Went to Wisconsin with some friends over the weekend for the Wolfman Triathlon. Had a BLAST!!!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
AMAZING
Someone sent me this today and thought that I would share it with you all as well....amazing story!!!
Small Prayers Answered..........
Along this adoption journey over the past two years I have prayed many prayers. Some of these prayers have been simple, some in times of desperation, some selfish, some without words because they just wouldn't come, but none went unnoticed by my Father. He heard every one and answered-
I want to share with you an amazing thing that God did while we were in Ethiopia a few weeks ago. As most of you know this process was full of pain for us and full of questions. One of the biggest questions that I had personally was how did our kids get to the orphanage and why was the process so long once they got there. I had pieced together some information and I knew that our children were taken to an orphanage in Zway by Case Abraham for a period of time prior to going to the transition house in Addis but beyond that I knew very little. One of my little selfish prayers was that God would let me fill in some of the time between when they left from the island and when they arrived at the transition house in Addis.
For anyone who has adopted you know that information is very hard to come by and the information that you are given is not always correct. I had asked on several occasions about the orphanage where our children spent some time and all that I was told was that the orphanage was closed and no longer in operation. I assumed from that information that we would never know much about our twins lives while in the orphanage but God is so much bigger than my thinking!
Hang with me as I share with you how God answered my prayer- Last January, David and I volunteered at passion 2010. While we were at Passion we walked over to the "Do Something Now" center to look around at ways that the college students could get involved in mission projects around the world. As we neared the bottom of the escalator we saw a large coffee shop area to our right and we walked over to see what the proceeds of the coffee sold were going to. We both were caught off guard to see that the sale of coffee at Passion 2010 was being used to help orphans in none other than Zway, Ethiopia.
We quickly found the owners of Gobena Coffee and shared with them that our children were from Zway and that we were waiting to bring them home yet we were having many issues with actually getting them here. They shared with us that they work with a couple named Gary and Peggy Ift and they suggested we contact them to see if they could be of any help during the process. We did contact Gary and started having brief conversations with him about orphan care in that area. We quickly realized that our paperwork issues couldn't be resolved by the Ift's but what they were doing in Zway was very interesting to us.
While we were in Zway visiting the island for a couple of days we decided to contact Peggy and Gary to see how God was using their ministry in Zway. David was heading out to one of the islands on Lake Zway for the day and so I made plans to spend the morning with Gary and Peggy. I called to see if we could meet them out in the community somewhere and Peggy explained that Gary was waiting at their home for us and that someone was there who wanted to meet us. I had no idea who would be in the middle of Zway, Ethiopia waiting to meet us and so I quickly got the kids ready to go.
My sister and I pile the kids into the van and we took a short drive to the Ift's home. When we arrived Eskel our driver pulled up to their large gate and blew the horn. Mr. Ift came out to greet us and ask us to come inside their compound. As we went into the gated area Tia and Garrett went running over to a lady who was coming off of the Ift's front porch.
As they went running Gary started explaining to me that the lady they were running towards was their caretaker at the orphanage in Zway. Again I started to cry as I realized that God hears my every single, selfish cry. Now what are the odds that Gary and Peggy's hired house help use to care for my children two years ago? Not only did she care for them but she cared for them during the period of their life that I knew nothing about.
I was so thankful that this caring lady was able to share with me about their time in the Zway orphanage. She shed so much light on all of the paperwork struggles and time line problems that had taken place with our adoption. She was so willing to share about her time with the twins while they were at the orphanage.
She has no idea but she was a part of a small answered prayer- An answer that reminds me that He cares about the small things more than even I do. As I hugged this precious lady goodbye I felt her arms around me and thought back to the first day that she held Tia and Garrett in her arms. I am sure that they were scared and confused yet God had her there to wrap her arms around them with His love.
Small Prayers Answered..........
Along this adoption journey over the past two years I have prayed many prayers. Some of these prayers have been simple, some in times of desperation, some selfish, some without words because they just wouldn't come, but none went unnoticed by my Father. He heard every one and answered-
I want to share with you an amazing thing that God did while we were in Ethiopia a few weeks ago. As most of you know this process was full of pain for us and full of questions. One of the biggest questions that I had personally was how did our kids get to the orphanage and why was the process so long once they got there. I had pieced together some information and I knew that our children were taken to an orphanage in Zway by Case Abraham for a period of time prior to going to the transition house in Addis but beyond that I knew very little. One of my little selfish prayers was that God would let me fill in some of the time between when they left from the island and when they arrived at the transition house in Addis.
