch with us and was gracious in telling us details about living in Ethiopia. We were so thankful we had gotten to know him. He took great care of us. And, yes! The food was excellent! (We recommend the pizza.)

Here are a few parting shots of Addis. There were donkeys everywhere! This picture was taken in a very busy, "downtown" area.

There were so many people on the sidewalks.I never got used to seeing mothers with their babies, just sitting along the side of the roads.

There were vendors everywhere. We saw many spots where people were roasting ears of corn on the side of the road. Here, a man is getting it all set up.

Here is an example of the government housing that is being built.

You might be able to see the goats toward the right of this picture. We drove by this every day. The goats were painted pink to show that the taxes had been paid. I assume that people would come and buy one as they needed a goat. It was just interesting that they were always there.

Here is a sneak peek at an Addis traffic jam!

After lunch, the rain started to come.

We had been fairly "lucky" because we had avoided any huge downpours during our week in Ethiopia, but the rain was definitely on its way!

We headed out of Ethiopia at 11:30 p.m. When we started to fly away, Chris handed me the I-Pod full of worship songs. I Will Rise started to play, and my tears started to fall. It felt so good to hear this song, but my heart was so torn at that moment. So, while Chris slept, I cried over everything I had experienced over the previous week. I cried about leaving our son. I cried about the man who I saw scooting down the highway because his legs didn't work. I cried for the little girl whose prize possession was a pink plastic sack. I cried for the babies who are not able to be saved by Drawn From Water. I cried for the orphans who are saved and will live their entire life in an orphanage. I cried for Isaiah's birth family. I cried for the kids who have been infected with HIV. As you can tell, I cried for a long time. (Amazingly, I hadn't cried much the entire week--except on Tuesday--so it all just came flooding out.) Luckily, I have long hair, so nobody even knew. Finally, after 35 total hours which included 17 hours of layovers, 20 bottles of water, 12 security checks, and 4 tries at connecting to the internet . . .. . . we arrived home to our waiting family. We were so glad to have them in our arms. It was so tough for us to leave 1/4 of our hearts in Ethiopia, but it helped to know that we had three waiting kiddos here.

Now, we wait for an embassy date. We have heard that it will be 4 weeks, and we have also heard that it may be closer to 12. Please continue to pray for us as we look to finish this journey. I know that the wait will get increasingly difficult as we watch days melt into weeks and months. We pray only one month passes before we get to go claim the missing piece to our hearts!

Day 6: Getting Full of Isaiah!

Thursday morning, we woke up somewhat refreshed. We had only two more days in Ethiopia, and we were going to go back to see Isaiah today. We had decided that this would be the last time we would go to see him this trip. Since he was older, we didn't want him to start expecting to see us each day, only for us to be absent for several months.

So, we headed into the orphanage, somewhat nervous about how the day would go. Isaiah seemed to recognize us right away. The nurse commented that he had been looking for us the day before. I am not sure how a 1-yr-old can communicate this, but oh well! She took us to the very top floor of the orphanage. I was nervous as we started to climb the dark stairway. The previous trip up those stairs had unleashed all of my emotions, and I didn't want to cry my time away. We took a quick stop at Isaiah's room. He sat in his bed again, and I was also able to get a picture with one of his nannies. Luckily, we emerged on the top floor where we were led to a big room. We had it all to ourselves! Phew! The nurse took our picture. We hadn't realized CWA had taken one earlier, so I was glad to have a "family picture". We were not sure if Isaiah would stay in this orphanage or be moved to the CWA transition home, so I got a picture with the nurse as well. I wanted to be able to remember her.

Then, we were left to hang out with our little guy.

"Daddy's mouth is so fascinating!"
Dancing with Mommy!

Weeee!

Isaiah loved the Flip!

Right after he ate, he rolled over and zonked out! He was so tired. We wondered if he was teething or not feeling well because he had been a little fussy and had had a big, gooey diaper that leaked all over (thus, the bare legs).

After he fell asleep in my lap, I passed him off to Chris.

Chris held him for almost an hour while he slept. It was such a sweet time!

