Spokane Orphan Summit (April 21st in Spokane WA)

www.SpokaneOrphanSummit.com 

An upcoming Conference in Spokane for people in every walk of life who want to serve the Lord, live out James 1:27.

US Embassy Appointment Here We come!!!!

After 2 ½ years…countless stacks of paperwork, many 


days/nights of tears & trials, next week Moses Greenup will be




 in our home. His adoption complete, final, irrevocable, by all 


necessary authorities. Our son home with us! I’m Traveling this 


weekend to Ethiopia. Tears flowed freely this morning when 


we got the call that I am clear to travel for our Embassy 




appointment next week!!!






Thank you all who have stood near us, with us, encouraged us, 


supported us, cried with us, prayed with us and for us and 


for Moses! 

Courage for Weary travelers...especially for those on the road of adoption

Below is the majority of an email I wrote to some fellow travelers on the long and hard road of adoption. Hope it might encourage one or two others on the road.

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We are praying for you both!

I know this wait has been long road, filled with trials, filled with questioning and wondering at the plans and purposes of God and His ways.

I have been spending a lot of time in Hebrews 11, 12, and 13 as of late and have been so challenged by the path of faith that the Lord has called many of our Old Testament brothers and sisters to.

God is making you into great parents prior to even having the children in your home. He is refining you for His great and good purposes, to be a light of Christ in a hopeless and dark world.

I do not know what these next 2, 4, 6 months hold (let alone tomorrow) for both you or us, but there are several promises that are growing more and more dear to me in and every day this adoption process continues…

·         Hebrews 13: The sure and steady HOPE that ‘Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me’. No matter what comes, he is graciously refining me for his purposes, His glory, and in fact for my good…though often I don’t see it as my good. ‘The Lord is my Helper, I will not fear…what can man do to me’.

·         Hebrews 12: The Race of Faith – We all have great need of endurance. Life is hard, trials are many, pain is present, but we can take GREAT hope in that Jesus endured suffering, horrific hostility, crucifixion, to bring me into the household of God, as sons adopted into the Family of the Living God. And that Great Hope, the Hope of the Firm and Steady rock of Jesus Christ, propels us to offer our lives as holy and pleasing sacrifices to God…suffering with Jesus outside the camp (Hebrews 13) and bearing the reproach He endured.

·         Hebrews 11: Enduring as Seeing Him who is invisible: Moses endured the anger of the king…because he ‘saw Him who is invisible’. Sarah endured ‘considering Him FAITHFUL, who had promised’. Abraham ‘offered up his only son Isaac believing that God would raise Him from the dead’. Moses ‘wandered’ for 40 years and God equipped Him, prepared Him to lead millions of people.

(I am saying this to myself as I write it) :  Be of good courage for our hope is not in governments (they will fail), adoption agencies (they will make mistakes), timelines (they are always changing), or anything other than Our Great God who did not spare His own Son so that we might become His children. Our courage is upon the Firm Foundation, the Sure and Steady Hope, the Immovable Rock in the midst of an earth-shaking Tsunami, The One who is Unshakable, the King of Kings, the One who upholds the world by the Word of His Power, Our Great Salvation, The One who has Made Purification for sins, the One Who is Seated at the Right Hand of The Throne of God, Exact Imprint of God (God Himself) the One who Works all Things together for Good to those who Love Him, to those who are Called according to HIS Purposes, the One who blood has given us access to the Throne of Grace, The One who is Faithful to the End, The One whom Death Could Not Hold, the One who is the Christ, JESUS.

A plea to our Great God

O God, let us remain steadfast under your Great and Precious Promises, let us hold closely to the only firm foundation available, Jesus and His work on the Cross, let us continue to RUN the race, fixing our eyes on You, the author and perfecter of our Faith, let us continue to live as seeing Him who is invisible, let us live for the world to come, let us be found faithful. Equip us O God for everything we need for life and godliness, for every good work You have called us to. For Your Name to be magnified.

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Here is a strengthening blog post from some friends of our who are also adopting from Ethiopia, on the topic of waiting on God.

Meeting Moses for the 1st time

Here is a quick 1 minute video of 1st day meeting Moses while in Ethiopia. He is a sweet little guy and had a few smiles, lots of yawns, and a little crying. Looking forward to going back in a bit to bring him home for good.

Introducing our son Moses Greenup

We heard from our caseworker today that our court date did in fact go through. Moses is now officially our son. (We now wait for the US embassy to do their thing...so probably 8 to 10 weeks before we get to bring him home).

