Coffee

Do you enjoy coffee? I like coffee. I especially enjoy it during the winter months. I love the smell, the sound it makes going through the coffee pot, the flavor. I enjoy coffee with various flavors and in different styles. Sometimes I like my coffee black with sugar only. Other times I prefer cream and sugar. Sometimes I like the coffee with frothed milk. I like it with cinnamon and whipped cream. I like coffee! Since we have decided to adopt from Ethiopia, I have enjoyed coffee even more. Ethiopia is the birth place of coffee. For you historians out there, you may want to read about the history of coffee. It is interesting. So sit down at the computer with nice cup of joe and enjoy some coffee history.
Perhaps after reading about the rich history of coffee and its relation to Ethiopia you would like to try some Ethiopian coffee for your self. May I suggest a few places that are fair trade and give the farmers at least $1.25/lb. That is a decent wage and is much more than the coffee chains like Starbucks give the coffee farmers. Click on these links and go straight to the Ethiopian coffee. Give it a try. If you like coffee, you must try Ethiopian coffee. Cafe Campesino (Yirgacheffe blend), Dean's Beans (Oromia blend), Peace Coffee (Yirgacheffee blend), or try Equal Exchange for your coffee fix.

Dossier

We are getting so close to being able to send in our dossier for the adoption. We are on a last couple of documents and then a trip to the notary to get everything notarized. We then wait for state department to authenticate a couple documents as well as get fingerprinted. We are anxious to get our son home. It is hard to describe the adoption process. If someone hasn't been throught it, they will not truly understand. It is exciting! Yet at the same time, it is discouraging. You want your family and friends to react like they did when they found out you were having a biological child. They would call and see how the pregnancy was going, how things have changed as far as preparing for the new arrival, and always telling us about some shirt they found that would look so good on the new baby. We don't get as much as that with the adoption. It is discouraging. I don't think it has hit reality for our family just yet. Of course their are major cultural differences in adopting a child from Africa. The child will not look like us. He will not look like his grandparents. We are making a choice knowing that we are willing to deal with the stares and questions, however we are not giving our families that choice, we are not giving them the time to learn to deal with the questions and looks that will come their way.
Enough about all that. We bought a bed for Leueleseged's room and it will be delivered some time today. It is exciting getting his room ready. I often find my self in his room looking at the Ethiopian flag hanging up and wondering what our little boy is doing. Is he happy? Is he sad? Did he have enough food to eat today? Is he getting the love that every child deserves?
It makes us feel a little closer to him and it is a good moment to spend time praying. As for now, we are enjoying our time with Timothy. We cherish every moment spent with him. He is growing so fast. I can barely keep up with him, he is everywhere.
That is enough rambling for now. Have a great day.

Timothy

Last night the Mother's Day Out (I'm a stay-at-home dad and I prefer the term Parent's Day Out) kids had a program at the Sycamore View building. It was a lot of fun. You never know what to expect with so many kids under the age of four. Timothy's class (The JR. Toddlers) did "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."

Basically, the teachers placed a farm around a slide and the "animals" also known as our children would slide down and appear to be running out of the barn. It was hilarious. We had a great time. Timothy was a cow for the skit.

He had a great time and the crowd was cheering him and all of his classmates along. Timothy has loved his time going to the Parent's Day Out program and I know he will miss it during the summer. Thursday is his last day. I have been appreciateive of all he is learning through his time with the other children. Time goes by so fast. It has already been 19 months since we welcomed Timothy into this world. He has grown and changed so much in that time. I am thankful that God has used Timothy to teach me about what really matters in life. Peopl matter to God. I let a lot of "stuff" get in the way of my relationship with God and with others. Sometimes the things that get in the way are material things like getting the next cool electronic item or watching too much television; other times it is something much more beneficial such as a greater education or even researching for a church plant. But it is at those times when God uses Timothy to remind me how precious life is. He is not impressed with my education; he doesn't care how great of a church will be planted in this city; Timothy only wants to have a relationship with his father. He wants to know that I love him and that I will be there to provide comfort, support, and help guide him through life. I want to be the same way. I know God is not impressed with my accomplishments. God does not want me to plant a great church that brings people to know him at the cost of my family. He wants me to be faithful to Him. He wants to have a relationship with me. I am thankful to God that I am His child. What an honor!

Ever have a long day?

Have you ever had a long day? Wednesday was one of those days for me. It started out okay. Both Timothy and I overslept. He goes to Parent's Day Out at the Sycamore View Church. It begins at 9:30. I happened to turn and glance at my clock and notice it was 9:00. I jumped up got ready as fast I could, made Timothy's lunch for the day, woke up Timothy, changed him, gave him a cup of milk, got his bag ready to go and zoomed out the door. Somehow we made it on time.
I had a final to study for but decided I would go to the bookstore for a few minutes and still come home in plenty of time to study. The plan would have worked....On the way home, I was driving down Poplar Avenue when I ran over a water drain. My tire began to slowly lose air. I turned onto Perkins and by that time the tire was completely out of air. I began the process of changing the tire. I jacked the van and took off the flat tire. Right as I took it off, the jack gave way and the van came crashing down, missing my foot by an inch or two. I managed to get the jack back under the van and right as I put the spare tire on, the jack once again gave way. By this time the jack was completely useless. It was bent and I couldn't do anything with it. I managed to get it loose from the van. The ordeal had taken a great amount of time. I was covered in grease from the tire. I drove home an cleaned up the best I could and rushed back to Sycamore View to pick up Timothy. Timothy and I came home and spent some time together before the phone rang. My sister-in-law's father had died in an accident. He was working on a bulldozer and got trapped beneath it. What else could go wrong. Kellie came home and we began driving to Wednesday night Bible study at Raleigh. We decided to take the interstate. About a 1/2 mile before our exit traffic came to a standstill. There had been an accident. When the police finally allowed us to go around the accident, it was time for Bible study to be over. We came home at the end of a long day.

I do not care to have anymore days like that. It was a stressful time. The news of my sister-in-law's father had really caught me off guard. My brother and sister-in-law were already stressed from other challenges in their life and now this new burden was added...What a day... It was one of those days that make you wish you had not gotten out of bed. Yet somehow, in my mind the words continued to come forth: "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad." I was given a day to spend with my heavenly Father. What if the van had landed one more inch to left? I would be in the hospital. What if Timothy had been with me while changing the tire? It would have been an even greater burden and he may have been hurt. What if God had not allowed me to wake up this day? My family would have an added burden. What if I did not know God? I would have no one to turn to in my hour of need. This is the day that the Lord has made. Thank you, Lord, for being with me throughout every minute of every day, even the long ones.