♥ Blessings for Betzatha ♥

My AMAZING Sister asked her son, Tanner what he wants for his birthday this year and THIS was what he suggested... 

OFFICER TANNER IS TURNING 7!!!

TANNER HAS ISSUED YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A CITATION TO ATTEND HIS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!!

DATE:  SATURDAY, JULY 23^RD    TIME:  3:30-5:00

***SPECIAL BULLETIN***

NO BIRTHDAY GIFTS PLEASE

…..INSTEAD TANNER IS COLLECTING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS TO SEND TO ETHIOPIA WHEN HIS AUNT DARCEE RETURNS TO PICK UP HIS NEW COUSIN "M".  THE ITEMS WILL BE DONATED TO AN ORPHANGE THAT HAS VERY LIMITED FUNDING AND IS IN GREAT NEED OF SUPPLIES.  WE HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN OUR HEARTS FOR THE ORPHANS IN ETHIOPIA AND WE HOPE YOU WILL COME CELEBRATE WITH TANNER!!

MOST NEEDED ITEMS FOR DONATION:

1.       DIAPERS (ANY SIZE)

2.      FORMULA (ANY SIZE, BRAND)

3.      NEW OR GENTLY USED CLOTHING (BOY OR GIRL, ALL SIZES INCLUDING INFANTS)

IF YOU WISH TO DONATE MONEY TO HELP THE ORPHANGE YOU CAN DO THAT AS WELL.   WE WILL HAVE A SUITCASE TO FILL UP FOR ALL THE UNWRAPPED DONATIONS AND A CONTAINER FOR ANY CASH DONATIONS. 

IF YOU WISH TO PURCHASE A GOAT FOR THE ORPHANGE THEY ARE $50.00 OR 1000 BIRR (ETHIOPIAN MONEY).  SOUNDS A LITTLE CRAZY, BUT THEY ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY ETHIOPIAN ORPHANGE!!!

**IF YOU AREN’T ABLE TO ATTEND BUT ARE STILL INTERESTED IN DONATING LET ME KNOW AND I CAN PICK UP YOUR DONATION**

"TOGETHER WE CAN ALL HELP OUT TO

           PROTECT AND SERVE THOSE IN NEED"

- with help from his AWESOME Mommy... For HIS birthday he raised $345.00 to purchase goats for Betzatha and received all these donations...
 

I'm convinced - THESE awesome kids and their families ARE changing the WORLD!!! :) Who has a birthday like this? Normally kids can't wait to open the next present and the next... All of Tanner's gifts went to the kids at BETZATHA!  It honestly brings me to tears!!! The selflessness of it all - is just beyond words...

SERIOUSLY!! We were just BLOWN away that a 7-year old boy would be SO passionate to help out a very needy orphanage in Ethiopia! I have the COOLEST nephew EVER! ...and I am SO thankful for the support and constant encouragement from my Sister!! ♥

What a HUGE impact this will have on these children and staff! 


A BEAUTIFUL BLESSING!


I CAN.NOT.WAIT to fill up the tubs for Betzatha and get Wass or someone to help us purchase 7 or more... GOATS to take to them! WOW!!!

I wasn't planning on taking any donations the second trip until I went to Betzatha. ...I'm gonna grab some TUBS at Wal-Mart and just start filling them up (I think I will just leave the tubs with Betzatha - flying home with little M and a bunch of tubs could be tricky :)). 

They are gonna be OVERWHELMED! They will be SO grateful for these AWESOME donations... and any others we can add to it!


If you would like to donate any formula or diapers or anything to Betzatha, you can email me at endgeneral@msn.com. 

I would LOVE to deliver them for you. ♥

Last day in ET! :( (July 13)

This is our last day in Ethiopia... Our last day to see our baby girl, till we don't know when (PRAYING it is soon)!

...We were definitely missing our girls, our bed, our lives at home... but, leaving without M!? UGH! I wish it was different, and she was coming HOME now...

Wass came and got us at 11:30 today (seemed like such a late start to the day).  Before we headed to HH we wanted to get a GROUP SHOT! :)

(Tony, Carrie, Molly, Kraig, Erik and I)

Kraig started singing...

 It seriously was an AMAZING blessing to be able to get to know these AWESOME families and to SHARE in this journey to our children together!  I am SO glad we had the opportunity to get to know them! TOTALLY gonna miss them!!!

As soon as we got to HH our little M was eating (she had a sticker on her forehead from her BIRTHDAY stash! toooooo funny!) :)  She makes me laugh... even if she is a little sassy and fussy with us... She has bonded SO well with her special mothers! I am grateful to them and the outstanding care they have been giving our little girl!

