Headed to Ethiopia in 12 days!

What a crazy journey adoption is. In two weeks, on January 20, we will board a plane for 18 hours of travel to the other side of the world. We will be 8 time zones from Raleigh, NC. I have posted a clock on the right hand sidebar of this blog, down at the bottom, that shows what time it is in Ethiopia right now; check it out.

The trip will be hard, tiring, uncomfortable and unfamiliar. But we can't wait to go. We will get to see Ethiopia, meet our G-boy, and go to court where he will become ours and we will become his. G-boy will legally be our son; we will legally be his parents! Wow! Here is G-boy holding our picture. Once we are legally each others, we can post a full picture of G-boy.

If all goes well at court, we will return 8-12 weeks later to bring G-boy home.

So Thursday morning, Jan 20th, we leave from Raleigh at 6:10am. After 18 hours of travel, we will arrive in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. It will be 8am Friday when we get off the plane. That day we will rest and perhaps shop for trinkets to remind us and G-boy of his home country.

On Saturday, we will wake up bright and early and drive west 10 hours to Nekemte, which is the last "big city" on our journey to G-boy. Our adoption agency, YWAM has an orphanage in Nekemte. We will stay the night in Nekemte. Here are some pictures of Nekemte taken from our adoption agency's blog.

The next day, Sunday, we will drive 2 more hours to Gimbie. The road between Nekemte and Gimbie is bone jarringly bumpy and Rob will most definitely need his Dramamine. However, the drive is beautiful and we will see wildlife and "National Geographic" scenery. Here are some scenes on the road to Gimbie, again taken from YWAM's blog.

YWAM has an orphanage in Gimbie too and here is where we will meet G-boy. Please pray for our first meeting. Do we hug him? Will he want to hug us? Will he understand why I am crying so hard? Will he want to call us Mom and Dad? We will bring a ball and some books to hopefully help us warm up to each other. But prayers for supernatural heart clicking would be appreciated. Here is a pic of the Gimbie Widows & Orphans Home:

We will spend Sunday in Gimbie getting to know G-boy, visiting with his nannies, visiting the market, visiting the 7th Day Adventist Hospital, and seeing YWAM's street kid's ministry.

YWAM has a ministry to the street children in Gimbie, called Abdi Borii, which provides the street children with tuition for school, school supplies, hot lunches, clothes, shoes, a place to sleep and medical care through the Adventist Hospital. These are young children found living without any adult supervision on the dangerous streets of this town. The kids must promise not to beg or gamble to stay in the program.

Sunday evening we will drive back to Nekemte to spend the night and then on Monday, we will drive the 10 hours back to Addis Ababa, only this time we will have G-boy with us!! Please pray that G-boy is at peace, that he understands all that is happening, that he does not get car sick.

When we arrive in Addis Ababa we will take G-boy to a new orphanage (his new home until we return to pick him up). We anticipate this to be the hardest part of the whole journey. How will we leave our newfound son in this place that he has never seen? Pray for supernatural peace, for an understanding that we will come back. As hard as this will be, we will do what has to be done that he can become each others forever.

On Tuesday, we will visit with G-boy in his new orphanage, rest, and possibly look around Addis a little.

On Wednesday, we will go to court. This is where G-boy will become officially our son and we will become officially his parents. Pray that there will be no hiccups and we pass this day. There have been many cases that do not pass the first time thru and this only delays bringing the child home, so pray that we pass this Wed.

That Wed night at 10:15pm we leave to return to Raleigh. I can't imagine how we will feel, probably excited to be done with this leg of the adoption journey, relieved to be headed home and excited to see our 4 kiddos, and heavy with the pain of leaving our newest son.

After 24 hours of travel, we will arrive in Raleigh at 2:00 pm on Thursday, Jan 27th. We would appreciate your prayers for us, for G-boy, for the 4 kiddos here (and their caregivers!!). We have appreciated each one of you who have come alongside us in this journey.

Help My Friend Change the World (It's Easy & Free!)

My friend Lisa is a world changer. She is a big dreamer, a woman of faith and a woman of social justice. She's the kind of woman I want to hang out with. She and her husband, David have 2 biological boys and 1 adopted girl (named Caroline) from Guatemala.

