Salem everyone! (Remember Salem means hello in our son’s language)
I wanted to update my blog sooner, but Nick and I have been very busy working
on our paperwork for this adoption. We are almost finished. It feels so good to
be almost done. I would like to share with all of you what my family and I did
last Friday. It is rare that my family is all together on a Friday night. The
kids always have something going on. We made this last Friday night a priority
to be together. We drove to Bluffton, Indiana, where we attended Ethiopia
family night. Loving Shepherd Ministries held this fun family Ethiopia night.
Loving Shepherd Ministries has helped us so much in our adoption. We summited
our application first with them. LSM is not an adoption agency, but a
not-for-profit, Christian adoption organization to help families like us who
have no clue where to start. They guided us through the early stages of our
adoption. They did so much for us. They helped us with what countries we would
be eligible to adopt from, and what agencies would suit us best for the country
that we chose and much more. They really helped us out and went above and
beyond, for absolutely no money. It was all free. All of you that have been
following my blog from the beginning probably remember back when I first
started this process in January. I tried to summit my application to LSM several
times and it just would not summit. Remember how frustrated I was? It was my
computer skills, or lack of, that I couldn’t get it to summit. I will never forget
the day Jen from LSM sent us an email saying we received your application, and
then the email from Jen saying your application was approved. That was like taking
a pregnancy test, and it being positive. Well, guess who I got to meet last
Friday? Yep, you guessed it. I got to meet Jen. Jen Schwartz is an amazing woman, truly
beautiful on the inside and out. We also got to meet Jen’s father in law Ed
Schwartz the founder and president of this wonderful organization.
Ethiopian family night was a blast. We learned about Ethiopian culture and we were able to sample Ethiopian food, go to the market, and the kids played games that the kids in Ethiopia play. We were able to see a typical home for a family in Ethiopia. Seeing that home made my heart drop to think about my child living in a home like the one they had set up there. I sometimes take my home and food I eat for granted, and after this family night, I feel very guilty for this. I’m truly blessed and last Friday night just reminded me of that. We bought some things for our children at the market. Kaitlynn wanted a bracelet made in Ethiopia, Gabe and Lily wanted LSM t shirts. They had a place set up where you could try to carry a bowl with some weight in it on your head, and also carry something on your back, like women in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia the women do a lot of the work. They carry a ton of wood on their back and walk miles. They carry around 70 pounds on their head along with carrying something on their back. My family tried to do it. WOW was it hard and the weight in the bowl was nowhere near 70 pounds. The strength and heart of Ethiopian women just amazes me. My entire family and I really had an eye opener that night on how much we really take for granted. They had a bucket of water sitting by the house, and most of the time the kids around 9 or older will walk miles to get water in this bucket. They then have to carry it miles back to their home. Gabe my 11 year old tried to pick it up. He did get it picked up, but struggled trying to hold it. I can’t image him carrying it for miles without spilling it. I am so glad we went to learn about our child’s culture. What a great family night. We learned so much and met so many amazing people. We also got to formally meet Erica’s family. They are such a cute and loving family. I would like to end this post by thanking God. Thank you God for my everyday blessings you give me daily. I am blessed to have a roof over my head, a great job, health, a family that loves and supports me, and thank God for guiding us through this incredible journey to our child in Ethiopia. I know that you have your arms all around this child you have chosen for us. Please give him comfort tonight and a calm and restful sleep.
Ethiopian Home
For anyone wanting to learn more about what Loving Shepherd
Ministries is all about, and how they help so many women and orphans in
Ethiopia and Haiti, I am posting a link to their website.
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