For anyone who has adopted you know that information is very hard to come by and the information that you are given is not always correct. I had asked on several occasions about the orphanage where our children spent some time and all that I was told was that the orphanage was closed and no longer in operation. I assumed from that information that we would never know much about our twins lives while in the orphanage but God is so much bigger than my thinking!
Hang with me as I share with you how God answered my prayer- Last January, David and I volunteered at passion 2010. While we were at Passion we walked over to the "Do Something Now" center to look around at ways that the college students could get involved in mission projects around the world. As we neared the bottom of the escalator we saw a large coffee shop area to our right and we walked over to see what the proceeds of the coffee sold were going to. We both were caught off guard to see that the sale of coffee at Passion 2010 was being used to help orphans in none other than Zway, Ethiopia.
We quickly found the owners of Gobena Coffee and shared with them that our children were from Zway and that we were waiting to bring them home yet we were having many issues with actually getting them here. They shared with us that they work with a couple named Gary and Peggy Ift and they suggested we contact them to see if they could be of any help during the process. We did contact Gary and started having brief conversations with him about orphan care in that area. We quickly realized that our paperwork issues couldn't be resolved by the Ift's but what they were doing in Zway was very interesting to us.
While we were in Zway visiting the island for a couple of days we decided to contact Peggy and Gary to see how God was using their ministry in Zway. David was heading out to one of the islands on Lake Zway for the day and so I made plans to spend the morning with Gary and Peggy. I called to see if we could meet them out in the community somewhere and Peggy explained that Gary was waiting at their home for us and that someone was there who wanted to meet us. I had no idea who would be in the middle of Zway, Ethiopia waiting to meet us and so I quickly got the kids ready to go.
My sister and I pile the kids into the van and we took a short drive to the Ift's home. When we arrived Eskel our driver pulled up to their large gate and blew the horn. Mr. Ift came out to greet us and ask us to come inside their compound. As we went into the gated area Tia and Garrett went running over to a lady who was coming off of the Ift's front porch.
As they went running Gary started explaining to me that the lady they were running towards was their caretaker at the orphanage in Zway. Again I started to cry as I realized that God hears my every single, selfish cry. Now what are the odds that Gary and Peggy's hired house help use to care for my children two years ago? Not only did she care for them but she cared for them during the period of their life that I knew nothing about.
I was so thankful that this caring lady was able to share with me about their time in the Zway orphanage. She shed so much light on all of the paperwork struggles and time line problems that had taken place with our adoption. She was so willing to share about her time with the twins while they were at the orphanage.
She has no idea but she was a part of a small answered prayer- An answer that reminds me that He cares about the small things more than even I do. As I hugged this precious lady goodbye I felt her arms around me and thought back to the first day that she held Tia and Garrett in her arms. I am sure that they were scared and confused yet God had her there to wrap her arms around them with His love.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
"Imagine Your Life Without Fear." "When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. When safety becomes our god, we worship the risk-free life. Can the safety lover do anything great? Can the risk-averse accomplish noble deeds? For God? For others? ...No. The fear-filled cannot love deeply. Love is risky. They cannot give to the poor. Benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? The worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear." -Max Lucado
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Walking for Water
This is a video of a 14 year old boy experiencing what life is like on a daily bases for those living in Ethiopia....We take water for granted or a least I know that I do!
Walk For Water from A Glimmer of Hope on Vimeo.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
community
"People in Eastern cultures are not so worried about schedules and quotas and sales figures and returning emails and phone calls quickly. They are interested in personal contact. They are interested in firm handshakes and good food and strong coffee and sweet tea and looking in a man’s eyes to see if he is a good man or a bad man and whether he can be trusted or not."Joel Rosenberg; Inside the Revolution
I Love, LOVE, Love this quote!!!! Its interesting that last night I was talking to a friend that I just meet from Ethiopia and she was saying that she misses the community from home...for example when you make coffee you never drink it alone....there is usually 10 to 15 people that show up to just talk about the day....she then said that when she first moved her she made coffee and was getting ready to knock on all the neighbors door in her apartment building to come have some until her husband informed her that is not what they do hear....but why not...why are we all so busy that the most important things in life like relationships are not as important to us as watching our favorite tv shows on DVR.
I think my friends idea is genius and I think that I am going to make some coffee and invite the neighbors over.....
Sunday, June 27, 2010
LOVE ETHIOPIA!!!
This weekend we went to Chicago on Sat. for an Ethiopian lunch....it was GREAT and so yummy as always....the kids even said "it is yummy in my tummy"
We had BUNA!!!!
Then on Sunday we had a GREAT time with our ETHIOPIAN community!!!
So very thankful for all of them!!!
So very thankful for all of them!!!
What did you do this weekend?
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