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These are some of the pictures we received from October through December. 

                                     

This smile so encouraged our hearts during the months of waiting

This picture gets me teary eyed every time I look at it. I just see him reaching out his hand and long to be there, hold him, care for him, serve him, and bring him home.

Meeting Moses...

It all happened so quickly.

We got to Acacia Village and 2 minutes later we were walking up the 2 flights of stairs onto a open outside balcony in the shade. There were 4 other families present and 3 seconds later the nannies handed each of our children to us. I was busy catching video and photos while Heidi held our son for the first time.

We got about 2 hours with Moses and got to nursery, talk to the nannies and talk to the nurse.

Time passed too quickly. It was so good to focus on our son and we will always remember day 1 of our time with our son.

Seeing the other families hold and care for their children was also a wonderful gift. So much time and energy has preceded these moments and it was a joy to share this life-changing experience with them.

We are headed back there this morning for some more time with our son. He is a little guy. He has definitely improved since the first pictures we received of him back on October 1st...so we were thrilled and overjoyed about that.

We were able to give him a bottle while we were there and he drank a full 7 oz. of formula. They don't have him started on any solid foods as of yet...but my guess is that will occur shortly.

Today is Thursday and then tomorrow is our court date.

I slept in longer this morning...4 am instead of 2 am.

My heart and understanding is continually reminded of the great love to which the love of the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God, adopted as his children and heirs of the Living God.

'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.

Change of Plans movie...tonight on Fox

I have heard about this from several people and if we are around tonight, we'll probably try and watch it. Lisa Qualls gave a helpful review of the movie and her thoughts if you like to read it.

Please Pray - Paperwork Chase and Authentication

Ethiopian adoption procedure is always changing in one way or another.

We found out from our agency this week that any document over 2 years old within the Dossier needs to be updated before the Ethiopian gov't will hear our adoption case, which is set for the 28th of January.

 Because we began our adoption paperwork in December of 2008, several of the documents are out of date and we have to scramble to get them ASAP. So please pray for us as we pray and work hard to get all the documents in and timely.

 This is a big deal for several reasons, but especially because we have already spent $3,030 in purchasing our tickets.

* My heart really is at peace (though working hard at getting this all cleared up and taken care of)...that is a gift from the Lord. Although we have already booked tickets, etc. we know the Lord purposefully does that which will cause us to depend and trust Him completely.

Ways to pray
* Pray that we are able to get all the documents in a timely manner (Updated Home Study, Reference Letters, Medical Physicals, Police Clearance Letters)
* The WA Secretary of State is quick and efficient and sends back our documents quickly.
* Our Courier service in D.C. is able to work efficiently in getting our new forms and paperwork to the Department of State and then to the Ethiopian Embassy...stamped and approved, then to our Agency who will then send it to Ethiopia for it to be translated in a timely manner, so all the documents can be to the MOWA (Ministry of Woman's Affairs) 2 weeks prior to our court date.
* This all really needs to happen within the next 2 weeks, which gives us more reason to see the gracious hand of God in all of this because it is the holiday season and who knows if any of these people/organizations will be working between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Susan Parr Travel

When we traveled to Ethiopia for the completion of our adoption of Ezra a few years ago, we used Susan Parr Travel to arrange our flights and travel. One of their specialties is coordinating travel arrangements for adoptive families.

In a day in age when travel agencies have nearly gone out of existence because of the ease of coordination of flights, hotels, etc. due to the internet...Susan Parr Travel is a shining example of a great business that has bucked the economic curve and has found a way to stay in business and thrive as a travel agency.

The first call I made after we confirmed our adoption court date with our adoption agency, was to Susan Parr Travel. I was quickly connected to a Adoption Travel Consultant who within a few hours had sent me several options for travel via the different airlines.

She kept in great communication and I was notified about a special that was going to be ending soon. Due to their promptness, they intuitiveness and alertness to all the scheduling of flights and available deals and specials, she not only arranged our flights but saved us about $250 per ticket for acting quickly and not delaying important decisions (which I have a bad habit of doing).

Three days later I received our tickets in the mail, other helpful information about preparation for travel, FAQ's, and a nice folder to keep our tickets and passports in.

So, if you are taking a trip and want someone to assist you in a professional manner, consider Susan Parr Travel.

If you are traveling is related to issues with adoption, court dates, embassy dates, etc... SUSAN PARR TRAVEL is such an asset, such a service, such a blessing to many families, especially ours.

Also, Kathy Carver was our representative. She put up with my countless phone calls and emails and was always eager to be of help to us and the important decisions we needed to make.

