A few pics from the last few days...and some questions answered

Emery fell asleep eating pasta :)

Homemade chalkboard that we made over the weekend.
The girls love it and Zek thought it was a slide :)



Zek playing in sand...do you see it all over his face?
yep he likes to eat sand. I gave up and he can eat it if he wants :)



He likes to eat everything. This is mulch. and no I didnt let him eat this :)



Emery likes to eat sand too! It must be a boy thing.


Aunt Abby (my much younger little sister) stayed the weekend with us.
The girls had a blast! (and it gave mommy a break!) :)



One of Hazels favorite things to do

Emery playing



more playing...

First, thanks to everyone who is praying for us as we begin this journey!

We have had a few questions or comments that people have asked or made about us moving to Ethiopia. So I will answer a couple...

When do you move?

After we do our 3 day assessement we will know a better time frame, but we are expecting 12 - 18 months from August.

You are brave...

We by no means feel brave. We feel that this is Gods calling for us and we are simply following Him and he is bringing us peace about it all along the way. There are days when I feel super excited and there are days when I wish God didn't lay it on our hearts. But we want to be fully devoted followers and we know this is the plan He has for us.

Does someone pay you to live there?

We will be fully supported by our church, other churches, family and friends. We will have to raise the support on our own (this is one reason why it will take 12-18 months before we move) We will raise the support from partners that can make it possible for us to work with and teach God's love to the people in Addis. We will know more details on all of this once August rolls around.

I want to challenge anyone who is reading this post who hasnt read the book Radical yet to read it. I just finished it last week and it is awesome!!! It took me over month to finish it because well it just takes me that long. I love reading but finding bits of time between taking care of the kiddos is impossible somedays :) I am currently reading When Helping Hurts. A missionary at CMF gave it to us when we went there a few months back. It is a really great book and very insightful. I have learned lots of stuff already! So I highly recommend it!

OUR SUPER BIG, SUPER EXCITING NEWS!!!!

So back a few weeks ago I said that our family has HUGE news and I couldn't announce it for a few weeks. We had to make sure that our parents knew before anyone else did!

This stirring in our hearts came long before we decided definitely to adopt and subsided for awhile during our adoption and our transition from 2 kids to 4 (in less than a 7 month span!). August rolls around last year and we feel it again. This longing for Africa. This desire to give it all to God. Whatever he wants for our lifes we will do. We want to be whole hearted followers of Him.

It was a rough year to say the least. Through this rough patch I could feel God saying to me "Christie just trust in my plan, I have big plans for you...give it all to Me..." It took me a long time to focus. To focus on God. Focus on His plan for our life. To creep into giving it all to Him. To fully trust in His plan...

Back to late August/early September... Adam and I both started to feel the tug...

We began to pray and seriously talk about moving our family
and becoming missionaries in Ethiopia.

So that is our big news!!!! We have been praying about this for several months and researching and talking. We feel that God is calling us to Ethiopia. In fact we know God is calling us to Ethiopia!

There is a peace about it...a peace that surpasses all understanding. A peace that would not be there if we said "no we aren't moving to Ethiopia." I have prayed this a lot lately - "Philippians 4 - 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Adam's mission trip really confirmed all that we had been feeling. (he is working on a video of his trip so he will be posting very very soon about the trip)

We have had our up-and-down moments a lot lately. One minute we will be super excited and the next really questioning and really asking for God's peace and it is always there.

I was listening to the radio on the way to take Maggie to school a month or so ago and really praying to God to please give me peace if this is His plan. A lady was talking about her job or something on the radio and she never imagined herself being where she is right now she said but God will put you exactly where he wants you. and I heard "even if it's 8,000 miles away" I know this was God. He was telling me it's ok I have you in my hands even if you are 8,000 miles away from home you will always be in my hands and these are the plans for you and your family. I could go on and on about things I feel God has said to me or songs that I listen to and know that I was supposed to hear that song at that particular moment. There's a Josh Wilson song that I say is my song. It says "Cause I don't want to live like I don't care...I don't want to say another empty prayer...I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else to do what God has called me to do myself... I could choose not to move... but I refuse." (The "I could choose not to move but I refuse" part makes me smile every time I hear it. - I could choose not to move but that's not God's plan) - if you haven't heard the song do a search for it and listen to it or read the full lyrics, it's a good song. (Josh Wilson - I refuse) Or the Matthew West song The Motions. "I don’t wanna go through the motions, I don’t wanna go one more day without Your all consuming passion inside of me. I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking, what if I had given everything instead of going through the motions " Songs speak to me a lot obviously :) I get some good God time listening to the radio in the car!

