You can't just leave.....

You scoop up your beautiful child and depart for the hotel… and then the plane, and then home forever.  Every dream has come true for you, and as you watch your child grow, settle in, attach and heal you start to see every dream you had for them come true.  Yet, you just can’t leave… it stays with you.  All the faces you saw while you were there.  The school aged kids that should be in school but were on the streets shining shoes so their families might have a possibility to eat.  The village you visited… there was one water source, it wasn’t even close to clean and kids were swimming in it and drinking.  The mothers sitting with children on the streets, some to tired to even ask for help anymore. The remote village so far removed from any sufficient food or water source that you can easily imagine what even one rough season would do to all these people…. Its endless.. and the longer you’re gone, the more these images seem to keep striking you again and again.  Ethiopia has touched the hearts of all of the adoptive families so much that two good friends I made along the adoptive journey have convinced Children’s Hope Chest to open up a Carepoint in Wioloso Ethiopia (this is the city my sisters baby was from) in which they along with the help of willing volunteers (myself included) will be in charge of.  This is unprecendented for this charity! Never have they had just two moms want to head an entire carepoint… usually this is something tackled by a whole church or organization, but that is how much passion and drive has been instilled them (and us!).  Just as Jesus fed 5000 with 2 loaves and 5 fish, we are putting what little we have into His hands and trusting Him to provide!! And so far, we have had a great start… almost 50 kids sponsored. We need to get the first 150 sponsored (Children’s Hopechest has identified the 150 most needy already and they are up on our site) and then we can start fundraising for area projects like a well, and a school…. With a goal of the carepoint being totally self sufficient in 7 years!.  Sponsorship is only $34 a month.  You can write to your sponsored child, you can send care packages for them when families travel… and any time you feel inspired to do so, you can join in on one of the trips (that are taken every 12-18m) and actually meet your sponsored child!  

This video is from Children’s HopeChest so you can see more what the sponsorship and organization do.CHILDREN'S HOPE CHEST 

Now I know in this economy $34 a month is not necessarily something all of us easily have accessible.  So I'm gonna share some ideas that I have for saving or finding the money...I'm sure there are tons more too, but this can really be a family event! If you have children, this is a great opportunity to have them take ownership of something meaningful and include them in helping with the sponsorship.  I was talking to Jasmine and she was totally shocked that not all kids can just go to school.  A great opportunity to open their eyes to a world outside our comfortable American lives. 

*when you go to the bank each week and pull out cash, put $7 in an envelope on the side, you likely wont miss it

*Downsize your Grande to a Tall at Starbucks

*set aside bottle returns

*Sacrifice one fast food meal a week

*Kids can rake leaves, or do lemonade stands

*When tax returns come in, set aside a little bit to offset monthly costs

*Turn down the temp in your house a degree or two, and seal your windows

*Buy store brand

*Find that something you stop for each week (a slurpee, bag of chips etc.) and offer that up as something you can give up so that a child can have his/her basic needs met and schooling.  

*Clip coupons and put the money saved in an envelope

It really amounts to a little over $1 a day...  and if you have kids, like I do... there will be so many opportunities to remind them that by not having this small thing, we are doing a huge thing for our brother/sister in Ethiopia, and maybe if God provides, someday we can go meet them.  And get them behind coming up with ideas for earning and saving money.  

AND HERE THEY ARE: Sponsor « Woliso    <<<< CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE THEIR BEAUTIFUL FACES!  

If you see a child you'd like to sponsor, please just check quickly with me, as we have posted some on Facebook seeking sponsors and we would just want to make sure they haven't been spoken for. 

If God isn't calling you to sponsor, or if it really isn't feasible for you right now... and I totally know that is true for some of us.  Please pray for the success of our efforts.  Perhaps share this blog.  We will be fundraising after our first batch of sponsorships are matched for a well and school.  If you are interested or able to help with that when the time comes, we would be eternally grateful.  whatever you can do, however seemingly small, .... remember, in His hands, is enough.  God Bless!!!!

It changes you...

