Legally Ours!!!

(I wrote this post yesterday but couldn't post until today due to internet connections in Africa...we are sooo blessed in the USA :)

Psalm 113
Praise the LORD.  Praise, O servants of the LORD.  Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and foevermore.  From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.  The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.  Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?  He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.  He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. 

We did it!!!  Our court day was today, and we officially passed!  I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to hear the words from the judge that he belonged to us now.  He is officially our son!  Court was a very simple and not complicated process which is nice since loads of paperwork were put into it beforehand.  We continue to visit him in the orphanage every day.  IF we get our court decree (piece of paper saying we passed court) while we are here, we will be able to take him out of the orphanage and back to our guest house for the day!  This would be completely awesome, but we are sincerely trying to give this outcome up to the Lord as He has complete control.  If we get it…yes!  If we don’t, then we will continue to visit at the orphanage, and take that as the Lord telling us that we need to love on and continue to minister precious children at his orphanage.  So many amazing opportunities to love on and minister in ways we never have.  We have a mission team staying at our guest house, and they donated supplies that we were able to take today.  Cole went out and blew bubbles….a HUGE hit with them all!  We will be bringing some on the next trip for sure :).  They also loved the soccer balls :). 

Since we have passed court, I am able to post pictures and reveal his name!!!  So……his name is Micai Addisu Espenschied.  Addisu (pronounced a-dee-sue) was his given name by the police officer that responded to whoever found him.  It means, “the new one.”  Micai (pronounced mick-kie) is short for Micaiah, a prophet from the Old Testament.  I read the name long before we knew we were adopting and thought it was such a cool and ethnic name.  I had no idea what the Lord had in store :).  It stuck with me, and the Lord reminded me of it again, before we found out we were getting a baby boy :).  We will be calling him both Micai and Cai for short.  Cai means, “rejoice.”  Total meaning being, “rejoice in the new one.”  Just felt like this meaning was meant just for him J. 

So, let me officially introduce you to our sweet Micai…..

The last pic is of us after court!  So exciting!  We are just so in love with our sweet Cai guy :)  Hoping to continue to post more pics soon!  Love to you all and thanks for the prayers...we feel them! 

Love At First Sight

Psalm 126:3 - The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 

After a 13 1/2 hour flight, we finally made it!!!  A driver from our agency, Abraham (who we loved!), picked us up from the airport. We then went to our guest house (which is awesome & more on that later). And then, it was finally time for us to meet our baby boy...a day I had prayed & dreamed of for so long :) 

After about a 1/2 hr of crazy bumpy driving and an eye opening experience of a city in a 3rd world country, we pulled up to the orphanage.  We walked in, and I don't think anything could've prepared us for what we saw. Neither of us had ever been to an orphanage.  On top of that, we hadn't slept for about 24 hrs. which probably wasn't a good combo :) as emotions were running higher than the norm. It was very heavy & overwhelming.  Almost indescribable, but I will try.

 So many kids...dressed in any kind of clothing...a boy in a skirt, some kids with no shoes, a boy with food & flies on his face, clothes air drying on the ground, a sever special needs room with prob 20 kids in what seemed like survival mode. Just absolutely heart breaking, & I had to do everything I could not to just stop & weep.  I will say that these sisters (it's a catholic orphanage) are loving on these kids & doing the best they can with what they have...they just don't have much.

We waited in an office-like room with a social worker from our agency, for one of the head sisters, Sister Clementine, to go & get our son.  It was a wait that seemed to take forever :) We had asked our social worker, Elfanesh, to take pictures of us meeting him & I cannot wait to post them as they turned out just precious :) I had no idea what this moment would be like, but it was finally here!  Kind of surreal. Sister Clementine opened the door & brought him over to us. She placed him in my arms & I held him out so that he was looking up at both of us. We both said a very excited,"Hiiiii!!!" With the biggest smiles our faces could possibly make :).  Our sweet baby boy looked right back at us with lots & lots of smiles. It was love at first sight & like a fairy tale...really. I had mentally prepared that it might not be as I know it is not everyone's experience. I just felt like Hod went extra out of His way on this one to make this moment so special. Our world stopped as God lovingly gave us this moment...eyes & smiles met...& all of our lives changed forever.  All of the prayers, waiting, paperwork, tears, & preparation...so very worth it.  The Lord had done such great things for us...that we don't deserve, & we are overflowing with joy that He picked us to be a mommy & daddy to this sweet boy...a boy that he miraculously saved to be a warrior for Jesus in this world. 

