Introducing Joseph Moges

The only reason I have time to sit and write this is thanks to a dear friend who just dropped off dinner (it is in the oven!) and my two junior babysitters (Kate and Maria) who are happily entertaining baby. Mike and I are so thankful for the two extra weeks he now has off work and both of our bodies are slowly returning to normal after all the traveling, unusual food, time change, and who knows what in the water! We even ventured out on our first family outing to a local park with a splash pad. Baby Mo is doing great (we are officially naming him Joseph but we are still calling him Mo or Moges most of the time). He is beginning to adjust to the time change and not getting up at 3:30am anymore. He is delighting all of us with his easy smile and laugh and the way he kicks in the bouncy seat. Plus he is just so darn cute! He still has a bit of a nasty deep cough and will have his first Dr. appt in a couple days.

There is an element from our trip that will take me a while to recover from. The proverty in Ethiopia is akin to what I saw years ago in Haiti, so much more than what we have seen in Mexico and Guatemala. There is a deep humbleness that comes to me when I ask why I get to be a full time mom who never worries about meeting the needs of my children. I never worry to pay the mortgage or the safeway bill. The women in Ethiopia are often forced to relinquish their children or allow them to be malnourished. There are no answers to the whys and it is troubling to my soul at times. All we can each do is say yes to those promptings of God's spirit that in this journey for Mike and I has ended with a beautiful baby boy who we get to call our own. Praise God.

Moges is Home!

We are exhausted beyond what I can describe but so happy to be home with our whole family. I will post again soon but wanted you all to see that Moges is home. He is healthy, happy and such a joy to all of us. Moges means "grace" and he is certainly a gift that we did nothing to deserve.

We are in Amsterdam Netherlands!!!

We had an amazing trip over Greenland and saw icebergs and all!

Almost on our Way!

Bottles are bought, diapers are packed, child care arrangements are made, shots have been taken, tickets are bought, documents are gathered, and our arms are aching to hold baby Mo. Lots of little details still keep popping up but we for all practical purposes are ready and eager to go. Please pray for Mo that God would prepare his little heart and that we could have a sweet bonding time before we get on that plane to come home. We appreciate so many of you who have encouraged us by walking through this process with us. A special thanks to Julee, Megan, and Lindsay who were eager through this whole process and ready to lend out their baby stuff! We are having a baby ~ again! The Lord's goodness continues to surprise us and we truly are basking in His blessings.
I will post while in Ethiopia if possible but that is a big if so keep praying and I will update for sure after the 17th!

Bogus Weather

Today it again says 109 in Addis with sand. There seems to be a malfunction. I checked out the BBC weather forcast for Addis Ababa and it says a high of 68 and heavy rains for the next 5 days. Rainy season has officially set in!

SERIOUSLY?

Weather today in Addis Ababa Ethiopia: 109 degrees, feels like 112degrees. With sand.
Weather the day we are to arrive: 67 degrees, rainy with thunder
CRAZY!

Preparing for "Mighty Mo"

Our kids with the help of cousin Keegan

(and extra help here from neighbors) sold

pop and otter pops out on the street corner

yesterday to raise money to buy supplies for

Mo's orphanage for us to bring with us. They

made $117!

The day was also full of packing, and cleaning up baby gear that my friend, Julee, has loaned to us. Here is Maria trying out the newly cleaned stroller.

We are so thankful that Mike has a 3 day weekend. We made a lot of progress on the huge "to do" list and Mike did an amazing job being a cheerleader for the fund-raising project while being careful to keep a distance so the kids could be in charge.

We did buy our plane tickets on Wednesday. We fly out of Seattle 1pm Friday the 10th, change planes with a 2:30 layover in Amsterdam and arrive in Addis Ababa at 8:45 pm July 11th. We will have the 12th to hang on our own and explore a bit. The orphanage is only a couple blocks from our hotel but we will not be allowed to go there until the 13th. On the 13th we get to go to Hannah's Hope (where sweet Mo is) and meet the workers and receive him into our arms. That afternoon we have an appt at the US Embassy as part of the process to get the documents needed to bring him back to the US with us. There is some flexibility with the rest of our time there and right now we are unclear if and who any other families will be traveling with us. There are quite a few families through our agency who have recently passed court but may be too late to get this July 13th embassy appt. We fly out of Addis at 10:25pm Thursday the 16th. Again a layover of about 4 hours in Amsterdam and then straight through arriving in Seattle at noon on Friday the 17th. This will be 2 days short of Mo being 4 months old. Amazing.