I want to share with you about some of the wonderful –warm people I spent the week with in Addis Ababa! Ethiopian people are warm and friendly. First, let me tell you about an awesome woman named Sister Lugarta. She is an Italian nun who has run Kidane Merit for over 40 years. She is vibrant and cares deeply for the kids. She loves God and also has quite a quick wit! An example of this was on one of the last days Faith was hugging on Sister and in a flash Faith smacked sister with a big kiss on the lips. Faith giggled with glee and Sister didn’t skip a beat and proclaimed that Faith had just “won the lotto”
Now there is a wonderful 26 year old teacher at KM named Messeret. She was one of the people who Faith had asked me to bring a gift for. Mesereth is a gem! She loves our girls and we shared many meals together with this faithful –beautiful woman! God bless Messeret!
Belleyuo (Belly-you) is a beautiful Ethiopian cook at the orphanage. She spends long hours in a little room making injera bread for 210 orphans. Faith had spent countless hours hanging out in the kitchen with this woman. She truly was her mother for the 5 years she was there. The girls tears ran and ran when it came time to say goodbye. Faith has begged me to somehow help Belleyou .
Japi is another young vibrant woman who runs a program out of the orphanage. She is beautiful, and articulate and loved our girls well.
Mesfint was our wonderful driver. He allowed me to call him Muffin. So he became Uncle Muffin to the kids. After an absolutely harrowing taxi drive at the beginning of my trip I was so relieved to find Muffin. We spent every day with him. He would come into the café to eat with us, he bartered in the market for us, at one point at the end of my trip I ran out of cash and my debit card was acting up – he said “Annie no worries- I go to my bank and I will get you my money- you can send it to me in the new year.” This was a man I had known for a few days and he was willing to lend me his life savings at the drop of the hat. I was so humbled by his offer, but thankfully later that day my card worked. One day near the end of our trip we were sitting in a café drinking strong coffee and eating injera and he started to speak to Faith in a serious tone in Amharic. He was giving her - her farewell instructions. “Be good- this is a huge opputunity- you are going to the land of opportunity…..etc… “ Muffin is a man with big faith in God and hope for the people of Ethiopia! Mesfint has called the girls 2 times to check up on them!
Yoseph (Joseph) reached out to us. He worked at the concierge desk at the Hilton. Everyday he helped Mom and I find our way around. Yoseph shared with us pictures of his wife and 1 month old daughter. He was very excited for our girls to get adopted. The last day we were able to bring the girls to the Hilton to bathe them. Yoseph embraced them like he had known them for years and then took their little faces in his hands and began to do exactly what Muffin had done a day earlier – he instructed them to be good. Yoseph also promised he would call the girls when they arrived in America. The day we arrived home Yoseph called to talk to the girls. He barely knew them, but with his kind spirit he was watching out for them. We feel so blessed by the people of Ethiopia!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Jehovah Jira!
As some of you know Jehovah Jira means God is our provider……… in the next few paragraphs is the story of how a school teacher and stay at home mom with 5 kids comes up with $30,000.00 in 4 months- in the worst economy in decades.
This adoption was God’s from the start. He planted it in our hearts and just at the right time brought it together. The coolest thing is God is alive. He is the God who moves on each one of our hearts. We saw this over, and over, and over again as God moved on so many hearts to step out in compassion to bring these girls home from the orphanage. Our family put in our seed money back in March. I spent a month, and feverishly applied for 12 grants all over the US. Eventually, we started hearing back from those organizations. I would go to the mailbox time after time and open the mail and it was no, after no, after no. By the end of August our family had put on a few fundraisers, but we were no were near our goal. We needed $21,000.00. The economy by that time was spiraling down, but we hit our knees and asked God to be Who He is and bring our girls home. Then boom it all started falling from the sky. We were humbled. I would go to the mailbox and find a check. I would write that person a note and would be absolutely crying as I wrote each note. Because I knew it was Jehovah Jira- the God of the universe quietly moving on individual’s hearts. And we were in absolute awe that so many people’s hearts were soft and their ears were open, and they acted.
It was amazing people I barely knew, people I had never met- a friend of a friend, our family, our friends, our wonderful church, our neighbors, parents on Hannah’s Basketball team and eventually two grant organizations gave. Little kids cleaned out their piggy banks, one whole family and extended family decided to forgo exchanging gifts and collected the money and gave it. One of my friends took our little cards and gave it to 10 of her friends- out of that. A handful of people I had never met gave.