We then visited with him that morning & then came back that afternoon. We toured the orphanage, looked at pics of his new family, played, sang Jesus Loves Me, took a thousand pics :), & showed him the book our family had recorded.  I have been praying peace & joy over him. He is exactly that. So very content & happy.  Sister Clementine told us he never cries unless he is hungry or tired.  He never cried once while he was with us...so amazing!  

I am reminded of what beauty God has brought from the ashes of going through miscarriage & infertility for a season.  It's a miraculous beauty that only God can bring. If you are going through this kind of season, please know we serve the God of miracles...the one who parted the Red Sea & died on the cross for our sins & then rose from the dead to save us. He is a healer & is near to the broken-hearted...even if you don't feel Him...please know that He is. He is ALWAYS good & works for the good in ALL things for those that were called according to His purpose. I would encourage you to cling to what you KNOW (Biblical truths) & NOT what you feel. 

From complete brokenness, He brought about revival in us as He drew us closer and conformed us to His image.   From complete brokenness, He blessed me with our Kasen Michael. From complete brokenness, He called us into adoption & now He has ordained a beautiful baby boy in another continent to be our son. No one can write stories as beautiful as our Jesus!  What an exciting privilege to serve a God that blows us away with his love for us. Thank you, Jesus!  

A place to stay & almost there!

Matthew 6:25-34 (condensed :) ~ Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...or tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

We are currently on the plane while I am writing this...exciting!  I haven't written yet on how the Lord miraculously provided a place for us to stay while in Ethiopia.  As I think I mentioned in the previous post, we got word of our court date 11days before it was happening.  We had already planned a family vacation with my parents & had a 6 yr old super excited for that. We decided to go but cut it short, and looking back, I am thankful we did as we got some quality time with the fam before we left. This left us with needing to find a place to stay in Ethiopia while among doing many other things to prepare while on vacation :) The search for finding a guest house (what they commonly call places to stay in Ethiopia) was heavy. We didn't have a lot of time, but in searching for guest houses we had our hearts set on a few as their mission was to give back to orphans, women, & children. We wholeheartedly wanted to support this...amazing what these people are doing!  However, the doors kept shutting as they had no availability.  I remember saying to Cole, "if God is shutting the doors on this, then He has to have something great."  Earlier when Cole & I discussed coming over to Ethiopia, we envisioned serving while over here...looking around to see where we could come alongside what God was already doing & help.  We even dreamed of maybe finding something where we could even come back on a regular basis to serve, and how cool that could be for our family to come back together to do someday. Whether it was an international FCA deal or something else...it didn't matter, but we were stirred by the vision :).  

Well, God is so much bigger than we will ever know while here on earth!  A consistent prayer of mine is that He would get bigger & bigger to us :) Through a variety of ordained circumstances, I ended up asking a friend who had adopted from Ethiopia in the past for a recommendation on places to stay. She then asked others & got back to me & The Lord began to reveal what He had :) 

There is a ministry called Ordinary Hero. If you haven't heard about it, you need to check it out at ordinaryhero.org.  About 2 yrs ago, I learned of this ministry as a church in Morton was kicking off their orphan ministry and the main speaker for the kick off was the founder of this organization, Kelly Putty. The Lord used her to open my eyes & challenge me. We were in the beginning stages of the adoption process & I remember thinking that all I could really do was pray for this child that God had, which is powerful, but I wanted to do more, and I couldn't...fervently pray & wait is what we could do. However, Kelly mentioned that night that this was the position that she was in when waiting for her child. But God opened her eyes to the need for ministry to the orphans, widows, & needy in her own neighborhood. I was convicted. We had been living in the inner-city as God had called us to, but we weren't digging into ministry like we knew we should be. I knew God was calling us to change, & so we did.  That summer we began a 5-day club in our back yard. This summer will be our 3rd one. Other fruit resulted from this as we now do an outreach at Christmas & are borrowing the Youth for Christ van to take kids to church every Sunday and taking advantage of discipleship opportunities that God is showing us. All God...not us. He opened the flood gates, & it has been a privilege to be a part of it!  

Well...this friend got back to me on places to stay & mentioned that another friend had said that Ordinary Hero was opening a new guest house, & we should check it out. I was sooo excited but cautious!  I mean this would be a dream!!!  I emailed Kelly to inquire about staying there or if it wasn't done yet to just serve as well. Well, we are doing both!!!  Go God!!!  The life center/guest house is not officially done yet but everything for us to stay there is provided!  However, they happen to need our help serving by shopping for decorations to put up inside...seriously!!!  They will provide a driver & money & we do the shopping!  How cool is that???  And  I just happen to love to shop & decorate!  There may also be opportunities for us to serve in helping with some outreaches that their team will be doing too!  Yessss!  Thank you for doing more than we could ever ask or imagine, Jesus!  I cannot wait to see all that He has for us unfold once we get there!  

