5-Given's HOME together as a Family

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

We have had a wonderful time being home with our new daughter. She laughs all the time, began walking at 10 months and gets into everything. My other two children just adore her. We have learned that we cannot set any gifts out under the tree early or she will open them. Christmas morning is going to be so much FUN!

Here is a video of some new words we have been working on.

Merry Christmas!!
Tony

Update and Video

2011-10-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

We have been home together as a family of five for one month and two weeks. Desi is bonding very well with us. Her brother and sister are so proud and always want to play with her. Her checkup at the doctor went well, but she did have Giardia. We had to give her medication that she didn't like and we didn't like giving her. We will collect samples this week and send them to be tested to see if she is rid of the little parasite. fingers crossed!

She is eating and sleeping like a champ!

Here is the video of our journey!

We're Home!!!!

2011-08-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

We had to make a fast trip to ET, but it was well worth the trip. Desirae Genet is now home with us forever. Here are a few pictures to help you picture our jouney.

Last picture as a family of four.

Ethiopian airlines non-stop from Dulles.

Leaving HH with our new little Desirae!!

Cloud Nine!

First picture as a family of five.

All three kids together. Got to LOVE it!!!

Tony

MOWA & Embassy

2011-08-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

My head is swimming to say the least. I started my first golf season as the head coach. My boys are playing very well and I am excited for the rest of the season. On July 29 we got our MOWA letter submitted to our file and then they forwarded our file on to the embassy. Well, on Aug 11th we recieved an e-mail from the US embassy and we have been CLEARED to pick up our daughter. Our embassy date is Aug 16th... Can you say CRAZY??? We have been packing, buying, planning and packing some more.

Here we come Baby Girl!!! On Sunday you will be in our arms forever!

Our Family of 4 is now a Family of 5.

Can't wait for you all to meet our sweet little girl.

Tony

Boat Trip!!

2011-07-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, the afternoon outing was a trip to Lake Awassa to see Hippo’s. Carrie was so excited and couldn’t wait to snap some photos of the large river horses. We only had to drive about ten minutes south of Sheshamene to the lake town of Hawassa. When we arrived to the lake our leader talked to the tour boat company and booked a boat trip for us to see the Hippo’s up close.

The boats were very small and water seeped between the wooden boards that is was made from.
There was a small motor that pushed us through the water at about ten mph. It took us about thirty minutes to arrive at the place the Hippo’s where hanging out at. The boat driver was inching us closer to the animals than I felt comfortable being. See I could remember something from watching “Jack Hannah’s Into The Wild” Hippo’s kill more people in Africa than any other animal. They are very territorial, have a bad temper and can move very fast, even in water.

I was relieved when the driver started the engine and turned us back toward the dock. We arrived back at shore just as the sun disappeared behind the mountain tops.

The next morning we woke early and joined three of the ESL teachers on their road trip back to Addis.

Country side homes

2011-07-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures that we took while out in the country side.

Trip to Sheshemane!

2011-07-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

The last day we had to spend with our daughter was Wednesday the 13th. We made plans to head down to Sheshemane to visit the school that our church youth group raised money to have built. We decided it only made sense to visit the village while we were already in the country. It is a four hour drive and it is not safe to drive in the country at night (cows, goats, donkeys & people). So, this means that we had to leave our daughter at about one o’clock. That was really hard to do; we just wanted to take her with us.

We met our driver at the hotel and we were off for Southern Ethiopia. The schools are closed for the same months that schools are closed here in the US. The teachers of the schools were taking ESL classes, which are taught by teachers from the US.We met up with the ESL teachers at the hotel in Sheshemane and talked with man in charge of the school building ministry. He informed us that he would pick us up at 7:00am to head out to the village our school was being built in.

We got up early and dressed warm for the mountain air. The trip took two hours by landrover, one hour on paved road and one hour on gravel/dirt road to get to the town of Kokosa. From this point we had to walk about one and a half hours out into the hillsides until we arrived at the village the school was being built in. Wow, it looked awesome! The frame work, roof, windows and doors are all complete. They only need to mud the walls, finish the floor and build the desks. Many of the children that lived nearby had to come and see who was visiting their new school.

Table Tennis in Kokosa.

The next day we joined the ESL teachers and observed them in their classrooms. They were teaching in classrooms that had no electricity, no plumbing and cows were used to keep the grass cut low.After noon all the teachers and students went to meet in the large gathering room. Three teachers were flying home the next day so there was a ceremony and gifts of traditional clothes for them. Well they also did the samething for Carrie and I. We were very surprised since we were just visiting and not teaching.

There was a fun trip planned for that evening and wait till you hear what we did.

Tony

Visits, Exploring and Leaving our girl.

2011-07-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

In the next couple of days the time seemed to fly by. We spent time running around town with our cab driver Sissay.

We met a lot of really nice and helpful people in the city. We bought fresh produce from the venders that set up shop on the side of the road. The bananas were smaller than what we find in the US by they were every bit as good. The price was perfect as well, 8 birr per kilo.

We visited the lime tree restaurant, which serves American dishes. There was one evening that we had dinner at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with the other adopting families that were in ET to meet their children.

We went to our court appointment to hear that she is officially our daughter but we were still waiting on a letter from MOWA before our paperwork passes court and moves on to US embassy. After court we went to eat at an Italian restaurant followed up by shopping for some traditional clothing for our children.

When we learned of the dates we would be traveling to ET. Carrie contacted the ministry that our youth group and church has been working with to build schools in southern remote villages. The ministry had eight American English teachers working with the local school teachers by teaching ESL classes. They sent the travel company driver north to pick Carrie and me up from the Riviera on our last scheduled day. The last day to visit our daughter was so hard! We love every cute thing about her and just wanted to take her with us. I spoke with Almaz (director) and explained that we were headed to southern ET, but only after she had asked for our trip details and when we were flying out. She was excited for us to take the trip. She told us to be careful because we now have three children that are depending on us.

We had an amazing time in the southern region and I can’t wait to share all of the amazing details… soon.

Tony

Meeting miss "D"

2011-07-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

Come to find out our agencies transition home (called Hannah’s Hope) is only about three miles and two round-a-bouts from our hotel. Carrie and I were the only two people in the van as we pulled up in front of the gates that I have seen hundreds of times before in other family’s blogs and videos.

As we walk through the gates and then enter the infant building, we find her.

She is sleeping on the couch next to her special mother.

Carrie reaches down and gently scoops her up into her arms.

She has this cute little ways of sucking on her middle two fingers of her left hand, so plop in her mouth they go as she tries to figure out who has her in their arms.

My mother sent a pillow pet along with us to give to our daughter when we meet her. She loved it, cuddled with it and squealed with joy.

I got to feed her a bottle and then Carrie rocked her to sleep.

Before we knew it, the driver told us it was time to head back to the hotel. As we climbed into the van we learned that there are two other families there to meet their children for the first time as well. They were both great families and he had a wonderful time getting to know all four of them.

The hotel accommodations were pretty nice too.

This has got to be one of the best days Ever!

When we got back to the hotel we did everything we could to stay awake and try to switch ourselves over to ET time. We gave in about 8 O'clock and went to sleep.