We were blessed with three hours with Isaiah. We think the drivers forgot about us, but we didn't complain. :) When our driver arrived, we told Isaiah goodbye, kissed his sweet head, and left. I was not as emotional as the other day, probably because I had prepared myself for this goodbye. I kept reminding myself that we were one step closer to taking him to home.

When we returned to the guest house, we took advantage of our free massages. (At Ethiopia Guest Home, every traveling adult gets a free one-hour massage!) It was a fabulous way to relax and enjoy the afternoon. I highly recommend the massage if you have time!

This day was not as full of activities, but it was full of sweet time with the little guy who was the reason we were in Ethiopia in the first place. At this point, we were excited for Friday to come. We were ready to head back home.

Day 5: The Sun Comes Up, Tomorrow!

I don't want to linger too long on Day 4. It was just an emotionally tough day, but God is so good. He knew we needed some help, so he sent us Jen and Abram, along with a special assignment and a few special treats!

The special assignment revolved around our friends, the Flemings. They had received their referral just five days earlier, and we had the privilege of going to their transition home to love on and take pictures and video of their little one. This was sooooo good for us. We were able to focus on their little bundle of joy for about an hour. I can't post pictures yet since they are not through court, but believe me! He is adorable! It was so fun to hold a little one; we tried to wake him up, but he would not have it! He was determined to sleep through this visit.
After little E. went back inside, we were able to play with some of the other kiddos outside while we waited for our driver. It was therapeutic to kick the soccer ball back and forth with these sweet, sweet kids.

All of this fun made us hungry, so Jen took us to Garden Paradise Restaurant in Adam's Pavilion. It was so YUMMY! To be honest, our tummies had just not settled since being in Ethiopia. I think we had probably both lost at least five pounds at this point, and we were craving familiar food. This did the trick. Check out these french fries! They were the best!Even Abram's Ethiopian taste buds were won over!

Even the view from the restaurant was "familiar". It looked like parts of the U.S. Chris and I were constantly amazed at the contrasts of Addis. It didn't take very long to get to a place that was much less "progressive".

After eating lunch, we felt refreshed again, so we headed to ALERT, the Leper Compound. This is a community that has formed to support those with Leprosy and TB. Part of the Compound includes an area where residents have been trained to do a craft. You can see these men weaving rugs. Woodwork, weaving, stitching, crocheting, and sewing are all done here; then they sell their goods in a shop. We wished that we had saved more of our shopping for this place because we would have loved to be able to support this ministry more.

If you are planning to go to Ethiopia, we highly recommend shopping here first. They had authentic Ethiopian clothes, table cloths, wooden crosses, woven rugs, etc. With these goods, you will know that your money will go back to support the work that is done here.

One of the most moving experiences we had was on our way to the van. There were a group of women and children sitting against a building right by the vehicle. Chris wanted to hand out Dum-dum suckers to the children. Our driver said it was o.k., so Chris handed out a few. As he did, he noticed the women also wanted one. So, he came back for another handful. As he held out his sucker-filled hands, many women--even grandmothers--were excitedly reaching in their stubbed hands for a sucker. They were so excited and full of joy at this unexpected treat. Chris had to really work to not pull back as these disfigured hands brushed his. God used this moment to challenge him to love these women, despite their appearances.

This amazing day had one last treat. We were able to connect with Jessie and Levi from Drawn from Water. Jessie made us a great supper (this was the best "food day"!), and we were able to get a first-hand account of the work they have been doing in Ethiopia for the past two years. It was so good to be able to fill in some of the the gaps. Here is some of what we learned:
1. Jessie and Levi are regular people who just said, "Yes," when called to step out of their comfort zones. Levi told Chris, "We just wanted our lives to count for something." They would probably be embarrassed to know I am telling you this. It just challenged us. I want to value obedience over my comfort zone.

2. They have four kids and are fostering three other kiddos who have been rescued. It moved my heart to see these kids in person. They are beautiful! I even got to hold one two-month-old! (Yes, I got to hold two two-month-olds in one day!)

3a.Their ministry is Gospel-Centered. They have seen how adoption is not the answer to the issue in the areas in which they are working. In fact, adoptions are probably going to end because of the government's rule that birth parents appear in court.

3b. Lale has built a church in his parents' back yard. (I think we knew this.) God is using this to draw people to him and change hearts. Almost 60 people have been (or are planning to be) baptized! This just gives me chills when I think about it. The answer has been and will continue to be Jesus!

