Wondering Why??

    We have been trying to get our application together for a loan to be able to easier manage adopting Letemeskel. Ohh, by the way, we are adopting the newly found older sister of our Ethiopian born sons.
Part of the process for the loan is to create essays about our reasons of adopting. It has taken weeks and weeks to put this into words. We know in our hearts and our guts why this is our way of life but how to convey this into words is so complicated.
   Scott however is a magical with words and has taken my scribblings, assistance from a different person and his own thoughts and put it into a "testomony". It is so wonderfully written that I wanted to share it.


We find it hard to explain this answer because when we look at the children we have been graced with, we ask ourselves, why would you not adopt any one of these children? The Lord has chosen us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ. He has continues to care for us when we experience sorrow or when we do not abide by his will. No matter what we do the Lord has shows us that he will be our father and provider. In Genesis chapter 33 there is a statement in which Jacob says, “These are the children who the lord has blessed me with.”




The Lord had a special hand in each of our adoptions. The stories, each unique, can be explained only by how we followed our Gods path and it led to our children. The suffering of children is all around us and to not take action for these children is something that we cannot do. Adopting is not easy. Our children are old enough now to ask about birth countries and birth families. Answers to these questions and their longing to understand is something we help our children search for on a daily basis. We always tell them that God brought us together and the love we share for one another is a sign of the Grace of God in our daily lives.



Our hearts ache for these “unwanted” children who are left behind. Just typing those words brings us sadness. The ones left in the orphanages or in horrible situations need parents to raise them and show them how wonderful their life can become. James 1:27 (Contemporary English Version) tells us to “help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.” It is our intention to live the rest of our life on earth in the sprit of James’s words. We will help these children to the best of our God given ability.



Letemeskel was working as a housemaid, slaving daily to make enough money for food. She is only 13 but her future was so dismal. Letemeskel is the “one left behind”.

A Family Picture

Its not often that each set of Grand Parents are in town at the same time. This was a rare occasion. As you can see its hard to get everyone in a picture taking mood!

Happy Birthday Levi

Levi turns 9. He was very thrilled with the spiderman cake.

Look at the hair too.....nice and shiny!!! Great smile. OK I am a proud mom!

A wonderful link, my favorite blog

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Time passes to quickly

Well Scott thought I was keeping up with the blog and I thought he was. So July has gone and went without a single note. I will post some photos when I get on teh big computer.
 All the kids are doing very well.

 Zachary turned 8 on July 14th. Levi and Isaac are discovering the concept of what birthdays in America are like.

In Ethiopia the boys told the age by the number of teeth they lost. They don't count age by "years". If smoeone asks "how old are you? " they say " 4 " or "6" for how many teeth they have lost at that time, This maybe one reason that the age discrepency is such a great factor in Ethiopian adoptions.  I kind of like the concept! I could never get over 20 something!!!!

Zach's 8th Birthday!

Here are a few snapshots of Zach's birthday party!

First there was the Birthday Cake!

Then the presents!

After the presents, all the boys got jump rope!

New Names

We finally decided on new names. This has been quite the task for naming two children. Yikes.

Rewina Lemlem is now Levi Rewina. Mulat Addisu is now Isaac Mulat. They like the names and we try to remember to call them by the names. Frankly we loved thier Ethiopian names but they prefer English names now as so many people had a difficult time pronouncing it.

A Shower for Rewina and Mulat

Our church held a shower for Rewina and Mulat today.  It was one of the most touching gifts we have received as adopted parents in our many years.  We are overwhelmed with the generosity of the people in our church.  God Bless you All.

The First Month

Rewina and Mulat have been part of our family for about one month now.  Almost every day is a new first time for Rewina and Mulat.  Here are a few pictures of the past several weeks.

Rewina playing with Frosting

More Frosting Fun

Mulat and Bradley...very tired.

Zach, Rewina, and Mulat on the top bunk.

Dad carrying Rewina to the Car.

Mom reading to all the Boys.

Mom and Rewina...Spiderman...mowing the Lawn.

Bike Riding

Rewina rode his bike without training wheels. This is so great as he has been on it less than two weeks. Mulat is a bit frustrated as his balance isn't quite as good and he needs some extra time to get the hang of it.
They absolutely love riding bikes, playing with Maverick and the trampoline with Bradley. Apparently I am getting the hang of making Injera too as they both gave me a huge hug and said thank you to my latest attempt.

Pictures from Ethiopia

Below are some links to a few Picassa albums we have of our time in Ethiopia.  While in Ethiopia we stayed in a guest house in Addis Abeba with several other families adopting from the same Care Center (the orphanage run by the adoption agency).
 
Addis Guest House Families And Friends

Addis Care Center

Rewina and Mulat join the Nichols Family

We would like to introduce our two sons who arrived in the United States today.

Rewina (bottom left), Mulat (bottom center), Susan and Scott at the Grand Guest House in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Above is a a picture of Rewina, Ethan, Zach, Mulat, Susan, and Scott when everyone arrived in the United States.

Travel Plans!

We purchased tickets to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on April 17th.  We should return to America on April 24th!

A Court Update

On March 16th, we passed the adoption court in Ethiopia.  This means that Ethiopia has approved us to adopt two boys. We will post more information when we can.  The next step is for the US embassy to grant a hearing to obtain a US VISA.  Once that is done, we can fly to Ethiopia to pick up our two new sons.

I 600 approval recieved.

This means when we adopt M and R we are allowed to bring them into the US, if they meet all the "orphan" guidelines for the US. As we understand it they do.

Court date...March 1

We have been assigned a court date of March 1st. This means that if we pass we will go to Ethiopia and pick up R and M in late April or early May.

Anybody want to manage our zoo while we are in Ethiopia????!!!

Who could resist these faces......son innocent!!!

Dossier to IAG

IAG recieved our dossier today. It apparently goes to Ethiopia on Friday for translation.

Yeaaaa!

homestudy, dossier, I-600 oh my

We are still waiting on the final version of our homestudy to be completed. When this gets in our hot little hands we can send it on to IAG. International Adoption Guides (IAG) is our placement agency. It should be 6-8 weeks after we submit our dossier to IAG, when we have court in Ethiopia. After court, if we pass the first time, then we wait another month or so for an Embassy date. The shortest time from dossier to Embassy would be 4 months. This is rarely ever the case though.

  Generally the court dates are 6 weeks or so from dossier to IAG. Passing court the first time is abotu 50%. Commonly a paper is missing from one place or another. Typically it takes another month or so for another court date. Then hopefully the paperwork is in order. It can take from 4 months to a year from dossier submission to have our two new sons in the US. More time to get our home in order I guess.

We will travel to Addis Ababa to pick up R and M. This is the capitol of Ethiopia. Very cool place by the way with a lot of interesting history. We aren't sure who is going now or if we will just go alone, Scott and myself. The trip will be about 5-7 days. Anyone want to go?

I will update again when we actually send the dossier.