Heading Back to Ethiopia!

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of all time, one that was taken as Brandy and I went with Peter of Children's HopeChest to visit his ministry, Compassion Family Ministry, back in May when we were in Ethiopia. This little girl was an absolute handful, but so full of joy and fun and laughter.

Tomorrow, I get to hop on a plane and head back to Ethiopia with a couple of teams of single adults from our church, Watermark Community Church. I have been missing Ethiopia so much, but have had the joy of knowing I would be heading back there in July, and now it's here and I couldn't be more excited. Our team has a trip blog that I wanted to let you know about so you could follow along with me there. We'll be able to post updates via satellite from the field. Rather than tell you all about the trip, just go to http://watermarkinafrica.blogspot.com where I've already written 3 blog posts about the trip, what it is, who we're ministering to, how we're going about it, etc. I'll post a couple more times before I leave to introduce people to the team.

The bitter-sweet element of the trip is that I leave Brandy and the kids back here for several days. We are so blessed to have such as amazing community around us and neighbors who will be looking out for her and them. Please pray for Brandy and I both. Thanks for tracking along with us.

Welcome Home, Fournets!

A key factor in our decision to adopt from Ethiopia specifically was the fact that one family in our community group was already in the process to bring home kiddos from Ethiopia. We were excited about the opportunity to raise our kids together and for them to have that connection (We now have 3 families in our community group adopting from Ethiopia). At long last, our sweet friends, the Fournets, are home with their little ones, Beck and Deshi and we had the chance yesterday to introduce them to Malachi.

We're so happy for you guys, Beau and Natalie, and grateful for your friendship.

Malachi and Beck, destined to be best buds

Malachi and Deshi . . . who's up for arranged marriage?

If you're not already following their blog, you can check out the Fournets blog at http://fournetfamily.blogspot.com/. Also, continue to pray for the Tuckers who are waiting to hear back on their next court date. They were delayed again last week. You can follow their blog at http://thetuckerfamilylife.blogspot.com/.