two years...

Two years really flies by...at least this past two years has.


This week two years ago (Oct 7th) we saw the face of a sweet 3 week old baby boy named Adam (the same name as daddy) for the first time. Today 2 years ago I was feeling so anxious to receive the call about our son. Now that baby boy is 2 and such a joy. He has been an awesome blessing to this family in so many ways.

A lot has changed in two years. We went from having two little girls to having two little girls and 2 little boys in a mere 6 months. God has really shown us how much He is in control and that He always knows what is best for us. We feel so blessed that Emery and Zek are so close in age (a little less than 10 months apart). If you would've told me two years ago that I would become pregnant during the last of our adoption of Zek I would've thought you were crazy :) and If you would've told me how much I would enjoy having two baby boys so close in age I would've thought you were even crazier. Because I always thought when people had kids really close in age that they were crazy. My boys are awesome. They are best buds already and love to make each other laugh. I tell Adam how much they were meant for each other. All of our kids are amazing and I love how much joy each and every one of them bring to our family.

Zek has changed us in so many ways. He has opened our minds to so much more. If someone would've told me two years ago that in two years we would be working our way to moving our family to Ethiopia and becoming missionaries I really would've thought you were even crazier. My mind has been opened and the need has been revealed. Our hearts are in Ethiopia.

We are taking this Perspectives course for missions and it is so amazing and has been opening our minds to so much. There is so much in the bible about missions and how if we are Christians that we are called to take His word to the ends of the Earth. Does that mean the ends of the United States???? No the ends of the ENTIRE Earth. In an article we read in class the author said "missions exists because worship doesn't" In other words, the reason God gives us our mission is to bring about obedient, love-filled and life-giving worship among peoples in places where there is none. We are to take His words to those places where people need to hear it. That is why missions exists and why it's God call for people to move to places where people need to hear it. We are all called to do it. Either by supporting missionaries financially and with prayer, moving and becoming the missionary, helping to mobilize missionaries, etc. There's so much to learn in the course and we highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about missions. I thank God for giving us the passion for Ethiopia and opening our hearts to taking our family there.

We are taking the course until the end of November so we still have so much to take in. It's so overwhelming learning so much and hard to really say all that we have learned. Once the class is over we have a few months to prepare for our Launch with CMF (support raising training) in January and then we are off to start support raising. We will be meeting with friends and family, churches, small groups, etc. We will be busy, but we are so excited to start sharing about our ministry and all of the things that we have learned with everyone we meet with. We hope to be moving in the summer of 2013 to Addis. Right now it seems so far off, but I know that it will be here before we know it.

Maggie and I will be taking our trip to Addis in March. We aren't going with an organization. We are going on our own. It will be a vision/mission trip for us. I plan on spending time with the team (Urban Poor Team) that we will be working with and also spending some time with some other organizations and some people that we know. I know that God is going to show us a lot while we are there. I feel like it is really important for us to go on this trip. When it didn't work out for us to go in October this year I thought for a moment that maybe we just wouldn't go at all until we move. But, I know that it's so important for Maggie to spend some time there and to help me to get a vision for what Adam and I will be doing while living there. It will be important as we share with our supporters. We are fundraising for this trip and have set up an online store with things for sale. We have awesome t-shirts that my amazing husband designed for sale. We have to raise every penny for this trip and will not be able to purchase tickets for the trip until $3000 has been raised. the total cost for the trip will be around $4000. I can't wait to see God work out the details for this trip and for how much He is going to show me on the trip. You can visit our store here. Or you can click on the image on the upper right of the blog page. We are receiving our order of t-shirts this week. 100% of the purchase price of everything goes towards our trip. The holiday season is quickly approaching and the t-shirts and things would be great gifts!!! Make sure you take a look at the store. :)

Please continue to pray for our family as we prepare ourselves and God prepares us to serve in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Flexiblity is the key

Flexibility is the Key...

This is one thing I learned over this past weekend at our Assessment Center with CMF.

Over this past month I have been praying and thinking so much about the upcoming trip to Ethiopia. I was scared and excited about the trip. I felt like a great opportunity for me to go and felt like God wanted me to go. Well...sometimes Gods plans are just a little different than what we imagined...

