They miss us...

We received an e-mail today from Ayele (our driver in Ethiopia) that he went to Bethel yesterday and visited the kids and brought them our presents. We sent a bunch of stuff with a friend who was traveling to Ethiopia to pick up her two children. He said "they are happy, but they miss you a lot". Breaks our hearts-more for them than for us. We don't want them to ever think that we have given up on them or that we are not coming for them. I'm sure it is hard for them to understand what the hold up is-heck it is hard for us to understand it and we are adults! It will happen and at least they know we are thinking of them!

Hopefully we will have some pictures too when my friend comes back-it always puts a smile on my face for a few days after we get pictures!!

More later...

Lisa & Dave

Ethio-American Family Services!!!

Ethio-American Family Services is an organization that is doing amazing work in Ethiopia!! Two wonderful women started this non-for profit organization after returning home with their children from Ethiopia! I had the privilege of meeting Dedra last April through a mutual friend and was in awe of the work she is doing to help the people and children of Ethiopia. They opened an orphanage a few months ago and are in the process of opening another orphanage due to the need for more services for children. This is all done through donations-how phenomenal that so many people have been touched! They welcome any donation-small or large and will use the funds to bettr the lives of Ethiopian children!

Check out the you tube video below of their last visit to Ethiopia!

Twist of Fate!

I am still in awe over this!! Yesterday my friend and I were shopping and I ran into a teacher from another county that I used to work with about 6 years ago. We chatted and I asked about another teacher who I was friendly with, but lost touch with and she said "You are NEVER going to believe this, __ just adopted three children from Ethiopia-she just got home in late July with the children". My jaw nearly hit the floor and I was almost speechless! I shared about our adoption and we couldn't believe the coincidence!! It was so cool-we exchanged #'s and e-mail info and I can't wait to contact my friend to talk more!! Not too often you run into someone in this situation! Funny how people come in and out of your life at different times-I just love twists of fate like this!!

Lisa

A Package of Love!

A Package of love....today I sent a package of goodies (clothes, pictures, kids stuff, etc...) to our kids-not directly, but through a traveling parent! Thank you Kim!! Kim and I traveled together to Ethiopia in May and she recently passed court (Woo Hoo-so happy for them!!) and she is going to visit our kids when she travels to pick up her kids! We are so grateful for this!

We are looking forward to getting some new pictures and an update on how the kids are. I can't wait to hear about their reaction when they see the pictures from my last visit! We do get an update about every other week or so-the caretaker and I e-mail back and forth, but internet connection can be sparce in Ethiopia so you never know! Hopefully we will all be together soon....

Love,
Lisa & Dave

Summer Fun!

One of the perks of being in education is enjoying some time off during the summer-for us we had most of the month of July off! We planned a few getaways and family trips to stay busy while "waiting". We went to the keys and stayed in key west for a few days-had a blast and also went to NY to visit family and friends!

One of the highlights from our summer was to go fishing with a "pro"! We fish (Dave more than I) when we go on the boat, but we don't catch much or what we catch is not the best so we wanted some tips on how to really fish! Earlier in the summer we won a fishing trip from our church casino night and we went last week. Check out these snook we caught-yes they are REAL!!! We caught about 15 snook in about 3 hours!!Unfortunately, we had to release them-not in season and they were too big to keep-but it was a riot reeling them in! My wrist hurt for a few days! Now that we know what to do we will definitely try snook fishing once the season opens!