One of those people had a great idea. She planned, and used her own resources to make awesome canvass bags. This is what she did- she brought the idea to her child’s school, and had each child choose a word like compassion, family, or love and draw a picture. Once a picture was chosen she printed it on to funky color bags. These bags can be seen all over Bellingham with a little tag on them that says “Every penny from these bags goes to the Carlson family to support their adoption of 3 girls from Ethiopia.” I met this gal for the first time the day before I left for Ethiopia, and was so floored by all the work she had put in. She gave me a bag, and I brought it to the orphanage. You can see a group of kids holding it here on the post!
Our smallest gift was $14.78 and our biggest was $5000.00- all were amazing, and all of them humbled us. So thank you for being a part. At this moment at 5:00 in the morning I can hear our girls little pitter patter of their feet upstairs in their room. They have been up for a few hours –dealing with the time change thing. But guess what….. because of all this I just shared –as the snow falls softly outside – these girls are HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! THANK YOU!
This adoption was God’s from the start. He planted it in our hearts and just at the right time brought it together. The coolest thing is God is alive. He is the God who moves on each one of our hearts. We saw this over, and over, and over again as God moved on so many hearts to step out in compassion to bring these girls home from the orphanage. Our family put in our seed money back in March. I spent a month, and feverishly applied for 12 grants all over the US. Eventually, we started hearing back from those organizations. I would go to the mailbox time after time and open the mail and it was no, after no, after no. By the end of August our family had put on a few fundraisers, but we were no were near our goal. We needed $21,000.00. The economy by that time was spiraling down, but we hit our knees and asked God to be Who He is and bring our girls home. Then boom it all started falling from the sky. We were humbled. I would go to the mailbox and find a check. I would write that person a note and would be absolutely crying as I wrote each note. Because I knew it was Jehovah Jira- the God of the universe quietly moving on individual’s hearts. And we were in absolute awe that so many people’s hearts were soft and their ears were open, and they acted.
It was amazing people I barely knew, people I had never met- a friend of a friend, our family, our friends, our wonderful church, our neighbors, parents on Hannah’s Basketball team and eventually two grant organizations gave. Little kids cleaned out their piggy banks, one whole family and extended family decided to forgo exchanging gifts and collected the money and gave it. One of my friends took our little cards and gave it to 10 of her friends- out of that. A handful of people I had never met gave.
One of those people had a great idea. She planned, and used her own resources to make awesome canvass bags. This is what she did- she brought the idea to her child’s school, and had each child choose a word like compassion, family, or love and draw a picture. Once a picture was chosen she printed it on to funky color bags. These bags can be seen all over Bellingham with a little tag on them that says “Every penny from these bags goes to the Carlson family to support their adoption of 3 girls from Ethiopia.” I met this gal for the first time the day before I left for Ethiopia, and was so floored by all the work she had put in. She gave me a bag, and I brought it to the orphanage. You can see a group of kids holding it here on the post!
Our smallest gift was $14.78 and our biggest was $5000.00- all were amazing, and all of them humbled us. So thank you for being a part. At this moment at 5:00 in the morning I can hear our girls little pitter patter of their feet upstairs in their room. They have been up for a few hours –dealing with the time change thing. But guess what….. because of all this I just shared –as the snow falls softly outside – these girls are HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! THANK YOU!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Faith, Esther and Jessa Carlson!
Now that the girls are officially adopted I can speak openly about them! The oldest is Faith. The girls wanted new names which is a long story so …. Halima is named Faith. Boone and I picked this for her because when we read about how faithful she was to her sisters and her unfailing hope to get adopted after years in the orphanage we thought Faith was a good fit. After meeting her and spending the last 10 days with her this name has been confirmed! She has a wonderful faith in Jesus and has a drop dead voice in which she unabashedly sings to God with. So Faith has faith! Faith is around 12 years old (we guess because in Ethiopia there are no birth records). She is very mature and takes great care of her sisters. Around our house she jumps up and helps with the dishes with out being asked and wants to teach Mama to cook Ethiopian! She does get sad sometimes during the day and we talk. She misses her friends and her dear mentors, but I try to walk her through these times. It will take time and this is a good healthy grieving she needs to go through. Today she sang and danced Ethiopian style for the whole family!
Aminat is 9ish! Her name is Esther! She is a wonderful girl who sparkles! She is delighted to be here! They romped in the snow today! Esther played soccer and basketball in our main room with the kids almost all day. (Yes, in the house- I know crazy!) Esther also has a beautiful voice and sang and danced with Faith.
