We are so blessed!

God has given our family such wonderful friends and family. Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us, fasting for us and loving us! We are so blessed that we have brothers and sisters in Christ that are willing to listen to us when we need someone to voice our concerns and to rejoice with us when good things happen. The adoption process has been up and down. At times I (Heather) feel a little insane, but you my dear friends have shown me that there are even friends for the insane!
We have never felt so loved.

Thank you.

God has used the Chapman family to inspire and encourage so many of us in the adoption community. We mourn with them today. Maria was 5 and the youngest Chapman.


In Remembrance of Maria Sue Chapman

Dear America World Families,
Our agency grieves with you as we mourn the loss of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter, Maria Sue. It was an honor for our agency to have assisted the Chapman family as they brought such a precious life home. I use the word precious because this tragic event has reminded us all of how precious life truly is. We join you in prayer that the Lord of this Universe, who holds the whole world in His hands would be as close as possible to the Chapman family during this time of mourning.

We would like to give the Chapman family something formally in rememberance of Maria on behalf of America World and our families. What better way than to give to the agency the Chapmans created to bring more precious lives home like Maria? So, at this time, we encourage all of you to give to Shaohannah's Hope. They have created a special fund in memory of her called the Maria's Miracle Fund.

Christ as our Comforter,
America World Adoption

Power outages in Ethiopia

Here is a little insight into the power outages in Ethiopia. I got this from an article on Ethioblog.

Power Outages Slated For Ethiopia Capital On Low Water Levels


ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)--The Ethiopian capital faces a lengthy power outage until next month because of reduced water levels in the country's hydro- electric plants, a state-owned generator said Monday.

Addis Ababa, a city of 5 million, will have no power for up to three days a week, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation said in a statement.

"Power rationing will continue until June. Climate change, which is inflicting a great damage worldwide, is the main cause of the poor performance of seasonal rains in Ethiopia," state media quoted Water Minister Asfaw Dingamo as saying.


Please pray for the families that are farther along in this process than us. A few have had court dates reassigned 3 times because of this and there are more than a hand full of families waiting on court dates.

There isn't much to update for us personally. But this week there were two federal holidays so courts were closed those days. It seems like every other week there is some holiday.(not really) I think they like to celebrate in Ethiopia! Who doesn't?! So of course that slows some things down a bit.
And this week we received this email.
In an effort to conserve energy there have been power outages in Addis Ababa, where all power is turned off for certain periods of time. Due to this, communication with Duni while she is in Ethiopia has been very challenging. Emails and even phone calls have become very limited. Because of this, we are asking families to please be patient and understanding knowing that we are trying to do all that we can to relay important information.
So there is a glimpse into the bumps in the road of an Ethiopian adoption.

Some facts that I once again stole from someone else's blog! (thanks Gibsons')

DID YOU KNOW IN ETHIOPIA:
* One in ten children die before their first birthday
* One in six children die before their fifth birthday
* 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
* 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
* The median age in Ethiopia is 18 years
* 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
* 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone
* Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
* In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
* Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
* Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
* Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
* Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
* In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.
* Ethiopia has approx. 4.3 million orphans and the country is twice the size of Texas.