The next day we went back to HH to visit our daughter and then we went out on the town with the Sanders family. Rather than type everything out about that day I think I will just copy a link for you to read it from their blog.
Enjoy!!

Growing our CRAZY family

Tony

Arriving in Ethiopia

2011-07-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

The flight from DC to Addis was a direct 13 hour flight. We left at noon on the 8th and got in to Addis at 8:30 am the next morning on the 9th. Carrie had the window seat and I sat in the middle seat next her and a sweet little lady from Kenya. The lady from Kenya did not understand how to operate the touch screen video player on the back of the seat in front of her, she also did not realize that her elbow on the armrest was turning the lights on and off as well as changing the volume and setting of the video screen in front of my seat for the entire flight. I read my book and watched about 5 different movies to pass the time. I just couldn’t sleep!

When the airplane was landing I was so excited to look out the window over Carrie’s shoulder at the mountains and the buildings of the city below. The airport was not very big. First thing we had to do was stand in line to apply for our visas, and then we went through customs. After those smalls hoops we were able to retrieve our bags followed by standing in line to run them through the security scanners. There were three different machines with three different lines. We chose the center line and just as we got to the machine they shut it down and walked away. No explanation! Well everyone in line behind us started moving to the scanning machine closest to the right. It didn’t matter that there was already a line formed everyone just started shoving their bags into the machine. So, of course we followed suit. The bags went in and came out the other side and I don’t even know if anyone looked at them.

As we walked through the door to the waiting area I found the person who was to transport us to our hotel (he was holding a sign with our name on it). He escorted us out of the airport into a clear 70 degree beautiful morning were we loaded into the van marked with our hotels name on it. The smell of the diesel motors was stronger than I have ever smelled before. All of the cars and semi trucks on the road seemed very old and left a black haze of exhaust behind them. I also learned quickly that there is no law against having livestock inside the city limits or laws on keeping them in particular areas. We were driving on a freeway and there were cows, goats, mules and horses walking or laying in/on the middle of the road. The driver would beep his horn and just drive around them like it was no big deal. If he wanted to pass a car he would beep the horn and the car in front would just move to the right and let him pass. Oh, and the people including young children running across the roadway. They would climb over the fence run to the center divider, climb over it and continue across the other lanes of traffic. I was so glad when we pulled off the road and into the small parking area in front of our hotel. We checked in and I asked if our agency had left a schedule for us to go visit our baby girl. They didn’t have anything for us. I was disappointed and thought what a long day it will be if we don’t get to see the sweet little face that we had traveled so far to meet. We placed our bags in our room and walked back to the front desk. I asked them to call the number for the driver that brings families back and forth from the hotel to Hannah’s Hope. I spoke to the driver on the phone and he said he would come get us in just a few minutes. I was soooooo thrilled. I ran up to the room and told Carrie that the driver was coming to get us in a few minutes.
We grabbed a few items that we brought to give to our little princess and headed down to the lobby. A large white van pulled up in front of the hotel and the driver with a huge smile on his face greeted us in perfect English. He asked “Are you ready?”. We both answered “Yes!” He helped us into the van and then pulled away from the hotel. As I sat on the edge of my seat I wondered how long the ride would be and how much further we would have to travel. The anticipation was killing me! (To be continued)

NC Beach

2011-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from the Family beach vacation before we flew to Ethiopia.

Happy 4th of July Chocolate Cake!!!

It was so great to visit with family and the kids loved playing in the sand and the ocean. We went shell hunting first thing on every morning. I think we have about 3 buckets of shells sitting in our garage now.
Tony

4th of July Vacation and Flight to ET!

2011-07-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago we made plans for a 4th of July beach vacation in North Carolina. We planned this trip with my wives parents and brothers family. My brother in-law is stationed in Hawaii as a pilot in the Coast Guard and we haven’t been together in about 3.5 yrs.

I was a little hesitant to commit to the vacation because we were in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. As the year slipped slowly by the adoption process stretched out longer and longer. By early May I felt that if we were to get a referral call soon, we would have to travel to ET during the planned vacation. Sure enough we got the call for a beautiful baby girl and we needed to be in ET by the 12th of July. After careful planning we were able to find a way to go on vacation and then fly for ET from Myrtle Beach airport.

Our children stayed with the family to finish the beach vacation. My wife and I flew out on the 7th from MB into Atlanta. Then from Atlanta to Washington DC where we spent the night at a hotel before flying out on Ethiopian Air at 12:00 noon the following day.

We were lucky to make it to DC. First we were about 15 minutes into out 1 hour long drive to the Myrtle Beach airport when Carrie asked me if I picked up her pink backpack. The one with our passports, paperwork and cash we needed for our trip. We turned back and grabbed the bag. I tried not to worry about the time we needed to get to the airport before the flight. Have you ever seen 4th of July holiday traffic in Myrtle Beach? The 1 hour long trip turned into 2 hours and 10 minutes. We had about 30 minutes to get checked in and get on our flight. I am glad the airport was small and thankful we were able to get to DC on time.

The next day we got up early and arrived at Dulles airport about 3.5 hours before our flight.
Even though the hotel was only 2 miles from the airport Carrie was not going to take any chances on being late again.

(To be continued)
Tony

Please Pray with us.

2011-06-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

We are asking you to join us in prayer. We are leaving for Ethiopia in just two weeks for our court appointment and to finally meet our daughter. We are praying that our MOWA letter is completed and in the files when we go to court. If the letter is not there, we will not pass court and the process will be strung out a bit longer. I just heard today that all of the families that went to court yesterday from our agency and other agencies did not pass because their letter was not there.

I am sooooo looking forward to holding our sweet little girl in my arms. I just want to love on her for hours on end. I don’t even want to think about leaving her at HH while we have to travel back to home and wait for an embassy date. I wish we were leaving for ET today!!!

Thank you for joining us in prayer.
Tony

Court!

2011-05-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

We got the call today from a case worker for our first court date in Ethiopia. July 12, this is the same day as my in-laws anniversary. We are so excited and can’t wait to meet our little girl in person. Resent travelers have told us that she is a very happy baby and smiles all the time.
We are starting to put our travel plans together. Ethiopia here we come.
Tony

Referral Paperwork

2011-05-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

Our paperwork arrived about 12 o'clock and my wife had everything filled out by about 2:30. We mailed a paper to our social worker to sign and then forward on to our agency. Later we traveled to our notary for a 7:30 meeting. Made copies of everything and mailed it all out to AGCI first thing in the morning.

On Friday just as we were heading to a wedding rehearsal that my wife was officiating, we got a call from our agency. They were calling to set up a phone meeting to discuss the next steps in the process. She also told us that she looked over our paper work and there was a minor mistake... we didn't sign one of the many many documents. She said not to worry and she would mail it back to us to sign and then return to them.

It is so fun to share the news of our new child with everyone!

Tony

Referral Call

2011-05-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

We finally got the call for the child we have been praying for.

I was with my daughter at dance class when our agency called on Carrie’s phone. Carrie called me to tell me to come home so we could open the e-mail together as a family. The call from her sounded like this with tears and joy “We bla da cawww, you need ta heray home”. Me “What are you saying… Oh we got the call? I’m on my way, Awesome news!!!”. When I got home both her and my son were filled with excitement, joy and tears (too cute). I took a quick photo just before we opened the e-mail.