The awesome news is we are officially affiliated with CMF!!!! So that means we are OFFICIALLY working our way to move to Ethiopia!!!! After the intense weekend of the Assessment Center we were given a personal development plan. Included in this are a few books to read, a plan for Adam to get his cholesterol down a bit (we have to be healthy missionaries!), and some educational things and training that we will complete before moving. One thing we have to do before we start raising support is take this course called Perspectives. If you click on the name it will take you to their website and you can read more about it. It will teach us more about missions and Gods call to missions. It is a 15 week course...That puts us way into November...Our trip is scheduled for October...This class is required of us...That means that I will not be able to go to Ethiopia in October. BUMMER! To be the best missionary I can be I have to get as much out of this class that I can. I have to focus on this...Missing 2 weeks to go to Ethiopia I feel is not in my best interest.

I am so excited for this class and this journey! I am excited to be living Gods plan. and I have learned so well over this past 2 years that my plan usually isnt exactly His plan! We are taking the ride and following His course. I am planning on a mid to late spring trip to Ethiopia. So yes I am still going and taking Maggie, just not as soon as I had imagined. So we are still fundraising, selling shirts, collecting donations and diapers, etc. We just have a longer time to do it in now! (click on our button on the sidebar to go to our store)

We are super excited about this course that we are taking. We finished the Assessment Center and they gave us the personal development plan and the class was on it...and well the class started the day after we were done with this intense weekend. (last night) So once again, flexibility is the key. We shuffled and found a super babysitter last night. Over the weekend the kids had 9 different people watching them and we didnt want to have to use any of them. My aunt stepped up and watched them for us and they all had a blast. If you know us, then you know finding a babysitter can be a challenging job. But God worked it all out :) A lady at CMF is also going to be babysitting for us during these 15 weeks. and they paid for the class for us. CMF is super awesome and the people are super awesome and will do about anything for you. We LOVE them and highly recommend them to anyone interested in the missions field.


Please pray for us as we are moving our way to all of the fun stuff in His plan for us. We are excited about this class and excited about support raising (and a little scared too!).

This is going to be an awesome journey and we are excited to work our way through it and share it as we go along.

Thanks so much for reading!

Heading to Ethiopia - lots of fundraisers!!!

So back a few weeks ago we were called up by CMF (Christian Missionary Fellowship) and asked if we would like to go on a vision trip with them to Ethiopia this October for 13 days. At first I was like "oh wow yes I would be interested and I could take Maggie along with me" then the doubt starting setting in...

• wow I will be gone for almost 2 weeks! there is no way I can be away that long...
• there is no way I could wean Emery that soon (I always nurse my babies until they are two)-I would be terrible if I did that!
• leaving Adam that long with the kids would be really interesting, what would the house look like?, how would he handle trying to work, etc..
• I am just not ready to do this...
• I can't raise almost $4000 for Maggie and I to go on this trip...there is no way!
• What if Maggie or I get sick when we are there?
• What if it's just too much for me to handle without Adam?
  
• the list could go on and on...

But I am reminded...I can do all things through Christ who give me strength...Really, me, I can! I still have moments throughout everyday where I am thinking there is no way I can do this. But I pray or just think about it and really I can do this. This will be great! There have been a few things that seem to say "hey you are supposed to go on the trip" -like maggie being on fall break during that time. We homeschool but use a public virtual school so we have to stay with their schedule and I was worried about trying to squeeze in two weeks worth of school work before we leave...but today I found out we will be good to go! There have been other little things that pop up or I think of from time to time that give me a peace about going.

When we first heard of the trip CMF really wanted both Adam and I to go. Well, with the little kiddos and with him not having much vacation time left this year there was no way he could go. I really wanted to go back before moving there and I really wanted Maggie to experience it before we moved there. We felt like this was a great opportunity for us to go. We will be hearing and experiencing first hand what the missionaries living in Addis working with the Urban Poor team are doing. It will be great getting to experience Addis in a whole new way. Visiting as an adoptive parent just isn't the same as going on a mission trip there. My experience traveling there before was even more different because I was 10 weeks pregnant with Emery! I am excited to love on the people and stand in the place where our hearts are. We will spend the majority of our days there with the Urban Poor team, but also will be making a trip to Shashamane to visit our sponsored son, Misganow, who we sponsor through project 61. We are going to spend some time in an orphanage or two, spend some time in Korah (Kore), meet some missionary friends who work with other organizations (like No Ordinary Love Ministries), and I know that other things will pop up and I am anxious to see what God has in store for this!