God used this to remind us of a lesson we have learned before. However, we clearly needed a refresher. Honestly, we wasted some time worrying about a place to stay. God had it...the whole time. Pretty sure we failed the test, but lesson learned, & we are thankful!  It's easy to say something & read scripture about it & quite another to actually wholeheartedly believe it & OBEY!  Thank you, Jesus, for your constant patience with us & for using trying times to lovingly conform us into your image. How amazing that you would do that!  

On a side note, I have an exciting post coming up as my awesome hubby went above & beyond to make our 10 yr anniversary (today...June 7th) extra special (as if it already wasn't:) Love him!!!

We're off!

Isaiah 26:3 - You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

We are officially on our way to Chicago!  The suitcases are packed!  This is epic & nothing short of a miracle...seriously!  We will be flying out of O'Hare tomorrow morning (our 10 yr anniversary!) at 6am to Washington DC. Then we'll go from DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia...a 13 1/2hrs. straight flight...for real :) We are scheduled to arrive in Addis on June 8th @ 7:30am their time, which is 8 hrs ahead of our time. So it will be 11:30pm the day before (June 7th) in the US. Quite the time difference :) & this is the day we will meet our son!!!  This is beautifully mind-blowing to me :) 

I have to say that I have never experienced so many different kinds of emotions all at the same time before. I keep telling Cole (poor Cole :) not to be concerned if I randomly start crying...it's not necessarily b/c something is wrong it's just that there are so many emotions & that's just what happens :) Crazy!  The timing on all of this has been wild but God continues to remind me that His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30) & that he keeps those in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3).  I am so thankful that He continues to put me in these situations that challenge me to do so. I am learning so much about the fact that we can have the gift of peace in the midst of chaos. It's about abiding...about stopping in the midst of it all to acknowledge that He is peace & I am not. That He is in control & I have none. It's about complete surrender &  asking for help & for the Holy Spirit to control my mind. Powerful!  

Last night I had the privilege of filling & packing suitcases with donations (thank you so much if you donated :)

for our baby boy's orphanage. Such a precious experience as The Lord gave me time & an opportunity to pray for the fatherless that will wear & use what's inside :) 

We also recorded a book (stole that idea from someone smarter than me:) for the women taking care of our boy to read to him after we leave. It was a family affair & we even found a way to involve the Kase man! Too fun!

The story was just precious for the occasion :) We also made a family photo album for him...well, I made one & Kenzi made her own :) Her's was promptly made after we got his referral :) too cute!  

Cole's parents & my parents are splitting up the time with taking the kids. We are SO BLESSED by them!  As I was mentally preparing myself for leaving them, I kept hearing God say, "Do you trust me...do you?  Who do you really view as the ultimate provider & protector for your kids?  Because it's me...not grandmas & papas when you are away & not you when you are here...it's always me :)."  It's been an amazing reminder for me!  It has really come down to do I trust Jesus, b/c if I do perfect peace awaits...not anxiety. God is so good!

Well, in just a bit, my handsome hubby & I are going on a hot date & getting some Chicago pizza.  We never miss this opportunity if ever in the Chicago area & I suggest you don't either if you end up in the area too :) 

I hope to be updating daily on here while we are gone.  So many of you have been praying, encouraging, & supporting us...thank you!  We would not be where we are without God working through so many to get us here!!!  This journey is such a testimony to the body of Christ!

Court date!!!!

Psalm 18:30-32 - As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  For who is God besides the LORD?  And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.  

In the parking lot of TJ Maxx, I received information that would change our lives...a court date!!!  We have been praying & waiting soooo long for this.  It was one of those moments when our world stopped...I gave the kids some snacks in the back seat, called my hubby, & remained in AWE of our GREAT God...all in the driver's seat of our minivan :) I cannot possibly express the emotions surrounding this!   