We played with M for a little bit - she was TOTALLY DIGGING Daddy! :)

 

 

We had heard a lot of M's cries and whines during our visits this last week -but when she showed us affection we just melted!! She has got such a FUN little personality! I LOVE her SMILE and her LAUGH, I LOVE how she will walk to us and just FALL DOWN on us and start laughing! 

OKAY... I JUST LOVE EVERY THING ABOUT HER!! XOX

We played with M for about an hour (she was AWESOME) - then we asked Wass to take us to Betzatha where little M spent time before she came to HH.

...On our way to Betzatha we asked Wass to stop off somewhere so that we could take some food and treats to the kids and staff there... We didn't want to visit the orphanage empty handed... We stopped one place and got a bunch of bananas, cookies and a some guava juice. ...Then we passed a bunch of goats and I asked Wass if we could take them a goat. He said, of course, we gave him 1,000 birr (approximately $50) and he got out in his Texas Cowboy boots and started looking for the biggest, fattest goat he could find. :) We got out to take a few pictures and some of the men were shouting at us not to... They wanted to receive payment if we were gonna be like crazy tourists and take pictures... they kept yelling until they learned from Wass we were purchasing a goat, that he was looking for. :)  Wass examined a bunch of goats and found one he liked... Then they walked it to the van and loaded him in! :)

...We listened to him in the back all the way to Betzatha. :) I was EXCITED to be able to take something to them - that I was sure they could use.  In fact, Wass said that this 1 goat will feed all 46 children (that are there right now) one meal. That's it... just 1 meal. We shoulda got more goats! :)

(Me and 'Dinner' for kids at Betzatha) ♥

We took a 'tour' of the orphanage... and It was SAD. I was sad to see that their needs are SO HUGE... I was sad that I didn't bring some of the donations with us here, to this orphanage.  The orphanage does NOT receive the funding the way Hannah's Hope does.  Hannah's Hope is run more like a business (a good business, a transition home, where we are paying for the staff and for the needs of our child while they are there - and they are being cared for beautifully).  But, then there are THESE orphanages... where little M came from first.  THESE orphanages need more donations, they need help from Westerners or Foreigners, like us.  Their BIGGEST needs were FORMULA and DIAPERS. They showed us what they use for diapers and it is like a soft piece of paper... REALLY! 

Here are some of the adorable children that were there and the MASSIVE amounts of laundry that they do EVERYDAY...

Seriously, it broke our hearts to see the difference between the two orphanages... I asked the administrator if she gets a LOT of donations from HH... and she shook her head... :( 

...We headed back to HH to spend the last HOUR with our little girl!

 

 

 

Oooooh She was THE sweeeeeeeetest!!! She was walking and laughing and just being silly! I think her VERY special mothers were really helping us ALL to have the BEST last few minutes with her before we go home and wait till we can come back and get her FOREVER... I loved every single second... until Wass came in the room and told us it was time to go...

We both gave little M a BIG hug (in HOPES that I will be back in NO time to bring her HOME)!!  ...and we started missing her desperately the second our backs turned and headed out the door! :(

John 14:18

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."

♥ Celebrating Little M's FIRST Birthday!! ♥ (July 12th Cont'd)

መልከም ልደት (melekame lidete)

Heading to HH I was SOOOO Excited! I just couldn't wait to wish M a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ONE YEAR! ...and we are HERE to celebrate with her!! OH, I was thrilled... that we will not have missed ONE of her birthdays! PRAISE GOD!

...We had packed all kinds of things in Erik's backpack to make a BIG OLE birthday party for her. (Minus the cupcakes - I had planned on baking for her at the hotel or at HH - but with ALL of the AMAZING amount of donations we were able to bring - I just didn't have the room - No biggie... we will make her LOTS of cupcakes when she is HOME!!! :)) ...We DID have beads, horns, stickers, candy, gerber treats, silly bands, and my dear friend Linda got the CUTEST little "1" crown and a shirt that said, 'I'm the BIRTHDAY girl!' TOTALLY ADORABLE!!!!

When we got to HH they were just getting M out of her bath and dressing her! PERFECT! I handed her Special Momma's her new shirt and crown and told them TODAY is her BIRTHDAY!!!! It INSTANTLY became a party!!!  I don't think little M knew what to think about everything! ha ha! With all the noise makers and those FUN ones you blow and the paper uncurls (I forget what those are called)! But, the Special Mothers LOVED blowing them right at M! :)

M would fill the bags with beads (she likes to put stuff in things)! I think she is ONE smart little cookie!! :)

 

 We all put stickers all over our faces and all the babies faces, we put beads on and Wass came upstairs and brought us a CD that played, "Happy Birthday!" I think we listened to it 20 times!!! SINGING to M!! AAAAH! It was AWESOME!!!  ...I don't think you could even see the floor with all the stickers, bags, beads, horns etc... all over! ...Special Momma's would bring in more babies so M had a LOT of her buddies at her PARTY!!!

