Ethiopia | Checked-In

Checked In !!

It’s official… we’re starting our travels to Ethiopia. We’re all checked in and relaxing in rocking chairs watching planes take off from Grand Rapids.

We said our good-byes to the kids with lots of laughs and joy. We will miss them of course, but this trip will also be so nice for Jenna and me. We’re thrilled we can embark on this stage of the adventure together with the ability to concentrate solely on Taye and welcoming him into our lives.

Thank you as always for your prayers for our journey. It’s been a wild ride, hasn’t it?!

Thirtysomething | On Hair and Humility.

This morning as I was grooming I began thinking about hair.

No seriously.

I was just starting to like my natural hair color after years of being a bottle blond, redhead, or punk rocker whatever color that was… and I’m finding more gray hairs every day. Now if you’ve seen my maternal grandfather and his severe lack of hair whatsoever, I know that I should be quite thankful that I have a head of hair at all.

What’s up with nose hair, and while we’re at it, EAR HAIR?!

These are seriously a mystery to me. I didn’t need hair in either off these places for the majority of my life, why have they decided to show up NOW?! Will ear hair suddenly help me hear as I get older, grabbing sound waves more efficiently than bald ears would? Honestly, if that’s the case, I’d rather be hard of hearing than need to take my tiny-tiny and SHARP scissors into my ear cavity.

Um… OUCH!

And don’t EVEN get me started on those SHARP tiny-tiny scissors and my nose…

I’m starting to think that all of these changes in our hair are sent not to torment us (though they do) but to keep us humble.

As we age and mature, we become advice-givers more often that advice-getters (I’m not saying this is a good thing). As we get older we can have a tendency to see ourselves as experts rather than fellow learners. Our ego is often stroked on a regular basis… and it feels GOOD! After all, at this stage in the game we should begin hitting our prime. And if we have any measure of success whatsoever, we can become full of ourselves and think that we’ve arrived…

…and then we take one look in the mirror and see that runaway EAR HAIR and the balloon is popped and we’re sent back to planet earth. We’re reminded that we’re not superhuman, but rather reminded that we’re not in control of this life.

…and hopefully we respond with renewed trust in the God that is.

Adoption | Travel Itinerary

It’s hard to believe that we’re leaving in just two days.

A few years ago when Jenna and I started the whole adoption conversation, we couldn’t have imagined this week of final preparations, the months spent re-prioritizing and budgeting, or the hours upon hours of praying and seeking God’s will for this next step in our lives.

We never could have realized the love and support that you, our community, both on-line and in-person, would have given to us in the past year. We are beyond thankful for the prayers and encouragement and money that you have given on our behalf. Taye is coming home to a group of people already committed to his care. He has NO IDEA the love he’ll get when he steps foot in North America.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Here is our itinerary for the next several days.

We’d love your thoughts and prayers for us as we travel and finish up this part of the adoption and begin our new life with Taye in the picture. Some of the requests may get very specific, but after all, our God is a God of small details. And we will bring our small details before Him to work out for His glory!

Wednesday/Thursday | July 8/9 | Travel

Leave from Grand Rapids at 3:15 P.M.
Arrive in Detroit for a short layover before boarding the next plane to Amsterdam.
Arrive in Amsterdam for a five hour layover before boarding the plane for Addis Ababa.

Prayer: We have to check luggage, which is always a risk. The obvious prayer is that our bags will arrive in Ethiopia with us. Part of that checked luggage contains 17 large canisters of infant formula that people have donated to Ethiopian orphanages. Because formula is in such HIGH DEMAND, we’re praying that we’ll make it through customs without having most of that taken from us.

Friday/Sunday | July 10/12 | Sightseeing

We’ll spend the first three days getting accustomed to Ethiopian culture. I have 12 gigs of memory cards with me in order to capture as much life there as possible on film and video. (And don’t worry, I won’t make you sit and watch all of those – unless you want to of course.) This will be an important time for Jenna and me to soak in the history and life that we want to continue celebrating in our newly blended family.

Monday | July 13 | Travel and Meetings

We’ll travel west to Ambo where we’ll meet Taye’s birth-mother.