Now we've been told that you usually have a month's notice before your court date. Sometimes 2 weeks. Well, how about 11 days!!!  We have a June 10th court date!!!  Not even kidding!  We have been praying for God's perfect timing...this is it :)  In the midst of the chaos of life & ministry, He says go & that he'll cover it all.  We are cutting short a vacation with my parents & are getting on a plane at 6am on June 7th...the date of our 10 year wedding anniversary!!! Seriously, Jesus,...how cool are you?!?!?  I mean it's already amazing & special, but we serve a God who loves details. He knew how precious this would be to me & it doesn't get more special than that (still smiling).  I love it when something happens, & you know God ordained it special just for you :) Such a privilege to serve a God that continues to blow me away with a love I don't deserve!  

So here's what we know...

1.  We will meet our son on June 8th...overwhelmingly amazing on so many levels & that's an understatement :)

2.  We are leaving June 7th & will return on June 16th (father's day...again with the timing...how cool?!?!?)

3.  Our court date is June 10th

Typically, after your court date you return in about 2 months, so we will most likely have him home in August-September!

4.  God is always good & always in control no matter what...NO MATTER WHAT :)

So for now, our flight is booked, but we are still nailing down a place to stay. Jesus keeps reminding me of His perfection.  He is perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3)...His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30) Thankful for a perfect God :). May we relentlessly pursue Him as we relentlessly pursue our son!  

Why?

This video embodies so much of why we are doing what we are doing.  PLEASE take some time out of your day to watch.

The Fatherless...The Gospel...Burdened...Moved

I pray it ROCKS you the way it did us...  

   

This is the most powerful video I have ever seen on adoption.  It completely ROCKED us.  I have felt a burden to somehow communicate to others that this is REAL...we far too often go about our lives as if it is not, because we don't actually "see" the suffering.  The first time I saw this was not too long after we stepped out in obedience to do what the Lord was calling us to do...adopt.  The crazy thing is that the Lord led Cole and I to think about adoption in a very similar way that Eric Ludy (guy you hear on the video) describes the Lord led him to consider it...as a child of his own...his Hudson...our Kenzi Jean.  I really don't have many words for this post, and if you watched this video, you will know why.  There is no question that the fatherless are a big deal to God...huge.  So, I can't help but ask you whether or not you have considered your role in defending them (Psalm 82:3)...have you?  Is it to give?  Serve?  Adopt?  Is it all three?  So many of you have, and without you, we would not be bringing home our baby boy.  Thank you.   

THE Call!

Psalm 126:3 - The Lord has done GREAT things for us, and we are FILLED with JOY.

It happened.  Oh yes, it did!  February 7th...a day where our lives changed forever.  Incase you, missed the big announcement from our excited kiddos on Facebook, or haven't heard yet from others, we are the privileged parents of a BABY BOY from Ethiopia!  Yes, it's a boy, and yes, he's a baby!  The baby part was both a shocking & pleasant surprise :)  As many of you know, our age range was 0-4yrs.  We had always just assumed that we would get an older child.  Oh, the plans that we "think" we have :)  I wasn't even close.  Many of you know the information I have shared thus far, but I wanted to write to really fill you in on all of the details, since many are asking, so here goes, and yes, this will probably be a long one, so you might want to grab some coffee :)....

As God would have it, Cole and I were actually working in the office that day.  We were super busy that morning hammering out details of an upcoming ministry event.  At about 2:00pm I got a phone call from an unknown number, and I wasn't going to take it, since I was at work, but I noticed the location of the phone call was out of Washington state.  Our adoption agency is located there, and I thought, maybe I should take this just incase :).  Cole was on the phone with someone else in the office, so I answered and walked out of the room.  It was indeed our agency, and she immediately said, "Kristi, I have a referral for a baby boy that I want you to look at."  Excited shock.  Words that can kind of describe how I felt at this moment.  It was like an out of body experience.  Really.  So, of course I said, "Ok!"  Then it began to sink in a bit, and I said, "He's a baby?"  Yes, he's 5 months old, and my agency sounded just as surprised at me that they had received information on a baby this young.  It just doesn't happen that often.  Amazing!  I had really just completely discounted the fact that we would ever get a baby, but of course this would be AWESOME if we did!  She went on to tell me some details on some cosmetic issues regarding him, which I will get to in a minute.  I just remember that I kept saying after each issue she shared..."Oh, we don't care about that, and Oh, that doesn't matter to us :)"  He was OURS!  You see, I had been praying that the very 1st child we got referred to us would be the child that God had.  He was our ORDAINED child...I already knew. Then she said, "He was abandoned and found at 4 days old."  Then the tears started to stream down my face...abandoned.  Our baby was abandoned.  My heart ached...just ached.  I asked some questions regarding this, and all she could really tell me was that some people in the community found him near a forest (most likely trees and bushes) close to a hospital and notified the police.  The policeman named him, and I am sad to say that I was told not to share that on the internet yet.  But if you see me, I will gladly tell you because it will be his middle name :)  We will be giving him a first name that we have chosen, but I need to double check if I can share this on here.  I will tell you that too if you see me :)  You will unfortunately, not see any of his pictures until we bring him home for legal reasons as well. Again, if you see me, he is the face on my phone, and I will gladly share :).  She then informed me that she would be sending me pictures and all other info that she had on him.  She kept saying, "He is just so cute!"  I couldn't wait to see. 

