Letter from an orphan

I am reading a book titled " Fields of the Fatherless" by C. Thomas Davis. In the book he has a letter written by a Russian orphan who was visited by some Americans. I think his words are quite poignant, let me share them with you.

" I hated my life since the third grade when I was unmercifully beaten. I felt then that life is lost and death is looking for me. And my tears were telling me that life was nothing in comparison with death. I felt like a little cockroach, which responds in fear when seen.

A bunch of American people came to our school. I thought these people wanted to laugh at us. But I was mistaken. They are people willing to give up the most precious gift a person can possess, love. Their intentions to share seemed strange as they had their own kids. But these people have such big hearts to give that there is still enough room even for us little cockroaches.

Then I began to feel myself not a cockroach anymore which deserved to be killed, but a little human being. It is a wonderful feeling believe me. "

God said

Proverbs 3:27-28

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

A fresh wind

Sometimes along the journey we become weary in well doing. That has been my condition somewhat for these past few months. I have let the economic state of our country, the delays we have encountered, the obstacles from places and people we did not expect, and the daunting task we have before us get me down. Last night at church one of our friends gave us a book to read. It is titled "Holy Discontent" by Bill Hybels. Its thesis is fueling the fire that ignites personal vision. It asks the question what is the one aspect of this broken world that, when you see it, touch it, or get near it, you just cant stand? For me its the cry of the orphan. The foster child wanting a family to love him and take care of him. Its the seemingly endless faces of children throughout the world who are alone tonight. Its this that has become my passion, that drives me. The book brought all of this back to my mind with such clarity. Interesting enough the book actually mentions Ethiopia several times. I told my friend it was exactly what I needed and she said when she read it, she knew the book was written just for me. I love it when God shows up like that. Anyway, I would encourage you all to get this book, read it, and find out what great work God has for you to do. What are you passionate about. Go find it!

Another delay

Well we had everything ready for our in home interview with us, the kids and our home safety inspection for today at 3pm. Olga from the agency called today and postponed with us until sometime in early Feb. She was put on medical leave today and she needs to be the one who meets with us as she has already met with both Lisa and I, as well as been dealing with our home study herself from the beginning. IT would be apparently too confusing for someone new to come on board now near the end of the process. Sometimes this can get a little frustrating. Our son had secured a sub for his job at the YMCA tonight so he could be home for the interviews. I had advised work I would be leaving early and Lisa had scheduled my Mom to come and watch the twins she babysits near the end of the day. I have read about some of the delays and problems a family encounters as they adopt so I was aware of these sort of things, but it still can be frustrating.

We were hoping to finally get the home study behind us, to move on to the next steps, have a sense of accomplishment, and apply for grants from Christian organizations. I guess what Lisa said today is right, we just have to believe and trust God in his timing for all of this.

Keep praying for us.

The latest

Well everyone its been over 2 weeks since I posted so I thought I should get one out there. Its been a bit busy around here, we celebrated some sort of holiday, what was that again? Yes yes, it was CHRISTmas were we had a birthday party for Jesus. Our family had a wonderful time together going to Lisa's Mom's on CHRISTmas Eve and then to my Mom's on CHRISTmas day. My dad and my Stepmother came over with my Stepsister to our house on Christmas Eve early in the day as well. I love this time of year. I am off work until Jan 5th, my vacation started on CHRISTmas Eve. Have you noticed I like capitalizing CHRIST in CHRISTmas. It is after all about him isn't it?

We are having our in home interviews on Tues Jan 6th for our home study. We decided to install carpet and paint the living room which has needed new flooring for about 2 years. I am actually waiting for them to arrive to install as I type this post. We painted on Saturday, thanks to my Mom Laura for her help painting. We rushed all of our CHRISTmas decorations down the day after CHRISTmas knowing what was coming so its really been nuts around here. Right now all of our furniture is in the Kitchen and dining room area awaiting the installers. We did manage to leave a path to walk through so we can at least get to the sink and let the dog out on the deck.

Well I hope you all had a great CHRISTmas and will enjoy a Happy New Year.

