Ethiopian Cultural Festival

It is such a blessing to have an Ethiopian church within driving distance, and an even greater blessing that they have a specific ministry for adoptive families! I've blogged about Grace Ethiopian Church in Indianapolis before, but I can't say enough about how wonderful and welcoming they are. On Saturday, they held an Ethiopian cultural festival for adoptive families -- an evening full of singing, dancing, cultural displays..oh, and the most amazing Ethiopian food! We had a great time meeting other adoptive families, and reconnecting with families we haven't seen in a few months. A lot of our little F.T.I.A cuties were there too (we love those kids!). Here are a few pictures from the festival:

Pastor Yosef and his daughter (isn't she adorable?!?)




This is one serious drum....



These women could move (they were also the women who spent two weeks making our meal which was incredible...at one point I really wanted to lick my plate; however I did show restraint for fear of offending those around me)



We're looking forward to the next event...and I've heard it might be an Ethiopian cooking class for adoptive moms. Yummmmmmm

Orphan Sunday

The first Sunday in November is recognized as Orphan Sunday -- a day set aside to remember and pray for the 173 million orphans in the world. God tells us in Psalms that "He sets the lonely in families", and we praise Him for that. So today, on orphan Sunday, we thought we would share ten ways that EVERY person can care for orphans:

1. PRAY for them!!
2. SPEAK up for them -- become a court appointed special advocate (CASA)for a child in foster care
3. PROVIDE for their needs -- donate financially to a reputable organization, or organize a drive to collect items for children in foster care
4. SUPPORT those who support then -- mow, babysit or organize meals for foster families or give financially to help a family cover adoption expenses
5. PROTECT them from harm -- Become a foster parent or an emergency foster parent
6. VISIT them where they are -- Go on a mission trip to an orphanage or take dinner to a foster group-home
7. GIVE sacrificially to them -- support orphan care organizations on a regular basis
8. ENCOURAGE them -- Sponsor a child and encourage them through your letters
9. ADOPT THEM -- give a child a home through international, domestic or foster care adoption
10. MOBILIZE your church for them -- be a catalyst in your church for starting a sustained orphan ministry

I can't take credit for this list. It was passed out this morning at our church, and we think its wonderful. As a family, we feel called to adopt. We recognize that adoption isn't something that God lays on every family's heart, but we are ALL called to support orphans (James 1:27, Psalms 68:5-6, Deuteronomy 24:19, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 31: 8-9, Matthew 18:5). Is there something on this list that you can commit to?

Faith Like a Five Year Old

This is a conversation I had recently with our 5-year old nephew:

Dylan: Aunt Krista, when are you coming to my house?

Me: I'll be at your house on Thanksgiving.

Dylan: Will you bring your baby?

Me: No, our baby isn't home yet.

Dylan: When will your baby be home?

Me: I don't know, but I hope we find out soon.

Dylan: But, when do you think your baby will be home?

Me: I really don't know...I thought we would already be making plans to bring our baby home but its just not time yet.

Dylan: Its okay Aunt Krista... God must be making your baby perfect since He's taking His time.

Today, I'm praying for faith like a five year old!

4 months

Today we celebrate 4-months waiting for our referral! We're getting so close! We're at the stage of "the wait" now where we carry our phone with us everywhere waiting for it to ring at any minute. I know we could still have a few weeks or even a couple months, but knowing we're #2 on our agency's list has made us anxiously await that call even more. We're hopeful that we will not be writing a "5-month waiting" post!

"The List"

I love it when people ask us how the adoption is going -- some people are afraid that it may make us upset or impacient, but its our favorite thing to talk about so please keep asking! The most popular question we get (after, "have you heard anything yet") is, "How much longer?". Trust me, I wish we knew!

Since we've started this process, I've been creating an "unofficial" list of the other families adopting from our agency. The list is totally based on informal conversations with other families, emails, posts on chat groups, updates from our coordinator, and family blogs. Everytime someone mentions where they are in the process, I make a note in "The List". I have to admit that its a pretty impressive operation.

What started out as innocently tracking where we might be in relationship to other families has turned into graphs, charts and detailed statistical analysis. I'm so out of control with this data! I have determined things like, "Our agency averages 1.3 referrals a month" and "42% of all referrals come in the first ten days of the month" (you get the picture). Although this sounds a little obsessive and border-line creepy, it has been encouraging to watch our name move up that list.

This week, we're THRILLED that there has been some movement and I get to actually update my list. Not one, but TWO families in front of us received referrals on Monday. One family got matched with a little girl and the other with their little boy. We're so happy for them! I'm also happy to let you know that according to "the list".....we're now #2!!!!!!!!!

Certified

This post is to inform all family, friends, co-workers, and the general public that should any of you choke, pass-out, fall from extreme heights, go into cardiac arrest or respiratory distress, experience a puncture would, strain, sprain or fracture...we're there for you! That's right, Mike and I spent eight hours in training yesterday to get certified in CPR and first-aid. We thought these skills would be useful once we had a little person in the house. Here are a couple pictures of us demonstrating our new training.

By the look on Mike's face, you would think that he didn't like the fabulous sling I made him:



I hope to NEVER have to do this in real life:


Thanks, Red Cross, for a great (although very long) day of training!

Church

Those of you who know us at all, know that we are passionate about serving God in whatever way He has planned for us (hence the whole adoption journey!). What you may not know is that since we've been married, we've really struggled to figure out how "church" fits into that equation for us. Don't get me wrong...we have always gone to church on Sunday mornings. We sit in the pew, sing praise songs, shake hands, listen to the message, and then go home. Sunday morning church just wasn't clicking for us. Our church was big (really big), and the reasons we justified joining a church of that size was because they offer so many great programs and ministries. The ironic thing is, that because a church is that size, its really difficult to get plugged into those ministries and programs. I know it works for a lot of people and we love the mission of that church, but it wasn't working for us.

When we were in Uganda, we were blessed with the opportunity to spend a Sunday morning in worship at Kingdom Preparation Church in Juba. The church was a tiny shelter with tin walls and a tin roof. It had a dirt floor and one small light bulb dangling from a thin wire in the middle of the room. Despite all of that, there was something so beautiful about that space. This was our first church experience in Africa and there are absolutely no words to describe what that was like. It taught us that church is not about the size of the building or even if you have a building at all. Its about the hearts of the people in that building and God working through them to do His will. We spent four hours that morning praising God with our brothers and sisters who put our faith to shame and we left there having been forever changed.

This is a picture of Kingdom Preparation Church:


Since then, we've been searching for a new church -- One that would fit our need to truly LIVE the gospel not just preach it. We've been attending a new church for the past few months, and we really feel like this could be our new church home. Not only do their beliefs align with ours, but they have tons of adoptive & foster families (and we love that!). Do you want to know something else crazy....the message yesterday was "Honoring God while you Wait". Could there have been a more perfect message for us?!?!?