Being in Ethiopia changes you…  It gets in your blood.  I’ve noticed it in all the returning families.  Either a burning desire to return and help is started…  or this need to get rid of a lot of your “stuff”, or just the “missing it” feeling.  Many times a mix of all of those, sometimes one at a time… but it seems to be a definite pattern.  Why do we all feel this way?  What happens when you are there?  We have a lot of things in America, a lot of things that they don’t have in Ethiopia.  And there are definitely some things that the people in Ethiopia really should have, hence the helping (their food and medical needs met to start)…  but in the absence of having a lot of “things” they really have something we don’t…  Something that is so tough to find anywhere in America.  They are so people centered, they look AT you with genuine interest.  They go out of their way to welcome you with whatever little they have, whether they know you or not.  They know how to LOVE.  My son kisses me (and his brothers and sisters, and any visitors we have lol) hundreds of times a day.  And I can’t help but think, how many times HE must have been kissed in his short two years of life to learn to love people like that.  When you are walking down the street you see people walking with their arms around each other in genuine affection, you can’t cross paths with someone and talk longer than five mintues without being invited to stay with them and have coffee.   I find we miss it because we just don’t have that here.  We want to be submerged in that kind of love and learn how to be that kind of love.. and we also want to help provide these beautiful people with the things that they should have but do not. 

I keep thinking of where it’s lost in America.  I know for sure we are inundated with things and whether we want to or not we find security in them.  I have worked on detachment a lot, and continue to… and I honestly feel like I can’t remember the last time when I was truly upset over losing a “thing” or “something” breaking, or not been able to have this or that…  but I still am blessed to have a lot of them, I still have a security in that.  I am not forced to have faith that God will provide everything in my life (tho in reality that's the truth... but when we have it always available that realization isn't always in front of us as it should be).  I think that faith makes you a different kind of person.  I think that is where a lot of us get that temptation (And a good one I think) to get rid of some or even a lot of our stuff.  So there is less “stuff” between us and God… less “stuff” between us and people, and also aid ourselves to live that kind of faith. 

I was reading St. Teresa of Avila last night, and she was talking to the sisters about building up large homes and lots of possessions, and how they all will come down on Judgement day and think of how loud of a sound the crash of your “things” will make (majorly paraphrased LOL!).  But it really made me think… While I am not saying that we are wrong to have homes, or things to provide for our familes  AT ALL.  We need to be thanking God for these things… many families have to choose between watching their children die and placing them elsewhere so they might have a chance.  But it really sat with me, that we need to be using everything God has blessed us with for His glory…   I really hope to live a life, and pray that I live a life, that the metaphoric noise of the life we’ve lived completely drowns out the noise of the crash of all of the things we have on Judgement Day.  

ONE MONTH HOME!

Is it possible?!  Can it really be, that its been an entire month since we walked off the plane with this curious fellow?

How's he doing? How's it going?  He's doing amazingly well.  We started off the month petrified of the woo-shas (dogs) and are now pushing them around the house.  He started off the month loving his brother and sister, and STILL love his brother and sisters.  His sisters love to dote on him, and there is a lot more rough tumbling in the house now with two boys instead of one.  Its not uncommon for me to see Noah hanging around Dominic's neck, or pouncing him!  Dominc's loving it :)

  He's learning so fast...  he seems to understand a lot of what we say already.  He's got a handful of words he does say... but he's awfullly funny when he wants to converse with us it resembles very closely to the Friends episode when Joey speaks french.  "A-ga-la-la-ya"  smile, laugh, run on merry way :)

I must say, Ethiopians must be extremely affectionate people, I've never been smooched so much by a child!  He'll be playing and I hear "Mama" And he's all puckered up.  I'll be cuddling him to sleep and "Mama, Mama, mwua mwua" Kiss kiss...  All day long.  He kisses babies and everyone!  Such an affectionate kid!!  And so full of joy.  Most of the time it seems like he has more joy inside of him than he can possibly contain.  He def can show a little temper tho, in typical two year old fashion, if things get taken away or fun (such as turning the knobs on stoves kind of fun) is stopped LOL

He LOVES water.  Whether it be in the pool, bath or from a hose, no matter.  The boy is a fool for water!  And of course, the water (in his opinion) doesn't HAVE to be outside.  Why, the refrigerator produces water... lets flood the kitchen!!! The bathroom sink and bathtub faucets are reachable... lets just turn them on cause its more fun to have water running than not running, right??  He is a two year old... and thus his definition of fun is a lil bit mischief :) its in his job description!