I am collecting cloth diapers to take with me (if you know of a particular orphanage in need of them let me know). If there's any out there who would like to donate diapers let me know. I want to take as much as possible. I have been so blessed with my cloth diaper project and have already sent over 1000 lbs of cloth diapers to Ethiopia. I think that is pretty amazing!!! What started as a "little" project has become so HUGE! and it will continue as we move to Addis. We are going to be the contact in Ethiopia and a few other mommy's are taking on collecting donations here in the states!!! I am so super excited for this and it is totally a God thing...More on that at a later time...

Besides cloth diaper we are taking donations for things to take to this orphanage ...

• childrens clothing for ages 4-14
• childrens shoes for ages 4-14
• formula

I can't believe how soon we will be in Ethiopia visiting! We have about 9 weeks to raise these funds to go. We are counting on our t-shirts, bumper stickers, Ethiopian goods, flower clips, and donations to fully fund this trip. I know that God can make this happen! so this is where YOU come in...you can visit our store here... http://ourtriptoethiopia.storenvy.com/ and check out our awesome things we are selling (all proceeds go to fund our trip)! There is also a button over on the right of this page that you can click on. There is also a paypal donate button or you can donate through our store if you feel led.

On a slightly different note we will be attending our 3 day Assessment Center this weekend and a 1 day support raising orientation with our sending agency CMF (Christian Missionary Fellowship). We are super excited to "officially" get things up and running to becoming full time missionaries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Please pray for us this weekend as we want clear minds so we can focus fully on the time there. We can't wait to figure out all of the details as far as support raising and our projected time that we will move. We will keep everyone posted as we know more.

We did not fall off the face of the Earth

Not sure who actually follows this blog anymore considering it hasn't been updated in over 2 months! But, thank you to anyone who is actually reading this.

The last few months have been full of fun stuff. We finished up school with Maggie near the end of June, Maggie had her 7th birthday, Emery had his first birthday, and we have been getting our house ready to put on the market. We have been getting rid of a ton of stuff. It feels really freeing clearing out all of our unnecessary "stuff". Our girls have been great about getting rid of toys. They know that it just gets them closer to moving to Ethiopia. They are so excited to move there. We have been setting things at the curb for free, giving things to thrift stores, and selling things online. and now our house is now officially for sale!

We have also been in a lot of prayer about our upcoming Assessement Center with CMF (Christian Missionary Fellowship). It will take place August 12th - August 15th. Here is a discription of the Assessment Center...

"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."

We also stay for a day of support raising orientation.

CMF is located just north of us in Indianapolis. When we first were looking into sending agencies I was looking into CMF and loved what they were doing and had no clue that they were located in Indianapolis. Then I found out that they were! It will be great with them so close. Totally a God thing!

We have, with Gods help, found people to take care of the kids all day for those 4 days. It's not easy trying to find sitters for us and it was something I was afraid of, but it's all working out. I will be coming home each evening to be with the kiddos and go back every morning (Adam will be staying at a hotel near CMF). I still nurse Emery so he nurses before naps. These next few weeks we will be teaching him to fall asleep without nursing for naptimes, so that I can be at peace during the day that Emery is ok. This is huge for me, so if there is anyone out there who could pray about this for me and Emery that would be awesome! Also, praying for peace for all of the kids and ourselves during those 4 days.

We are so excited to get started with this journey and would love all the prayers we can get. If you can commit to praying for our family please leave a comment and let us know that you are praying. I will post prayer requests occassionally and post about what's going on with us and the things we are doing.

After the Assessment Center we will either be a recruit or a candidate. If we are a recruit we will be invited back for LAUNCH.
-"During this intense and full 3 days of training in Indianapolis, the staff will provide further orientation to CMF, equip you with skills for raising support, and help you develop your support-raising strategy. You will have individual meetings with Leadership Team members regarding your budget, support-raising plan, specific field ministry, communication tools, and additional services available to you. Soon after LAUNCH, you will receive your personal promotional materials (display, printed materials, etc.). Throughout your support raising, your coach will continue to assist you with your specific questions and challenges."

Our prayers are that we get recruit status. If we are candidates we will receive guidance in further preparation for field service, such as training, practical experience, and personal growth. We will need to complete these steps before becoming a Recruit and beginning your support-raising.