M would walk from Me, to Special Momma, to Erik to Special Momma! :) She is SUCH a good little WALKER! :) WOW!

It was a GRRRRRRRRREAT Time! Singing, laughing and playing! 

I LOVE HER!!!

 
Wass came back in and told us it was time to go... We gave our BIRTHDAY girl a quick hug! Wished her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and told her we'd see her tomorrow.

I left all the candy for the Special Mother's to share and I gave the silly bands to Molly to give to her son to share with the older kiddos... (didn't want any choking hazards in our little ones room) :)

SO SO SO glad we were here for her TODAY! HER VERY FIRST BIRTHDAY!

♥ Happy Birthday M - We LOVE you SO much!! ♥ 

Court, Shopping and Lunch... (July 12)

Tuesday July 12, 2011 (Court Day)

8:30a.m.
Family will be picket up by Dan and head to the court directly.

After the court, head for lunch at Mekush, an italian restaurant and then shopping. This is the only shopping trip we can arrange for you, please plan making all of your purchases. After shopping you will be brought back to your hotel.

2:00 p.m. After rest come to HH for brief visit with your kids.

4:00 p.m. Be brough back to your hotel by Dan for the DAY.

We got an earlier start this morning for sure... got our breakfast buffet and coffee and before we knew it Dan had arrived to take us all to court.  We all dressed up REALLY nice, skirts, suits, etc... Everyone looked awesome! :) (But, if I was to re-dress for this day - I don't think I would have worn a skirt... We did soooooo much running around and it would have been nice to feel a little more comfortable.)

We drove to the courthouse - it was a ways away.  Once we got there we went into a BIG OPEN room full of LOTS of people.  You could pick out the ones waiting to go to court about their adoption and you could also see the ones there, with potential witnesses relinquishing their children.  

It was a very strange feeling... 

I was SO ready to get in there and see the judge and hear a Major MIRACLE that our MOWA letter was there... After waiting for about an hour, our three families got called in... At first glance around the room there were folders and paper EVERYWHERE! You couldn't even see out of one window because it was stacked so high with folders and papers.  I thought to myself, 'how in the world do they possibly keep all of this stuff straight?' ...then I took a look at our judge. She looked like she was 16, she didn't have a mallet or anything (like you would expect an American Judge to have)...  instead she was wearing a Smirnoff T- Shirt (Yep, a Vodka T-Shirt - OH MY!) and was completely and totally laid back in her chair. It certainly wasn't what I had expected.

She asked ALL families at the same time:

Do we have other children?

Biological or adopted?

Do they know about this adoption?

Are they okay with it?

Are we prepared with issues like the color of their skin?

Have you experienced any Ethiopian culture?

Have you seen your children?

Do you want to proceed?

All of us answered YES to everything except that we do not have adopted children at home.

....That's when she told us ALL of our paperwork is in order and the only thing we are waiting for is.....   yep, she broke the bummer news that none of us had a MOWA letter.  That they are behind and we should expect to see one in about 20 working days.  Oh I AM PRAYING those days speeeeeeeeeeeed by and we have a court decree to pass on to the U.S. Embassy ASAP!  

After she said those final words - we all kind of looked at each other, like is that it?? (...maybe hoping she would surprise us and pull 3 MOWA letters off her desk full of crazzzzzzzzzy paper clutter) :)

...a little disappointed we all left the courthouse, snapped a few pictures outside, talked to a little shoe shine boy and gave him some birr... and headed out to do some speed shopping... On the way to where we would be shopping we actually passed the MOWA office!!! Oooooooh it would have been SO AWESOME if we could have just stopped in  and asked real nicely if they could write up, or locate those letters... we could even type it out for them and hand deliver it - where ever it needed to go! :) (okay, maybe that wouldn't have been too well received - but I have to say the thoughts went through my head as we passed MOWA! :))

Dan dropped us off right in front of a store I think he wanted us to do most of our shopping there, maybe they have a little agreement or something... we noticed the prices were much higher... we went next door and Carrie and I bought a beautiful coffee set for like 150 birr... LOVED IT! We also picked up a little wooden stool and a really cool ball for little M.  We got some beautiful crosses, Erik got a knife, and I got a few scarfs and purses for gifts and a pretty silver necklace for me... It was FUN... I wish we would have had more time... I'm kind of a pokey shopper! :)

 Our next stop was LUNCH! MMMM MMMM! We were hungry! We stopped at Makush Itialian Restaurant.  The art was BEAUTIFUL there - I saw a LOT of paintings I would have LOVED to have purchased... the food was amazing and the company ROCKED!!! LOVE these families... and Dan was sweet too! :)  We got ready to leave and had to hold up a tad since Dan locked his keys in the van  :) - He made a call to Wass and he was on his way to the rescue to open up the van so we could head to HH to see our little girl... :)

OUR LITTLE BIRTHDAY GIRL....