Fatuma is 4 soon to be five! Her name is Jessa. She is quite proud of her new name and says it with a flair Jessa Carlson!!!!! Papa was calling her Jessa –Dressa today because the girl changed clothes multiple times today. Clad with funky skirts, layered with leggins’ and many necklaces and bracelets and of course Ruthie’s hand me down fancy high- heel Easter shoes. Jessa, the little bird, flits around the house like she owns it.
Adoption is totally weird! Lets face it 3 total strangers coming to plant themselves smack in the middle of ones life. It is like 3 big oak trees growing in the middle of your living room. Change …….. a forever change. It impacts all 10 of us. We know that time will make it all seem normal. I was reminded of this the other night as I snuggled with our sweet Ruth who we have had now for 6 years. I was really feeling the Change thing and I cuddled up with Ruth and felt AHHHHH home at last and then I thought at the beginning with her it was all weird too! And now she is just so home, and wonderful and so………. Carlson to me. So pray for us in these weird adjustment days! The girls are wonderful and each day will bring us all closer! The kids feel it too! The older 3 have been through it and trust the process. Isaiah is quite out of whack at the moment. And Ruthie does quite well most of the time playing and laughing –until she sees Jessa in yet another one of her old clothes. Boone is off right now so we are in the full time mode of filling up each heart as they start to feel a bit empty. We try to spend alone time with all 8 of the kids sometime during the day right now. Jake, Pete and Hannah are awesome at building the new relationships with the girls. We are blessed that the boys are home for Christmas so we can have this bonding time for a while!
God Bless and Keep you this Christmas! Annie Boone!
Aminat is 9ish! Her name is Esther! She is a wonderful girl who sparkles! She is delighted to be here! They romped in the snow today! Esther played soccer and basketball in our main room with the kids almost all day. (Yes, in the house- I know crazy!) Esther also has a beautiful voice and sang and danced with Faith.
Fatuma is 4 soon to be five! Her name is Jessa. She is quite proud of her new name and says it with a flair Jessa Carlson!!!!! Papa was calling her Jessa –Dressa today because the girl changed clothes multiple times today. Clad with funky skirts, layered with leggins’ and many necklaces and bracelets and of course Ruthie’s hand me down fancy high- heel Easter shoes. Jessa, the little bird, flits around the house like she owns it.
Adoption is totally weird! Lets face it 3 total strangers coming to plant themselves smack in the middle of ones life. It is like 3 big oak trees growing in the middle of your living room. Change …….. a forever change. It impacts all 10 of us. We know that time will make it all seem normal. I was reminded of this the other night as I snuggled with our sweet Ruth who we have had now for 6 years. I was really feeling the Change thing and I cuddled up with Ruth and felt AHHHHH home at last and then I thought at the beginning with her it was all weird too! And now she is just so home, and wonderful and so………. Carlson to me. So pray for us in these weird adjustment days! The girls are wonderful and each day will bring us all closer! The kids feel it too! The older 3 have been through it and trust the process. Isaiah is quite out of whack at the moment. And Ruthie does quite well most of the time playing and laughing –until she sees Jessa in yet another one of her old clothes. Boone is off right now so we are in the full time mode of filling up each heart as they start to feel a bit empty. We try to spend alone time with all 8 of the kids sometime during the day right now. Jake, Pete and Hannah are awesome at building the new relationships with the girls. We are blessed that the boys are home for Christmas so we can have this bonding time for a while!
God Bless and Keep you this Christmas! Annie Boone!
Home sweet Home!!!
Arriving in Seattle after being awake for 40 some hours we stumbled into the arms of Papa, Jake, Pete, Hannah, Ruth and Isaiah at Seatac. They were all clad in baby blue tee shirts with Team Carlson written on the back. After gathering our luggage I glanced over at our enlarged family and realized the huge necessity for the good old ‘buddy system’. So we all grabbed a partner and a bag and ventured out into the crazy snow storm which was bearing down on the Puget Sound. Of course fitting 10 people into a 9 seater suburban had its challenges, but after snuggling in for a few hours we arrived at Elder Road. Now up in Ferndale the Nor’ Easter, as they call it, rips through Ferndale with 50 mph. winds this time of year. This causes huge snow drifts that block the road with 30 yards of snow which are 2 to 4 feet deep that if you are lucky you can plow through. Once we were in our driveway, Jake, Pete and Boone shuttled the kids into the house through the snow and wind. Every one was tucked into our warm and cozy Christmas decorated house by 4:00 in the morning.
