Our week in Ethiopia...A Picture Says a Thousand Words...

my time in ethiopia

So much to tell and on borrowed time with the internet... Arrived on Saturday night after a day delay with our flight...left thursday! Went to a wonderful service at an international church Sunday morning...great way to start our week. After, we went to the new orphanage to visit 11 children who were darling and tiny. We also visited the transition house and had some successful meetings.

Yesterday was maybe one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my life. We arrived at an orphanage to find one child close to death and 3 others very fragile. I have never experienced such desperate prayer in my life as I held a child of 8 months, weighing 7 lbs, her mouth hung open, stiff body and sagging skin. My wonderful team joined me in a car, each of us holding children that should have been in the intensive care unit of some wonderful hospital, as we struggled to hang onto them bouncing violently through giant pot holes choking fumes of black smoke. 4 babies needing hope and help.

The hospital doctor said that the one I held was 2 hours from death and critical...fever 103, sepsis, pink eye, upper gi infection, respiratory infection, roda virus and a severe case of dehydration...please pray for her. Her name is Hirwot...meaning LIFE.

Today, we visited the children in our home who are matched to families and waiting court. They were healthy, vibrant and loving...what a difference a little support makes! I was able to see little Melat...lovely; Bereket....Adorable; Dawit....Precious (gaining weight) Many of the children were in school but we will return on thursday.

Tomorrow we head to Nazret! Please keep us in your prayers! We are visiting a very needy area. Continue to pray also that God will arise in strength and power to have victory in Ethiopia.

Much Love,
Susan

How Will We Answer Them?

15 million children, orphaned by AIDS worldwide.
That number is equivalent to the populations of New York, Paris, and Bangkok, combined.

"I believe that this could very well be looked back on as the sin of our generation. I look at my parents and ask, where were they during the civil rights movement? I look at my grandparents and ask, what were they doing when the holocaust in Europe was occurring with regard to the Jews, and why didn't they speak up? And when we think of our great, great, great-grandparents, we think how could they have sat by and allowed slavery to exist? And I believe that our children and their children, 40 or 50 years from now, are going to ask me, what did you do while 40 million children became orphans in Africa?"

--Rich Stearns, President of World Vision

Good News

Good News...All 3 families had a smooth process in court yesterday! Heading home Friday...pray for safe travel!

Pray Please

Please keep the B family in your prayers as they adjust after their recent return home with their 3 children....Also, pray for the N, M, and R families as they travel this week to Ethiopia to pick up their children.

All Together Now!!!

A BIG welcome home to the C family from Wisconsin who is finally ALL together! What a great example of perserverance, prayer, and faith lived out loud.

Big Thanks!

A big thank you goes out to all those who have gone the extra mile lately to help the children of Ethiopia...

*Thank you Dr. Andy Gould for making a special trip to visit our partner orphanages and examine our children

*Thank you Hollie Colwick for taking soooo many beautiful photos of our waiting and matched children while there

*Thank you Cindy Lowe for holding down the fort and supporting ARISE in so many ways

*Thank you Lesley Scott and Tera Melber for continuing to advocate for our program

*A special thanks to my husband, Pat, for putting the needs of orphan children above his own for 12 days!

Pat with the C Family in Ethiopia!!!

Pat made it to Ethiopia in time to say good-bye to the C family as they head home to Kentucky...please pray for them as they travel this weekend and for Pat as he has much to do over the next 10 days.

Prayers that Avail Much

I am so grateful and blessed to watch the hand of God in the lives of our Ethiopian orphaned children and the families that pursue them. This spring has been full of God's favor and blessings as we welcome home children, celebrate successful court processes, and match children to waiting families. There is much still to be done and new projects to get started. Join us in prayer and praise as we watch God's plans and provision unfold!

Family Fellowship

Families,

Please don't forget our upcoming fellowship next Tuesday evening, May 4th, at New Song Church. We will be enjoying a guest speaker and native Ethiopian, Senite Andergachu. Senite will be helping us all learn a little Amharic! Please remember snacks and drinks and also childcare tips ($5 per child). Also, please keep the M and C families in your prayers as they travel this week to pick up their children. We look forward to welcoming them home!

Parent Meeting in April

Though many people are on spring break, we have decided to go ahead with our April meeting! Cindy and I have just returned for the Joint Council Meeting and Ethiopian Caucas so there are several things to share with existing families. We will also be spending time in prayer for several upcoming court cases. Please join us April 7th at New Song Christian Church on Old Henry Road from 7-9. Interested families that have not yet applied may also plan to attend our informational meeting from 6-7 (please let us know if you will be attending). All ARISE families...please remember to bring snacks and drinks! See you then!

Welcome HOME!!!

Welcome Home to Mekdes!!!!

Please join us in celebrating another arrival home for a precious girl, Mekdes. I actually had the great pleasure of meeting Mekdes last summer during one of my visits. She is truly a girl of beauty both inside and out...such a sweet spirit! I am so happy that she is finally with her family in Arizona who has fought to bring her home for so long!