He really is a good friend to all..  I can't think of anyone he doesn't like.  No one he's particularly scared of or cries around.  That being said, he's already figured out who mama and daddy are.  He prefers us, and gravitates to us first (VERY good for a newly adopted little fellow).  He got royally ticked at me the other day when I held another baby. LOVE :)  

In many ways it seems like he's always been here.  In some ways we are still figuring out how to juggle 5.  God couldn't have selected a better little boy to fit our family.  

He's HOME!!

We're HOME!!!  I've come to the realization that the two trips to Ethiopia are probably going to take months to digest and process in many ways... so I'll share some surface details at this point and you can look forward to "digging deeper" into the experience type blogs over the coming months as things strike me or are brought to me.  We cleared Embassy FAST!! Only 6 days after we were submitted!  And we were pretty tired getting on the plane because due to the 7 hour time difference there were a couple nights of awaiting emails till the wee hours of the morning and being woken up by my phone for every SINGLE email, and not only the one I was actually waiting for LOL.  We landed in Ethiopia at 7:30am on Wednesday June 12 and literally got a few hours to sleep and jetted off to Janes House to spend Noah's last afternoon with him and bring him back with us!  It was so awesome as there were so many adoptive families there to share in his going away coffee ceremony, and he shared it with his friend Tizzie who's family was also picking her up.  It was really cool for them as we stayed at the same hotel so they had opportunities to play with each other and shared in our "going away" dinner at our agency reps house.  Tizzie lives only a few hours away and we are hoping to be able to keep those two in contact as the years go on.  They spent their entire time at Janes House together and were from the same area of Ethiopia.  The flight home.... Ahhh the flight home.  It was, overall, not bad looking back.  It could have been a lot worse.  LOL!  Raving reviews, eh?   Noah slept the first 6 hours and was up the whollleee rest of the time.  Fortunately he didn't fuss too much, but Brian and I got very little sleep.  It was very  exhausting!  To say the least the idea of not seeing a plane again for quite some time sounds amazingly wonderful to both of us!  We were greeted by family and friends at the airport and it was so nice to have so many people there to welcome us.  Seeing our kids running to meet their brother is a moment I wont forget!  And all of the kids are in love with each other!  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  

So we've been home a week... how's it going?  As a mom, I am hoovering between two worlds.  The "I am a mom of five I CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!" world, and the "I am a mom of five, I want to go hide under a rock while someone else figures this whole thing out and tells me the secret" LOL  Noah is doing really well overall.  He's only had one night so far (God willing it stays that way) where he opted to party for about 3-4 hours in the middle of the night.  All others he has slept thru!  All the kids enjoying pitching in keeping an eye on our curious toddler, and he is really a very joyful and fun kid!  He NO LIKE the dogs LOL  Although a week later, he is already notably better with them than he was (he climbed up Brian's head screaming on day one when I brought them back from the kennel).  He even pet the evil "woo-shahs" last nigth when they were dead asleep and knew not the wiser LOL baby steps.  This kid is a FOOL for water! He LOVES!!!  Whether its from a hose, a pool, a bath, a water table, the sink... no matter, it is all EXTREMELY fun!  He already can follow many simple commands in english.  "Put that in the Garbage", "Put it in the sink" "Put it back" "Give it to ____".  And he def has some Ahmaric words (some we know some we dont)... and is walking around saying "mama" "dada" "no no" "bye bye".   Kids are seriously little sponges!!!  

And I just have to say, there is something SO SO sweet about hearing this tiny little voice all day long  saying "mama!!" and He is actually looking for ME!!  He is already showing attachment to us, and preferring us over other adults.  He's already claiming us as "his" :)  And we are SO happy to be!!!

That's all for now... and I can guarentee much much more will come out as we dive into processing our whole amazing experience in Ethiopia.  Until then, Enjoy Noah's Adoption Video if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet! Link below :)

Noah's Adoption Video

Noah

There's a lot in a name... and we had many names that we had tossed around and threw on potential lists when we were waiting.  I would never commit to one tho.  I wanted to see him, I wanted to feel it was right... and sure enough the day that we were matched with our son all of the names that I had on my list went right out the window and we were back to the drawing board. This sweet little face didn't fit any of the names we had tossed around.