After lots of prayer and research about a month ago we decided to take steps to begin affiliating with CMF International. We are now getting our application completed, medical exams, psychological evaluations done, and references done. We will be going through a 3-day assessment in August. (The three-day Assessment Center (AC) event is designed to provide a comprehensive approach to the selection of qualified cross-cultural workers. Your skills, abilities, and traits will be evaluated and matched with the profile of successful cross-cultural workers. At the end of the AC, you will receive thorough feedback, including a list of strengths and a personal development plan to help with your mental, emotional, and spiritual growth.) Click here if you want to see all of the steps we will complete. It is a pretty rigorous process, but we are ready to get it started!

We love what they are doing in Addis Ababa. Here is what we will tentatively be doing when we move there. "Our growing urban poor team works in the slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, through Community Health Evangelism – an integrated ministry using Christ’s example of caring for the whole individual of any community, both physically and spiritually. Ministry focuses on those affected by HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and the orphaned and vulnerable children living on the streets." (taken from CMF website) Here is more about the Urban Poor Ministries click here . Click and read about it. It's pretty awesome and awesome to think that we will be part of this.

We are excited of joining the group of missionaries already working in Addis. We do not know details right now as we are just beginning. We do know that we need lots of prayers right now. Prayers for our decisions we are making, prayers for God's provision, prayers for peace, prayers for God's guidance as we begin this journey...the list could go on :) We know that Satan is going to try to make his way in and we have to stand guard. We have already felt it. We know that everyone we know may not fully understand why we are doing this and may think we are crazy. We are crazy. Crazy for Jesus! Pray that negative comments do not stand in the way of the joy and excitement of all of His plans.

Right now we are asking for people to please commit to praying for our family as we begin this journey and continue to seek God's will.

I am going to try my hardest to keep the blog up-to-date to keep everyone informed of the happenings of our family. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I want everyone who reads our blog to follow along on this journey with us.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Sorry about being MIA

So we have been a little MIA lately. Sorry about that!

Adam does plan on posting all about his trip coming up soon. Since he got back he has been a little overwhelmed with work and stuff.

But I wanted to do a little update on Bottom Blessings. I still occassionally have people send diapers or donate monetarily through paypal. Thank you to everyone who is still helping out! We do have a ton of diapers in need of going to Ethiopia or any orphanage anywhere for that matter. So if you are traveling anywhere where you know there is an orphanage in need of cloth diapers please let me know. I can ship those to you for you to take. Just email us at knowingnobounds@gmail.com

I have a lovely women named Rachel, who has a ministry with young people and previously had a cloth diaper business. She made and sold cloth diaper covers. She stopped her business a year ago so she could focus on her ministry. (in a recent email she said "All glory to God. I am just in awe of how He's worked this all out - I gave up the business a year ago so I could focus on the ministry, and it's as if He's given it back, but with a purpose this time. All the fun, none of the stress lol."

Little did she know that God was going to use her cloth diapering business and her ministry together! She previously sent me a bunch of covers and diaper wipes she had left from her business. They are now being used by orphanages in Ethiopia.

Rachel and a group of young people have been busy sewing diaper covers for Ethiopia! She emailed some pictures to me of one of her sewing nights.

When Adam visited Ethiopia in February he said that at least one of the orphanages that he went to were only able to change the babies diapers once a day! Now they have tons of cloth diapers to keep those babies bottoms nice and dry!

Here are pictures of Rachels Ministries sewing night...














I am in awe of how God worked this all out for her ministry and for Bottom Blessings :)

Thanks so much to Rachel and her team of volunteers!!!!!

Here soon Adam will do a post on his Ethiopia mission trip. He has awesome stories and pictures.

Also very soon we will be announcing some big news for our family!!!! Sorry to keep you in suspense, but we will have to keep you waiting for another week or two and then we can make the announcement :) Just keep our family in your prayers as we have a lot brewing right now. :)

Ethiopia

These are some pictures that Adam has put on Facebook of his trip so far (from his phone) The pictures he has taken with his camera he isnt able to upload them or something. Under each picture I will paste whatever he wrote on facebook. I havent gotten to talk him but once and we have chatted a few times on facebook and gmail. The internet is very chopping and more annoying then anything :) I really wish we could talk more so I can hear about all of the stuff that they are doing. It seems like a pretty amazing experience. I will see if he is able to sign onto blogger to write a little about his time there so far.

It seems like he has been gone for a month already! He left really early Wednesday morning and will be back next Sunday. So we have another week until he gets back, but he has another week of lots of awesome experiences!

Small hut seen along the road on the way to Ambo. (We passed over 100 of these.)

Man with his donkey in a small town between Holeta and Ambo.

Boys from the village.

The drive out to Holeta.

The leap I took to get to the waterfall... About 6 feet across... My heart was racing. :)

More nature along the road returning from Ambo.

Children from an extremely small village we hiked to while at at a nature park.

Man with horse cart in small town between Holeta and Addis Ababa

Sunset on our way to Ambo.