Sirgute

Just wanted to let you all know that Sirgute is returning from Ethiopia tomorrow with her two newly adopted children, Kalkidan 8, and Elsa 14. All of the Norville's family live out of town and they have few to welcome them home. After all Sirgute has done for our adoption community I thought I would ask if any of you would like to join me at the airport. I know it would mean so much to Sirgute and her husband Mike if they had friends to greet the arrival of their first children together! Feel free to bring signs, balloons, or a marching band!

If you are unable to be there and would rather write a welcome home card, please feel free to send it to our office address.

Time: 8:15 p.m. in the Louisville Airport Waiting Area!!!! See you there!

Susan

They're HOME!!!! Miracles Happen~

Coming HOME!

Just heard from the D Family...they are headed to the airport and should be home on United Airlines... Saturday night at 6 p.m....Hooray!

God is able to do more than we hope or imagine...

A note from the D Family!!!!

This morning has been a whirlwind, but a great whirlwind. We have it all! We awoke this morning hopeful, but uneasy. We went down for breakfast and I returned to the room at exactly 8:30 AM to begin to call the embassys. I tried calling the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya but could not get the call to go through. So, I called the embassy here and they told me they had the fingerprints back! YEAHHH! She was not sure then if everything could be done AND we found out that Monday is a holiday and they will be closed. So, we waited by the phone as she said she would call back in about 30 minutes.

An hour later, I was ready to call them back, but the phone rang. It was Rahal, from the agency, and she said she was on her way to pick us up to go to the embassy. We still weren't sure what that completely meant, but we were excited. We got there and went upstairs and after a short wait we were called to window #8. A man from the US asked us the questions about Daniel and what we knew of him. We signed some forms and he showed us the passport....we were still not sure if we would get it all today. After apologizing for not being more friendly because he was in a hurry, he said he was just trying to get it done. We said, "don't apologize, we were thankful." After several "official" stamps of governmental stamps, he said give him about 20 minutes and he would have everything for us.

After that time we were called back up and given everything. The passports, the visas, and the immigrations documents! WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED TO COME HOME! To God be all the glory! We went to bed last night prayerful with great expectations and God surpassed them all.

We zipped to the Hilton to get some money from the ATM and then I checked on our flights there. We are calling every hour trying to make the flight tonight, but it doesn't look good at this point. Nonetheless, we are confirmed for the Sunday night flight (no flights tomorrow) which gets us back to Louisville Monday night.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE PRAYERS. Please continue to pray for safe travel and that we will even make that flight tonight! We are ready to come home. I pray that I can come back to Ethiopia in the future, if not even many times, but for now, we want to come home.

Stay tuned and we will let you know if we make the flight tonight or not! FAITH AND CALEB....WE ARE COMING HOME! YEAH!

Thanks again to everyone and stay tuned!

Matt, Teresa, Joshuah, and Daniel

Prayer Request

We have great reason to praise and pray! The C & S families made it home safe and sound with their children along with Pat! The D family however has remained behind in order to process the visa of their second child. As you may recall their second son passed court only 2 days prior to departing so they are praying for real miracles ... what normally takes 6 weeks to happen in 2! They were also required to update their fingerprints in country and are awaiting their processing through Kenya! Please pray for peace, patience and faithful endurance as this family is away from their children and family at home. Pray also for break-through and favor as they have their embassy appointment next Wednesday~

All families are doing well and most are starting their long journey home tonight and tomorrow. Pat is with Sirgute and they are 'house hunting' tomorrow morning for a new orphanage site which will now be in Addis instead of Jimma. Pray for favor and opportunity. Please also pray for all families and children to have safe, healthy,...& stress free....travel!

Prayer Needed

Please pray for our families to successfully get through the embassy process. The D family was told they needed updated fingerprints done even though theirs were not expired. The process will take 5 days at least! Pray that they will be able to bring both boys home without delays!

Update & Prayer Request

All children have joined their families and Pat gave out 100lbs of donations in a blink of an eye! Pray for embassy appointments to go smoothly (happening as we sleep on tuesday night). Also, the D family had a great gift just before leaving...their second child passed court. We are hoping with a miracle they will be able to bring both boys home without too much delay...please keep praying!

Update

All of our families arrived safely in Addis over the weekend. One of them was awaken by a early morning phone call...this is her note:

Guess who talked to her son today……..ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had Rob call from the orphanage to let me just hear his voice.

Mikias said:

Hello mommy

How are you

I will see you Friday

I love you mommy

Bye

It was the best wake up call of my life

Celebrating with 6 of our families!!! 3 have passed court and 3 others are on their way to Ethiopia with Pat. Please keep all in your prayers and stay tuned for details!

Snow Days!

For those of you in Sunny states, Louisville was hit hard with a winter blast. Our office is still without power and our homes have lost power off and on. We will do our best to keep up communications, but please be patient with us as we defrost!
~ fyi...it is a sunny 70 degrees in Ethiopia~

We are so happy to welcome home another precious son from Ethiopia!!!! Congratulations and Welcome Home Williams Family!