Prayer: This is one of those meetings that I know we need to do for Taye and celebrating his story. Yet, I’ve got to say, I’m not sure I’m looking forward to this. We all will be filled with emotions. We pray for God’s peace, for the right words at the right moment, and that we’ll capture her story to share with Taye as he gets older.

Tuesday | July 14 | Meet and Pick Up Taye

We’ll travel to Kunkeet to Taye’s orphanage. We’ll receive the grand tour, meeting his care givers and seeing where he’s spent the past 6 months of his life. We’ll meet him and bring him with us as we travel back to Addis Ababa for the rest of our trip.

Prayer: With the exception of tears, we have NO expectations going into this first meeting. We can’t imagine what it will be like for us to see our son in person for the first time after waiting so long for him. On the 14th, just pray as the Spirit leads you. We rest in the fact that He is at work and will give us what we need in the moment.

Wednesday/Friday | July 15/17 | US Embassy Appointments

We travel back to Addis Ababa for our appointments at the US Embassy to finish up the last of the paper work and apply for Taye’s visa home.
We’ll pick up the Visa on the 17th.

Prayer: We’ll be in a hotel suite with a 22 month child with whom we don’t know and will have a hard time communicating. Pray for patience and great non-verbal communication skills as we learn to navigate life with Taye. Pray that we’ll have a smooth time getting the visas (on time, etc.).

Saturday/Sunday | July 18/19 | Travel Home

We leave Addis at 10:25 P.M.
Arrive in Amsterdam for a five hour layover before boarding the plane for Detroit.
We arrive in Detroit for a short layover before boarding the plane for HOME!

Taye will meet his brother and sisters for the first time! Wow, just writing that brings me such joy!

Prayer: rather than being in a hotel suite, we’ll be in an airplane with the same conditions. You can pray for the same things as above. We’ve heard mostly horror stories of this return flight with an adopted child. So anything other than a horror story we’ll count as blessing. Just pray that what we need to bond with Taye will happen. If that means it’s horrible, pray we’ll have joy thinking about what bringing him home means for our family. If that means it great, pray that we won’t take it for granted.

Again, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers during the next few days. We really do appreciate it!

If we don’t see you before we leave, we’ll see you when we return.
Can’t wait for you all to meet Taye!

Me | The Inevitable…

I’ve been trying to deny it for three days now, but this morning at 6:15 when I woke up with a pounding sinus headache lacking the ability to breathe I realized the inevitable: I have a cold. BAH!

Photo Booth | July 5, 2009

So today, after only ONE cup of coffee (oh, the self-control I’ve demonstrated!), I’ve been downing tea and water like mad. I’ve got three days to kick this before heading off to Ethiopia, praying hard that I won’t have to sit on an airplane, hopped up on cold medicine with a box of tissues in my lap.

Well, being hopped up on meds might not be a bad idea…
but the tissues. I don’t want to deal with tissues.

Adoption | Videos for Taye

I know, I know ANOTHER post on our adoption…

We decided that it might be a good idea for the kids to introduce themselves to Taye before he actually meets them. Last night we got around to recording these videos. They’re not great, but you’ll get the point of what we’re trying to do. Hey, and at the very least they were fun to make!

Liam’s message to Taye:

Elli’s message to Taye:

Addi’s message to Taye:

We’re borrowing a friend’s iPod touch for our trip. We’ll be able to put these on there, so Taye can watch them on the trip back to the United States.

Adoption | One Week

In just seven days we’ll be boarding a plane to go get this guy: (I can post pictures of him because he’s my son, and I’m going to post LOTS of them!)

Taye (Abdi) Scott

We are SO close. We’ve been finishing up last minute details.

1.filling iPods with music and videos – Downloaded Francis Chan’s crazy love for FREE over at ChristianAudio.com

2.getting lots of NEW (as opposed to OLD) cash to carry for visas, hotels, and whatever else that may use that up… (ps. This shouldn’t be as hard as this was!)

3.picking up another family’s donation of 50lbs of baby formula for the orphanages

4.gathering gifts for Taye’s caregivers that not only express our gratitude but also a bit of who we are

5.moving Liam’s Legos out of his room so there is room for Taye (and so that Taye won’t try to EAT them)

6.final documents notarized (NOTE: find a friend who is a notary and save some money, we have TWO in our lives and are extremely thankful for them!)