♥ Couldn't wait to celebrate her 1st BIRTHDAY with her... ♥

 (A beautiful view on our way to HH)

Orientation, Our sleepy baby, FUN walks, ET dinner! (July 11)

SCHEDULE

Monday July 11, 2011 (Orientation Day)

9:30 a.m.   

Wass will pick you up to come to HH to meet with Tsige and John for orientation and complete forms and collect visa fees. Tsige and John will answer any questions.

NB:  When you will come for orientation please make sure to bring your Passport, I-600 form and Visa fee.

12:00 p.m.   

You will be dropped back to your hotel for rest until dinner outing.

6:00 p.m.     

Be picket up from your hotel head out for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant.  This is a great time for an Ethiopian food, dancing and singing to hear and See; this is not mandatory, if too tired and want to rest this is fine.

Today... we got up bright and early, headed down for the breakfast buffet, and got all THREE 50 lb suitcases ready to take to Hannah's Hope.  These bags were FILLED FULL of LOVE from SO many AMAZING people who donated!!! ♥ THANKS YOU GUYS!!! ♥  We also grabbed the Watermelons and Onions that we had for them as well.  Kraig and Molly took the Watermelons and Onions to the older kid side - They have a darling 4-year old son who was on the waiting child list. 
(...The staff at HH cut up all the watermelon and all the kids enjoyed it that day!! SOOOOO COOL!) :)

Wass came at 9:30 (That's Wass 2nd pic below - wearing his S. Carolina T-shirt, gonna have to bring him some more SEATTLE one's) ha! ...loaded everything into the BIG BUS and we were off.  As soon as we got to HH we handed off the Donations, ran in to check on little M real quick and then went into Almaz's office for the Orientation.

 

 

 

Almaz was SWEET - after hearing SO much about her it was nice to finally MEET her - she asked why we were MIA the first few days and then filled us all in on what to expect at court and for all the days to follow - with MOWA and the U.S. Embassy....

We didn't get to spend too much time with our little girl today... and she was sleeping for most of it - but just being able to hold her and look at her was AMAZZZZZZZZING! I LOVE HER SOOOO MUCH! 

 

 

Once we got back to the Riviera - Tony, Carrie, Erik and I decided to go for a little walk up to a couple street vendors, across the street, down to the round-about and carefully trying to cross the road to get back to the Riviera (NOW that was scarrrrrrrrrry! :))  I think, pretty much, anything we did with Tony and Carrie had a little bit of adventure in it FOR SURE! ha ha! SO FUN! :)

 

Erik and Tony - chatting it up with Sissy for a sec... they told us in exactly one hour it was gonna rain - so the guys got their umbrellas and we set out for our little walk... :)

 

Tony and crossed the street to make friends with the local cows... just hanging out in the median! :)

I think Tony was a little nervous to get tooo close! ha ha! :)

"AAAAAW NICE COW!"

Pretty sure when we went back across the street we found the owner of the cows - since he asked for a little birr because we took pics with them! :)

We got to the end of the road - bought some more bananas - I think Erik and Tony paid 8 birr a kilo or something like that for them.  We didn't take pics there - it felt like there were a LOT of people looking at us, probably wondering what these crazy white people (Forengi) were doing!? :)

....Well sure enough, it started to rain... in fact, it turned into a TOTAL downpour by the end of our little excursion! :)

Erik and Tony went to check out a natural spring coming out of the ground... Wondered if it could be a source of water for anyone living near by.

Erik went in to feel the temperature - to see if it was a 'HOT SPRING!' :) ha ha! :)

It was FUN to get out and walk a little bit, look around, and just take it ALL in!  We got back to the Riviera and we were soaked and dirty! ...So, we went upstairs to get ready for dinner! :)

Wass came and got us at 6:00 and we headed out to Yod Abyssinia again. (this time in a different location) 
 

(Totally went for the BIG hair look that night! ha ha ha! OH MY!) :)

We had SUCH A FUN group of Travel Buds to hang out with!!!

