Our new daughter Towabech

Here she is...isn't she beautiful? Towabech is a nine year old darling girl that we've been waiting to bring home from Ethiopia. She is now with her new Daddy Mike and new sister Yasab in Addis Ababa. The U.S. embassy appointment is next Wednesday. If all goes as planned Towabech will have her visa on Friday and the three of them will fly home next Friday night. They will be here a week from today! Here is an earlier photo of her last winter after she found out she had a family...



I love this picture of her swimming at the Hilton on an orphanage field trip. She looks delighted to be in the water. She is post polio and her legs do not function well...Being in the water is something she loves! It give her more freedom of movement. I'm so glad God gave us a home with a nice in ground swimming pool. I just know Towabech will become a "fish" next summer just like the other kids. Once our hot tub is fixed it will be great therapy for her just like it is for Maggie with her CP.



Here I am with my brand new daughter! This was taken last month when Mike, Jarib and I traveled to Ethiopia for the court date for adoption. I just can not wait to love on this girl!

Here is her proud Daddy with her...


Soon we will all be together again and Towabech can get to know the rest of her family. What an amazing Thanksgiving celebration we'll have!

Top Of The Mountain: Part One

The recurring theme that continued to play out on our trip to Ethiopia was God taking us to the top of the mountain. Literally we did climb a mountain in Lalibela. That mountain top was simply a physical illustration of the heights we soared as we basked in our Father’s great love and grace to us on our adventure in Ethiopia. You may have wondered just when I was going to post travel stories? I do want to share more travel details but not in this post. Since we arrived home six days ago I have been wrestling with just how to share what happened in Ethiopia. I don’t feel like I can do the story justice but can’t wait any longer to tell you the great things the Lord has done for us.

We couldn’t wait to meet our new children once there in Addis. We were away from them the few days we spent in Lalibela, but other than that we visited each of them daily. Assefa at AHOPE, Edelawit at KM (Kidane Mehret) and also visiting other orphanages as time allowed. Assefa is a tiny thing still. We found ourselves spending hours just watching him sleep. When awake we delighted to catch his baby smiles and carry on long conversations with our own silliness and his soft cooing. As the only little baby at AHOPE he is adored and doted on by the staff. I was happy they were so willing to share him with his new mom and dad!

Across town we’d go visit Edelawit. We were surprised by her loveliness. Her photos of course had been darling, but in person we found her beautiful, really stunning. She is very shy and timid though. She seems to be such a frightened little girl. Our hearts just broke for her. As we found out more about how sick she had been and how far she still as to go in her recovery, it just made us want to desperately get her home as soon as possible. She is not 2-3 years as we thought but rather 4-5 years old. She doesn’t really speak, walks haltingly, and can’t climb stairs by herself. But a year ago when she came to KM they thought she would die. She spent months just staring out at the world with blank eyes. She has come a long way and we can thank the care at KM for that. Edelawit seemed close to a few special caregivers. Mostly she was scared to death of us, but would at times feel comfortable enough to play and sit by us, even on our laps once in awhile. Then something would spook her and she would become hysterical, screaming inconsolably so hard she vomited. Poor, poor little girl!

Among the orphanages we had been visiting were the children’s home run by Gladney adoption agency. Right before we left for Ethiopia we found out about a little Down Syndrome toddler named Gezehegn in their care. We hooked up with their in country staff on Wednesday. We were very impressed with Ryan and later when we met Belay. Their children’s home are far from the center of Addis to the farthest east side of the city. It was a long drive (about an hour) but worth it. It was so nice to be away from the dust and smog. The homes are beautiful with grass in the yards and stop signs in the streets (first I’ve ever seen in Ethiopia). Ryan gave a full blown tour and we met dozens of gorgeous babies including some with special needs I will be advocating for. I can not begin to describe what it was like when we finally met Gezehegn. We fell instantly head over heals and over the moon in love. I had known somehow when we first heard about him that he would be our son someday. Mike knew it the second he laid eyes on him and Gezehegn looked up at Mike and said “hi”. Ryan asked us before he had to leave if we wanted him. “YES!!” We knew and Gladney knew we would have to wait until we got Assefa and Edelawit home to adopt Gezehegn. We were floored and thrilled to pieces they were willing to wait for us and allow us to pursue this cutie! We made plans to visit him every day of our remaining time in Ethiopia.

Back in Addis with the kids!

Lalibela was AWESOME!! We saw the top of the world. No regrets about making the trip. I will never forget that place. I did manage to get a bit of altitude sickness so you can pray for strength for me. I hear it lasts just a few days and I just need to rest and drink a lot of water.

Phone and internet access have been extremely challenging. We are unable to hook our laptop up anywhere so can’t send photos. Never know when or if we can get access so I am writing a detailed travel journal to share once home.

