Update from Ethiopia

Everything has been going very well in Ethiopia, so thanks very much for your prayers. The flight there couldn't have been better. Ellyana has received so much good care. She has bright eyes, a quick smile, and draws attention wherever they go. She only gets upset and fusses when she wants her bottle. She is sleeping pretty well at nights. So far everyone has stayed healthy, so please pray for continued health for all and for a smooth flight home (Thursday night through Friday morning).

Will you pray with us!?!!

What a big week of pulling everything together! Some moments its overwhelming with the "mountain" of a trip ahead & other times it is so just so exciting...its hard to even have 2 thoughts in the same direction. But God is faithful...and we are asking you to please join us in covering this week in prayer!

Here's what our week holds so you can pray along the way...

Thurs. afternoon Cherise brings boys to Grandpa & Grandma Blume's
Fri... BJ's 7th Birthday (on August 7) Cherise returns home, Dad K flies into Detroit, spends the night here
Sat. AM Brian takes Cherise & Dad to airport, Brian teaches MBA's in Flint, then drives to Chicago for his conference...Cherise & Dad fly to DC & have a long lay-over...We leave DC at 8:30 PM and arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 7 PM Sunday evening (they are 7 hours ahead of us in Ethiopia)
Sunday afternoon the boys go from Blume's to Knobloch's
Monday AM in Ethiopia (during the night in the US), we get to meet Ellyana
Tuesday, appt with US Embassy in Ethiopia
Wed, wait for paperwork to be completed
Thurs. Paperwork delivered, fly out of Ethiopia at 10:15 PM and get into DC at 8 AM & back to Detroit at 1:43 PM
Brian will have picked up the boys at my family's & will be back on Wed. evening.
So Friday afternoon we will be together as a "forever family"!!!! We all can't wait!!!

We pray for health & safety & joyful moments for each of us in the next week! God has been amazingly faithful in this journey!

Brian will hopefully post an update Wed. evening when he returns home & we'll send pictures when we get home! Thank you for all your prayers in getting us this far, to God be the glory...great things HE has done!

We are missing someone...but not for much longer!

The Roller Coaster (again!)

It has been very emotional days, as Monday we found out that the letter that needs to be completed for our trip, the Ethiopian Government Department had taken 2 weeks off for training, and the ONE lady that was able to complete the letter...took another week off for vacation. It was not looking promising! But today, we found out that somehow our agency was able to work with this situation & we are still planning on going! Never have been sooo thankful! The flights are booked (another long story but the flights were set to be cancelled yesterday by the airline that were reserved, and our travel agent was on vacation so we didn't know...I "happened" to call today to check on things...they figured all this out...and were able to book our flights...I said this sounds like a "miracle" the other travel agent said she thought so too, the flight actually has a waiting list, she could not believe the system had not bumped us out) So we have our flights, our Embassy date is set & things are buzzing around here in preparation. And we are just so thankful to see God unfolding this before our eyes! We will continue to pray!

Hardly able to contain!

The days & nights are busy here in this house. Trying to complete every project on the “to-do” list from the past 5 years, getting Ellyana's room ready, trying to have special quality time with the boys and each other, trying to start gathering things for the massive packing we will need to do next week…it is so exciting! I think the phrase I have heard myself say the most is “I’m so excited I can’t hardly contain myself” and that is exactly how I feel.

All of this excitement has gotten me thinking, yes, about the terrible plight of orphans there is so much amazing, heart-wrenching information on the facts & you can not realize that information without having your heart moved to compassion (and action!)

But more often these special days my mind turns to our Heavenly Father, for as I go through this I am so reminded of our own adoption into His family. Could it be that His family is just not complete until we are in? Could it be His heart is longing beyond measure for a relationship with us? Could it be that He is soooo happy to bestow every imaginable blessing on us? Could it be that He is so happy He “can’t hardly contain” Himself to have another precious child to call His own? Could it be that He is up in Heaven “frittering” away preparing just the right place for us to come to?

I believe it is all so true, because it is in His Word & I am experiencing a sliver of what He feels & it is the most overwhelming feeling! He loves us so much, knowing the good days & bad days to come, we are His and that is all that really matters!

Bringing Ellyana Home

Its been several weeks since I posted & LOTS has happened...

#1 best news, we got our date to pick up Ellyana, unfortunately it is the 1 week this summer that Brian is unavailable to go due to lots of work commitments, we knew this date wouldn't work & God knew this too & though we spent the weekend "coming to terms" with this...we do feel very peaceful...my Dad has graciously offered to go with me. And with a 17 hour minimum flight, and being totally out of our time zones in a 3rd world country...this is a very gracious offer! So the plan is to leave August 9 & return August 14, only 4 nights in Ethiopia...the rest is travel time! Our boys are looking forward to their "vacation" with both sides of the family!

And though everyday they ask, "is this the day Ellyana is coming home?"...we will make it...the end is in sight & God has given us unspeakable joy & peace (and lots of projects to work on)!

About 1 1/2 weeks ago the boys & I were severely rear-ended on the way home from BJ's speech therapy appt. Though bruised, sore & shaken up...we were fine. Our faithful car was not, it was totalled. But thanks to help from the insurance payout, we were able to get a minivan (we had intended to try to cram the 3 kiddos in the back seat of the Camry) and "just in time" for me to get a little practice driving before adding a baby to the backseat.

There have been a lot of "little" things that have added up to know that God is alive & at work in our family! & faithfully leading to bring Ellyana home!!!

We just got more pictures today...it looks like she is teething, starting to try to sit & starting to try to crawl...she is growing up so fast, we can't wait to get her!!!

Thank you for your prayers, we believe God is answering!!

Praying for our friends!

Our dear friends, Bart & Janell Rinkenberger, have been in the process of adopting a precious baby girl from Ethiopia also. They started the process a little before us & amazingly our girls are about the same age & were in the same orphanage in rural Ethiopia together (we think they were just 2 beds apart). Our girls got transferred to the foster home in Addis about the same time & now they are awaiting their 2nd Court Date. Please pray for them, the process & everything else that needs to go smoothly through our night time Thurs. night & they will find out their results on Friday. Keep updated on their blog at http://janellrink.blogspot.com/ and thank you for your prayers!!!!!