 The FOOD was delicious! MMMM mmmmm!

and the ENTERTAINMENT was AWESOME! Wass got up on stage and shook his booty! He's a FANTASTIC dancer!!! IT WAS GRRRRRRRRRRREAT! Then they grabbed Shane from our group - and I'm telling ya, that guy had RHYTHM! TOO MUCH FUN!!!  

A few people in our group had the traditional coffee to end the evening. SO interesting how they prepare it and serve it.... (I think I was about ready to shut my eyeballs... :) I was definitely tired - So, I passed on the scrumptious coffee, this time.)

We TOTALLY stuffed ourselves, enjoyed each others company, the food, the entertainment, and went and dropped Tsige off at home and we were back to the Riviera! We were exhausted! It was ANOTHER good day! ♥

Our Adventures in ET (Continue... July 10)

Tony, Carrie and Erik and I decided to head out after we got back to the Riviera! SOOOOOO Glad we did!! :)  We hopped into Sissy's (Yep that's his name :)) little taxi - and headed to lunch at the Lime Tree... Jamm'n out to a little Lionel Richey on the way! (Carrie - you're a FABO singer :)) hehehe! It was TOO much FUN from the second we got in the car! :)

Here we are at the Lime Tree (I was having a TOTALLY bad hair day) :)

...This must be a PRIME spot for a lot of Americans or other Foreigners because it was the MOST amount of white people we had seen since we had been in Ethiopia. Tony and I went for the Curry and Carrie and Erik had Pizza! It was DELISH!

There was a little bookstore there and Carrie and I picked up a couple Children's Music CD's for our girls and a little book for them of words from Amharic to English! It was a GREAT stop... and the company TOTALLY ROCKED!!! :)

On the way to the National Museum we passed these HUGE bull just walking on the sidewalk - took a picture - cuz it was definitely something ya don't see everyday. :)

We went through the museum pretty quickly... Tony impressed us with his BIG words, like... Australopithecus afarensis!! (I thought for a sec he was speaking latin or something! hehehe) :) As soon as we walked down the stairs - I saw a little water puddle and couldn't resist, the kid in me came out and I made a little splash! hehehe! A couple sweet Ethiopian girls saw me and started laughing! :) ...Next thing we knew, they were following us around and giving us little bits of info about the Museum and offered to be our guide to the Lion Zoo!! :) HOW SWEEET!

We had them take this picture of all of us with Erik's HUGE camera! :)

...We followed the girls to the lion zoo... and once we got there I SERIOUSLY think it took us 30 minutes to process Erik's purchase of our two new friends tickets, a ticket for us and a ticket to take pics at the zoo... I'm pretty sure we paid double or more! ha! But... we were ready to get in there before it shut...

We were able to see this pretty lion and an Ethiopian goose... then *POOF* all the animals were being taken inside and we didn't see anything anymore! (funny when we got the tickets they didn't tell us they would be closing in 3 minutes! ha!) ...It was the quickest ZOO experience I think all of us had!

We said bye to our new friends, Marci and Sarah... Erik took a picture of Me and Carrie with them so we would remember them forever. We have seen some AMAZING things in Ethiopia - but what has made our trip truly fantastic was all of the people we were meeting along the way...

Next stop... COFFEEEEEE! :)

The guys got the traditional coffee, Carrie and I got Orange Fanta... It was so cool to watch them prepare the coffee and present it... they serve it with popcorn. (probably so you can have a little somethin' in your tummy cuz the coffee is pretty STRONG) :)

While we were at the Yod Abyssinia there was going to be a big dignitary or delegate or someone who requires VERY high security coming because it looked like the place was on lock down. When we left we saw just a TON of security guys and a lot men in suites. :) ...Then I learned that Erik had a little knife in his pocket (from his famous first aid-kit) and we had gone through security (I'm talking a pat down) at the National Museum and then again to get into Yod Abyssinia!!! HOLY SMOKES!!! I couldn't believe him... We could have ended up in an Ethiopian jail... soon to be on the Discover Channel's 'Locked up Abroad'! :) CRAZZZZZZZZZZZZY! :) ha ha ha!

Sissy scooooooped by and picked us up and not a minute too soon because after we left they were not letting anyone else in!!! WOW!  ...On the drive back to the Riviera we saw lots of security guys up on top of buildings and everything! SERIOUS STUFF!!!....

On the way home the guys decided to do a little fruit shopping at a local street vendor! :)

They purchased bananas and pineapples! TOTALLY awesome to buy YUMMY fruit from these amazing people! :)

It was a GREAT day! We had such a FUN time on our adventures with Tony and Carrie!!! SO COOOOOOL to be able to share our journey to our daughters together and to appreciate and enjoy their country and culture!!!