She is so Beautiful, and we are so blessed to have her joining our family. She is only 5 months old.

On a side note;
I ran my very first 5K race since I destroyed my ankle about eight years ago. My son ran the last little distance with me. He was so excited to run in the race. I ran it at an 8.3 minute/mile pace.

This will be the last Easter picture as a family of 4!

Tony

Ring Ring?

2011-04-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Ring... Ring.... RING come on phone ring!
You know that feeling you had on Christmas eve... The one where you lie in bed wishing you couild fall asleep so the morning would get there faster, but no matter how hard you try you just can't fall asleep? You just lay there too filled with excitement and wonder knowing that the next morning is going to be SOooooo awesome.
I just want my phone to ring and I know that when it does... it is going to be so wonderful to finally have a face to focus all of our prayers on. We are trusting in Him!

Trying to fall asleep,
Tony

Numbers for April

2011-04-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

It is Official, we are #2 for both a girl and for a boy. We have been sitting at number 2 on the girls list for almost a month. It is really hard not to feel discouraged. Everyday I check my phone about a hundred times to see if I got a text message from #1 or to see if I missed a call from my agency or wife. I'm really hoping that my phone rings this week... If it does, then I will have an amazing story to share with you :)

Tony

Ethiopia

2011-03-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

March Numbers!

2011-03-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

We have been praying for God to move in a mighty way in Ethiopia. From the most resent news from our agency AGCI it sounds like there are some good changes happening on the Ethiopian side of this process. We recieved our Official numbers for March and they 7 & 7 on both lists.
Now you know that I really like to share our unofficial numbers because they are much more up to date.
We are number...

for a Girl

AND

number...

for a Boy!

Which will it be????

Tony

Whose Counting?

2011-03-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

WE are, and I hope you are as well. We are so excited to have so many people supporting us and praying for our adoption.
We are number...

On the Girls list
And number...

On the Boys list.

All unofficial of course!

Tony

How Close?

2011-03-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

VERY! I must say that I am way excited about our current unofficial numbers. We are 8 on the Boys list and 9 on the Girls list. There are three families in front of us on both boy and girl lists, which will help the rest of the wait move a little faster. I'm starting to wonder about when we will get our call for a referral, and wondering where we will be when that call comes in...

Tony

One year!

2011-02-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

On February 18, 2010 my wife and I prayed over our application to AGCI in the Ethiopia adoption program and then dropped it into the mail slot. With the great need for orphans in the country of Ethiopia I would have thought the process would be much quicker than it has been. We have prayed for patience and for our hearts to completely rely on God. This is His plan and it will happen in His time. Unofficially our numbers are 10 for a Boy and 12 for a Girl. Boy or Girl, Girl or Boy... I guess only He knows and I am excited to find out the answer to my questions. :0)

Tony

February Numbers

2011-02-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

Well this year has been off to a slow start as far as referrals go. We continue to pray and wait in His perfect timing. Our number on the girls list is 15 and our number on the boys list is 12. I really can't beleive how close together our numbers have become. We really don't know if we will have a girl or a boy. This really is exciting!
As far as our life here in Ohio this winter has been long. There has pretty much been snow and ice on the ground sinse the beginning of December. This week it looks like temeratures will be above freezing and could reach the 50's. We just might get a chance to see our yard for the first time in over 2 months. :0)

Tony

Numbers, Derby & B-Ball

2011-01-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

January brings new numbers. We are 12 on the boy's list and 18 on the girl's list. At this rate we should be looking at a referral in about three months from now. That is so close yet so far away. Big D had his first upwards basketball game today and he loved it. Today was also the day of the big pinewood derby. He finished second but his car loooked the coolest! The design was all his idea and I loved helping him build it.

Tony

2010 to 2011

2011-01-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

The beginning of a new year gives us a chance to reflect on the year past and prepare for the year before us. We have so much to be thankful for over this past year. We have stepped out in faith to follow the new calling on our life to adopt a child from Ethiopia. I truly don’t believe this would be possible without taking the finance course by Dave Ramsey in January. I really love telling my money where to go. So much so we have already built our budget for 2011. We served God through many different mission activities/trips, enjoyed a family trip at the end of July and then traveled to Nashville to enjoy a picnic hosted by our agency AGCI. Golf coaching and a brand new school year soon followed. We enjoyed Halloween, a Thanksgiving visit with my Dad at Dollywood, a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year celebration with the kids. During this entire year we have been praying and waiting for our newest family member. I found that the waiting goes a little easier when I have little projects to work on. The newest project is coaching upwards basketball for my son’s team and now we are building a pinewood derby car for cub scouts. 2011 is going to be so great! We plan to spend time in N. Carolina with my wife’s brother’s family in the beginning of July (they live in Hawaii), we also hope to have traveled to Ethiopia twice by this time and have our family all together. Please continue to pray for us and our child.
Tony

Teenagers and a Honeymoon

2010-12-29T14:05:00.001-08:00

After eleven wonderful years of marriage my wife and I were convinced to take the honeymoon that we never got a chance to take. My mother planned a five day trip for us to the Rivera Maya in Mexico. We were reluctant to go because of the financial obligations we have made to our adoption. After my mother and some close friends shared with us that we may not take a trip like this for another five years or more after we add another child to our family. So, we chose to go on the trip just before Christmas and the kids got to hang with the grandparents, win-win in my book. We had a great time and it was nice to take our mind off of waiting for a couple of days.

Snowman or Sandman?

Beautiful!

A little excitement on the way back to the airport!

We are unofficially teenagers! Nineteen on the girls list and thirteen on the boys list. How exciting is that? So now we are back to the fun game of waiting. So I have come up with a few projects to take my mind off of it. One project for example was cleaning the white mortar joints in the shower as well as cutting out the yucky old caulking joints and replacing them. The newest project is carving out a banana shaped pinewood derby car for my son’s cub scouts.

The Holidays have been wonderful and we are so thankful for everyone’s health and wellbeing this year.
Tony

Dec. Numbers

2010-12-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Not much in the way of movement as far as number are concerned. We are still officially 15 for a boy and 23 for a girl. There have been a few referrals over the past week, so our unofficial numbers are a little lower. There are a lot a families traveling to Ethiopia this month for court dates and embassy dates. As children began going home with their new families I would assume that Hanna's Hope will have more children arriving soon. We are going to be in the single digit numbers before we know it. As every day passes we are one day closer to meeting our new little "D".
Have a Merry Christmas,
Tony

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have had a lot of fun getting ready for the
Christmas season. We put up lights on the outside of the house and made holiday cookies from scratch with the kids. Now that was fun!

We are headed down to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit with my father. He is currently working at Dolly Wood in the show “T’was the night before Christmas”. He is playing the part or St. Nick. This is going to be great!

Have a safe and joyous holiday,
Tony

November Numbers

2010-11-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Our new number on the boys list is;

The new number for the girls list is;

We are so excited about the progress that we have been making towards our referral day. We can't wait to meet the little person that God has planed to join our family. I can only guess what wonders lie ahead. Carrie shared our plans to adopt with our church family this past Sunday.