Lisa is also the Executive Director (as in she dreamed of and started!) of Caroline's Promise, a small non-profit located in North Carolina that seeks to reclaim hope for orphans in the US and worldwide. Here is Lisa with a child she sponsors in Guatemala:
Caroline's Promise gave us a grant for the adoption of our Jonathan. That is how Lisa's heart and my family's hearts initially connected. That was in 2006 and in 2008, Rob and Anna went on a missions trip to Guatemala with Lisa and a Caroline's Promise team. Here is my Anna sharing with a little girl that she is indeed a princess of the King:


Casita Adonai is a small private Christian school in a difficult area of Guatemala City, an area devastated by poverty, gangs, and lack of education. Lisa and Caroline's Promise are working with the local church in Guatemala to provide a safe, loving, quality education for some of the city's most vulnerable children. Many of them are orphans, living with grandparents or other family members. The rest of them live with their single mothers who struggle to earn $1 a day. The school, Casita Adonai provides a safe haven for these families and their children. Here is a picture of the children at Casita Adonai:

Lisa dreams of building a library for these children. She believes that by offering books, children and families will learn to read, and the cycle of poverty will begin to change.

Lisa has applied for a Kidermusik Good Beginnings Grant. If Lisa receives the most votes between now and Feb 9, she will receive $1000 to build a library at Casita Adonai in Guatemala.

Will you help change the world? It's easy!

1. Every day between January 5 and February 9, visit Kindermusik

2. Search for the project by name - Lisa Holbrook

3. Click on the Vote Button. . a window will pop up confirming your vote. If a window does not pop up, try clicking on the "View Details" Page and clicking Vote there. It really is easy!! And you can click that Vote button 10 times. 10 times a day until Feb 9th!!

Caroline's Promise is also looking for sponsors for 59 of the above kids. My Anna is going to sponsor a little girl and be her "big sister". So that means there are 58 left. It is only $35 a month. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please email Lisa at info{at}carolinespromise4u{dot}org or call her at 336-993-9046 or visit her Caroline's Promise website by clicking here.

For Men: A Call to Action

If you are a man who loves Jesus, you need to read this post at One Life - One Legacy. If you know a man who loves Jesus, you need to forward this post to him. This guy and his wife are crazy radical for Jesus and are giving His love away in some amazing ways. Su and I are often challenged by their stories of reaching out and seeing God step in.

In this post, DW (the husband) talks about the call for Christian MEN to love and care for the orphan. He really challenges us to step up to the plate and do something. He calls things like he sees them and shares how he typically sees women leading the charge to be Jesus to "the least of these."


I have decide to join DW (actually join God) in the fight for the fatherless. Will you come with us? Will you fight for these who cannot defend themselves, those who have no one else to fight for them?

MEN, do you dare read DW's post?
Do you dare pray for these little ones?
Do you dare make a commitment?
Do you dare go and serve?
Do you dare send them your finances?
Do you dare weep for them?
Do you dare learn about them?
Do you dare fast for them?
Do you dare ask Jesus, "How do you want me to be involved? "


It might be scary and uncomfortable... but we were made for this!

Waiting for Phone Call & Pictures of G-boy

We excitedly await the phone call letting us know of our official court date in Ethiopia. This court hearing will mark the first of two trips we'll make to Africa. The first trip, we'll attend court and be appointed G-boy's legal parents. And at that time be able to share pictures on our blog of our handsome son. The second trip happens 6-8 weeks later and includes the visa appointment at the US Embassy in order to travel home with G-boy. We are eagerly awaiting the phone call letting us know when we will travel.
This morning, our agency emailed us 4 pictures of G-boy. That was the longest 1 min and 21 seconds ever. . waiting for the pictures to download. Along with the pictures was a note that said G-boy was so sweet to share his gifts from us with the other children. And that he loved the punch ball we sent! Oh what a treasure for this momma! Above is G-boy's sweet hand trying out his new punch ball.