4. This ministry faces spiritual warfare in ways that we cannot fathom. Again, Jesus is the answer.

5. Lale will be coming to the U.S., possibly this fall to speak to churches in order to raise support for this ministry.

I wish I could think of all of the details. Please pray for this ministry. Jesus is on the move in the tribes of Ethiopia.

As you can see, God helped us put a band-aid on our hearts by exposing us to all of these individuals. We felt so blessed by the end of the day, and we felt like our hearts were ready to finish our trip well.

Day 4: A Roller-Coaster Ride

Tuesday morning, we woke up a little bit nervous. We were the first group with our agency to have to appear before the judge in person, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. We all got ready, rode over to the court house, and found ourselves in a large room that had chairs lining the walls. Everyone there was someone playing a part in an adoption. We found out that this was the same place Isaiah's birth father had to come to speak before the judge.

We all sat in a chair, waiting for our turn. After about 20 minutes, the judge's assistant started calling the names of families in our group. One by one, they would go into her office and come out about two minutes later with big smiles on their faces. We were the last family called. We went into the office and sat down in the chairs. The judge was sitting at her desk, looking at Isaiah's file. She asked us questions like "Have you seen him?" and "How do you other kids feel about this?" Her last question was, "Do you want to proceed with this adoption?" We said, "Yes!" She finished with, "Then it is finished. He is yours!"

I don't think it hit me right away. We walked out of that little room, officially the parents of Asrat Tadu, soon to be known as Isaiah Tadu LeFevre. We headed straight over to the CWA Transition Home to drop off the other families before going to the orphanage where Isaiah is living. When we saw him this second time, he seemed to recognize us a bit. He wasn't quite as scared at first.

Here, Isaiah sees his nanny upstairs on a balcony. We could tell he loves her.

We fed him again; then it was close to his nap time. The nurse led us upstairs to this little room on the second floor. We passed his bed/play room. Then, we passed another room for older children. They were already in their beds for rest time. It started to hit me that Isaiah was ours, but that he was going to have to stay in this place. Right then, my emotions started to surface. I got a knot in my stomach and a panic feeling began to rise in my heart. We entered this little room with two double beds. There was already another family hanging out on the other bed, so we had to share the space.

In the video, you can hear the other family, too. :)

We tried to make the best of situation. We played with Isaiah on the bed, and I had to hold in my emotions since there was another family three feet away!

Here, we showed him his brother and sisters again.

After about 20 minutes, the other family left, leaving us to ourselves. I pretty much lost it. The reality was too much for my heart to bear. I was battling in my heart. I wanted to love him completely while we were here, yet I also knew we had to leave, so I wanted to hold back. Ugh. It was hard.

Before we knew it, CWA was here for us, so we had to go. As I climbed into the van, I looked at the other moms. We all had tears in our eyes, and I just cried. I think we were all affected the same that day. Helen from CWA assured me that we would be back soon. But, at that moment, soon wasn't soon enough.

The rest of the day, I kept thinking that I should be thrilled. This moment for which we had waited was finally here. Isaiah was legally ours! However, it was just hard because we were here, yet we couldn't take him home. Again, it was just a rollercoaster day.

What made it even tougher was that our friends who stayed in our guest house were leaving that night. This made us really want to leave as well. Staying here just prolonged the struggle.

We were able to participate in yet another coffee ceremony.

Here, I'm drinking my third cup of coffee!

Shannon and Mark

Chris and Meggan

One event of the day that made our hearts happy was the soccer ball adventure. There had been a group of young boys who played on the road outside of our guest house. They found a special place in the hearts of the dads. Chris ended up promising them a soccer ball that night. So, the guys all went on a treasure hunt for a good soccer ball. They ended up finding one (and Chris G. was able to buy one for their son, too!), so they were excited to give it to the boys that night.
Chris was hoping to be able to play soccer with them at some point during the rest of our stay, but we were not able to reconnect with them. But, it was a treat to give something to them that they would probably not be able to get otherwise. Maybe we will be able to connect with them when we return.

We went to bed that night, praying for strength to finish out our trip and hoping the rollercoaster was going to head back up.