  There were so many things to take into consideration.  He was almost two, so we wanted to find a name at least a little similar sounding to what he was being called now.  And we wanted to keep his given name as his middle name.  Not many American names sound like "yeabsera" so we decided to at least look at names that ended in an "ah" sound. For days a few different names sat on our list and then we decided to go through a list of Ethiopian names and see if anything clicked.  And it just jumped out "Noah".  That was it.  Brian was also almost instantly set that it was "the name".  It was right, it was him.. He would be Noah Yeabsera.

I've been sitting with this name for a couple months now, and I am realizing more and more how exactly perfectly fitting it is.  The story of Noah has so many connections to the adoption journey in general, but even more specifically ours.  Noah was told by God to do something... build an ark for a flood that no one could predict was coming.  Like our own journey, I'm sure there were some people who probably admired his faith, but there were probably also a great many walking by Noah in the town thinking he was a little crazy :)  And then the flood comes, and he does as he is told and floats for 40 days and 40 nights with no land in sight.  In scripture, 40 is the period of testing.... the flood ensued for 40 days, Jesus was in the dessert for 40 days, Moses was in the desert for 40 years etc. etc..   I'm sure, much like adoption, there were times out on his ark that Noah felt he couldn't stand it anymore, wondered if maybe he wouldn't make it and yet kept reminding himself of what God promised.  When reflecting on how I felt this confirmation with the name Noah and the connections with the story... I couldn't help it... I had to count.   And our period of "waiting"... or period of "testing" from the day our dossier papers went to Ethiopia to the day we accepted Noah's referral..... yep, 40 WEEKS!! Can God be any more in the details???  And oh MY was it a period of testing!  But just like Noah and the great flood..... we will walk out with a rainbow of covenant promise, just as He promised :)

Ethiopia Trip 1 MEGABLOG - Part 1

I thought of splitting this up into multiple blogs, but since I didn't get a lot of time to blog until we actually got home I figured it didn't make a whole lot of sense to do that so I'd just do 1 MEGA BLOG LOL

I was totally anticipating blogging when we got our court date, as it was a much anticipated day... however, we plan and God laughs.  We were anticipating a court date in late May and we received a call on May 2 telling us our court date was May 8... and we had to be there by Monday night so we could spend a day with our son prior to going to court on Wednesday.  Jasmines communion was Saturday so needless to say, with that rat race blogging wasn't going to be happening!!  We were literally packing up until the second we left on Sunday and then over the ocean we went!  We landed in Ethiopia on Monday night around 8:30pm ... knowing we would meet our lil guy the following day! SO exciting!!!!

THEN WE MET HIM!!!:  http://walkerstoethiopia.blogspot.com/2013/05/we-met-him.html

The next day we went to court.  Court was very simple and easy.  In a matter of minutes it was official, He was OURS!!! In a matter of minutes we could call him our SON! Post pictures of him... introduce him to the world: Noah Yeabsera Walker!  We went straight to Janes House to see our little boy.  We got there and it was naptime, We poked our head in his room and he wasn't sleeping .. he lifted his head up and a huge smile spread on his face.  He reached for me and I lifted him up.  He gave me a huge hug and then told his nannies that mama and dada were there!!  Soooo sweet.  He was in a very cuddle place for a while which was nice, because he's a typical 2 year old... take your cuddles when you get them, cause there is a fun world to explore and play in!!

Of course mommies are for cuddling and a lot of the time daddies are for goofing around so it wasn't too long before cuddles turned into giggles and play time began

Noah is a super sweet lil guy.  He's happy to entertain himself, and a lil quiet but is happy to play with you as well.  He's also a bit of a magician!  More than once I would see him walk into an enclosed space with me at the entrance  certain he wouldn't exit without my knowledge... only to have me look out the window and see him playing in another area!