She even answered one of my emails at 11:30 pm. Crazy!

From the first person we talked to on the phone, through our final flight reservations, everyone at this company has been extremely helpful, professional and wonderful!!!

Here is the link to the Susan Parr Facebook page.

First meeting with an Attachment Therapist

*I write this down because I think there are others out there who are wrestling with similar issues in the adoption/foster care world, and this will be a bigger and bigger issue as more and more adoptions occur. By no means am I offering counsel, just recounting some of our process and what we are working through. It serves as a means of clarifying my thoughts also. We are very much at the beginning of this. 

Today we had our first meeting with an attachment therapist. We had no clue what to expect. We'd be lying to say that we weren't a bit nervous. What should we expect? What is normal? Is he going to act like 'normal' and show no signs of any issues? Are we just being over-sensitive and making all this stuff up?

So we get into the house and get comfortable. Instantly the kids (yes, we brought all of them) wanted to play with all of the toys she had, but first she wanted to get to know us a little bit and ask us a few questions. 

(I am briefly summarizing a 2 hour session). She was very warm, gracious, kind and helpful. 

Hannah: 'Ezra, could you tell me about your mom and dad? Tell me one thing about your mom?'

Ezra: 'Well, she lets me help her do the dishes'. 

Hannah: Great. Thank you for answering the question. High Five! Hugs for daddy and mommy.

 Now could you tell me about your dad? What does your dad do for work?

Ezra: "Well, he does the dishes." (Which I do try and do, but not for work.)

Hannah: 'Ezra, I want you to tell me what you dad does for work'.

Ezra: 'He leaves the house'. 

For the next 35 minutes, Ezra says different things and is trying to maintain control. He gets so frustrated with the process that he starts crying and goes and sits in mommy's lap and is held by her (which is a good thing). Hannah then trys to move onto a different question and come back to the 'What does daddy do for work' question.  We were greatly encouraged that Ezra went into Heidi's arms to be held by her (that is a good thing).

So Ezra stands up and looks at Hannah in the eyes and she asks...

Hannah: 'Ezra, what color are my eyes?'

Ezra: 'Purple'. 

Hannah: 'Ezra, I am sorry, my eyes are not purple.' (As a four year old, he knows his colors).

This goes on for another 10 to 15 minutes. 

Hannah: 'Ezra are you ready to answer the question.'

Ezra: 'Yes.'

Hannah: 'Ok, what color are my eyes?'

Ezra: 'Black'.

Hannah: 'Sorry Ezra, that is not right'.

* It is very easy to see that Ezra is trying to maintain control here and do things on his own terms and not on Hannah's terms. 

Daddy's Thought and Question:

About half way through this, I jump into the conversation. Heidi, we don't talk a lot about what I do for work, do you think this is something Ezra knows and knows how to communicate? 

Hannah: 'Possibly, but the fact that Ezra hasn't tried to answer correctly is something I want to pursue a bit further. It isn't that the answer has to be perfect, it just needs to be on topic and somewhat specific.' (As opposed to 'daddy washes dishes for work' or 'he just leaves the house'.

In Daddy's mind: (Maybe he is getting confused, maybe the questions should be asked in a different way.) Reality Check: These are really simple questions to ask/answer.

After doing some strong sitting, sitting on mom's lap and seeing her sister play with Superman and other toys, he says he is ready to answer.

Hannah: 'Ok Ezra, what does your daddy do for work?'

Ezra:  MY DADDY WORKS ON HIS COMPUTER AND SELLS HOUSES. 

(Word for word from his mouth. We had given him no further information since the beginning of our time. He is a very smart boy!)

Everyone: At this point we congratulate him, give huge hugs, big high-fives, and kisses, and communicate with him that we are super excited for him to tell the truth.

After answering that correctly, it took another 30 minutes to answer her second question correctly.

Hannah: 'Ezra, what color are my eyes?'

Ezra: 'Your eyes are blue'. 

Everyone Again: At this point we congratulate him, give huge hugs, big high-fives, and kisses, and communicate with him that we are super excited for him to tell the truth. 

Over the course of the hour and fifteen minutes of this, there were simply 2 questions Hannah focused upon because they were trigger points for Ezra.

1) What does your daddy do for work?

2) What color are my eyes?

You might be thinking: Wow, you went and spent 2 hours with someone just to answer those 2 questions. No...those questions and his answers reveal some deeper attachment issues. Why lie over the course of 20 times about what your daddy does for work and what color someone's eyes are? Maintain and keep control for the purpose of a safety mechanism. 