New Friends that Only God Could Give

I am overwhelmed with God's blessings. . .that is brings me to tears and at times paralyzes me with awe. . . Last week, we met Deb and Jeremy Baus face to face. Remember this post here, where I told you about Deb and Jeremy Baus and shared the email they sent us when they were in Ethiopia? Deb and Jeremy are adopting two 20 month old kiddos from the same agency, same orphanage in Ethiopia as we are. And they live here in Raleigh, like 15 minutes away!! And Deb and Jeremy came over last week to share dessert and coffee and conversation about Ethiopia and to show us video of G-boy. .. oh what an emotional night for me. We were so deeply touched that this sweet couple took time out of their emotionally intense time in Ethiopia meeting their 2 youngins, going to court, taking in Ethiopia. . . to love up on our son, to give him a letter from us, to read the letter and have a translator translate it, to get it all on video tape, to explain to G that they live in the same town his adoptive mom and dad do. . to give him a hug and kisses. . . I love watching the video. . G is handsome and is in the midst of all the action. On the video, he is not standing off to the side or against the wall. . he is right there with all the adoptive parents and the nannies and the babies. Deb and Jeremy told us that G is soo cool and that G and their son, R are good buddies! G is 6 years old and loves R (20 mos.) to the point he picks him up and carries him around. And now they'll grow up together in Raleigh!! What a gift!! A gift to G, a gift to R, and gift to the Bauses, and a gift to us Soutters!! Really only God could orchestrate all this. As many of you know, God did the same thing with Jonathan. . he and Abigail who shared a room at the orphanage in Guatemala and at one point were even crib mates are now both in Raleigh. We love the Crawfords: Abigail and Abigail's mom and dad and big brother. . Su and Abigail's mom just clicked and not just because they both adopted from Guatemala. . .only God. This relationship with the Crawfords is dear to us now, especially Su and we know that this relationship will be important to J as he grows older. We sense that God is doing something similar with us and the Baus family. Really. . this is just like "icing on the already yummy cake". . God so did not have to do this. . but a little community of families here in Raleigh who have adopted from the same agency, same orphanage in Ethiopia as us? Only God. There is us, there is Deb and Jeremy, and then have I told you about the Watkins family (pictured above) who Su went to elementary school with the mom and they used to spend the night at each other's houses?? Well she and her husband and 4 kiddos. . live like 3 minutes from us. . .and they just brought home their Corrie from Ethiopia. Brooke and the Watkins' 2 older boys go to the same school. I am telling you only God connects dots like this.

News from Ethiopia about G-boy

The Baus family who just happen to live in Raleigh are adopting 2 little ones from Ethiopia. . using the same agency we are. . and they are in Ethiopia right now!!!

We have not met face to face (yet!), but sweet Deb (the wife) did email me the night before they were leaving asking if I wanted her to take anything down to our son. She had heard about us thru a mutual friend and heard that our son was living at the same orphanage as her two kiddos were. . .only God could connect dots like this.

We did email her a letter with our picture on it to print out and take to G-boy. And Deb did just that.

And Deb just emailed me!!! From Ethiopia!!! Oh what a treasure!!! Here is Deb's email.

Hi Su-

We just got back to the capital last night from our LONG but incredible trip to *** . Our kids (yours and mine) are so awesome.

G-boy is one amazing kid. I gave him your letter and we have the whole thing on video of a translator explaining it to him. He LOVED it.

I also found out that he and our son are pretty tight! But from what we saw and were told, G-boy is really good with all the kids. I am going to try to attach a pic now but the connection here isn't the greatest.

Rest assured your son is in good hands. He is a happy, happy kid and the nannies there are really great. You can see how much they love the kids and visa versa.

We will get together when we get home and show you the video!!

We get back late on Oct 30-

Deb

I am in tears. Tears of hearing my son is happy. Tears of hearing that he loved our letter. Tears over having 2 pictures. . .treasures. . of our handsome son. He has a huge smile. Tears that Deb and her husband would love up on us like this. . I mean she is half way around the world meeting her two kiddos for the first time. I am sure she has much to process and take in. . and she took time to email me. . took time to video my son. . I am deeply touched by her love for us. . .and we have not even met face to face (yet!). I can't wait to have Deb and her hubby (I do not even know his name) over for dinner. I am going to have to hold myself back and give them a little time to unpack and recover from jetlag.

Oh what a sweet gift today!!

Christmas Shopping For a Cause

Stacy over at the blog My Cup Overfloweth has this post where all those who are fundraising for their adoptions can share what they are selling.

Her heart is that as Christmas approaches, instead of going to the local Target to pick out a present for those on our list. . we would come to her blog and buy an item from a family that is in the process of bringing their kiddo home. . .and give that fundraising item as a gift.

Sounds like giving 2 gifts in 1 to me. . a gift to someone on your Christmas list and a gift to an orphan and his forever family.

I love that Stacy is doing this just to come alongside other adopting families. She and her hubby just recently came home with their new little one and saw the Lord provide and she wants to be a part of that for other families. Stacy is a momma of 6, 1 biological and 5 adopted!

I linked up my In This Home Paintings. Here is a recent one I just finished:
If you have some Christmas shopping to do, you may just want to click here to see all that is for sale; you just click on the little pictures at the bottom of Stacy's post. Look for the picture of my painting I linked up.