Fellowship in Soddo, Ethiopia

On the Sunday evening of our trip to Soddo, Ethiopia...we gathered with the other believers for a time of worship and fellowship. 

That night I was very thankful for technology. There were about 16 of us gathered together and one of the gals loaded up her Ipod and started playing some worship music we could sing together. Salty tears welled in my eyes and puddled in my lap before the 1st song was over. Corporate worship is such a treasure. Worshiping with our fellow brothers and sisters who were on the mission field. The majority of these people were serving at the Soddo Christian Hospital, either on a short-term basis (a few months) or a longer term basis (few years). 

The majority of this group was nurses, surgeons, and others in the medical related fields. Being part businessman, I am quickly calculating the income that this group of people could have been making had their time been solely in the States. Collectively these people could be making several millions of dollars each year. Yet, they had taken up the call to GO, to be workers in the field. 

After we spent some time singing together the group there had been watching David Platt's dvd series on Galatians. This was wonderful for several reasons.

1. It was great to hear that the Church at Brook Hills was generous enough to send them their video's and series as a source of encouragement and edification to these servants of the Lord serving in Soddo.

2. One of the other couples who were in Addis the same time we were for the adoption court hearing was from the Church at Brook Hills. I know they will be overjoyed to hear about this connection.

3. David Platt's sermon was on the end of chapter 3 of Galatians and the beginning of chapter 4, which is completely about God adopting His children.

It was extremely timely and God used this as a great source of encouragement for us. We then prayed and had a filling time of worship in fellowship, song and the Word proclaimed. 

Most of these people we only had a few hours with, but it was such a pleasure to see their joy in the Lord, their thankfulness to be a part of God's work in Soddo, and hearts desiring to love the Lord and those the Lord sovereignly put into their care each and every day.

We are back

Well, first night back I got a great night sleep and the next day had no issues of jet lag, so I thought it wasn't going to affect me. Well, it is 1:40 am and I am wide awake. We will see what today holds.

The travel back to Spokane is kind of a blur, but we are so thankful to be back, and were overjoyed to see Ezra, Olivia and Camille at the airport waiting for us, hounding us and bear hugging us as we came out of the gate. 10 days was a long time to be gone from the kiddo's...but we tried as hard as we could to shepherd their little hearts in understanding what we were doing in Ethiopia and why we were doing it.

There is so much to say and write about, especially regarding our 4 day trip to southern Ethiopia. Between intestinal bugs, time with the kids, and getting back into the grind of real estate, I haven't really had time to write much, so over the course of the next few weeks, I will try to do so.

Update (Learning to wait upon Lord's timing)

(From Heidi)

Hello all,

       Finally got some interent connection but I don't know how long it will last.  We wanted to update you to give you the info we know at this time.

     When we went to court yesterday, the judge gave her consent which is good and means we dont' have to return.  However, MOWA had not gotten their letter of approval to the judge in time so they couldn't put all our papers together and stamp it 'done'.  That would have completed it and said that Moses was legally ours and that we could apply for an embassy date.  Since the paper was not there, hopefully it should come that day or the next week.  For some reason we had to apply for another court date and they woudln't be able to put all the documents together and stamp it done until Feb 21st.    Needless to say, we were very discouraged because now we cannot even apply for an embassy date until after Feb. 21st making it about a month later than we had thought.  We did get to go back to the orphanage yestereday after court and spent about 2 hours with Moses.  I cried on the way out knowing it might be 2-3 months before getting to see him again.  We came home and read James 1 again and poured out our hearts to the Lord, asking for help to trust in his timing and not ours.  

      It is good that we leave for Soddo today as it will keep our minds preoccupied.  And it will be nice to get out of the city.  I'm finally doing better with my blood pressure.  The high altitude is still effecting me quite a bit, but it could be the pollution too.  Yesterday we went to the markets and found Ezra's hair cream.  We bought 9 jars so it will last us a long time.:)     

      Thank you for all the prayers- we are needing them especially as of late.  Our hearts are a bit heavy but we want to be an encouragement to the Bowers in Soddo so we're praying for strength and faith in the Lord to beleive that He can still work miracles.  We love you all and miss you,

God bless,

Heidi 

(From Dustin)

Hello all, 

  As you might have seen from our facebook post, court hearing went ok...but not exactly what we were expecting. We now have to wait 3 weeks until the Ministry of Women's Affairs updates 1 document and the judge reviews the case. They assure us this is just a 'non-issue' but it delays Moses becoming our son by 3 weeks...so likely won't be coming back to Ethiopia until April sometime. Hardest part is the journey of waiting. 3 of the 6 families got their court appointment approved, which we are thankful for...though it was hard not to be one of the 3.