Tony

Happy Times

2010-10-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Family outings, walks and dinners together have made me feel much more connected with my family. This month has been very exciting as far as our adoption is concerned. We are unofficially in the 20's on the girls list and in the teen's on the boys list. Families that have been waiting the past two months for the courts to re-open in Ethiopia all at once received their call. Soon and very soon we will be receiving that same call and our lives will forever be changed as we seek to continue to glorify our wonderful savior.

As we wait we continue to enjoy time at the zoo. We also had a fun evening out with friends to the local bowling alley, what a hoot. Tomorrow is trick or treat night, so the kids decided to carve up their little pumpkins. It was so fun seeing them dig out the inners. Good times!

Bowling

Zoo!

What are you looking at?

My wife took this amazing photo! WOW!

Hey pumpkin.

Here is a picture of the sunset looking out the back window of our home tonight. Just beautiful.

We are looking forward to sharing all of these fun activites and family outings with the newest member of our family, soon to come.
Tony

After school

2010-10-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

I actually left work by 3:30 today. I didn’t have any papers to take home to grade and I didn’t have golf. It felt really strange, so strange that I decided to carry my empty bag home with me. I guess this made me feel a little more comfortable. I was able to get home just about the time my wife was leaving the house to walk and pick up my son from school. I walked along with her to the school and when my son came out he said “Wow, you both came to pick me up? Why are you both here?” My wife then spoke up and said “Daddy is finished with golf until next year.” He quickly said “YES!” He then turned to me and asked if we could play football when we got home. Of course we played football, all four of us throwing, running and rolling around on the ground. I love spending time together like this and this fall weather is beautiful.
Tony

Whirlwind

2010-10-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

Our life is like a whirlwind, but the winds should be dying down very soon. Tomorrow my high school golf team travels to participate in sectionals. Once Golf is over there will be no more long evenings away from the family and more time to focus on other important aspects of my life. This past weekend was so fun. We had our two nieces over for a sleep over (1yr old and a 4 yr old). The house was transformed into a princess wonderland with dresses being changed about ever fifteen minutes. I am also really glad that summer has past but can we enjoy some fall before the winter... another 40 degree night.

We are slowly moving our way down the adoption wait list but I bet we still have another six or seven months to wait impatiently.
Tony

Hiking

2010-09-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

After Church today my wife felt the desire for us to do something together as a family. We would have gone for a bike ride except that I bent the rear rim on my bicycle a week earlier. She brought up a hiking trip we took down in southern Ohio a couple of years ago and how much fun it was. It would have taken us two hours to drive back down there, so I searched the internet for a more local park/trail. I found a park about thirty minutes away from our house, so we loaded up in the van and away we went.

Over the past month or so we decided to do a t-shirt exchange with some of the other families that were adopting. This week we received the (Adoption Rocks) shirts from the Huson family (North Dakota). After changing out of our Sunday dress clothes my wife decided to put on her t-shirt.

I had never been to the park before, so I was not sure where the trails started or ended. As I drove deeper and deeper into the park (which was very busy) I finally found a place to park. Imagine that, a busy park on Labor Day weekend. Just off of the end of the parking lot there was an opening into the woods. As we entered we found a map that showed a five mile loop trail. I thought to myself this is going to be an awesome long walk and it should wear the kids out. We saw some incredible wildlife and scenery. Some of the wild life that we got to see was a deer, cardinal, squirrel, hawk and a woodpecker.

There were a lot of other families out enjoying Mother Nature as well. Then I heard a lady talking to her husband as they walked past me in the other direction, she said “Maybe we should ask them”. To this I stopped and said sure what can I help you with? (This is where it gets cool) She said I noticed your wife’s shirt and my husband and I were just discussing this not more than a minute earlier. We shared with them about our involvement with Ethiopia and the schools and how it led us to the decision to adopt from ET. We told them all about our agency, timeline, finances and our excitement. We gave them our number and told them to feel free to call if they had more questions or if they wanted to meet and talk more about adoption. What a great hike!

Interesting how God works out his plan, a t-shirt from North Dakota worn on a trail in the woods in central Ohio that we have never been on before and on a holiday weekend.

Fast and Slow

2010-08-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

My life seems to be in high gear with each day flying by in a blur. School, coaching, e-mails, grading/planning, put the kids to bed REPEAT. Then we are busy running youth retreats on the weekend. My son has started second grade and I have yet to find the time to post a single picture. Then someone will ask "how is the adoption process going?" Slow. I wonder everyday where our child is and who the little person is. Referals have been coming very slowly for our agency, which is partly due to the closure of the courts in Ethiopia. They are closed during the rainy season, August & September. I can only hope that we will recieve our referal in six to seven more months. I would love for my life to slow down and for the adoption to speed up :0)

Tony

FPU & Adoption

2010-08-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Financial Peace University; a finance course lead by Dave Ramsey, a talk radio host and finance guru. I read Dave’s book “The Total Money Makeover”, which was given to me about a year earlier by a church member and he shared with me how the course was changing his life. Well, after reading the book and hearing what the fellow member had to share, I attended the first course offered at our church and it started in January of this year.

In January and February we were finalizing our decision to adopt from Ethiopia. After praying and researching for months, we decided to say yes to the call on our lives. I always thought we would adopt but I never knew what it would like for our family. The funny part is that a year earlier we decided we were done having children, but God had bigger plans for us. For those who may not realize it, adoption is very expensive ($25K - $30K). As we were saying yes to the call, we were not sure how we would pay for it.

As I continued through the Financial Peace University course I learned how important it is to get out of debt completely. No car loan, no student loan, no credit card debt, Life insurance, wills, investments…Etc. It is a great finance course and I encourage everyone to take it. I really believe that God led us into this course, and into adoption. My huge struggle was, how could God call us to go deeper in debt (adoption) and at the same time call us to be debt free. Proverbs 22:7 says “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender”. I was so torn by this, I prayed and prayed asking God “am I hearing wrong?”. We continued attending the classes into March and by this time we had officially started the process with our agency AGCI. I continued to pray and ask if we were following his plan for our life. (maybe you can see what’s coming, if not keep reading because this is good).

There are a total of 13 classes in the FPU course and I would listen to the audio version of every lesson before attending the class and watching the video version. Kind of like watching a movie twice, where you catch stuff you missed the first time. I did this for every lesson accept the final one. I’m not sure why, I just didn’t. So, on the night of the final lesson I sat in my seat proud of the changes my wife and I had made to our budget, and really excited to be on the same page financially. There was no financial stress in our marriage and we had a plan/goal to get out of debt completely. There was just one little hang up, this whole expensive adoption that kept me questioning God’s call on our life. At the beginning of every lesson there is a testimonial given by average everyday people who share about this particular lesson and how it has changed their lives. The testimonial is about a family who is trying to get out of debt and on one cold evening they run into a family from their church. They have some small talk and the family shares how they started with $60k in debt and are now down to $10k. The other family is happy for them and asks them what do you want to do when your debt free. The father laughs and says “I told my kids I would buy them a trampoline”… he laughs and then says “what we would really like to do is adopt.” (This is about the time God hit me right in the heart). The next day when the father was at work the other guy came to pay him a visit and brought him a brand new trampoline. He said “You have worked so hard, and we want to do this for you and your family”. The father was floored “Who does this? Who gives a stranger a gift like this?” He took it home and set it up that night and his kids jumped and played on it until it was too dark to see. About a week later the couple from the church contacted the family and wanted to come over to talk with them about something. Well, the family felt they were up to one of those pyramid schemes and wanted nothing to do with it. The couple was very persistent and finally they agreed to meet. The husband told his wife not to agree to anything. So, the couple arrived at their home checked out the trampoline and then dropped the bomb on the family. “The reason we wanted to meet with you is because you told us if you were out of debt you wanted to adopt. Well we don’t want you to wait. We want to pay off the rest of your debt… now how do you spell your name?” The family couldn’t believe it “Who gives a stranger $10K?” The couple said the only stipulation is that they don’t reveal their identity and that they don’t act weird around them at church.