I hung up the phone, and again, an out of body experience.  I took a few steps into the office, and looked at Cole and said, "It's a boy."  He was looking at his computer and in work mode, so he said, "What?"  He then looked at me, our eyes met...he knew by my face, and he said, "Was that them?!?!?!?!"  I nodded, because as soon as our eyes met, I lost it, and I mean lost it.  To the point that I could not speak.  He was elated and hugged me, and in my head I was screaming, "He's a baby!  He's a baby!  He was abandoned!"  I gained some composure, and told him the details.  He was sooooo excited, and that is the understatment of the year :)  We immediately were all eyes on my email.  And then it came...his beautiful picture.  To be honest, it was awkward to see our son for the first time on a computer screen.  I almost feel bad saying that, but I want to be honest.  I mean, we couldn't hear him, touch him, or smell him.  It was a picture and so different from having your babies biologically.  You know, you hear them cry right away, and you hold them, etc... So different, but so amazing, because by that night I was soooo bonded to that beautiful boy's picture :)  So awesome how God does things!  Just awesome.  So, we called it a day, and got some cookies from a local bakery with "It's a boy!" written on them in blue and brought them home to tell my mom and the kids.  Like a dream!  It really really was.  Our world completely stopped and God just poured on the joy.  Simply overwhelming and amazing.  Our hearts were FULL, and as you can imagine, they still are :) 

I thought I would clear up some frequently asked questions :)  Well, mainly one...so, now what?  Currently, we are waiting for a court date.  That is projected to be in the next 2-4 months.  When we have a date, we will travel over to Ethiopia for our 1st trip.  We will meet him and visit him daily in the orphanage...so amazing!  We will appear in court and get approved to adopt him.  We will stay about a week and then have to fly home.  Yes, we will have to leave...without him, and I just can't wrap my head around that right now, but I don't have to yet :)  Bottom line, it's a hoop we have to jump through to get to him in this process....it is what it is, and God's got this...He does.  When we get home, we will await a date with the US Embassy in Ethiopia.  That is also projected to be around 2-4 months as well.  When we get that, we will travel back over for our 2nd trip and go and get our baby boy and bring him HOME...miraculous!  All in all, we should have him home within the next 6-8 months.  Yay!!! 

Prayer has been so powerful throughout this entire process, and we have been privileged to see firsthand just how powerful it is!  Because of this we wanted to make you aware of some things that you could be praying for if you feel compelled to do so.  Here are a few…

• For him to get an adequate amount of formula/food each day so that he would continue to grow.  We know that at 4 months, he weighed about 8 pounds, and no, that is not a typo...8 pounds.   
• Healing for his thumb.  We do not know the details, but he has ½ of a thumb on his left hand.  In the last picture we saw, it was looking much better.  However, we do not know how much movement he has in it.
• For us to continue to cling to God and the fact that He is in control of this entire deal and the timing of it.  That we would COMPLETELY trust God. 
• For the process of him coming home to happen as soon as possible but ultimately for God’s will to be done. 
• For his mom or family member that abandoned him.  My heart almost immediately ached for her/them and continues to.  That they would not walk in guilt for the rest of their lives.  I cannot imagine the desperation of a situation a mother or family member would be in to abandon a baby.  That they would somehow get word that God covered this and has provided him with a Christian family, and that the Gospel would be proclaimed through this.  For her/his/their salvation!
• For God and NOT us to be glorified throughout this entire process.
• For the transition as we make this addition to our family and for the kids as we will be going to Ethiopia twice and staying about a week each time. 
• For this baby boy to be a WARRIOR for Jesus!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  I cannot even begin to express how FILLED with JOY that we are!  Again, a specific verse (above) the Lord gave me at the perfect time :)  It has been amazing to rejoice with so many of you regarding this news, so thank you for journeying with us!

Thank you for your constant support, and may Jesus be lifted HIGH!!! 

P.S.  More to come soon :)  I have another blog already swimming in my head that I feel the Lord prompting me to write :)