Now let me back up a bit and tell you about our time in Ethiopia and our 3 Ethiopian princesses. Our final day was quite wonderful. Our awesome driver, an Ethiopian man, named Musfin ( who allowed me to call him Muffin because this dumb American kept mis-pronouncing his name) took me to the Orphanage to pick up our girls. After many, many tears and hugs Halima, Aminat and Fatuma said goodbye to Kidani Merrit, the place they had called home for the last 5 years.
The orphanage run by the nuns is an amazing place. Our girls were so very loved by the sister, the cooks and the teachers it was very reassuring that they were in fact very bonded to them and would in turn be able to bond with us. Amongst the tears I asked them “are you o.k.” and they said, “Yes, yes, we are ready to go to America”. Muffin brought us to our hotel so we could bathe the girls, because KM, the orphanage, does not have water 80% of the time. After Halima bathed she was stepping out onto the balcony of the hotel room and did not happen to see the plate glass sliding door and shattered it with her forehead and knee. Halima was stunned and embarrassed, but I checked her head, which had a small cut and a growing bump, but she was O.K. She was very concerned that she had just broke the window, but I reassured her it was no big deal and that I was so glad she was not hurt badly.
Our flight would not leave Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia, until 10 that night so we ventured out into the markets to pickup some last minute gifts. Muffin new all the shops to go to and was absolutely a key component in shopping at the market. I would go into a shop pick out items and then he would come in and wrestle with the price. This is just how it is done- Americans if they don’t have a driver get taken to the cleaners. Later that night we went out to eat and hooked up with two of the girls very special mentors from KM, Mesereth and Jeppi. These two beautiful women loved our girls well and we all celebrated that night. As the day was coming to a close we made our way to the airport.
While waiting in my first line I began to feel a bit sick. I raced to the bathroom. Halima followed me with great concern. While pale faced and bowed over the toilet, I told her I would be fine, but she began to cry. (From my reading the last few months I new instantly why she was full of fear- she was having a flashback to when her birth mom was terribly sick with AIDS and died right in front of her. ) I reassured her that Mama and her hope for a new future would not die in the restroom of the Addis Ababa lavatory, and that I just had eaten something that did not agree with me.
This was the beginning of 35 hours of nausea, throwing up etc…….you get the picture! It was perfect timing because I was about to embark on the first leg of our trip – 17 hours, shoulder to shoulder with 200 people in an old Boeing 747. One of my memories of that ‘not so fun time’ was looking up from my paper barf bag at Fatuma (our youngest princesses -who is 4 years old weighs 30 pounds tops, and has huge beautiful brown eyes that take up half her face- we call her little bird- she is tiny) Well, I looked up and there was little bird sitting next to me devouring the food on her airline tray. Every tub of butter, container of jam, salt, pepper, sugar, roll, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk, rice and curried chicken was devoured with great intensity. Wrappers and lids were strewn all over the aisle of the plane, yogurt, tea, and coke were spilled all over and I was in such a daze I just looked and returned to my barf bag.
Eventually, the flight attendant escorted me back to the galley of the plane and motioned me to the floor where she had laid a thin blanket and a pillow for me. This was a life saver and I was very thankful. After many more delightful trips to the 2 foot by 2 foot –not so clean bathroom we finally exited that plane, but the trip was far from over hours in immigration, customs, visa lines, a flight into Washington D.C. a wait and then onto O’hara and finally to Seattle. We counted our blessings because of the storm we were the last flight allowed into Seatac that night- Thank you Jesus at that point!
I will write more later about our beautiful African
princesses
Annie
Now let me back up a bit and tell you about our time in Ethiopia and our 3 Ethiopian princesses. Our final day was quite wonderful. Our awesome driver, an Ethiopian man, named Musfin ( who allowed me to call him Muffin because this dumb American kept mis-pronouncing his name) took me to the Orphanage to pick up our girls. After many, many tears and hugs Halima, Aminat and Fatuma said goodbye to Kidani Merrit, the place they had called home for the last 5 years.
The orphanage run by the nuns is an amazing place. Our girls were so very loved by the sister, the cooks and the teachers it was very reassuring that they were in fact very bonded to them and would in turn be able to bond with us. Amongst the tears I asked them “are you o.k.” and they said, “Yes, yes, we are ready to go to America”. Muffin brought us to our hotel so we could bathe the girls, because KM, the orphanage, does not have water 80% of the time. After Halima bathed she was stepping out onto the balcony of the hotel room and did not happen to see the plate glass sliding door and shattered it with her forehead and knee. Halima was stunned and embarrassed, but I checked her head, which had a small cut and a growing bump, but she was O.K. She was very concerned that she had just broke the window, but I reassured her it was no big deal and that I was so glad she was not hurt badly.
