“Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba (Ethiopia) will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.” Isaiah 60:6
Even though Rachel and I are in the U.S. temporarily, our staff at the Children's Home is working hard to prepare our home for more children.
We've written a letter to the local authorities, asking for 8 more children (0-12 years old). As with everything in Ethiopia, it's a process.
We are waiting on a response from them but it appears that they are ready and willing to work with us.
It's likely that the children will be ones that were abandoned for various reasons.
We will keep you posted.
We are so happy to announce that Mebrat, one of the young girls at our Children's Home, was successfully reunited with her family in Southern Ethiopia this week.
As many of you know, one of the main goals of our Children's Home is to try to reintegrate abandoned or lost children with their families or others willing to care for them.
Our staff at the Children's Home worked hard to successfully reunite Mebrat, (found living on the streets several months ago), with her family. It was discovered that she had a large family and all were so happy to welcome her back home!
As part of our follow-up and continued care for Mebrat, we will check on her routinely for one year. We will also pay for her school registration and materials for the upcoming year.
Here are some pictures of the day we brought Mebrat home. Our Program Coordinator, Edossa, is pictured in the green shirt that says "Noble."...
Just a quick update about our adoption:
We arrived back in Texas and are preparing to leave for San Antonio tomorrow. We'll be there most of the week. Baby Girl Gross is supposed to be born on Tuesday, May 8th. We are beyond excited. Please keep the birth mother in your prayers. She is a very brave young woman and we have have so much respect for her. We value our relationship with her and want her to feel loved in this process.
We had a balance of $5525.00 left to pay for the adoption, and we received word last week that the entire balance was paid by an anonymous family. We are so thankful...whoever you are...for giving. Your gift has been a huge blessing for us. We feel very loved.
Around the same time our balance at the...
This morning I was telling Rachel about the song, "Measure of a Man", that Misty Edwards and David Brymer released a few months ago. I have been thinking a lot about the lyrics of the song...especially one part.
It says:
"When it's all been said, when it's all been done, when the race is run, well, it all comes down to love. Did you learn to love? It's what you will ask of me. Did you learn to love? Not about my ministry. Did you learn to love? Not about my money. Did you learn to love???"
Rachel shared with me that Bob Jones, known by many as having a strong prophetic gifting, had a death encounter and went to Heaven....
We apologize for the lack of photos on our "Photos" tab.
We've had difficulties uploading them here in Ethiopia. We'll be back in the States soon for our adoption and will update all of the albums with new photos.
Love and Blessings!
Jimmy and Rachel
I just read something today that really summarized how I want to be when it comes to advice. By nature I'm not one that is always dispensing advice, but I've noticed as a parent, the older our children get the more advice I want to give. Most with good intentions and some with good intentions but with either a) too much emotion attached or b) out of a fear that they will repeat my mistakes. When either a or b is the case I notice my "advice" is hardly ever received! When I read this short entry today from a book by Jeanne Guyon, Intimacy with Christ it was such an encouraging reminder and one that will only help my relationships. I think anyone would benefit from reading and taking these words to heart.
We are sorry that we have not been as good at updating our Weekly Reflections tab as we would like. Life here has been very full. Between setting up the children's house, homeschooling our kids, and just life in general, our days are full from morning until evening.
With that said, we will try to do better!
Here is a brief update on the progress we have made concerning the children's house:
1. We have hired 2 guards, 1 head nurse, 1 purchaser, 1 cashier/secretary, and 1 accountant. We still have to hire a project manager, social worker, psychologist, cook, care givers, and cleaners. Please join us in praying that the Lord would show us the right people to fill these remaining crucial positions.
2. We have repaired all of the cracks in the walls of the children's house and have painted the exterior/interior of the home. It looks awesome....
We have updated our "Children's Home" tab on our website. Please check it out and read the latest details about the soon opening of our "No Ordinary Love Ministries Children's Home" for at-risk and vulnerable children in Addis Ababa. We could use prayer, financial support, spreading the word...whatever you feel led to do.
Above is a photo of the home. We aquire the property on March 7th. It is located within walking distance from our house which will make it very easy for us to be there throughout the day.
Photos Below:
Walking to the Children's Home from our house...
Taking the One Child...
Just for fun, I thought you might like to see our offices for No Ordinary Love Ministries. Rachel and I both have a desk and the room is divided by a curtain. (Thanks Joey and Destiny). This is where all of the big decisions are made for our ministry. Joking. Anyway, this is also where Rachel and I home school Meg and Ava every day. They are doing great and are getting straight A's. We can't give ourselves too much credit. They are naturally smart girls!
Here is an update on the status of our adoption:
We were paired with a very sweet birth mother (understatement) and were able to spend time with her at the end of our trip to the U.S. in January. We are domestically adopting a baby girl (due in May of this year) from San Antonio, Texas, my (Jimmy's) home town. We will be traveling back to the United States for the birth and to finalize the adoption.
If you feel led, please pray for the birth parents, baby girl Gross, us, and all of those involved.