In the next part of the video they show footage of the families adopted daughter jumping on the trampoline and then leaping into her fathers’ arms. This final lesson was all about giving. I had to get up out of my seat and head to the restroom because of the tears streaming down my face. See for three months I struggled and questioned God’s call on our life, how could he want us to do both of these things at the same time. God revealed to me that night that he led us to the course, so that we could get our finances in order to be able to adopt our child. It was never about the money, but rather all about a little child he has planned for our family. God is SO GOOD.

Up to this point not including what we have paid on our home this year, we paid cash for a nice used minivan, we have spent $11k toward our adoption, and we have also paid off $5k worth of debt. (All of this on a teacher and minister’s salary) We have a plan to be out of debt completely inside of 2yrs. We bought the van because we will need a larger vehicle to fit our soon to be three children in.

This past weekend I was asked to share the ministry moment in our church about the FPU class. I did not choose to share this story with the congregation but I did share how God lead us to take the class. They are offering the class again in the fall and in the winter at our church this year. I can’t wait to see how God changes other family’s lives through this course.

The Dave Ramsey Financial Peace plaza is located in Brentwood, TN. So, after attending the AGCI picnic in Brentwood we stopped by the plaza and took a couple of pictures.

www.daveramsey.com

Tony

Favorable Determination

2010-08-16T13:16:00.001-07:00

Great news, we received our “favorable determination letter” from the USCIS immigration department. This is just another small step along our journey to our child.
I wish I had more time to blog about all that is going on each day during our journey, but I can’t seem to find the time. I am a golf coach and our season started about two weeks ago. I start back in the classroom as a teacher officially this Wednesday. My son is starting second grade and my daughter will begin pre-school. I will try to share some pictures of the first day back. I also want to share about a financial class we attended which has helped us in our adoption process. So, I hope to be sharing these few things in the next weeks to come.

Tony

Canvases are Done

2010-08-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

And so is the room!! Woo Whooo! We Love it and hope you do too. We have been waiting for 4-beautiful canvases to be painted by one of our incredibly talented youth form our church. She painted a mural and scripture on the wall about a month ago and it all looks so AWESOME.

The pictures will start with the way the room looked before we started and finish with the way it looks today.

So beautiful, isn't it? All we need now is a beutiful little baby and the room will be complete and so will our family.

Tony

Nashville Picnic

2010-08-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a better way to end our two week vacation then getting to meet and visit with other families that have a passion for adoption. Our agency AGCI held a picnic at a park in Nashville for those who have, are in the process of or might be interested in adopting. The weather was very HOT and humid but thankfully Kristi planned ahead and had some fun water toys for the kids to enjoy.

There were families that travelled from so many different states to come together in fun and fellowship. Gods' presence was there and the day was a huge success. Soon after we began our journey to adoption we learned about this whole new world of blogging (I have never read one or heard much about it). Well, in my curiosity to learn more from others that have gone before us, I began searching and reading. I started following certain families blogs and sending them questions through e-mail. I then decided to start our own blog so we could share with friends and family members in many different cities and states about our adoption.

In a weird sense some of these families from the different blogs have become friends or almost like family (connected by a passion for adoption). So, the picnic was almost like a family reunion but yet most of us were just meeting personally for the first time. What an exciting and enjoyable day. Who cares if I was drenched in my own sweat? I had conversations with some really awesome followers of Christ and I could feel God comforting us as we discovered how much our families were alike. Here are some pictures we took with friends we have met during our journey and through the world of blogging.

Alison and Jody (Lovin much)

Jenni and Lee (1 in 17)

Andrea with Isaac (babe of my heart)

Kristi with Lucy (our family advocating for orphans)

Kristi put together a great video on her journey to her daughter. I have it posted on the bottom of my blog, if you have not seen it please go check it out.

Thank you for a great time,
Tony

2 months waiting

2010-07-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Vacations are nice, but they are even better when you can spend it alone with your family. My life with school teaching and coaching can take a lot of time away from my family. Golf team practice followed by grading papers and then planning for the next days’ classes. Some evenings are filled with traveling to away matches and that makes for a real long evening. Weekends are often congested with grading papers/tests and planning for the upcoming week and I always attend our Church youth group meetings on Sunday night. Carrie is so often busy in the evenings with Bible studies, church council meetings of all kinds, meeting with youth and attending some of the youth’s school events. During the summer we have several mission trips that one or both of us attend that are usually a week long.

I am not complaining I am just saying that we are busy and our family time is usually what gets sacrificed. So, four years ago we decided to take a two week vacation at the end of July to be alone with just our kids. We have decided to continue doing this each year. The first year we went to North Dakota to visit my Dad and the bad lands, second to the lake in KY, third year we went on a cross country tour of the US in a civic (crazy, but fun) and stopped off in ND again to see my Dad, and this year we are back at the lake in KY. We are now coming down to the last couple days of our time alone together. So sad! I can’t help but wonder what next year will bring with our new family addition, (hummm) wonderful I’m sure.

While on vacation I have continued to stay connected to the progress of our adoption through our agency list-serve (e-mails) and through other family’s adoption blogs. We learned of a picnic being held by our agency in the great city of Nashville, TN on Saturday July 31st. Our vacation ends this Saturday, so we thought we would drive just a little further south to meet some of the incredible families from that area that have already adopted or are in the process of adopting. This is going to be great, and I can’t wait to share pictures with everyone.

I can’t believe we have been on the wait list for 2 months today. This adoption process has been so wonderful and yet so challenging to stay patient as we wait for our new little person. Ethiopia closes their courts during the rainy season, which is Aug-Sept. This means that things are going to slow down even more in the waiting process for a short while. I pray and wonder everyday when will get our referral for the child God has planned for us, when will we travel to Ethiopia, how will our lives be changed.

Tony

Mission and Numbers

2010-07-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry, we have not posted anything in couple of weeks, but summers are our busy time with our church and youth group. As you read earlier we took a group of youth down to Memphis for some mission work and then the week after that there was another group that traveled to Washington DC to do mission work. We then celebrated the fact that we met our financial goal to build a school in Dudakata, Ethiopia. We organized a family/youth group outing to Spirit Song, which was held at Kings Island in Cincinnati.

