It's even better!

Actually, there were two referrals! (Not just the one from the last entry.) AND, one family had a successful court date this week! Wahoo! Two more families have court dates next week. Such good news!

Referral!

Another family recently received their referral for their son. Such good news!

News.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." (Rev. 21:1).

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3).

These are just a couple of the verses that came to mind when I read this article.

By the way, it has come to my attention that some don't realize that if you scroll over the differently colored word(s), you can click, and be led to another site... here, the site of the article which made me think of the above verses.

Gateway to Africa

Each month, our church holds a Global Gateway luncheon in honor of a certain part of the world. Today it was Africa. There were people from our church from Ghana, Zimbabwe, a large group from Nigeria, Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and of course Ethiopia. And then anyone of us not from Africa, but with some connection or interest, was also invited.

Although soon I'll be an honorary Ethiopian, today I was brought into the Nigerian family. While the parents were busy serving food and singing, the kids and I worked on our outline maps of Africa. Really, between the kids and me, we did well... except for the islands. I actually don't believe that most of the islands were even drawn onto the map. That's the competitive student/teacher in me talking!

I am so thankful for our church and the diversity of its body. I can't wait to introduce Baby Ethiopia into its mix!

Cultural perspectives

I've started reading Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide. It's a bit outdated, but quite worthwhile. I've just read and re-read (and read again) the section called Cultural Perspectives, and I've been challenged. I have half a mind to type out all 9 paragraphs for you, but I think that the last will suffice.

"My expierience is that it is practically impossible to understand another culture. You can learn about Ethiopians, you can learn from Ethiopians, but this knowledge will all be assimilated within the framework of your own cultural background. In fact, what you really learn from immersing yourself in another culture is to place the parochial concerns of your own culture in perspective. It is for this reason that travel is so mentally liberating and refreshing. Cultural gaps are not an obstacle to individual communication or enjoyment, but they will taint your perceptions of a country... It is our most deeply seated cultural assumptions that we are most blind to and least able to overcome; that is why we should always be wary of making unconsidered judgements (The writer is South African, thus the spelling.) about... "foreign" situations" (p.110).

A big sigh and lots of thought.

2 slings, so 2 quilts

For everything that I make for our child, I want there to be a second to leave at the orphanage/transition house for other children. Tonight I finished the second quilt, which you see here. I did this one on my own, so it looks a bit more homemade, but it was made with love. Rob and I are going to start sleeping with the quilts, so that they smell like us... all garlicky. Mmmm.

Pray

Please pray.

More comrades

Last evening, Rob and I went to a delicious vegetarian dinner at the house of a family from church. They adopted one of their sons from Ethiopia a couple of years ago, and thus the connection. It was emotional and so encouraging to hear their stories and see their photos... not to mention their son. Our time with them made our adoption more real to us... especially when their son responded, "a girl," to his mother's question about which we'd have. Very sweet. Thank God for these people and for our soon-to-be people! God is good.

The diaper bag

My sweet and very talented friend, JR, made me the coolest diaper bag any Mutti has ever had. I got it this morning and I've been carrying it around all day. Considering that we don't know if we'll have a boy or girl, how old he/she will be, or how big, there is not much that we can do to prepare physically for the child. This, however, doesn't depend on any of those factors. So cute! Thank you, JR. And with some of the extra fabric, she even made the changing pad that you see.

Moving on up

So, from the Bethany blog, I now know that there were actually 4 referrals, not only 2! The other two families must not participate on the forum, and so that's why I didn't know earlier and why I know nothing about their stories. But this is good... for those children, for those families, and, selfishly, for us. Also, I guess that there were 5 referrals last month, when I only thought that there were 4. Wahoo! This is all so exciting.

Jump, jump, jump!

(The more you type "jump," the crazier it looks. Try it.)

Yesterday, there were two referrals: a little boy (just over 3 months) and a little girl (just under a year)! This means that there are 5 families in front of us... that we know of. Wahoo! It makes me think of the long-jump. As a jumper, you wait and wait, and then JUMP! And then you wait and wait, and then a long, exciting JUMP!

For a nanny

Here is the sling that I just made and plan to give to the orphanage/transition house where our child is now living/will live before coming home to us. I figure that the nannies would appreciate having free hands once in a while. As for sizing... well, I hope that there is a nanny about my size!

Here and now vs. there and then

"Never commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man/woman who takes his/her long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our Daily Bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received." Lewis (The Weight of Glory)

This was recently posted on our friends' blogsite and... shoo! I needed to hear this again. Pastor Elie told me this, our Bible study friend told me this, and now here it is again. I do accept this to be true, but it's difficult to keep my mind in check. I am a dreamer. I have big plans.

Our child is not here right now and I need to be. My mind should not be in the future in Ethiopia. I need to be here right now. This is not easy.

Not a pack'n'play, but a playpen

So stubborn. For me, there is no Adventure Outpost. It's Teepee Village. There are no In-pursuiters. They are Interns. And there are no pack'n'plays, but there are playpens. And now, Rob and I have one... a playpen. Our cousin forwarded on the information about a lightly used playpen from a woman in her Twins Club, and we jumped. It took us (Who am I kidding? It took Rob...) a bit (Which he wants me to quantify as two minutes.) to figure it out, but now it's set up in the living room. Now what? We have no kid yet. Are we going to pack this plastic and nylon beast up or leave it in the middle of our highest traffic area just to stare at for a couple of dreaming days? Probably the latter.

We are waiting, which means that we think of each little step as a huge one. A playpen! We are well on our way to becoming parents now, right?

Comrades

Yesterday, Rob and I spent the day with some comrades, a family of four that is also adopting from Ethiopia. It was nice to be around people that are in a similar boat as us. (Ours is an old rowboat, with faded and chipped light blue paint. I think that there's a red stripe on it somewhere as well. Anyways... ) We are able to talk about a lot of the same ideas, fears, dreams that Rob and I have regarding our child. Our time was a blessing and we are thankful for these people.