God Bless

Greg's home study interview

I had my interview yesterday with Olga from the home study agency. It went well, was fairly short. My appointment was at 4pm, I set it up as late as possible in the day so I could leave work as late as I could. The agency however closes right at 5pm so the appointment only lasted about 55 minutes. Olga told me they lock the doors right at 5 and everyone has to be out. We spoke of my childhood, my parenting style, the motivation to adopt among other things. Next up is our in home meeting with the children included on Jan 6th. Olga told me she should have the home study completed by mid to late Feb. That will then allow us to apply for some grants as you have to have a completed home study to apply.

Candle fundraiser results

Well we sent in our order from all of the orders we received. We did not do as well as Lisa had hoped, but we ended up selling about $600 of candles which is not too shabby. We are going to end up making about $250 after the cost of candles, taxes and shipping are deducted. We march on little by little. If anyone has any ideas on other ways to do small fundraisers like this let us know.

Biometrics

Ya that's what I said, what is biometrics. Today Lisa and I went to Cleveland for this as part of the immigration work we have to do for our son or daughter. It is nothing more than a glorified fingerprinting. We went to the federal building and were actually in and out of there in about 20 minutes. I for one was amazed as I am not known for my praise of government entities. They took electronic pictures of each of our fingers, part of the time they take your fingers and sort of roll it back and forth to get a better picture I guess. I said to Lisa how boring of a job it would be to do that all day for people. The gentlemen who did it was friendly to us both. One more thing checked off our list.

Lisa's first homestudy interview

Lisa had her first interview for the home study last Friday. I will have mine this Friday. We have seperate interviews at the office of the agency followed by an in home interview with both of us and the kids. That is set for Jan 6th, wait until she sees our mob- haha.

Lisa enjoyed her time during the interview, the ladies name is Olga. She was born in Israel. Lisa really liked her and she felt as if Olga liked her as well. We travel to Cleveland on Wednesday to get fingerprinted for the immigration paperwork / process. It is looking like we will have our home study completed by the end of Jan. We have to pay a total of $2600 for these last 3 interviews and that will complete the cost involved with the homestudy. We believe we will have enough money to get through the next stage which we are partially in already, that is the dossier. It is about $2700 I believe. After that the cash we have will be exhausted. The next item is the biggest cost, around $9000 that goes to Holt and the Ethipoia governement. Once we get past that basically all we have left is the cost to travel which will be a few thousand dollars of course.

We are going on faith believing God will supply the need for what he has called us to do, please pray for us.

Interesting thought for Christians

Christians are often known more for what they are against than what they are for. If you ask the typical believer why the ancient city of Sodom was destroyed by God almost all would mention some form of wickedness that took place there. I saw something today though in the Bible that I had never seen before. I think it can speak to us as believers, especially American believers. It is found in the book of Ezekiel, here it is.

Eze 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Eze 16:50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Interesting is it not that verse 49 speaks first of their pride, how they were full of bread and abundance, which led to idleness, yet with so much free time and resources they still did not meet the needs of the poor and needy! Verse 50 then speaks of their abominations (sins/wickedness).

Does this sound like the typical Christian today in America?

God says

PSA 10:14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

Hos 14:3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Psa 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Psa 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psa 146:9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Pro 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Pro 23:11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

Exo 22:22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
Exo 22:23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;

Deu 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
Deu 10:18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Deu 10:19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

General update

Well the interviewing will begin this week for our homestudy. Lisa has her first interview this Friday, my first interview will be the following Friday. Then the agency will be coming to our home for the safety inspection and interviews with our 4 kids. That should be fun. We received our passports in the mail and we have sent out our immigration paperwork. Things are progressing. Also, I wanted to pass along a couple of blessings we received this past week. A couple from our church who are dear to us came up to Lisa and gave her a $300 check for our adoption. Then, another couple we are very close to gave us a $100 check for a $65 massage that was donated to us for the adoption. That is $400 in less than a week. God is faithful and he will provide! I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. God Bless.

