Isaac Temesgen's Gotcha Day

Isaac's Homecoming

My kids and my husband went to bed early, but I ventured off to the Atlanta airport to wait the arrival of Andrea and Isaac Young! There was a huge crowd of people who came to welcome them home...many people that I knew. Some of the people were old friends and some new ones who I had only met through blogs. So neat to finally meet families who I feel like I know so well.

Two bloggy friends that I was excited to meet were Kristi and Julie. Kristi is the mother of Lucy Lane who was adopted from Ethiopia. Julie is the owner of Flutterbugs and she is adopting domestically. Both of these ladies have challenged and encouraged my walk with the Lord. I was honored to finally meet them. No matter how much my husband makes fun of the "Blogosphere", the Lord is really using it in so many lives.

Here's some shots of Kristi's daughter, for all you Lucy Lane lovers! She is one precious little girl!

Kristi and Julie's kids are staying up late to see baby Isaac come home!

 
One of Andrea's friends made these great t-shirts just for today! Kelly, I'm impressed!

Andrea has been in Ethiopia for five days and just got off the plane after 48 hours of traveling...you would not know it from the pictures. She looks great and baby Isaac is adorable. Much chunkier than I had envisioned. He seems like he is adjusting quite well...he is so affectionate with her.

 

Look at this cute little face!!

I got the chance to also meet Neecie, Isaac's godmother. What a sweet lady. She was so excited about Isaac joining the family.

 Orphan no more! Isaac Young you are HOME with your forever family! God is so good! Such an amazing picture of his love for us. Isaac was alone with no one to care for him and then the Young family rescues him and gives him all the love of a mother and father...he has now become a son. A son of God can do nothing to make God stop loving him. He rescued us from ourselves and made us heirs with Christ. An heir gets full rights as sons and all that is of God. We have all the fullness of God in us through Jesus Christ. In this world we continue to act as though we are orphans, we forget we have a loving father that cares for us. We want to go our own way, but the way of sin is misery and death. God has designed us for him alone, not this world.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." John Piper

We are not truly happy unless we are satisfied in him. But in our orphan state the Lord continues to carry us and change us and mold us and show us more of him. Isaac is probably not sure where he is or who he is, but slowly and surely he will start to feel and experience this unconditional love of a mother and father. What a privilege Isaac Young has to be in such a loving family who will carry him and love him and guide him and never stop loving him. Lord help us all to know this amazing love you have for us in Christ.

A father to the fatherless...God sets the solitary in families and gives the desolate a  home. Psalm 68:5-6

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:4-7

My camera and Christ's blessings

Summer has kept us really busy around here, not sure why, but I am exhausted! But, having a lot of fun too!! I don't have many pictures to document the last several weeks, because my camera lense broke and I ordered another one from Ebay. Little did I know it was going to be sent from Hong Kong! Well it has been in the mail for a week and it's still not here! Is God trying to teach me something? Have I made my camera and recording our life an idol? Knowing me...yes! But...Christ brings hardships and trials into our life to draw us closer to him...where we truly belong...where we are truly at peace. This is such a silly thing and it has not been that hard...but still an example of my heart and where I put my hope and trust. I truly have been a little lost without my camera. Realizing that even breaking my camera is part of God's will helps me to know he is after my good and redeeming me and wants me to have true fellowship with him. As my dad always says, "He is faithful to bring hardships into our lives." How can we say he is faithful to allow something bad to happen? Our God knows we will not look to him for life, unless we want less of this world. So yes, he is faithful to bring trials and tribulation for our good! And, this is a BLESSING! Yes, I am saying that breaking my camera was a blessing! Strange, Huh? But something to think about?

Talking about Christ's blessings...On Thursday, we hopped on over to my friend Andrea's house to help take care of her kids while she makes crib bedding for Maury's first baby that is due in August. Maury is a mutual friend that I know from church, but she happens to be Andrea's cousin. Such a small world!! So I thought, what a great way to help Andrea get out of town, get to know Maury better, and let our kids play together. It was a win win situation for everyone! While we were there, Andrea snapped some really cute shots of the kids and I so appreciate these...since I have not recorded their life in the month of June! Yes, God provides and gives us little blessings in our hardships too!