This past week was the BIG “Transformation Zone” mission trip. I believe it is the coolest trip that we offer to the youth. We have been going on mission trips for years and about four years ago some of our youth started talking to Carrie (wife) and telling her we should do this kind of work at home. She agreed and with a small group of planning partners from other churches came up with the stay-home mission trip called “Transformation Zone”.

This year is the third year of running the mission out of our Church and you are not going to believe how many people were involved in it and how much work was completed for Christ. The trip ran from Monday to Friday and Wednesday was a half day work day, the other half was for fun at a water park.

•175 participants / campers (slept on the classroom floors throughout the church)
•50 Adult kitchen help ( made breakfast and dinners as well as clean up after every meal)
•7 different denominational churches participated

Work sites:
1. St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral-
a. Prepared and served meals to community members
b. Mulched and landscaped
c. Built and delivered 20 beds (frames, mattress, sheets blankets)
d. Made 20 fleece tie blankets for beds

2. MAP
a. Assembled over 45 tables and headboards, which are given to people in the community

3. COSI
a. Worked the farm days exhibit

4. Faith Mission
a. Purchased and prepared food
b. Served meals to about 2000 homeless EACH day

5. Mid-Ohio food bank
a. Sorted a large quantity of food… tons of plums

6. United Methodist Children’s Home
a. Painted 2 cottages for the residents (6500 sq ft each)
b. Built four 8 foot long picnic tables
c. Stained several older picnic tables
d. Weeded (6 foot tall weeds) and mulched around 6 large buildings

7. YWCA
a. Sorted donated items
b. Weeded flower beds
c. Served meals

8. (4) different nursing homes
a. Interacted with residents
b. Interviewed and made story boards, facials, nails, did hair & played bingo
c. Painted, weeded and cleaned

9. Green meadows mobile home park
a. Kids Club
b. Prepared and served meals to children

10. Leads Head Start
a. Painted classrooms

11. Pregnancy Care Center
a. Cleaned, primed and painted 2 storage bays
b. Painted the office space

12. Sewing project
a. Made 84 pillow case dresses for children in Haiti

Every morning started with devotion time and there was a prepared lunch devotion for everyday as well. There was Chapel every evening with worship and guest speakers discussing different parts of the scripture theme for the week. Countless lives were Transformed and the teens were challenged to be changed to be the change (1 Tim 4:12). There were numerous first time commitments and rededications to Christ.

OH, in the midst of all of this fun we got our new numbers for July.
52 – Girls
31 – Boys

We are now relaxing on vacation for a couple of weeks before golf season starts.
Tony

$50,000

2010-07-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

We did it! This past week our youth group and Church met their goal and raised the $50,000 they needed to build a school in a village in southern Ethiopia. We had hoped that they might be able to reach it by the end of 2010 and here we are in the middle of the year. I am so excited and proud of all the efforts and creativity that went into this school building process. Our next goal will be to raise about $9,000 a year to pay the teachers salaries in the school. Each teacher only makes about $150 a month. I love the way God led us to Ethiopia and to adoption through education.
Tony

USCIS/ Happy 4th

2010-07-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today was our government scheduled appointments for our immigration finger prints. I would like to say that everything went just fine, but instead there were a few minor bumps in the process. Our appointments were at 11:00 and 12:00 and we figured we would need about 45 min of travel time. Well the kids were focused on everything else except getting ready to leave in the morning. Then in the middle of the hustle and bustle my sweet little daughter spills her bowl of cereal and milk all over the carpet. I sent my son up stairs for the second time to change out of his pj’s, and my wonderful wife began to clean up the cereal mess. I felt my shirt looked like a wrinkled mess so I ran down to the basement to through it into the dryer for a few turns. As I was in the basement I reached up over my head in the motion of removing my shirt and sliced the back of my ring figure on something in the rafters. I through the shirt in the dryer and then looked at my hand. Well blood was streaming off of the end of my finger, so I ran up stairs and put my hand under cold water for a few minutes and then bandaged up my finger. The slice was not huge but it just didn’t want to stop bleeding.

Finally everyone was ready to leave. We took the kids to the sitters and we were off and running about 10 min behind schedule. As we were driving my wife took out the USCIS paperwork and read it aloud to me “You cannot have any open wounds or bandages on your hands or you may be forced to reschedule your finger prints”. I thought to myself well isn’t this just wonderful my vanity may cause our process to be prolonged and how would I find another date that would work. As we were getting closer to town and my speed was raising just a little higher my wife asks “Are we going to be late?”. I told her I hope not but since her appointment was first I would drop her off at the door. For some reason I was thinking East Broad and the place was on West Broad. So, I dropped her off right at 11:00 and left to find a parking spot, well… It is the day of the big fireworks celebration and every lot was either full or closed. Finally I did find a spot in a back alley way (later my wife asked “how did you find this place?”). I called my wife to find out what floor the office was on… I thought she said 3rd. As I get to the elevator in the building I decided to remove my bandage and my finger starts bleeding again just as the doors open for the elevator. I got on and ask the other gentlemen to push floor 3 please. The doors open and I exited. I looked around and saw a snack food shop, so I walked in and grabbed some napkins for my finger. I looked around further on the floor and didn’t see anything about immigration. Then I thought for a moment… the ride in the elevator was short and I bet I’m on the wrong floor and sure enough I was (2nd). So I pushed the button and took the elevator up to floor 3. As I exited the elevator and armed guard jumped up out of her seat with a metal detector in her hand and asked where I was headed I said “my wife should have just came through here with my paperwork for finger prints”. The lady said “No, you are on the wrong floor. You need floor 6, but you need to go down to the lobby and they will give you a special code for the elevator to take you to floor 6.” I turn around and push the elevator down button and rode it back down to the lobby. I asked the gentlemen at the front desk in the lobby for a special code to go to floor 6. They gave me a strange look and said that I didn’t need a code I just need to push the button that says “6” on it. “Thanks!” Back to the elevator I go. By this time I have gotten the bleeding under control and used a piece of the adhesive strip from the band-aid to tape the wound shut. I finally arrived at the correct floor and entered the office and my wife gives me the look of, where have you been. I just smiled and said don’t ask. I filled out the paperwork and they looked at my hand and said....

“Everything looks fine, come on back for your prints”. The people in the office were super nice and asked questions about what country we were adopting from and were just so supportive. As we were walking out of the office my wife asked where were you, to which I replied “I thought you said the 3rd floor” and she said “Nope, I said 6th floor”. I don’t always hear that good so I’m sure she was right and I was wrong. The parking only cost us two dollars (Sweeeeet!).

