The Third Trimester has begun!!

Well we have arrived. As of May 18Th, we are in the third trimester of our paper pregnancy. I must say the emotion sickness has been very real with this pregnancy, but what do you expect with paper baby twins. On May 18Th at about 2:30 in the afternoon it came. Our second referral. What this means is that the picture (which I can't show you) and the information for our second child just showed up on the computer. No fan-fair, just a note saying see attached, and let us know if you will accept this referral. Well attached was a picture a beautiful little girl in a purple dress, she is laying in a bouncy seat on a coordinating purple blanket. She looks as though she is a good eater (squeezable cheeks) and is growing well.For sure it was an exciting day/week in our household. (We would have posted earlier however posting from our home computer is not possible I am at a friends now.) Anyway we now wait (hopefully not long) for a court date. If we pass on the first try, then it is only weeks until our new little ones come home. Just FYI as soon as we pass court we can post the pictures of both little ones. Who because of age/development will basically be twins. Maggie was especially excited to see the picture of her new little sister, she kept patting herself saying mine, mine, aggie's.......:) Hope she is just as happy when our unnamed little one is sitting in the living room with her.
Never know.....We do give praise to God and thanks to those who have prayed for this to be a speedy process. Although I am not nervous, I would really like to get Henry home to a Cardiologist that I know to take a look at his heart. That said he does receive medical care and meds for his heart issue in Ethiopia. We receive regular updated pictures and medical info on him and for that I am grateful. Again all Praise to God.
We are looking fwd to spending the next couple months getting all the rooms, closets ect organized and ready for our new additions... we have also bought a couple matching dress's for Maggie and her little sister.... very fun!!!!
Again thanks for your prayers we will let you know when we have a court date.

Waiting and more waiting

No real news to report... so I'll keep it short for this week. Just sittin twriling our thumbs keeping in touch with our worker - who is suppose to be in Ethiopia at this writing. Maybe he'll get things rolling a little faster - it is certainly out of our control.
One major request however - Just pray for our family and our african children earnestly and often. Henry especially needs to be here as soon as possible. We know God answers - may the glory be all his. Thank You

Big Dad

Under Attack!

When one is walking through life trying to walk hand-in-hand with Christ and listening and doing his will, I am pretty sure Satan is not happy about this situation. And so it is with our mission and family. As this blog tries to convey, our mission is very clear according to scriptures and God speaking to our hearts. We have felt and witnessed forces which have and are trying to pull apart our convictions through unforeseen delays and selfishness. Our goal is to bring back an identified little boy who needs a heart surgery as well as a second unidentified child. The second child was not suppose to delay this endeavor according to our expert - yet it has - and the delay may be one of several months - not in the best interest of our #1 child and certainly not what we expected. We have to be politically correct during this situation as not to put off those who have more work to be done for our mission. Being politically correct is not my best thing - but I'm working on that too.
We are also being challenged within our family and are going to work through our individual situations to bring resolution to any ongoing issues which should make us stronger in the long run. Alright somebody out there is praying for patience for us - please identify yourself and stop it! We just have to remind ourselves that God is in control and his plans are perfect every time - period!

G9

EECA Conference

It was our uncommon pleasure to praise, worship, fellowship and break bread (injera) with the wonderful people attending the Ethiopian Evangelical Christians Association in Olathe Kansas last Saturday night. We were warmly greeted by pastor Gizaw who organized this fundraiser. Tiffany and myself attended with Morgan, Timothy, and Christy. It was 4 hours of blessings through music, preaching, and fellowship. We were all blessed to hear pastor Bark tell of his visions and many stories of his many many years as a missionary to the Ethiopian people. It was very insightful to hear how he viewed the Ethiopian immigrant's mission was to minister and lead the American people back to Christ. He also encouraged the young folks and their parents to have a heart and mission to the unreached people of the rugged southwest part of Ethiopia.
We were honored to have a wonderful couple who both were physicians to share our table with, as well as a young business analyst from Iowa. The conversations were wonderful and insightful. The warmth of these folks was beautiful to witness. Many hugs and kisses were shared despite the dredded swine flu just lurking around the corner - at least according to the news and our gov't.. I am not much of a touchy feeley guy and this is hard for me to get use to - but I'm working on it. What a better world it would be if we could greet each other more affectionately and with more love and care.
The best part - well you know me - was the food! It was great! Very Very interesting selection of various stews and cassarole type food eaten with a spongy brown flat bread called injera... as mentioned before in this blog - with no utinsils and eaten with the right hand only. There was a very spicy chicken that had just the right amount of heat with a bounty of flavor - MMMmmmmm.
The dissapointing part of the evening for Tiffany and myself was the absence of my friend and co-worker John Gross. John was "enjoying" or enduring an outpatient procedure of which he has some really cool, yet gross pictures of his insides. He will be fine but was missed Saturday night. John and I have worked at the same large manufacturing facility for many years yet we never have known of each other until recently. John is an amazing man, although he may deny it. I could go on and on about his ministry but instead I will encourage you to mentally and visually taste his ministry at his website: HouseOfFriends.org John is an excellent example of the average person doing great great things through the strength of Christ in his life and works. The organization John heads up ministers to the poor, orphaned and widowed in the US as well as in Africa. John has also written a book "The River Runs Down", which addresses world missions and Christ's work - I have not yet read it because my wife and daughter have stole it and have both read it before me! Now that ain't right.

G9