On Thursday and Friday we were able to drive out to the area Noah was from.  We saw the original orphanage he was at, met with his birthmother, and much to our surprise she went with us to the village Noah was from and walked us right up to the place he was born and lived prior to coming to the orphanage  Noah's birthmother was a lot like him, such a sweet and quiet woman with a beautiful smile.  We are so honored to be blessed to have her son as our son and her a part of our lives forever.  It was such a blessing to be able to walk through the village Noah was born and lived in.  The ride was an experience!! A bumpy ride for a lot of it.  It was not uncommon for a herd of goats or cows to pass your path (with or without a person accompanying them) and at certain points we were driving not on "dirt roads" but just "dirt"... dirt as far as you could see and the only thing hinting that there is a path to follow are a couple tire tracks leading a certain way.  I remember thinking "It doesn't look like there is anything, anywhere out here!" And then all of a sudden brush appeared... and we winded and weaved through brush... and then all of a sudden a village!  AMAZING!  We eventually had to stop driving and walk because driving wasn't possible anymore.   We got out of the car and she walked us up to their home. 

It was a very simple village... no electricity, simple homes kept cool by growing grass on the top of them...  yet it was SO beautiful.  What made it beautiful?  The people! Think... if you dont have many things to focus on, and there isn't much money to seek after... what do you focus on? What's your entertainment?  The people around you!  These people were so warm and friendly, they look at you not through you.  As we were waiting for Noahs' birthmom for a few minutes, neighbors pulled up a bench for us to sit on, and people gathered around trying to make us feel welcome "Oh you're sitting in the sun!!  Move in the shade!" (thank goodness for translators).  Within minutes most of the people from 4 homes either way were congregated visiting.  I can't think of a time I even knew when one of my neighbors had visitors, let alone was it a reason for the whole block to come together and welcome them? A lot of people will look at these pictures and think how poor these people are, but trust me... they are rich in many ways.

Ok..... this is going to be a multi-part mega blog because its getting LONG!!

We MET HIM!!!!

In the whirlwind of the past week I haven't been able to blog a lot of major steps and things that normally I would have.  We were anticipating a court date in late May and anxiously awaiting our call...when last Thursday we got the call that it would be the following Wednesday in Ethiopia.  We had to get tickets booked to be there no later than Tuesday Morning!!  In the mix of all that running around and packing we also celebrated Jasmine's firt communion with her!!! Such a blessed blessed weekend!!! To wrap it up getting on a plane Sunday night and after about 20 hours in the air landed in Ethiopia.  Yesterday was the day we've been anticipating for MONTHS!!!  To finally set eyes on our little boy and be able to touch him and love on him.  We spent the morning at the University and Lion zoo and then this afternoon was solely dedciated to spending time at Janes House with Yeabsera.  We pulled up and I saw that infamous black door that I've seen so many pictures of ...  As we opened the door the caretaker asked which child was ours and we told her but I spotted him before she found him.  Standing there on the step SO SO SO cute!  He walked up to us, and I gave him the little ball we brought for him and he smiled and threw it. He wasn't scared of us at all.  In the first half hour or so he was happy to play with us but then also perfectly happy to walk away as well... But it didn't take long before he was asking "up" and givine me flirty little smiles, and wanting to sit by me. We even both got a kiss out of him!  He is super sweet!!!!  And a little guy for sure!! the 18m clothes I brought for him will be fitting for a while, and in fact the pants were too big.  I delivered all the gifts from the waiting mamas who sent them and loved on all the babies.  I got to hold my niece and introduce her to her cousin (though I know they've already met :)  But I got a pic of them together!).  We had so much fun playing with all the kids.  They are all such great kids and so happy and Brian was the hit of the day with all the older boys!!!  He played in the courtyard with them for quite a while.  I really think... if you need to uplift your soul and just feel like your perspective needs to be put right... go play with the kids at an orphanage. They were all such a blessing to us!!! You walk in the door and they all start calling you "mama".  And to just be able to give love and play with all of them and watch it make their day ... tooooo amazing.!  God is good!! And the nurses and caretakers all love them so much. I dont think I ever saw one without a kid in their arms.  And we finally got to spending over 3 hours with our soon to be son and we couldnt be more in love!!!  We can't wait to finally bring him home so everyone else can meet the sweetness that is Yeabsera!