7.packing Taye’s clothes, diapers, and misc stuff we have no idea whether we’ll need it or not but should have just in case

In the next few days, Jenna has jam packed our schedule with picnics and fireworks, BBQs and FUN! We’re looking forward to spending time with people as we wait. Her master plan was to keep us so occupied that we’d forget about the excitement butterflies in our stomachs.

Yeah…. um. It’s not working.

Next week can’t come fast enough. I’m trying my absolute hardest to focus and get my work done before boarding that plane. But I’m pretty consumed with the adoption. However, I also know that it’s “Make it work time.” Just seven more days, we can do it!

But not on our own… please keep praying for us in the waiting. We know that we’re close, but waiting still isn’t fun.

Thanks to all of you who have kept us sane during this past year. I’ve said this before; Taye is as much yours as he is ours. Can wait for you to meet him!

Adoption | New Wardrobe

This afternoon we got a new picture of Taye…

TAYE NEEDS NEW CLOTHES!!!

The first thing we’re doing is giving him a bath and getting him a new stylist, and maybe we’ll get him the new stylist first. My boy CANNOT wear a pink sweatsuit with HEARTS! I don’t mind pink; in fact I’m a fan of pink, but that collar?!

Now, granted, I am thankful that he is being changed. We’ve seen several… um… outfits? on him throughout the past several weeks, but still….

wow.

Only 15 days until we can do something about that!

Ministry | My One Thing?

Next week, our family will be in Wheelersburg, Ohio at Scioto Hills Camp. I get the opportunity to speak with junior highers every night out under the stars. We love Scioto Hills and can’t wait to catch up with old friends and new.

IMG_4845

The theme at camp this summer is “One Thing,” based on David’s psalm:

“One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Psalm 27.4

I’ve got to say. I’ve loved hanging out with King David for the past two weeks in prepping for my talks. He longs for the words in this verse to be the one thing that consumes his life. Yet he is a man fraught with all sorts of issues that often trumped this one desire for God’s presence. In spite of that, God still allowed him to stand for all time as the “Man after God’s Heart.” God’s grace continues to amaze me.

Most often when I speak, I can choose the topics, words, etc. However sometimes everything is handed to me, including the passages of scripture. More often than not when this happens, it seems like God is up to something, as it’s usually something that I need to study and apply to my own life.

And that’s pretty much what’s happened this time around.

ONE THING… David’s is that he may dwell in God’s house forever….

But what’s my one thing?

Is it that?

Is it being caught up in the presence of God in all areas of my life so that he is glorified above all else?

Or is my one thing hogging the spotlight and steeling the show to demonstrate to the world what I’M capable of doing?

Unfortunately… I’m pretty sure it’s mostly the later.

I’m continually shocked when God uses me for his good. I don’t understand why in spite of my own short comings, God allows me the opportunities and the blessings I’ve had in this life. I don’t deserve them, yet I’m forever grateful for them.

God’s grace continues to amaze me.

But I (very obviously) haven’t arrived yet. I’ve so far to go, which is why I’m praying that I will listen and apply whatever I say this next week and that I really pray that the words I speak next week are not my own but are those sent from the Spirit.

I can’t wait to get down to Scioto and see what God decides to do. I know it’s going to be awesome!

Adoption | Taye’s First Plane Ticket

Printed this out today. As families go, we travel a lot. With three kids, most of our travel these days is by car. We’ve done our fair share of flying as well. And with only a few exceptions that I can recall, our kids have been amazing on airplanes from the time they were infants. For us it’s always a milestone when we take one of our kids on their first flight. We always make a big deal about it with them and snap a picture or twelve.

And for our youngest, this will be no different. I present to you Taye’s first ticket:

It’s a one-way ticket HOME!

Taye's first plane ticket!

Yep, the best first flight a person can have!

Video | Ellison, Sunglasses, and Miley Cyrus

Ellison has been channeling Hanna Montana for the past few months. Now, with her new sunglasses she is officially a DIVA in her own right.

so sweet...

Yes, she’s got the attitude, the swagger, and the voice.

OK. Two out of three ain’t bad… right?