Let's go out for Ethiopian food tonight !

One of the challenges that our education courses required us to do was try a meal at a restaurant of our child's country of origin. We had never eaten out at an Ethiopian restaurant before. We had read about the different foods and looked forward to the experience. We were able to go with Chuck's parents while they were passing through town.
While we were waiting for our food we enjoyed the decorations at the restaurant. Tristen has here eye on a coffee set for when we travel to Ethiopia. She loves tea sets and thinks that one like these should be in her collection.
We found a "mesob" in the corner of the restaurant. That is like a table top on which the food is traditionally served. A beautiful woven piece.

I should have taken the picture before we made a mess of our food and table. Notice the injera, the spongy bread that the food is eaten with. You use it in place of silverware. We all were able to find something that we like. Most of the food is spicy, but the girls and I really enjoyed the red lentils and Tristen like the beef. Chuck tried a chicken stew and liked the other spicy foods.

One of the reasons we tried this is to fully understand the idea of cultures. Most people like what is familiar to them and here we will be bring a child (children) home to a totally different culture. Our culture here is VERY different than that of Ethiopia, we desire to learn more and grow to love and appreciate it. The meal was a lot of fun, eating with your fingers and trying new things.
My favorite part was the coffee at the end. It was the BEST coffee I have ever had. I will have to share more on another post about the Ethiopian coffee ritual that comes with it. But for now, I just had to share the coffee and how yummy it was. After 2 full cups at 8 o'clock at night, I was wired until all hours of the night. =)

Adoption Education

We have been working on our adoption education courses. I do hope that all of this work we have been doing will give us a better go at having a successful transition into our new family. We have been required to complete the "Eyes Wide Open" notebook. It goes through 20 chapters as you think about many different aspects of adoption. Everything from different experiences you new child has gone through ~to~food habits and sleeping patterns. Some of it was more helpful than other parts.

That was just one part of our education courses. We were also required to take 6 online classes from Adoption Learning Partners (HERE). Those courses have been very helpful and interesting. It gives you different situations and helps you figure out the best way to deal with them. Each class took about 2 hours each to complete. Again, some were more interesting and helpful than others. I am not sure every agency requires these classes, but I am really hoping that it will only help us.

The third part of our education has been the group meetings from our local agency. We have really enjoyed those classes the most. Not only because we have met other families in the same process (some even with the same agency), but many of these families are also adopting from Ethiopia. What a very neat support group that we have been able to form. We had a dinner invite from one of the families that we met at this group and have really enjoyed getting to know them. There were 4 families at dinner that night and all of us with the same agency and also adopting from Ethiopia (one family brought their daughter home this summer). My prayer is that our children will someday have a special connection with these other kids.

Understanding God's Heart for Adoption

Chuck and I were blessed this weekend as we had the opportunity to attend an adoption conference called Together For Adoption. We sat and listened to speaker after speaker, sermon after sermon about learning to care for orphans, about having a heart for the nations, about God's passion for adoption and how it is His idea and His plan. This was not an adoption conference that teaches someone how to adopt or what agency to use. No, this was digging into the Word of God and understanding what He has to say about His children and the importance of caring for the orphans. We came away both blessed and encouraged and yet heavyhearted.

I quickly want to share about the passage in James 1:26-27. A verse that is very familiar with those in the adoptive world.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Notice how there are 3 parts of true religion.

1. bridling the tongue
2. visit orphans and widows in their distress
3. keep oneself unstained by the world

How can we practice true religion when we are neglecting one or more of these 3. I have a passion for the orphan (obviously) and yet I often fail when it comes to bridling my own tongue. Not to mention, being worldly and living with performance based living, that is being stained by the world.

Like I said, I was challenged and brought to a humble place before God to examine my heart before Him. The messages are going to be available for listening on the Together For Adoption website (HERE). It might take a day or two before they are available. Hopefully you can also find encouragement.


If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Notice how there are 3 parts of true religion.

1. bridling the tongue
2. visit orphans and widows in their distress
3. keep oneself unstained by the world

How can we practice true religion when we are neglecting one or more of these 3. I have a passion for the orphan (obviously) and yet I often fail when it comes to bridling my own tongue. Not to mention, being worldly and living with performance based living, that is being stained by the world.

Like I said, I was challenged and brought to a humble place before God to examine my heart before Him. The messages are going to be available for listening on the Together For Adoption website (HERE). It might take a day or two before they are available. Hopefully you can also find encouragement.

Eyes Wide Open

Scroll down and let the video buffer while you are reading the post. The video is worth the few moments it takes to watch.


We have been in full swing of trying to get our adoption paperwork done for our homestudy. Just a little background for those of you new to the idea of adoption, we are required to complete a homestudy in order for our state to approve us to adopt. It is more than just someone coming to our home and snooping around. Though the history of it is from when in the mid 1800's and the orphan train was popular, it was a small inspection to make sure that home had an adequate water supply. It is a series of meetings with a case worker who will write a report about our family. In order to do this, we fill out lots of paperwork and questions about ourselves, our feelings on adoption, our marriage, child raising, we complete medical exams, finger printing, background checks, financial reports...the list goes on. We also are required to take a 5 session education course to help us better understand adoption and how to prepare for it and hopefully help us succeed in it.

All that to say, last night was our first education class. We sat in a room with 6 couples, all adopting internationally (4 from Ethiopia, 1 from Nepal and 1 from Uganda). We were so blessed to come together with others who also have the heart of adoption. We had a genuine open discussion on different aspects of adoption and it gave us much to think about and should help us form our adoption plan.

We were reminded that it is our job to educate those around us that will be part of our new child's life. We need to set the tone and attitude for those around us of positivity and confidence. We have already in our hearts committed to this child and we are hoping to find support from our friends and family.

One of the benefits we have of emotionally being where we are is talking with other adoptive families, reading books and articles, and following blogs of others who have gone before us. We have spent months and even years doing this. God has opened our hearts to this call and we desire to follow in obedience to where He leads. We are going into this with our eyes wide open, we are beginning to understand that this will not be an easy road. Both emotionally and financially, even spiritually. We will be stretched, but it is there where God prunes us to be more like Him.

I wanted to share a youtube video that blessed me as I was searching the web one day. I hope that it will help be part of your education as you learn more about adoption through us.