Small Fundraiser

We are having another small fundraiser right now. We are selling candles. Our goal is to sell $1500 which would raise $750 for us. We get 50% of the sales. These are the home interior candles that many people love. Scents like mulberry, baked apple pie etc etc. If you would like to help sell let us know, or if you would just like to buy some that would be great also. They make nice Christmas gifts.

Transformed by an orphan

We got this in an email today from Dennis Raineys ministry about orphans, I thought I would share it below:


At the orphanage, Karen tried to reach the somber little boy with a new toy, then another…and then candy, but nothing could penetrate his pain, nothing could make him smile. Then she saw his hands…little hands scarred from repeated burning.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she stole away to the van to quietly face her own pain at what she had seen. This is how she describes what happened next:
“I looked up and there was the boy with a missing smile . . . He extended his hands to me, his burned brown hands. I took my wipe and cleaned each of his precious palms . . . the language barrier crumbled as I was just a mom caring for a boy’s hand the way they should be cared for. It wasn’t the shoes, or the toy or candy . . . it was a simple act of love, and the boy who lost his smile, found it. He hugged me tight and called me Amiga . . . friend. The smile he gave me was more precious than any gift I had offered him . . . I had been transformed by an orphan; I was conquered by a smile.”

Felt like an orphan

Yesterday and today I went on a backpacking trip to the mountains in PA. The name of the trail I went on was Minister Creek. One of the things I like about backpacking is getting away from the world and just forgetting about daily struggles. I have always wanted to go on this type of a trip solo. The idea of going it alone and facing all the challenges a trip like this offers on your own is something that I wanted to accomplish. There is always a sense of completion/victory after a trip is over. To have faced the wilderness and survived, well without too many injuries that is-haha. Well day one was textbook, the weather was gorgeous, the trail was interesting and I made it to my campsite right on time. Day two, well it ended up that way but along the journey I faced the fear of being lost and alone. I guess you could say I felt like an orphan. Have you ever felt that way? See at one point of the trail there is another trail that runs along the same path, the North Country Scenic Trail. Right after the campsite I chose was a Y in the path. Both were blazed with white signs which is what Minister Creek's trail is designated by. The other has a blue blaze. Well to make a long story short, I was pretty sure I made the right choice, but I was not all that confident. Ever felt like that before, you press on but are fearful that your choice was wrong. My cell phone had died so I had no idea of what time it was, I just kept going, and hoping. Along the way God had one of his little friends show up to say hi to me, laugh if you want to but I felt it was him telling me it would be ok. See the picture of the deer below along with some other shots. After a long and tiring uphill climb I come to a larger area of very large boulders/cliffs. At this point I am getting worried big time. There was nothing on the trip information I got off the web about this. So naturally I begin to fear I took the wrong path. There was the overlook though I saw a sign about on day one. I kept telling myself this had to be it. Just when I get to the top, and begin to get excited thinking first I can breathe again, but more importantly I can find out if Im on the right path, the path begins to descend down into a huge cave like area that is part of this area. At that point I became almost convinced I was going the wrong way. I had to negotiate some rather tricky spots that I had never done before with a backpack strapped on to my back. I really began to worry. Would I have to turn back and go back the 3-4 miles just to begin again going the right way which would be another 3-4 miles. What time was it? Would my water get me back to the creek so I could filter some fresh water. Would it get dark before I made it? I knew rain was coming and it was cold. Would my wife Lisa freak out and send the green berets to look for me? I finally made it to the top and began on a flatter trail my heart and lungs very grateful I might add. I hear a sound and I begin to get excited again. It must be those road workers I saw at the parking area the day before working on the bridge. Keep in mind I saw no human life the entire time I was on the trail. I then was struck with fear as the trail began moving farther and farther away from the sound. Once again all I could think was I am on the wrong trail. Ahh, but then it happened, the trail turned and I began heading towards the sound. The more I walked the louder it became. Then suddenly there it was, the sign I saw the day before explaining how to get to the overlook. I was home free. I actually jumped for joy for a brief second before my newly formed manhood took over and I regained my macho hiking look- see bandana wrapped head in picture below.