Prayer requests:

• weaning Emery from nursing before naptime - easy transition for us both
• for our whole family and the sitters during our Assessment Center in August
• Our house - bring the perfect buyer for our house
• also, I have an opportunity to go to Ethiopia in October for 2 weeks with CMF! It is a vision trip that they invited us to take part in. I am totally up for it, but want to take Maggie (our 7 year old) with me. She is excited to experience going before we move there. I have emailed them asking if its ok. If it is (which i am sure it will be) then we will be going! So prayer for raising funds to go and also weaning Emery beforehand. (we are so excited that we will get to go so soon!) - and preparing Adam to take care of the 3 littlest while Maggie and I are gone.
• Prayers during the Assessment Center. that we can focus and be at peace. Our desire is to become recruits so we can get to Ethiopia sooner. We know it's all Gods plans, but we pray that this is what happens.

Thanks for all of the prayers! and thanks for following our blog. I promise we will update more often!

Ethiopia Mission Trip :: A Look Back

Ok, I know this has been such a long time coming and I promise I have valid reasons for the delay... 4 little ones to be exact... but I finally found the time to put together a video recalling the mission trip experience from this past February. Here it is...



It was an incredible journey that we set out on as a team; we came together from all sides of the states to form this close-knit, nearly indescribable bond... the best word I can think to describe our experience at the end of the trip was family.

Dealing with the emotions, experiences has been difficult. Christie and I have talked about it, but it is so hard to grasp unless you are there living the moment. A few highlights from our trip include...

• • • • • • • • • •

DIAPERS!!! :: Delivering 4 tubs of diapers to 3 different orphanages: A government orphanage in Addis [not allowed to give actual name], a private orphanage in Holeta [Debre Berhan] and a Catholic Orphanage in Addis [Kidane Mihret]; and giving away to a few different individuals too (including a few moms in Korah and one of our drivers who had a 2-month old baby girl!

• • • • • • • • • •

GIR-MON!!! :: (I'm not sure if that is how it's spelled, but that's how it sounds) is a 6'3"(ish) blind boy (well, he's 20... but I'm 30 so I can call him a boy). He came up to me while I was standing in the road in between the shelter and the church.... he asked if I had anything to help protect his eyes. [Cue Despicable Me voice..."Lightbulb"] "Marcy has sunglasses!" I thought. So I took him inside where the church is and the two of us sat down on the bench and chatted. He was/is amazing. I know I've said a lot of things on our trip were amazing, but this moment was "it" for me. I found out Marcy had left to help Mercy get new clothes so we were left w/o sunglasses for the time being. Then McKenzie came up and gave him her sunglasses... and they fit him perfectly... and I must say he looked pretty stylin' in them. He sung for me, hugged me, kissed me, told me he loved me, called me his best friend... affection for other men doesn't come the easiest for me, but I can honestly say I fell in love with this boy.

• • • • • • • • • •

SOCCER IN AMBO! :: When we met up with the kids in Ambo we played this huge soccer match. Kids vs. Adults. I have a little footage in my video... but it was a blast. It got pretty intense out there... I was dying for water and so were the kids. I had 2 huge bottles in my bag that were all but gone by the end... I scored a few goals (thanks to awesome assists from Spencer) but the most memorable moment came when a boy came up to steal the ball when I was kicking a goal and I kicked him in the shin. He fell down and got up with a limp... I carried him off the field but he ran right back out there... what a trooper... what a game. (Note: by the end of the day his limp was gone... I felt sooooooooo bad.) Another memorable moment came when I let Helen record with my videocamera and she held it backwards and recorded herself, upside down, for a good 45 seconds... my kids think it is the funniest thing. classic. :)

• • • • • • • • • •

ICE CREAM W/ THE BOYS! :: Every evening we'd get back to the Ethiopian Guest House and a group of boys from the neighborhood would show up looking to play some soccer and to see if we had any candy or anything. Well, about half way through the trip we thought it would be fun to treat them to ice cream... so we walked down to the market and each boy picked one out. Interestingly the two flavors available were: Coffee and Milk.

