Merry Christmas! Jesus Is Born!

This past week I have had this question pop in my mind. What is the true meaning of Christmas? We prepare for months for this day. We all go out buy presents, buy groceries, clean the house, get our hair cut and on and on. So I sit here staring at my laptop thinking, is it the gifts under the tree, the cards in the mail, and the big dinner on the table with family?  I don’t believe Christmas is about any of those things. Don’t get me wrong presents and being with my family eating dinner is great. I love watching my children open their presents. With all the joy and fun watching them dig into their gifts we also, as parents, remind our children what Christmas is all about. It’s not about anything I mentioned earlier.

Christmas is about our savior being born to save us all from our sin. Without Jesus we would all die in our sins. This birth was the birth of the most unique person in our history. This was the birth of our God. Our God took on human flesh and became man. This blows my mind; God did not save us by reaching down from heaven in an objective way. He became human just like us to save us. He had feelings just like us, the feelings of happy and sad. He was human! Can you wrap your mind around this? The unapproachable God became approachable and contactable that day. God became man, experiencing everything of human life. Our God loves us that much that he became human, suffered and died on the cross for our sins, so that we may have eternal life with him in heaven.  We do have one very special God, who loves us so much that he was born for us and died for us. That my friends is what Christmas is about!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas. Next year we will have two more sweet loves to share our Christmas with. This momma is ready to love on them. I will update soon. Right now all paperwork is done and we are waiting on our dossier to be authenticated.  Praying our kiddos home.

 

 

Reading the Christmas story from the Bible

 

 

 

 

GOD'S CALLING

God has called us to adopt again. Before I tell you our unique journey to our children, I would like to address the question that I have been asked. Why are you adopting again? Most likely my response will not satisfy everyone. For whatever answer we give there could be a “not so positive “  counter response. Adoption is not for everyone. We are all called to do things. Some are called to live in another country to serve God. Others are called to preach and share the good news of Jesus. We believe we are called to adopt children around the world. I feel it’s our purpose. This is what I believe, if your passion is consistent with God’s will then pursue it! We believe that God is calling us to care for his children. This is something we CAN do! Adopting doesn’t make us a Hero or a better Christian. Adoption for us,  is exactly what God has  called us to do and we are exactly where god wants us to be.

Here’s our story. On April 7^th a beautiful adoptive momma posted in a private adoption group. She posted and asked for a special prayer request. She stated in her post that she adopted three children from ET. Her oldest boy had one concern when they brought him home. He wanted to find a family for is friend. She told him that they would do everything they could do and would always maintain contact with his friend no matter what happened. They prayed and shared. They sent letters and packages to these kids. Yes kids, brother and sister. She wanted them both to know they are loved and not forgotten. Her, and her family, wanted their son’s heart to know he has done all he can for his friend. So they were advocating for these precious children, and even developed a grant to be given to the family who adopts them. I read this post and almost fell apart. I thought to myself, I have to help these kids find a home. I private messaged her at 8:42 that same night. It went something like this, “I just adopted a little boy 9 months ago from ET. At this point we cannot afford to adopt again, but I will do everything I can do to find them a home. I own a salon, and am going to an orphan conference on Friday. I will advocate my heart out for them. My mission is to find them a family.” My last sentence to her was, “They have my heart.” I prayed for these two daily. I carried their pictures everywhere with me and I had no luck finding a family for them. April 20^th I texted her again asking if she found a family, and she said no. So we went on and kept praying and hoping for them.   

May 3^rd God made it very clear to Nick and I that it was ok to stop trying to find a family for them. He told us that they were our children. He dropped us to our knees and we gave up all fears and control. May 4^th I reached out to this momma to let her know that God spoke to us and let us know that they are ours. No more trying to find a family. Their family is right here, in Van Wert Ohio. That day was very emotional for Cheryl and I. God answered our prayers. Not only our prayers. But the prayers of the child who was adopted and had one dream. That dream was for his best friend and his sister to have a family. All because of an amazing, kind mother, who loved her son so much, and wanted his dreams to come true, we have a son and daughter waiting for us in ET. For that we will be forever grateful. Friday May 15^th we received our official referral for our children at 1:30. Praise the lord! Orphan no more “E” and “B”! Three years is way too long to wait, mommy and daddy are coming.

All of our kids are so excited about their new brother and sister. To hear Kuchman pray for them to come home is overwhelming. Just a year ago we were praying for him to come home. God writes the most beautiful stories. Thank you for reading about this amazing journey to our children we are blessed to have you follow along.  

 

SEASONS CHANGE

Just as the earth goes through seasons, so does a family. As our children grow older, our leaves start to change. We have had a lot of firsts going on in our family lately. I thought I would share. Lily had her first basketball game.  Her sister is the coach for her team. How sweet is that? Watching Lily play makes us smile from ear to ear. She plays exactly like her sister did at her age. Very aggressive, gives 100% and even has time to stop and pick her wedge. HA! Seeing this sisterhood bond just melts my heart!

We had our first real snow fall. Kuchman loved it! He built his first snowman. Dad got the gator out and Kuchman had his first adventure with being pulled in the snow! His little face was frozen, but refused to come in!

On Martin Luther King Day we all took the day off and went to the Children’s Museum in Indy as a family in honor of Martin Luther King. My son has rights because of him and I will be forever grateful. From the abolitionist, to the civil rights activist, to the mother who simply wants to raise her son to have a great life without judgment because of his skin color. Dr. King’s legacy, our legacy, must never be forgotten or diminished. To do so undermines and weakens the very foundation on which we stand. One nation, equal, united and free.  Kuchman and Lily got to go on stage and hit a drum with some gentleman playing African music. This momma was shocked my shy little boy went right up there.  I’m sure having his big sister right beside him gave him some courage.

And my last picture says it all. We are very blessed.  

 

MELKAM GANNA 2015!

Back to blogging, it has been a busy start to 2015. I just wanted to post some things we have been doing around here recently. I promise I will blog about meeting our son for the first time soon.

We celebrated Ethiopian Christmas together as a family. We want to help K maintain his culture and have a sense of pride for his birth country.  

                                                            MELKAM GANNA! (Merry Christmas)

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa and one of the very few where the ancient Julian calendar is still followed. That is why Christmas is celebrated on the 7^th of January. This holiday is referred to as ‘Ye Ganna Bal’ which means “the birth of Christ”. On this day most people wear a traditional garment called a shamma. Most people go to church and choirs sing on this day. The early Ganna mass starts at 4am. It is also tradition that one of the Wise Man who came to visit Jesus came from Ethiopia.

Traditional Christmas foods in Ethiopia include, wat, which is a spicy stew that contains meat, veggies and sometimes eggs. Wat is eaten with injera, a flatbread. They use no silverware, you use the injera to scoop up your food.  I made beef wat and chicken wat. I aslo made Fasolia, which is bean, carrots and onions sautéed in Ethiopian sauce. I did buy the injera from an Ethiopian restaurant, momma cannot master that.  My kitchen smelled delicious. I have to tell you the smell reminded me of Ethiopia. K kept asking me when it is done mommy. It smells yummy but the true test was if my Ethiopian child liked it. We wore the traditional Ethiopian outfits and decorated the table with all of our Ethiopia treasures. We could all tell that K felt very special that day.  One more thing, K loved his mommy’s cooking.  He gobbled it right up and so did all the other kids. I love how my kids love their brother’s birth country.