What is next?

- Time of thanksgiving to the Lord for our son. We cherish that God has graciously gifted our family with Ezra and soon Musse. 

- We are going to listen to and read Taming the Tiger while its still a Kitten. There are a lot of practical helps in working with children on helping them attach and gives us plenty of things to work on with Ezra over the course of the next few months. 

- Work on some of the things Ezra missed in his first year of life that he needs now. Additional holding, loving touch, looking into eyes, etc. You might think this is weird, but there are so many things that occur in that first year of life that we need to take a step back and work on with Ezra. 

- Ezra needs to know (the experiential know) that daddy and mommy know what is best and he doesn't need to try to maintain control. Helping him learn to TRUST us is essential. 

Other Thoughts:

- It isn't that we are trusting 'therapy' to change his heart and cause him to be born again, that is a gracious gift from the Lord, and only by the Lord. 

- Ezra is such a blessing and joy to our family and is full of smiles, joy and encouragement...but he is also hurting and needs help and does try to control and 'lead' as a means of coping. 

- If your child had a broken thumb and needed surgery and repairing, you would get physical therapy for him, right? The hardest part about attachment issues is that when brain development gets involved causes and treatments get a bit more tricky. There is no one unified voice, especially biblical voice, that addresses the issue the way physical therapists would respond to a broken thumb and what to do to get it back to functioning normally. 

If this post has been unclear, please comment and ask questions so I can clarify it.

P.S. A few posts I am going to do before we leave for Ethiopia are going to be focused upon 'What we learned from parenting an adopted child the first time around & what we are going to do different our 2nd time around.'

World AIDS Day

Russell Moore has some thoughtful reflections on World AIDS Day. You know you need to read it when you read in the first paragraph that JESUS HAS AIDS. Read it.


Here is a video done by CBS about the Twietmeyer family who started Project HOPEFUL and have adopted several kids from Ethiopia, and a few who have HIV. You can read their God-wrought story HERE. At least, watch their video...I learned a lot in 3 minutes.


Lisa Qualls is another blogger who has a lot to say regarding adoption & AIDS and her blog is always worth reading. She gives 5 specific ways you can help on World AIDS Day. She is also very active at From HIV to Home.

We got our Court Date - January 28th

We got our court date today. We will now be making flight arrangements and other accommodations for our trip in the last week of January!!!!!!

Adoption is the Gospel

Below is a great Adoption video I found via the Orphan Sunday website.

The aspect of this video I love the most...

Adoption isn't about 147 million orphans...

Adoption isn't about Poverty...

Adoption is the GOSPEL.

Orphan Sunday 2010 from Matthew Wilson on Vimeo.

'His Purposes are Right and Will Stand'...especially during suffering

Below is a wonderful video a family who is spreading the love of Christ in the midst of cancer, foster care, adoption. Let this be an encouragement and know that what the Lord is teaching you in these moments of life He has purpose for His glory in them.



The Watters' Story from Children Desiring God on Vimeo.


Desiring God is hands down one of my favorite ministries. God exalting, Christ-centered, and full of great resources.

Adoption Update, Waiting on the Lord for a Court Date and Ezra praying

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted.

We don't really have any new information about the progress of our adoption as we wait for application for a court hearing.

We talked to our case worker yesterday and this week's rounds of court application appointments occurred, but our case was not one that was heard.

Each Wednesday new courts appointments are given, so we'll have to wait until next week to see if our case will be on schedule.

Crazy thing is that the latest court appointments were for January 21st, 2011. So even if we did get a court appointment next week, the actual court date and traveling to Ethiopia wouldn't be until at least the last week of January and maybe even February.

How to pray for us & Musse
1. Please pray that with us that we will get a court appointment soon. Our heart is so desirous to get over there and see, hold, touch, care for, nurture, feed, smile with, our son.
2. Please pray that our hearts will remain hopeful in the times of waiting. Without a doubt the Lord has magnificent purposes in seasons of waiting and we want to trust Him completely.
3.  We got some updated pictures and what a joy to get those...it is like Christmas getting new pictures, especially ones where he is smiling. Quickly brought me to tears of joy and of longing to be in Ethiopia to hold my son, but pictures are a huge blessing.


It has been such a joy to see Ezra and Olivia begin to pray for Musse on a daily basis. Ezra really has taken this seriously and prays for him on a daily basis without any initiation on our part. He usually prays as follows,

 'Dear Lord, please be with Moses Hudson today. Please help him have someone who will give him something to eat and will watch out for him until we can come and get him. Help us be able to go get him soon.'