We then drove straight home to get the kids from the sitters. We took them to watch Toys Story 3, to Build a Bear, to Champs for dinner and then to Graeters for ice cream. We have more fun planned for tomorrow. Happy 4th everyone!
Tony

Memphis, TN

2010-06-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well we just finished another amazing mission trip at SOS (service over self) in Memphis. This is about the tenth year that we have taken a group down for a week long mission. This year we took 45 youth and adults. The part that we love most about SOS is that the kids and adults think they are going to help people that are less fortunate by doing some construction work on their homes. Instead they end up having their lives changed as God works in and through them during the week.
Was it hot? Yes! Was it fun? Yes! Did you get a lot of work completed? Yes! These are the questions and answers that are asked and given when we return from this trip. The problem is that these questions don’t give an opportunity to tell about what this trip was like. We had a drug addicted prostitute visit the home we were working on. She worked with us some and shared with us about the bad choices she had made in her life. Her husband is in jail and she sells herself to strangers to help pay for drugs and her rent. After she shared her story we shared the gospel with her and prayed for her, we held hands with her and prayed for her. We did not look down upon her but rather lifted her up. I have never experienced something so incredible. She has people that pay money to have their way with her and treat her like trash, but we chose to love her right where she is. We are all his children no matter where we are in this world. The college crew leader on our job is trying to help her by getting her into a rehab center. There are many more stories and I could go on for hours. There is another group of youth from our Church in Washington DC this week on a mission trip. Then on July 11th we start a local week long mission trip, which we run out of our Church called “Transformation Zone”. We have about 160 youth campers that are involved in the mission week. Most of the mission work will be in the Columbus area.

Let me now share a little bit about our adoption progress. This Friday is our appointment date to have our USCIS finger prints completed. We are also looking forward to finding out what our new numbers for July will be in the next couple of weeks.

All of the campers and staff in front of the SOS building.

Everyone dancing before heading out to their work sites.

Me and my work crew.

Tony

New Friends

2010-06-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

God continues to guide us to more and more families that have adopted. We met with Bryan and Jodi and their two sons tonight at a local park for root beer floats. We had some wonderful conversations and the kids had a great time playing together. Their oldest son is from Guatemala, their younger son is from Ethiopia and they are in the process of adopting another child from Ethiopia. They live here in our small town, only 2 miles from our house. How have we never met before? I do believe are families will become close friends and our children will enjoy growing up together.

Rain, Watermelon, Ethiopia

2010-06-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

I believe the rains are going to finally stop for a while. This has been the rainiest June that I can remember. I just had to share this beautiful picture from our front porch of a rainbow that appeared after the last big rain.

So, now that the rain is gone and the sun has come back out, how better to enjoy a nice summer day than to eat some watermelon. When I was a kid my Grandfather would drive up from Florida and he always brought a big juicy watermelon with him. He would cut it up and share it with us and all of our neighborhood friends. He has since past, but watching my children enjoy watermelon brought back some real good memories.

I have mentioned on an earlier post that my wife had recently taken a trip to Ethiopia. Our youth group has been raising money to build a school in a remote village in southern Ethiopia. The school will cost about $50,000 and so far they have raised 47,854. Thay are so close to achieving their goal. I am so happy for what they have been able to do as children. Education means so much to the people of these regions, most all of them have never been to school and cannot read. I decided to attach one of the videos to share what some of the villages look like because I know many of the adopted children come out of the southern Oromo region. Some of the villages were so remote that they could only be reached by horseback. The two teenagers that went on the trip were only Sophomores. Can you even imagine traveling that far at such a young age.

The youth group sold T-shirts to help raise the money. I have seen some very clever shirt designs on some other families blogs, so I thought I would share our design as well. One of our youth came up with the idea and design.

Tony

Adoption Groups

2010-06-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, first off I decided to change up the blog page and make it look a little more inviting. So, I hope you feel more invited. On Friday evening we took the kids out for a little bike ride. My youngest is only three, so this ride was real short and slow. When we were about 2 blocks from our house we ran into some friends who had adopted three children from Liberia, and they were visiting another family in our neighborhood. We stopped to visit and talk about life and our adoption process. Our friends then introduced us to the family that lived at the house they were visiting. This family had adopted children also, three children from Liberia, one from Vietnam and one domestically from Washington. They also have five biological children. What do you know; just two blocks from our house were 6 African children and more. We talked and visited for about an hour or more and feel like we have gotten a good start to a local adopting group of friends.

On Saturday we received our appointment for our immigration finger prints (USCIS) in the mail. We are so excited to have the next piece of the puzzle to our journey in place.

Tonight (Sunday) I went to meet for the first time with the Ethiopian family group for dinner. The group only meets once a month. There were about twenty different families at the meeting. It was so awesome to see families that looked just like my family will look like soon. The children were so filled with joy running around the play area while the adults took time to talk and share with each other. There were some families there that are still in the process of adopting just like us and others that have adopted several years ago. I had some really nice conversations, met some great folks and my kids had fun playing. The Ethiopian dinner was prepared by an Ethiopian family and it was awesome, nice and spicy!
Tony

June Numbers

2010-06-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

I received a call from the book store this morning saying that the book I ordered was in "Fields of the fatherless" by Tom Davis. after lunch today I sun screened the kids and set them loose into our little kiddie pool. I turned on the river radio station on my computer and then drifted away into my new book. I am truly not a reader. I never go out looking for a new book to read, but here I am engrossed in two books. I guess when God puts a passion in your heart you start to crave more knowledge on that passion.

Carrie came home for dinner, which we sat on the back porch to eat. It is a gorgeous evening (sometimes I feel guilty wondering where our child is and if they are in good care). During dinner Carrie looked up at me after looking at her phone and said "do you want to know our new numbers?". My heart jumped in my chest... "well of course I do!". This process is so exciting! Oh how I wish we were leaving on the next jet to meet our little child and bring them home. This waiting... ugh.

We decided to set up the tent in the backyard for a camp out tonight. The kids are so excited, they can't stay out of the thing. The nursery is so close to being finished and we can't wait to share pictures with everyone. We are just waiting on a couple finishing touches, but it looks incredible. We have names picked out for each sex's but we are going to wait before sharing them. A little hint is that they must start with a "D" because our other two children's names do.

So, you want to know the numbers, right?
Well, they're not really number but rather Psalm's.

Psalm 56:3-4 "When I am afraid,I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

Psalm 34:3-4 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

We will continue to Glorify and Trust God!
56 on the girl's list
34 on the boy's list

Another giant step closer, yeah!

Tony

Ethiopia and the Zoo

2010-06-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

What an amazing morning at the zoo. We live close to the zoo, so our family goes quite often. Today the big focus for me and the kids was to see the new polar bears, but God had more planned. See we have been in contact with other families in the adoption process from around the U.S., but we have really been hoping to find a local support group. I have only been able to find one local group that meets to support interracial adoption families; it does not focus on Ethiopia. Well, as we were walking to the polar bear exhibit I saw a lady with her three children posing for a picture. Two of the younger children looked as though they might be Ethiopian, so I ask and sure enough they were. I then told her about my families’ story and how we were adopting from Ethiopia as well. She then told me about the support group that her family attends that is just for Ethiopian adopted families. She took out a pen and piece of paper wrote down her name and e-mail address so that she can get us connected with the group. That was so awesome! Then as we were leaving I saw another woman with a young child (under 2) who also appeared to be Ethiopian and so I thought I would ask. Well it was a grandmother with her adopted Ethiopian grandson. She was so proud of her grandson and went on and on about the incredible blessing he has been to their family. She said she couldn’t imagine life without him. She encouraged us on our journey and said that there is nothing for anyone in my family to fear. She also told me that her daughter and son in-law attend the same support group that I had just gotten information about. How super exciting is that? In all the trips we have taken over the years to the zoo I don’t ever remember seeing any families that looked as though they had adopted from Africa and today I meet two that adopted not only from Africa but from Ethiopia. That is so COOL. The polar bears were pretty sweet too.
Tony

Waiting

2010-06-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

We are off to a relaxing week. School is out and the little plastic pool is filled with water. What more could the kids ask for? I am reading a great book.

