BUDDING ARTIST

We recently painted the girls' room. As we worked we let the girls (mostly JRD since ACD would have painted herself, the floor, etc.) paint on the bare walls. JRD created some sweet little masterpieces -- here is a sampling of her work.

This is "Bug Sleeping" - I think it supposed to be a bee since Bee Movie is all the rage at our house. She didn't know what bees did with their wings when they sleep so she left them out. Do notice the bee's little stinger.

In these last two works you may see that she was inspired by the movie Spirit. And, yes, in the final painting the mother horse is nursing her baby horses. You could say we have a slight obsession with lactation at our house.

UGANDA TRIP!

Many of you know that I (Reed) have a sister who has made it pretty big in the blog world. She is currently on a trip to Uganda with Compassion International. She was asked to go there by that agency in order to blog about their aid efforts in Uganda. So please go over to her blog and see what is going on this week in a world so different from our own. Of, course, this means so much to us seeing as we plan to go to Ethiopia in the coming months.

Adoption Update

There is a not much to report -- that is actually the purpose of this update.

It seems many of the orphanages in Ethiopia are having large outbreaks of pneumonia among the children. Of course, these places don't have access to enough antibiotics and so the whole adoption thing is getting slowed down. We were possibly going to find out who she was in December but that obviously didn't happen. One of two situations applies to us... either 1) they have stopped looking for a child for us until they can get a handle on the health situation, or 2) they have found our daughter but will (understandably) not let us know who she is until they know she will make it through this difficult time.

We hear of the crazy stuff happening in Kenya or the Sudan on the news -- that is the flashy stuff. It is only at times like this that we realize the people in Africa deal with daily struggles that, though never reported, are just as difficult as political unrest. If you think of it, please pray that our little girl is safe and healthy and that she is receiving the love she needs right now.

We have been told that we will possibly find out who she is in April and go over there in June.

Both Girls!

Finally, we have a good pic of both the girls at the same time. For some time now they both keep messing up our pictures by "posing." Here we actually got them the way the usually look.

Momma's Little Helper

ACD absolutely loves being in the kitchen and watching/helping Lee Ann. While JRD would just as soon draw or paint, ACD will stand on a chair -- right next to Lee Ann -- and just absorb everything that is going on. And that situation turns in her favor when her mom is making brownies!

What am I, David Koresh?

The other day I met a girl that attended the local Christian college. It is the denomination that dominates our community so our conversation is probably indicative of the entire towns opinion of us. This is how our conversation went...

ME: Oh you go to that school? I was a guest lecturer there one day.

GIRL: What did you lecture on?

ME: Calvinism.

GIRL: Was it for CULTS class?

Ahhh, the joys of planting a PCA church in the Midwest.

Amazing Ethiopia...

No big news concerning adoption... we have finished the paperwork and now await our referral (i.e. our daughter).

We have been reading tons about the country that will soon become a part of our family's heritage. And what we have learned about Ethiopia has been startling. When I used to hear the name Ethiopia I thought only of starving children with protruding bellies and flies on their faces. Certainly the country has its share of hardships, but a closer look reveals that this nation truly is one of the most special nations on earth. Here are some things that we have found fascinating...

• Coffee originated in Ethiopia and plants still grow wild in the KAFFA region.
  
• It was home to the Queen of Sheba - you know, the one who went to see King Solomon!
• The Queen's hometown, Axum, was pretty much a major hub of the entire ancient world.
• In 1974, the emperor of Ethiopia was deposed. He could trace his lineage to a supposed child between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. If the Queen of Sheba did have Solomon's child (and why not -- read 1Kings 11) then Solomon's line reigned in Ethiopia for over 3,000 years.
  
• Ethiopia is mentioned a whole lot in the Bible, actually. One name for it, Cush, is used 26 times in the Old Testament.
  
• Legend has it that the ARK OF THE COVENANT is currently housed in a church in Northern Ethiopia!
• Depending on how you slice it, Ethiopia contains the headwaters of the Nile.
• So many of the problems in Africa can be traced back to almost the whole continent being colonized at one point or another. The only African country not to be colonized was Ethiopia.
• It is considered the "Roof of Africa" - Ethiopia's capitol city is 2,500 feet higher than Denver (it is the third highest capitol city in the world)

We will certainly be proud of our daughter's Ethiopian heritage. It will be so great to let another heritage into our family; Ethiopia's stories will become our stories, their holidays will become our holidays, their future will become our future.