I have no words . . .

Looking Back . . . Friday . . . FINALLY!!!

So, we've been home from Ethiopia for about 3 1/2 months now, and I'm FINALLY concluding our pictures and recap for the week! I did have to go back and look and found that I did actually already give the day's events and travel home in pretty good detail, so this post is mainly to post some of our pictures from our tour of the coffee factory, our travel group, and a few last snapshots we got on our way out.

Don't know if I've said it here before, but I miss Ethiopia. We don't know what God has for us in the future, but my heart is tied to that country and people!

I don't know why these pictures always upload in opposite order, but with this many, I'm not even going to try to rearrange them!!

In Dubai - watching our plane come in

Our travel group

David & "T"
. . . and don't laugh at my sloppy clothes and washed-out face,
you know what kind of a week we had!!! ;o)

Who loves coffee? We do!!

The one roaster for the entire factory -
the coffee we bought was still warm!

The "lab" where they taste-test different coffees from around the world (even Starbucks!) and compare to their own.

sink for spitting coffee in after they taste - kinda looks like a dentist sink!

Ladies who's job it is to sit all day picking out "bad" coffee beans. They have about 2 minutes for each batch before it zips away and a new batch slides in front of them.

Looking Back . . . Thursday

Yes, I know it's been almost an entire month since I posted last, and I don't know that many people are even bothering to check here anymore, but I am determined to finish posting through our week in Ethiopia!

Thursday was an interesting day for us. By this time we had our luggage and were able to get everything delivered. This was also the day that it was clear that Isaiah didn't want anything to do with mommy.

Thursday morning all of the traveling families loaded into our vans to go visit the first orphanage, Kids' Care. We drove into the court yard and saw the beautiful old buildings, and were greeted by some amazing, beautiful, and happy children! We passed out many granola bars, crackers and balloons. On a whim on one of my last shopping trips before we left for Ethiopia, I had picked up some punching balloons and some rocket balloons. Well, the rocket balloons were a HIT! Basically long, thin balloons that you blow up w/ a little pump and then let them go whistling and flying into the air - so fun and the kids were going crazy!

We met this guy working at Kid's Care. He could care less about the Colts, but we still had to get a picture with him in his Colts shirt :o)

I walked into one of the baby rooms inside the buildings. We were only allowed to take pictures in the courtyard, so there were no pictures in here. I started blowing up some beach balls and sea creatures and handing them to the children. There was one very petite little girl sitting on the floor who kept shaking her head at me with her bottom lip sticking out. The nannies there didn't speak English, but they let me know that she wanted a toy. So I blew one up and handed it to her. What happened next happened so quickly - I handed her the toy which she immediately and forcefully tossed away, scooting on her tush over to me where she stood upright (I didn't think she could stand up) with her hands in the air to me. I picked her up and she immediately clasped both hands on the collar of my shirt. I tried to ask the nannies about her, and from what I understand, they said she was seven. I said, "seven months" and they said, "no, years!" I was amazed. She looked no bigger than a 2 year old, and a petite 2 at that. She continued shaking her head w/ her lower lip jutting out, and one nanny said "she want go to America". I can't even type this here without the tears coming. I've heard many parents say it, but you want to take every child home. You want to help more.

After we had a fun time visiting with the children, one of the head nannies there prepared us a traditional coffee ceremony, which was basically sitting in a circle and being served very strong, black coffee in tiny tea cups along with popcorn that tastes like kettle corn - pretty good actually! It is very humbling, when they have so little, to sit and be served by them. I'm wearing a Kid's Care t-shirt right now that we bought while we were there - they sell them to help with their needs at the orphanage.


After this visit, we all went back to an art gallery for lunch. After lunch, whichever families wanted to, split into two vans to visit one of two orphanages. We were scheduled to meet with Isaiah's birth mom at Kingdom Vision International - the orphanage where Isaiah lived before he was taken to our agency's transition home. It was a tough choice, but we decided that I would have to do this by myself. We didn't want for Isaiah to be further traumatized if he caught a glimpse of his birth mom, and we knew it would be better for me to meet with her mom-to-mom, than Joe. I won't get into details here on this meeting, but it was absolutely one of the best and hardest things I have ever done. I would do it over a thousand times for Isaiah, but for me . . . . We were able to get a picture of her that we will put in a file for when Isaiah is older and starting to wonder about where he came from.



We spent our last evening in Ethiopia in the guest house. Realistically, since we were so emotionally and physically maxed out, and in a different time zone, and waking wide awake every morning between 3:30-5 a.m., most evenings, we ate dinner and crashed. We did stay up a little later this night to finish packing up. An amazing day.

All in all, even given the horrendous hassle of the luggage issues, as I look back, and as other families travel and I see their pictures . . . I miss Ethiopia. Our trip was hard . . . really, really, REALLY hard . . . but I'd do it again in a minute.

One of my absolute favorite pictures from our week in Ethiopia - when we left Kid's Care . . .