“Parenting your internationally adopted child” This book covers all ages from infant to the teenage years. It tells you what you can expect and gives you some tools to assist in most any child raising issue. After reading and taking all of the online course work to meet AGCI’s requirements, it is nice to find another good resource to be able to turn to if and when needed.

I had a very interesting phone conversation today with a family that my wife and I use to volunteer with at our old church’s youth group. Well, there were actually three different young husband and wife teams that helped the youth minister and this was about 10 years ago. So, it has been a while since we have talked, and come to find out they had adopted a baby girl from China 5 yrs ago. She has adjusted incredibly well. She just finished kindergarten this year and they are so happy. They also have two older biological boys. I am so happy for them! Then,(it gets better) come to find out the other family is in the process of adopting a child locally. How cool is that? We never talked to each other about having a passion for adoption and yet here we are many years later being obedient to God’s call on our lives.
Tony

Jungle Jack

2010-06-02T18:19:00.001-07:00

We mailed in our USCIS paperwork today! Just another stepping stone.
Tomorrow is the last day of school and the first round of the Memorial golf tournament. Tonight we took a family trip to the Safari golf course for a junior golf clinic. They provided free pizza, free ice cream and a hitting demonstration from a golfer who is paralyzed from the waist down. He sits in a special seat on the side of his golf cart and smacks some incredible shots. He shared a message about dreaming and never giving up on your dreams even when others say it can't be done.
Jack Hanna is always a big supporter of the Memorial tournament and took the time tonight to visit with the kids.

Aaron Baddeley (pro-golfer from Australia) with Dylan

Badds is a Christian and actually maps out the S O A P devotion method along with daily readings on his website. I love good Christian role models.
Tony

Why Ethiopia?

2010-05-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have heard this story many times but it changed all meaning when we started our adoption journey.

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he smiled and said, "It made a difference for that one."
~by Loren Eiseley~

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
~Mother Teresa~

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
~Mother Teresa~

God calls us all for his purpose and he never gives us more than we can handle.
James 1:27
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

What if it were your child? What if your child had nothing and no one? What if your child had nowhere to sleep at night...no food to eat...no one to give them a hug or protect them from the dark? What if your child had to drink water from a muddy hole? What if your child had to suffer through illness because there was no medicine, no doctor? No child should have to live that way...not yours, not ours, not the children of Ethiopia...no child.

God led us to Ethiopia two years ago through ministry at our Church. Since then He has given us such a love for the country and a burden for its people. There are millions of orphans in Ethiopia in need of someone to care for them. It is our hearts desire to follow God's call on our life and make a difference for at least one child in Ethiopia.

You do not have to like the calling on our life, but we do ask for your love and support. Trust in God, because we are and he has not let us down yet.

Tony & Carrie

Dossier Approved

2010-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable! Our Dossier was all in order and we do NOT have to redo any of the paperwork. This means that we are approved and we are officially on the wait list. We are so excited! When we received the call tonight it was very much like finding out that we were pregnant. Well, we are not pregnant but we are expecting a beautiful little child that God has planned for our family.

So, I’m sure you are curious about our numbers… right?

We are open to either a boy or girl.

On the girl wait list we are...

And the boy wait list we are...

We had already started working on the baby's room before we got the call and we plan to work on it all this weekend in between going to graduation parties. We will post some pictures of the progress when we finish. Whoo-hoo!! Thanks for all your prayers.

Dossier Submission

2010-05-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well, there is efficient and then there is my wife. Our home study arrived this morning in the mail, notarized and signed by our agency. Our next step is to make copies of the home study, add it to our dossier and submit the dossier to our agency for approval. Well the agency only evaluates dossier on Fridays. So, this is where my efficient wife comes in. She made copies, completed our dossier and mailed it all out within the hour to our agency with the hopes of it arriving by Friday. Our case manager said that it is very rare not to have some kind of paperwork in the dossier that needs to be redone. We are praying that everything is in perfect order and nothing will need to be redone. As soon as the dossier is accepted we will be placed on the official waiting list. Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

Approved

2010-05-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our home study is officially approved! Now we are waiting on notarized copies so that we can submit it with our dossier. We had our very first garage sale this weekend to help raise money for our adoption. It was more successful than we could have imagined. I never thought we had that much unused stuff. The items that were left over are going to goodwill and we plan to use the value of the goods as a tax deduction for this year.

A side note, I now drive a silver dodge minivan. I traded my small car in on the larger car to fit our soon to be growing family. We are so excited about our approval, the garage sale and our new wheels. Mostly we are excited about our soon to be new family member.
Tony

Home Study

2010-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

This will be short and sweet. Our Home Study has been submitted to the AGCI office in Portland for review. We should hear something in a couple of days. We pray everything is in order so we can complete our dossier. We are a half step closer.
Here are a few pictures from Carrie's trip to Ethiopia.

School for Ethiopia

2010-05-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Not only are we trying to raise $25,000 for our adoption. We are also building a school for the village of Dudakahda among the Arssi Oromo people in Ethiopia. My wife is leading this project through the youth group at our church. Above is a picture of some of our youth with our Ethiopian missionary friend. He came to share his ministries work and vision for his people. He gave an amazing sermon on how we are all missionaries, and God has placed us where we are for his purpose. We are the light of the world.

Our youth groups goal is to raise $50,000 for the school. So far we have raised $43,000 in a year and a half. Some of the money was donated by church members and some through spare change in jars that are sitting on the table in the picture. My wife traveled to Ethiopia in January of this year with two teenagers and another adult leader from our church. It is so amazing to see God building a school through the efforts of teenagers.

Last October we hosted the African Childrens Choir at our church. We were fortunate enough to have three of the children stay with us in our home. We loved having them and they are all amazing proformers. Then in April the next choir was traveling through our area and was looking for a place to spend Easter. We again were honored to have three children stay with us. These young children made a huge impact on our lives and the lives of our church members. It is through the ACC and our involvement with the Ethiopian ministry that we felt God leading us to adopt one of the millions of orphans from Ethiopia in need of a forever family.
Tony

Waiting

2010-05-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

All of our paper work is filled out, notarized and we are just waiting on our home study to be approved. Then we will be submitting our dossier to AGCI to be approved. We only wish we could find a way to speed things up but we must remember that this is all in God's hands not ours.
Our friend Dr. Urgessa is here visiting us from Ethiopia. Should be a great weekend.
Tony

Hello Blogging World

2010-05-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well here we are, our very first blog and I can't think of a better reason to start one. We have been so busy completing paperwork, workbooks, online classes, re-doing paperwork, doing our homestudy, as well as preparing for the end of the school year for our biological children.
Carrie is a very busy youth pastor, an incredible mother and a fantastic wife. I am a hard working math teacher, golf coach, loving father and supportive husband. Dylan is a very happy, energetic child of God who is finishing up the first grade. Delaney is our little princess and just graduated from pre-school. We are all so excited to meet our newest family member that God will be bringing into our lives.
Tony