Sweet little Frank wants to be just like big brother Parker and his friend Henry sporting their Africa shirts...

Spiderman Henry, Batman Parker, and Princess Laney all ready to 'play super heroes save the princess from the dragon!'

 

The super heroes needed to rest from fitting dragons...

 

The little kids got up from their naps to come join the fun!

Mary Taylor is three weeks younger than Frank, so its fun to see them together!

Mary Taylor was cooperating a little better than Frank...I think they have switched roles!

Such a blessing to see our kids playing together and really getting along well. That's always a plus...especially since the Youngs will be one of the only families we will personally know with a child from Africa. Andrea is going to pick up her son, Isaac, from Ethiopia in 6 days! I am so excited for their family and I am thrilled to be at the airport when they arrive on July 2nd!  It is important to be friends with other families that look like yours. What a blessing to already know families that will be going down this road with us. We will be able to support and encourage each other along the way. I am thrilled to welcome the Young's BLESSING home in less than 13 days!

Great "Gotcha Day" Video

"Gotcha day" is the day a family is united with their adopted son or daughter. The Vogeltanz Family 
adopted a little girl from Ethiopia in December 2009 and this video is the story of their adoption journey.

This "gotcha day" video is a tear jerker, so get your klenex ready!


Evyn's Gotcha Day + Adoption story from emily Vogeltanz on Vimeo.

Now that I have seen

God has been developing this desire to adopt since Spring 2009. My husband, Dee, emailed Mark Richt's "Beauty of Adoption" video. Mark Richt is the University of Georgia's football coach who adopted two children from the Ukraine. This is a beautiful picture of how God loves the broken things of this world.

In May, I learned that a family in our church, the Gordons,were adopting a two year old girl from China. A month later, they took the long plane ride to Beijing. I watched my first "gotcha day" video, on facebook, while they were still over there. Pretty amazing to watch a family come together for the first time. That video truly touched my heart. Jia is a precious little girl.


After Jia's adoption, I started talking to people in our church that shared the same interest. This encouraged me to think more deeply about adoption. One of my friends, Caroline, sent me, Lucy Lane's "Gotcha Day" video from the blog: We Love our Lucy Lane and I cried through the whole thing! I received it through email while I was at the lake with my family and I made them all watch it too. God was working in my heart and opening my eyes. My husband Dee was excited that I was developing a heart for adoption.

About a month later, my friend Andrea called to tell me she and her husband were going to adopt from Ethiopia. Babe of My Heart

I was thrilled for them and told her we also wanted to adopt one day, but this was just not the right time. Life is too crazy with two young kids. Little did I know what God was doing in my heart. A of couple weeks later in August, Andrea posted an incredible blog by a girl named Katie Davis. It wasn't until the end of September that I decided to check it out.

Katie is a 21 year old girl from Brentwood, TN who has adopted 14 children in Ug*nda. She also feeds, clothes and provides school for 400 children. About two years ago she started this ministry called Amazima Ministries. This ministry raises money for these children in this Ug*ndan village. Her life is a true picture of what it means to be selfless and fully trust Christ for your every breath. Her stories truly humbled me. Here I am complaining that I have to take care of two children and I don't have "me time" anymore. This totally changed my perspective. God used her to open my eyes to these precious children in Africa that have no mommies and daddies. I spent three days reading her whole blog. The work she is doing over there is amazing and has encouraged me to know my Jesus more. It was on her blog that I learned these statistics.

*There are 145 million orphans worldwide.

*15 million have lost one or both parents to AIDS

*Over 11.6 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa


For the next week or so I discussed the possibilities of adopting with my husband. We knew God was leading us to adopt a child, because we now shared this same passion. The only thing that stood in our way was money. We just added onto our two bedroom, one bath house to make it a four bedroom, one bath house. Our 1940s house ended up needing a lot more work than we intended to do. I thought, "So why is God putting this on our hearts now?"

After doing a little more research, we realized that money should never be a reason not to adopt. This video inspired us to just trust the Lord to provide. There are many organizations that give grants for adoption and many ways to raise money to bring orphans home. So now we are praying that God would provide the money if this is his will.

God has opened our eyes to the orphans of the world, just like he opened my eyes to his truth several years ago. I have been loved much, so that I am free to love!