Looking Back . . . Wednesday

Okay, WOW, so it's been way too long since I've been back on this blog!! I do want to get some more pictures on here of our trip, and since I stopped at Tuesday of our week in Ethiopia, I'm now onto Wednesday. I don't actually have many pictures from Wednesday because the main event for that day was our appointment with the US Embassy to get visa approval for Isaiah to be able to come back to the U.S. This was the appointment that was holding up our travel plans for a few weeks because they waited until the week before to confirm with our agency that we could have the appointment.

When we showed up for our appointment Wednesday morning we went through security (no electronics allowed). After all five of our AWAA families had passed through security, we all sat down to find out that they had decided to close the day before, so our appointment got moved to the afternoon (par for the course for the "bumps" in our trip!). So, we all loaded back into the vans and headed back to the guest house. There we decided just to flip-flop our day. We did more shopping in the morning, had lunch out and then went to our embassy appointment. The appointment basically consists of waiting for a few hours in a crowded, stuffy room (glad it was "winter"!!) until they call your name. Then we go up to the window where they ask you a few questions (literally 5-10 min. total) before they give you approval. Fortunately for us, Isaiah fell asleep on me shortly after we got there and was sleepy the rest of the time . . . some of the other families with us weren't so lucky and had to chase kids around for hours!

Besides knowing that we had Isaiah's visa approval, the most exciting thing of the day was FINALLY GETTING OUR LUGGAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to finally be able to get our donations sorted for the transition home and orphanages. As I mentioned in my post while we were in ET, the only things missing from our luggage were a box of latex gloves and a large bag of candy (meant for a gift for some of the people who helped us while we were there). I wish I had had more time to get stuff more organized for pictures, but below is what I got in the chaos of sorting and separating. I wanted to take these pictures and share them with you because they were donations from you - so many of you prayed and sacrificed financially so we were not only able to complete Isaiah's adoption, but also be able to bring around 150-175 lbs. of donations for the orphans!

Who's Your King??

A New Easter

Easter is not really new, but I feel like I'm seeing Easter in a new way this year. I'm not who I was last year at this time. God has changed me, the way I think, the way I see the world, and I pray that I never lose the vision He's given me. I pray that, by His grace alone, I will remain open and yielded to Him so that He can continue to make that vision clearer - to see how He sees!

Earlier this week on facebook, I shared a video of another adoptive family and included the caption "Easter IS adoption" . . . and I've been continually brought back to that thought throughout the week. God gave the ultimate price - the life of His only and perfect Son - for His glory and our good. If you're like me and you've grown up with the "story", it's easy to gloss over that statement. God has taught me SOOO much this past year, but if nothing else, He has given me a deeper understanding of my adoption in Him. He paid this price and now I'm adopted into His family - not as a servant or even a good friend (both of which positions I am unworthy to occupy) - He chose to watch His Son die an excruciating death. He was beaten, abused, beyond recognition. And as if the physical wasn't enough, He was mocked. He chose to take our sin on Himself. And by doing that, in the time of His greatest misery and agony, He was also separated from His Heavenly Father. All of the hatred and disgust due my putrid sin . . . He CHOSE to bear that, from His Father . . . in my place. Because of my sin. Now, I am a child of God - in His family, permanently, with all of the unfathomable rights and privileges that that includes!

So, as I sat this morning with our church family, singing all of the beautiful songs about what God has done for us through His victory over death, I literally felt my breath taken away as God took me back a few weeks. This thought has struck me this week, but even more so this morning. Remember my posts earlier of how Isaiah was really not liking me for the last few days in Ethiopia and the entire plane ride home? That was so painful. My heart still hurts to think about it, it's still so "fresh". To be there, ready, willing, and able to be his mom . . . I knew what we had done these last several months to get there. I knew I had what he needed, if only he would let me. But anytime I got near him . . . well I can't even describe the look of disgust with the accompanying scream he gave me if I got anywhere near him. I knew it could happen, but it still broke my heart when it did. I wish I could describe to you the depth of the pain I was feeling in my heart . . . and I felt this week like God was saying to me, "Sarah, how do you think I feel everyday when the children I love, the children I DIED for, think they don't need me? They reject me, they mock me, they run screaming the other way. Or they say I'm just a figment of someone's imagination." My heart is broken. He has allowed me to feel His pain in a small, but very real way.

Okay, so I know you came here for pictures of the family, and not for a sermon ;o) We are doing well, as far as we know, Isaiah still seems to be doing well and finding his place in our family. We are so thankful for God's continued grace and mercy to us. He truly gives us the strength for each new day! So today was Easter, and, as far as we know, the first Easter that Isaiah has ever celebrated. Here's a short video of Isaiah with the legos he got for Easter, and using a few of his English words - jellybean, doggie, and bye-bye ;o)

Josh was SOOO excited about our Easter egg hunt, and that he found the egg hidden in the trickiest spot ;o)