A story of God's provision

I read the story below via the AbbaFund Blog.

Wonderful!!!!

So I just wanted to share some super exciting and overwhelming news… My husband has been working part time as the pastor of our church for the past year, and also working for the postal service. He finally left the post office and went full time with our church last week. Well, this past Sunday, they called us up to the front to give him a card and express their appreciation for him (evidently October was pastor appreciation month). So we came up, and one of our elders gave him the card and told him to open it then. So he opened it up, and inside was a little certificate that said:

“Just as your adoption into the family of Christ has been fully paid, so also has the adoption of your daughter been fully paid.”

And there was a big “$11,500.00″ written on it. Which is the amount that we still needed to save to cover our remaining costs. And then after we read it, the whole church stood and started clapping!

WOW!! I have no words for how shocked and how thankful and how amazed we were/are. It’s insane. I can’t even express. Our church is NOT big. We have around 50 members, and about 100 total regular attenders. We have no idea where the money even came from… except that it came from God!

I just wanted to share this, because it’s so awesome and we are so thankful and I hope that it will encourage someone. We had no idea where we were going to come up with the money for this adoption when we started… but we never worried about it. We always knew that God would provide. We just didn’t know He would provide such a large sum at one time, haha! He is so good and so faithful! Praise God!

Liv
ethiopiansisty.blogspot.com

Go San Francisco Giants - Jeremy Affeldt dealing with Adversity

Meet Jeremy Affeldt. Relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Local Spokanite also. As impressive as pitching at the pro level or on a World Series team is to everyone, learning to trust the Lord and depend on Him in trials and adversity is far more impressive...if you ask me.

The video below is Jeremy sharing what God has taught him while He was on the Disabled List. Great testimony of God's graciousness and Fatherly Love.

Go Jer! Go Giants!!!




(HT: Jeremy's Blog)

Do Orphans need Saving?

This is a very important read regarding adoption, orphan care, etc.

http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2010/10/do-orphans-need-saving.html

Our Adoption Referral

A little Background
On the morning of October 1st, 2010, we were sitting down for breakfast and I leaned over to Heidi and asked, 'I wonder when our agency is going to call us? Maybe our specifications for a child are too narrow (boy, under 6 months old)? Heidi graciously replied, 'Dustin, the Lord knows the situation and His timing is perfect.'

October 1st was also Heidi's birthday!!! This was a great birthday gift!

I was headed out to leave for work and she had picked up her phone and realized that she had a voicemail from our adoption agency caseworker....which we know only means 1 thing...a referral.

Heidi talked with our caseworker and sure enough, it was referral day!

His current name on the paperwork: 'Musse Unknown' (When there is the word 'unknown', it means that there is no record of the father and mother. Very similar to Ezra's story, a police officer came across 'Musse' and brought him to the orphanage. He was 5 days old when the officer found him and directly came into the orphanage. He was/is extremely malnourished and in need of good care quickly. Before Musse would be available for referral, he needed to be at the orphanage in the village/town for 2 months, in case anyone in the area claimed him as their son or relative in any way. So, in mid-September, Musse was legally/officially ready to be adopted.

What does the name Musse mean???
The name if pronounced "MooSAY" and the English equivalent to 'Moses'.

Some might think he was 'abandoned' but if you are unfamiliar with the vast poverty, famine, etc. you will realize that he was really being set free for an opportunity for life and survival. The mother of Moses in the Bible loved him without a shadow of a doubt, but knew his life was in extreme danger if she didn't act and do something. In the same way, this biological mother, who we will never meet in this life, did so for Musse.

The Lord has answered countless prayers thus far and we look forward to continuing to see him answer many prayers.

What is the next step?
Our agency applies for a court date and then we travel. Hard to say exactly when that will be...but probably sometime in December or early January.

Can you put some pictures online?
We cannot until Musse is legally our son. Sorry.

It is October 13th and you got the referral on October 1st...why so long in sharing information?
Our agency STRONGLY encourages all adoptive families to take photos, medical information, etc. to a pediatrician or a pediatrician specializing in adoption situations. So we did that and felt it was important to wait until all that information was taken care of prior to broadcasting it across the world via our blog.

Do you have questions?
We know there are those out there that are considering adoption, are in process and confused, or have a host of other questions. No guarantee we'd be able to answer them, but we'll provide an open ear if that is what you need. Feel free to go to the Contact Us page if desired.