Slaughtered goat for lunch in Holeta. (I have tons more pics from Holeta on my camera but don't have the bandwidth here to upload.)

A lady from the village washing her clothes at the top of the waterfall we climbed to get back to the village

Me and my friend Abraham in Ambo

looking out the balcony of adams room

My carmel frapiccino and lentil sambusas from Kahldi's Coffee.

here are some of his posts on facebook so far...

Done w/ day 1. We arrived. Got settled in. Exchanged currency (16.6 birr to $1!). Got a carmel frapiccino and lentil sambusas @ Kahldi's Coffee (for like $2). Bought a bootleg copy of Tangled for 20 birr (about $1.25). Gave a boy my pair of shoes (he tracked me down as we were leaving and gave me a friendship bracelet, he put it on my wrist through the van window.). Ate dinner. Now bed time. Goodnight everyone! (me this same boy asked me for my shoes when we were there to bring zek home. i didnt give him my shoes and have regretted it. adam "happened" to see him again and he was able to give him his. i cried when adam told me about it. and the boy giving him a bracelet....ahhh....and he remembered Adam...over a year later.) - This same boy has visited Adam at the place where they are staying and brought him another bracelet. Him and his friends are street orphans. breaks my heart...)

Day #2 : just returned from the orphanage where they had more than 30 little ones in diapers! Brought 2 tubs of cloth diapers to donate. They were so gracious and thankful. I showed them how they all worked and they totally got it! The orphanage no longer has to worry about diapers! I will post more on the blog tonight about the whole experience.Also, I forgot to mention that they had just sent 30 of their infants to private orphanages so they could be adopted. So they had close to 60 infants just last week... They were already doubled up in most cribs. I can't imagine what it was like before.

Wow, what an incredible day! The kids in Holeta were amazing... so gracious, so thankful, so happy in life. How inspiring. We played all kinds of games... soccer, football, frisbee, etc... I really wish I could just bring all of the kids home with me. :) We also slaughtered a goat for lunch (which tasted delicious) and capped off the afternoon with a coffee ceremony.

So this is about all I know right now. When I hear more from him I may post more or see if he is able to.

Diapers and other stuff

Below are some more diapers that we have been able to purchase with monetary donations!!!!! Yay!!!!! Thanks, so much, or all who have donated!!!!

Thanks so much to Celee who donated these cute little diapers!!

Here is what a diaper kit looks like...

Here is what lots and lots of diaper kits look like in tubs going to Ethiopia!!!! 582 + prefolds, 171 covers, 82 Snappis, and 30 + fleece liners!!!!!!! These are currently in Ethiopia getting ready to be distributed by my wonderfully awesome husband!!!!! Thanks to those who made it possible to get 2 extra tubs of diapers checked on as luggage!!!!! This is 200 lbs of diapers!!!!!!! He is going to an orphanage tomorrow that has about 60 babies who wear diapers!!!

Here is my biggest girl....who lost her tooth a couple of nights ago!!!! so cute!!!!

Here are my little loves on Valentines day...

Bottom Blessings - Need donations for extra luggage fees for diapers

With the cost of extra checked luggage we are only being able to pack one extra tub of diapering kits for Adam to take to Ethiopia. So we have 3 tubs filled up. Each tub contains 20 diaper kits. each kit has 2 covers, 6 prefolds, 1 snappi, and a doubler.

We would LOVE to be able to pack up a 4th tub!!!!!

But we will need your help!!!

It's $150 for extra baggage fees. We really want to get as many diapers over to Ethiopia as possible. Adam will be visiting some very large orphanages and I am just afraid that we wont be able to provide enough. Please help us to raise this money so we can pack up some more. We have the diapers to pack up we just need the funds to take them over.

If you feel led to give to be able to bring these diapers over then you can donate to the right where there is a paypal button. In the message box when you do the paypal just let us know that it is to help with the extra luggage fee.

I continue to get diaper donations and we have been able to place orders for more diapers through monetary donations.

Thank you so very much to everyone that has helped bless this project!!!!!!!

if you have questions email us at knowingnobounds@gmail.com

Bottom Blessings - Another fabulous donation!!!!!

Here is another fabulous donation that we got yesterday!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

Today I started putting kits together for Adams trip. I have already put 72 cloth diapering kits together!!!!! woo hoooooo!!!!

I will take some pictures of those so you all can see. I have more covers coming in the mail soon and other donations. I will be ordering some more stuff for kits because of the wonderful people that have donated to make kits!!!!

You can donate to make a kit for an orphan as well. There is a paypal button on the right side of this blog. If you have any questions please email us.

If you would like to donate any used or new cloth diapering goods email us and I will give you the shipping address.

knowingnobounds@gmail.com

Thanks, again, to everyone that is participating!!!!! not only have I made those 72 kits, but I have also shipped off over 1000 diapers to traveling families!!!!! Isnt that amazing????!!!!!

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