Heidi and I had some serious tears yesterday, but James 1:2-4 and the whole chapter was where the Lord brought us. We are thankful to Him that He desires that our hope be sure in Him, and that our joy would be in Him and not in circumstance.

We have much to be thankful for and are continually forced to set our mind on giving thanks in all circumstances. Pray that we would set our minds on God, His Faithfulness, and that His timing in perfect in all things.

It has been a priceless treasure to spend time with Moses each day, hold him, smile with him. Without a doubt a piece (big piece) of our heart will be stay here with him while we are back in the States. 

We are headed to Soddo (Southern Ethiopia) this morning and will be there through Tuesday morning. This is the time we'll be spending with a few missionary families. Pray that we'd be a great source of encouragement and help in whatever ways possible.

We had people praying that God might allow for the Embassy appointment to occur before we left, but our Good and Gracious Father has seen fit to receive glory in testing our faith to make sure our hope is not in our timing and circumstances, but in His. Waiting is very hard...but it refines our heart and soul far more than if everything went smoothly like we were hoping. 

Pray Hebrews 11 and 12 for us...that we would consider Jesus, keep running toward & with Him, and our love and affection would be set on Him!!! 

Love you all,

Dustin and Heidi and family

We got to talk to the other kids this morning. Such a joy to hear their voices and good to see them helping and loving each other and encouraging one another when daddy and mommy are gone. 

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.

Hello from Ethiopia

Internet access is pretty limited here, but we'll try to update as much as possible. I highly doubt pictures will be available for upload until I get back to the states. 

Monday was our first full day and arrived early in the morning in Addis and then just kind of existed until dinner time. 

We had a wonderful dinner with 7 other adoptive families. 

We are headed to see our son in a few hours. 

Love you all,

Dustin and Heidi

Happy Birthday our little bundle of joy...Camille Faith Greenup 1 year old!!!

So peaceful...the early days

Our youngest turns 1 year old today. (At least she is our youngest for another week).

Camille,
 You have been such a blessing a joy to us this past year.

God has exceedingly blessed us with each and every day we have had with you. Your mom prayed that you would be a cuddler and you have exceeded any expectation.

Your beautiful dark hair surprised us from the second I saw you, especially those very first few seconds.

Big beautiful Smile

You have taken your first steps this past week and weigh nearly as much as your sister who is almost 2 years older than you. (just kidding, but you are getting closer)

You have won the affection of your big brother (even though he bites your hand once in a while).

You love it when your daddy flips you and makes you giggle.

You can scream really loud, especially when we get ready to put you to bed. :)

Ezra showing her the ropes with Buzz Lightyear

There are bets that you are going to be the first of our children who will pass out because of your little will being NOT so little.

You have your front two 'lower' front teeth and the front two 'uppers'

Here's a post from when you were 10 days old.

Happy Birthday my dear Daughter!!!!

                                            

                                    Aunt Julie and Camille Smiling

Camille with Papa & Nana Sawatzky and Cousin Daniel (almost the same age)

Camille with her beautiful mother

Ezra reading to Camille

We love you our little beautiful!!!

Moses or Hudson...what will we name our son???

For the longest time, we thought we were going to name our son Hudson. This is a special name for Heidi and I, and used this great biography of Hudson Taylor, It Is Not Death to Die, to actually spark our relationship together.

When I first read this book (back in my college days), it was while I was in Venezuela for 3 months serving alongside some missionaries. This book was one of my closest companions during those 3 months.

That next year, Heidi (who I barely knew), was headed to Zambia for a short-term (4 week) trip to serve alongside a long-time missionary nurse from our church. Before she left, I gave her this biography of Hudson Taylor to read and take with her.

We weren't even dating at this point in our relationship. A beautiful story made short, she came back from Zambia and God quickly knit our hearts together and we were dating, engaged and married in less than a year.

Hudson became a very special name for us and thought we'd be naming our next son Hudson...UNTIL we actually got the referral this past October 1st!

When we got the call on October 1st, 2011 about a few month old boy, who was found by police alone in a street without any parents or relatives and brought to the orphanage at a very young age, who the care workers named 'Musse', which in English is Moses, we knew that that name fit him and be a part of his heritage and life.

Our son will be named Moses and we pray that God would use him in miraculous ways to testify of the greatness and power of God. God has already used our little boy to teach us about the love and care of Our Father and are so expectant and looking forward to having him in our arms as our son.

If you have followed this blog since the inception, you'll know that a lot of our earlier posts mentioned Hudson...so I want to clarify that Moses will be his name.