• • • • • • • • • •

COW STOMACH! :: One of the last evenings we were there the whole group went out for a traditional dinner. I sat next to one of our drivers... Bebe. (Who might I add is amazing!) Once dinner was served him and I dug in... we were the only two (at our table) that had embraced traditional cuisine while we were there. I pointed to this odd looking meat on the platter and asked him what it was. He said "Try it." I said "You go first." So, he ate it. Then, as a man of my word... I took a large hunk of injera, picked up the funky meat and plopped it in my mouth. Just about gagged myself, but I managed to chew it and keep it down. It had the consistency of rubber and the taste of worst gristle you've ever eaten. I asked him what it was, his answer... "Cow stomach." EWW!

• • • • • • • • • •

NATURE PARK! :: Returning to Addis from Ambo we stopped by a nature park where we say some amazing sites. Including a monkey drinking an orange soda. How about that. It was super cute. I took a 6-foot leap across the top of a waterfall and climbed to the top of another waterfall (with about 5 others). At the top we took a trail back about 1/2 mile to a super small village where we helped a lady break sticks that she would later use as kiln and met up with a bunch of kids. Upon returning we saw a lady washing her clothes at the top of the waterfall.

• • • • • • • • • •

SHOES! :: Shoes were another big part of our trip. We took part in a TOMS shoe distribution at a school in Dahley. We were able to bless these children (and a few members of the community) with shoes by removing their current shoes and placing new ones on their feet. The condition of the shoes was saddening... every foot was dirty, but several were cracked and bleeding and many were suffering from different types infections. I washed and sanitized my hands several times that day. :) Another part where shoes played a big impact were the 3 pairs I gave away to kids that lived on the street and needed them. One of the boys I gave a pair to (Ti) had asked my wife for her pair of shoes when we traveled to pick up Zek! He was still there and still needed shoes. I gave him the pair off my feet. I arrived with 4 pairs of shoes... I came home with a pair of flip flops.

• • • • • • • • • •

There are so many more things that I could talk about, those are just the ones that come to my head right now. As more come up I hope to share them with you.

This was an amazing experience and if you are considering a mission trip, I highly recommend it. Loving on the people I came into contact with was so soul-filling. I left nearly on empty, I came home overflowing. Joy is contagious and the people you meet are so joy-filled that you will never want to leave. In fact, based on the conversations I've had since returning home, most of our group feels that way.

God Bless!

Urgent Help Needed In Orphanage In Ethiopia

This young women named, Ashli moved to Ethiopia last November...

This is from a post on the Ordinary Hero Blog...

"as of recently she has been led to an orphanage that is entrusting her with the care of the children. To protect the kids in the orphanage we will call it Restoration Orphanage, because I think God will restore their lives from the mirey pit and use this place as a place of Restoration in the future for other children. God has handed this place to her for her to step in and help when there are certainly children on death's door. She has gone in and described the needs of these children to me, especially the babies, and it is devastating and heartbreaking! They need care and they need care fast. A few babies have not made it and I believe that is why God has now led Ashli to this place through a connection that I have and is now going to use her to bring these children back to life. It is going to take a lot of work, money, formula, supplies, etc but I know it can be done. AND it can be done by this one young girl.....WITH ALL OUR HELP. Here is an excerpt from her as of yesterday......"

BABY X

by Ashli York on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 4:15pm

"As I held an orphaned little girl tonight who is 10lbs underweight, I began to sing Jesus Loves Me. She stared in my eyes as I sang and I started thinking about her life. Her last name is X because she has no father, she is malnourished, found in the street, and has a horrible bacterial infection that if went untreated would kill her. As the song was ending her eyes slowly closed as she drifted off to sleep. A peace that passes all understanding was shown through the sweetest smile as she slept. I whispered, "Lord, you are her Father. She does have a name, and you know her by name. You know her life and her destiny. Protect her heart and give her peace." There are 15 other babies with a similar story in this orphanage, and 10 more on the way, and only 3 nannies to care for them. I pray that all who read this would prayerfully consider helping this orphanage financially care for these helpless lives. The nannies LOVE these babies but the funding just isn't there for proper care. You can turn tears of hunger into peaceful nights of sleep, and the longing for someone to just hold you into security and happiness. Will you help an orphan fall asleep in peace tonight? Please contact me if you are interested in helping!"

go here to donate through ordinary hero - click here - make sure you type in "for orphanage aid" in the message box

to read more about ashli and the orphanage and its needs - click here

Please pass this on...Put a link to the Ordinary Hero blog where you can donate on your facebook or blog!!!

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!