Our flight would not leave Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia, until 10 that night so we ventured out into the markets to pickup some last minute gifts. Muffin new all the shops to go to and was absolutely a key component in shopping at the market. I would go into a shop pick out items and then he would come in and wrestle with the price. This is just how it is done- Americans if they don’t have a driver get taken to the cleaners. Later that night we went out to eat and hooked up with two of the girls very special mentors from KM, Mesereth and Jeppi. These two beautiful women loved our girls well and we all celebrated that night. As the day was coming to a close we made our way to the airport.
While waiting in my first line I began to feel a bit sick. I raced to the bathroom. Halima followed me with great concern. While pale faced and bowed over the toilet, I told her I would be fine, but she began to cry. (From my reading the last few months I new instantly why she was full of fear- she was having a flashback to when her birth mom was terribly sick with AIDS and died right in front of her. ) I reassured her that Mama and her hope for a new future would not die in the restroom of the Addis Ababa lavatory, and that I just had eaten something that did not agree with me.
This was the beginning of 35 hours of nausea, throwing up etc…….you get the picture! It was perfect timing because I was about to embark on the first leg of our trip – 17 hours, shoulder to shoulder with 200 people in an old Boeing 747. One of my memories of that ‘not so fun time’ was looking up from my paper barf bag at Fatuma (our youngest princesses -who is 4 years old weighs 30 pounds tops, and has huge beautiful brown eyes that take up half her face- we call her little bird- she is tiny) Well, I looked up and there was little bird sitting next to me devouring the food on her airline tray. Every tub of butter, container of jam, salt, pepper, sugar, roll, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk, rice and curried chicken was devoured with great intensity. Wrappers and lids were strewn all over the aisle of the plane, yogurt, tea, and coke were spilled all over and I was in such a daze I just looked and returned to my barf bag.
Eventually, the flight attendant escorted me back to the galley of the plane and motioned me to the floor where she had laid a thin blanket and a pillow for me. This was a life saver and I was very thankful. After many more delightful trips to the 2 foot by 2 foot –not so clean bathroom we finally exited that plane, but the trip was far from over hours in immigration, customs, visa lines, a flight into Washington D.C. a wait and then onto O’hara and finally to Seattle. We counted our blessings because of the storm we were the last flight allowed into Seatac that night- Thank you Jesus at that point!
I will write more later about our beautiful African
princesses
Annie
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Another Day in Paradise
This country's weather is perfect- mild 75ish! I know that most of the United States are froze over at this point.We went to the American Embassey yesterday and the girls received their US visas and passports.......so we are good to go. In Ethiopia they do not use toliet paper- even at the US Embassy they did not! The Hilton where we are staying does not have soap in the public bathroom. At Kidian Meriat the orphange where the girls are the water has only worked 1 day out of the 4 we have been here. - That means toliets don't flush- hands don't get washed, dishes, and clothes...multiplied by 200 kids that is a lot of something!!!!! For those who know me well I am a germ freak....but somehow-someway I hug and kiss all these wonderful runny nose big-eyed beautiful kids and for once in my life I don't count the germs! Hope to see you soon!!!!!!!!! A
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Praise God!!!!
IT is official.The girls are In!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It went with off a hitch! Praise God!!! They are very anxiouse to come home. I went to Layla today and saw Tara's baby! Tommorrow I go to the market to buy gifts -then to the orphange for the going away party for the girls. I am so tired -hopefully I can sleep tonight!
Quick News
Pray for me my back hurts and I am averaging 4 hours a night of sleep! Pray I can sleep. I come back to the hotel at night and can barely eat I am so tired -but can't sleep. You know when I get in this Jacked mode....I wake up and journal. Now that I know what the girls are like I am busy planning what life will be like on the old farm! Fatuma is quite a bit younger than our sweet Ruthie pie so I think that will work well. Aminat is a delight too! They all Dote on GG and carry her bag etc... All is well I am off to the court date at the embassy! Thank you Boone for being such a total star and pushing through that visa. I keep singing " I'll be home for Christmas..... you can count on me...." -can't wait- God willing! It is funny though it is totally summer here!
I have to run! A
I have to run! A
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