Ethiopia Trip Pictures

Here are just a few pictures from Jon's trip. So much to be done over there, and you can help. Read about it HERE.

Sweet singing. :)

This picture is taken at AHOPE,

which is a child development center for HIV+ children.

They eat 3 meals a day and attend 7 days a week.

One of our favorite friends over there, Abel.

Jon traveled with Knox Co. Commissioner, Mike Hammond.

Our other favorite person, Birtukan. We LOVE her!

This is our little girl we sponsor, Fantanesh,

wearing her new dress Jon brought her.

Happy kids.

He bought this bushel of bananas for 30 birr, which is a little less than $2.

Early morning fishermen at Lake Awassa.

African Huts.

One family, with two older boys seen here,

has taken in a little girl as a foster child.

Here she is. Isn't she the cutest thing? :)

Video of Jon's Trip to Ethiopia - WATE

HERE is the actual link since I've chopped off the side of the video.

That Kid

When Jack was little, like in Mother's Day Out kind of little, I would pinpoint the child in his class with the older siblings. The one with the potty-mouth. The 3-year-old potty mouth that talked about poo poo and burped all the time. I wanted to guard my innocent, sweet baby from hearing that kind of language or adapting to this terrible behavior.

I have one now. His name is Eli.

I can't even tell you how much I LOVE this little man. I'm crazy about him! He's sweet, happy, always singing, has a contagious smile and truly a joy to be around.

But he has two older brothers, and I've learned that's just the way it goes. Don't judge me. ;)

Sharing

"All the believers were united in heart and mind.

And they felt that what they owned was not their own,

so they shared everything they had."

Acts 4:32

Sharing. It's so important. We teach our children how to share. In fact, we make them. It's essential to development. It's crucial for relationships. It's a verb. An action. It's continual. But where along the way do we lose this?

We share pens, we girlfriends share shoes, our kids share toys, we neighbors share a couple eggs, we share workout tips (I don't, but Jon does;), we share ideas, we share struggles, we share opinions, we share sadness and happiness.

With our friends.

With those who can give something back.

But what about those who can't share anything back with us? They can't lend you a cup of sugar, or an egg, or a pair of shoes. And not just because they live 5,000 miles away. It's because they have nothing. NOTHING. They live in a mud hut or a shack made out of pieces of metal. They're covered in flies. They don't have any food and their children may not eat. Two of my children lived like this for almost 3 years of their lives.

Ignorance is bliss. But is it really? It's not ignorance when you've read it over and over in the Bible and when you've heard it preached time and time again. It's disobedience.

Here is a picture of our little girl we sponsor. She's 9 years old. (Jack is 6 in this picture.) We were so fortunate to be able to meet her last year while we were in Ethiopia. Because of a sponsorship, she is able to stay with her mother. She's able to go to school. She's able to eat and thrive. And to hear about the love of Jesus.

All for only $30 a month. That's one Chick-fil-a meal for my family. Or a pair of Yellowbox flip-flops. Or one month of a gym membership that I don't use. Or one month of data package on my iPhone.

They're real people that Jesus loves. Will you love them too? Will you share?

CLICK HERE to find a child to sponsor.

Better late than never

I know you're shocked to see our blog updated. Somewhere between Christmas and now, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. We're back and rolling now, until life happens again, and we take another 3 month hiatus.

Let me catch you up on the last 3 months. We celebrated Eli's 4th birthday on December 18. A Cat in the Hat birthday to be exact. We had 5 performances of the Living Christmas Tree and celebrated thousands of lives changed and 50,000 in attendance. I think Ben, Eli, and I counted for 15 of those since we saw all the performances. :) The little boys saw their first "snow" which lasted all of 5 minutes, but they were thrilled. We traveled home for a week with our family, and we were actually home on Christmas Day. I can't remember the last time that happened. Jack played basketball this year and was awesome! It's amazing how much better he is as a 7-year-old than a 6-year-old. Maybe it's all the practice with Ben in our driveway. Ben turned 5 on February 12. He's been planning his party ever since he found out what a birthday was. Construction started on our bonus room. Yay for extra space!! And for the insulation and sheetrock dust all over everything. :) Jon led worship for the Youth Evangelism Conference in Nashville and had a great time! And that brings us up-to-date.

Today, at 5:30 this morning, Jon boarded a plane headed back to Ethiopia. Bethany Christian Services, who we used for our adoption, is starting a new program called One Family. This program is similar to Compassion or World Vision, where you sponsor children for $30/month to allow these children to stay with their families instead of adoption being their only alternative. This will hopefully prevent the number of orphans, which is currently 6 million, SIX MILLION IN ETHIOPIA, from increasing at the out-of-control crazy rate that it is. Jon is helping to get the program up and running and get the word out about sponsorships. He'll be meeting with the Bethany staff there as well as some of the families currently receiving sponsorships.

When we adopted the little boys, we left with half our heart still in Ethiopia, and we've been praying for the opportunity to return one day. Not necessarily to bring home more kids, but for whatever God had for us. So we're MORE THAN GRATEFUL for this opportunity. It's what we've been praying for. We just didn't know it.

I just saw this on a friend's blog and I loved it, so I'm stealing and reposting it. :)

"If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money and talent are all you need in life. You'll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray."

SO TRUE.

I'll post more updates and pictures as I hear from Jon. Here are a few pictures of the last few months. :)

Thank you Melody for the picture of my love:)