We got back from Lalibela yesterday afternoon (Monday) and hired a driver straight away to take us to little AHOPE to see baby Assefa again. All the children there are lovely! I want the waiting parents to know that Mike and I are taking our duties very seriously meet your waiting children. I lost my notebook with names of kids to see but the staff is very helpful when I ask about any names I may have forgotten. It is an honor to meet your children, give them a love and pray for them. Today we hired a driver for whole day and will be visiting KM, Layla/Wanna and Little AHOPE again. As time allows we will be at Opportunity and big AHOPE. The only agenda we have our remaining 4 days is seeing kids...yours and ours!

It is so wonderful to have the opportunity to meet and spend time with baby Assefa when he is still so small. He is a beautiful baby and very much loved at AHOPE. I can tell it will cause much grief to a few wonderful caregivers when he leaves after his adoption. But they are ever so gracious to us and are happy he has a family. There is a new little girl at little AHOPE that I am sure will have a new family soon. She has fallen in love with Mike and him with her. She is the sparkliest little girl we have ever met!

I am so excited to see Edelawit today at KM. She is so timid at times but also smiles a smile that lights up the room. Her little friends (and children-to-be of my email friends) crowd around us for loves and goldfish crackers. Having a camera that you can show them their photos after you take it is a nifty invention. We found out Edelawit has a living father and we may be able to meet with him. Edelawit was seriously ill when she arrived at KM over a year ago. Some doubted she would survive. I met a volunteer that spent a lot of time with her her first year here. It is heartbreaking to hear how sick and empty she was. But she has come alive this last year and walks and talks and plays with other kids now. She is at least fours years old but maybe weighs 20 lbs and is size 2, but she was wearing size 12 months pants when I met her. We owe the nuns and staff at KM much for bringing her this far. We are so grateful for both her and Assefa. It is mind boggling always that the Lord loves us enough to bless us again with precious children. We just pray they are home soon!**

**heard that AAI has 50 cases for court once as it opens this week. 10 cases a week...we may have our court case for the kids in November. Travel then most likely after the first of year...but we can pray for miracle right? Sooner is always better

Message From Ethiopia!

This is Julee’s sister, Katie, surrogate blogging. Internet and phone access have been tricky, but Julee got a quick email to us yesterday with news that they are safe and sound in Ethiopia. Best of all she writes, “Met the kids today. They are wonderful!!! Way cuter than ever imagined.” It chokes me up to think of Assefa and Edelawit in Mommy and Daddy’s arms. God is soooooo good!!!

Thanks for your prayers for the whole family. Kayla says things are going well on the home front- very peaceful!

Mike and Julee should be visiting Lalibella now. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Lalibella was the capitol city during the middle ages when Ethiopians sought shelter in the central highlands, living for almost a thousand years in isolation. King Lalibella directed the building/carving of many churches hewn out of the stone ground. Priests and pilgrims still worship in these amazing structures, though Lalibella is now an isolated village rather than a thriving metropolis.

Hoping for more news (maybe a personal blog entry?) on Monday.

Mike & Julee's Big Adventure

Mike and I are finally taking a honeymoon! We got married eighteen years ago so it’s about time. We have done amazing trips together to China and South Africa for adoptions. We took children with us those trips and of course were getting new children to take home. Really cool times but not so great “couple” time. After the South African adoption of Maggie and Josiah we had too many “littles” at home for both of us to go on adoption trips. We have taken turns since then traveling to bring home new children from foreign lands. This is the first time we have taken a vacation or trip just the two if us. What brought this about you say….?

Yes, we are adopting again. Wanting to meet our new children had a big part (BIGGEST part) in planning a trip to beautiful Ethiopia. We also decided we wanted to be able to experience an enjoy Ethiopia as a couple. Our plans include a trip to Lalibela and some other cool tourist kind of stuff. Of course we will also be visiting orphanages every chance we get!

Our grown daughter Kayla is coming to be here at home with the eleven youngest children. Bless Kayla! Without her we couldn’t ever even dream of this kind of adventure. She knows the children’s needs well as she cared for them so much when I was away from home with Jonathan in the hospitals. We’ve all missed Kayla so much since she moved to Oregon. This trip has precipitated her deciding to move back to our town. Yah! Yasab is helping me finish fixing up her new room to make her feel extra welcome. I’m so happy to have one of my “big” kids and best friends around again.

We fly tomorrow afternoon to Seattle to spend the night. Early the next morning we fly out at the crack of dawn to Ethiopia via WA DC and Rome…till we land in Addis Thursday evening. Please pray for us and whatever God lays before us on our trip. May we be open and watchful to His plans for our time there. Please also pray for the kids here at home and Kayla as she lovingly cares for them. We are asking God to keep them healthy when we are gone, especially Maggie.

We’ll be away from Sept 30th-Oct 11th. We are taking the laptop and plan to update the blog and check email…as often as we can get internet access. I am so overwhelmed this morning with gratitude to the Lord and my husband for the chance to take this trip. Thank you Jesus and Mike! I love this photo of Kayla with some of the kids. It was taken this past May when she visited home.

Julee
all packed and ready for adventure
pretty much recovered from anti-malaria meds induced psychosis