'To Ethiopia and Beyond...'

Buzz Lightyear's words echo from Ezra's mouth on an hourly basis, so it is fresh in my mind.

Our paperwork is in Ethiopia and all the deadlines were met, so we are set to travel...soon.

I wanted to update everyone about our upcoming trip and give people a picture of what it is we will be doing while we are in Ethiopia.

First and foremost, our primary purpose of this trip is to see and hold and care for our son. Our court hearing is on the last Friday of this month and then Musse will legally be our son. We are looking forward to getting as much time with him as possible and are excited to begin our journey together with him.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process, we won't be able to take him home with us (that is unless God works a 'stop the sun in its place' type of miracle and are able to arrange our embassy date the week after). I mention this because some people mentioned they were praying in this way for us. We'd be delighted, but it has never happened this way, and I don't foresee this happening (but I am a nobody and if this is what God would desire, Wonderful).

Our Embassy date (the day we actually get Musse in our full care) would occur 6 to 8 weeks after our court date.

After 5 days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we will be headed down to the Soddo region of Ethiopia.

New Covenant Foundation is an organization based out of the Spokane area that is very involved in the process of helping build a care facility in the Soddo area (the place in Ethiopia that both Ezra and Musse are from).

We will be staying with the missionaries and the purpose of this trip is very open-handed and somewhat undefined. We will not have an itinerary, will be there less than 3 days...we will be going to learn, see and pray about future possibilities of involvement. Again, open-handed. We don't know what the Lord has in store for these few days, but there are a few things I am excited about (apart from the most exciting part for us of being with our son the few days prior to this).


1. It has been over 3 years since I have been outside the United States. I want my heart and eyes to continued to be opened to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and being encouraged, exhorted and strengthened by those who are serving and giving their lives for the glory of Jesus and a love for the people of Ethiopia.

2. Spending the time with Heidi. Seeing Ethiopia, the people of Ethiopia and having our hearts united together as we do so. (Though this isn't a vacation trip, but being with my wife and having the kids at home, it might feel like a vacation).

3. Seeing the work God is doing in the Soddo area. God is using the Bowers family, New Covenant Foundation, and the Joseph Alliance in some great ways and it will be a joy to see and take part (as much as can be in a 48 hour period).

4. See Wolaitta Village begin construction (hopefully). If you want to see how God used some graduate students from Arizona State University, check out their website here. It was a joy to see God's hand behind this all and how He is using Ethiopia Studio.