Anyway, why am I telling you all about this crazy trip. Do you remember how I said I felt like an orphan. Could you relate to my sense of panic that I was dealing with when I felt I was lost on a mountain by myself. Imagine being all alone in the world, ALL THE TIME! Can you imagine the way a child feels without a family, heading who knows where and seemingly no one cares?

Have you ever felt like an orphan before?

What will you do to help one today?


Overlook area


The creek


Gods little friend he sent me


Part of the path


My campsite


One of several bridges


The conquering hero- notice the tired eyes!

Give me God's eyes

I love the song by Brandon Heath titled "Give me your eyes". It speaks to my heart for the children of the world without a mommy & a daddy. Part of the lyrics say "give me your arms for the broken hearted". Listen to the song and let God move your heart, see the world anew through his eyes. Here is the link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGr8as7pPBE

The economy

Boy its looking tough everywhere you look for economic news these days. As I have been thinking about all of the news we are hearing these days, to be totally transparent with everyone it makes me worry just a bit about my family and the adoption we are right in the middle of. The thought of traveling over seas for a week to ten days in a potentially traumatized world, not to mention the concern for taking care of my family's financial needs has been wearing on me lately. The only thing I can say is that God has called us to this and he will provide the way through and beyond. Its times like these where God can grow faith if we let him. I know my faith needs to grow. I pray that God will continue to work on me in the days ahead. Pray for us guys!

Ethiopian Calendar / Clock

I saw this on the Ethiopian Embassy web site and thought it was interesting information. Here it is-

Ethiopian Time

The time in Ethiopia is eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States except during Daylight Savings Time in the United States, during which Ethiopian time is seven hours ahead.

The Ethiopian Calendar

While much of the world marks the passing of days according to the Gregorian calendar, Ethiopia has its own calendar, which is also known as the Ge'ez Calendar. Based upon the ancient Coptic Calendar, the Ethiopian Calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar, owing to alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus.

The Ethiopian Calendar has 12 months of 30 days each, plus five or six additional days (sometimes known as the 13th month), which are added at the end of the year to match the calendar to the solar cycle.

The year is currently 2000, according to the Ethiopian Calendar. Ethiopia celebrated the millennium at midnight on September 12, 2007. The year 2001 began in Ethiopia on September 11, 2008 of the Gregorian Calendar.

Ethiopian Calendar:	Gregorian Calendar:
Meskerem (New Year)	11 September - 10 October
Tikimt	11 October - 9 November
Hidar	10 November - 9 December
Tahsas	10 December - 8 January
Tir	9 January - 7 February
Yakatit	8 February - 9 March
Maggabit	10 March - 8 April
Miyazya	9 April - 8 May
Ginbot	9 May - 7 June
Sene	8 June - 7 July
Hamle	8 July - 6 August
Nehasa	7 August - 6 September
Pagume	6 - 10 September

Mowing em down

Well we are really cranking through the details that are all part of the requirements to adopt. This week we completed our CPR / AED training on Monday night, we got 3 hours closer to completing our parent training on Tues night, we had our water inspection yesterday and will get those results next week. Our house is ready for the fire inspection now that there are electronic gadgets all over our house- haha. Things are moving along.

Crazy days

Sorry its been a while since I posted, we are very busy. We are in the midst of our adoption training. The classes are really intense as they focus on foster parenting. We have seen some very sad movies about kids who have been abused and neglected. There are some neat people though who are sacrificing to help kids all over. We also have to get CPR and First Aid Training. We are getting CPR certified tonight actually, First Aid will be in a few weeks. We are having a fire inspection to our home this Friday. We installed 5 smoke alarms yesterday and we need 3 CO2 sensors, one for each floor of our home that we will purchase later this week. We also bought 2 fire extinguishers and an escape ladder for the upstairs area. We hope to be through all of the training by the end of October. Thanks again for everyone who helped with our auction and dinner. We are using the money we raised to get us through this training, and the main item is our home study which is $3000. Like the title of this post, we are in the midst of crazy days at the West home!