ONLY GOD

This past Friday was two months being a family of four! It has been one heck of a ride. If I can be honest here, it has seemed longer than two months. The other thing I must mention is that it has been HARD. Aleyah has been doing well considering the circumstances. I think I have adjusted a bit better than Steve and Alexa, but they have made HUGE strides. Adopting is not for the faint of heart.

I have been blessed beyond imagine when it comes to meeting others whom have or are experiencing what we have been facing these past two months. Only our Gracious God could orchestrate everything that has taken place on this whirlwind journey and I want to share a few. Bare with me, I'm not sure how long this post will be.

I mentioned in my other blog that we used All God's Children International as our adoption agency. After making our decision about AGCI we went on and found Baptist Children's Home and Family Services to handle our home study and post placement. We later found out that another family in our town (two miles from our home) was about to pick up two children from Ethiopia! (We just happened to know this family but hadn't had much contact with them over a year or two and didn't know of their adoption plans.) We also learned that they used All God's Children International and Baptist Children's Home and Family Services! I wrote about this in more detail in earlier posts in my adoption blog. Since we have been home with Aleyah we have met with this family on three separate occasions to share experiences while the children play. Their blog is in my blog list under The Krippel Family. Hearing about the Krippels was definitely an ONLY GOD moment. Amen!

I eventually found myself in Blog World after reading some blogs of other families whom adopted through AGCI. I briefly thought of starting my own blog to share some of the amazing God moments that we encountered along the way. I chickened out. I remember writing my first entry and then deciding not to go on with it. I told Steve that I started a blog but decided not to do it. He encouraged me to do it because he too was amazed at the Hands of God and felt we should share our story. So....I got sucked into this Blog World. Not only did I start a blog but I also got myself a Facebook!

I thought it was such a treat when one of Steve's family members whom I never met would Friend me on Facebook. One of those Lovelies was his cousin Tammy. So here I was, in front of my computer either on Facebook or navigating through blogs around the nation. Cousin Tammy hears of our adoption through my FB posts and asks if I have a blog. Excitedly, I reply, yes I do as a matter of fact! I give her my blog address and am all the more excited that our story is being shared to so many people outside my immediate family. Tammy must have shared our blog with her good friend Erica Shubin (who also adopted from Ethiopia). I see an encouraging comment by Erica and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I somehow knew this woman. I clicked onto her profile picture which led me to her blog...I HAD BEEN TO HER BLOG MANY TIMES BEFORE!! I was floored. How did this all happen? God somehow put all those pieces together so that I didn't have to walk this road alone. Ironically, Erica's blog is titled The Road Less Traveled (see blog list). lol!! I'm finding more and more people on this road to Ethiopia!

I'm almost done. Maybe. I have one more amazing meeting. Our pastor tells us that his nephew Nate and wife Stefany adopted from Ethiopia and would be coming to our town some time in the summer. Would we be up to meeting them? ABSOLUTELY! That is what we said before we brought Aleyah home.

Two months have gone by and things are progressing really well. We hadn't heard from our pastor and thought maybe we missed the visit. You see, Steve and I were alternating church visits with Alexa because we felt strongly that Aleyah was not ready. We talked about taking Aleyah to church around fall. I don't know why we were stuck on that, but we thought she would be ready for the crowds by that time. It was a little strange going to church with only half the family. Steve had commented that he couldn't wait until we could go to church as a family again. So this past Sunday was Steve's turn to take Alexa to church. I would stay home with Aleyah. But...The night before, we get a call from our pastor. His nephew and nephew's wife is in town. What service would we be attending? "Uh, uh...second service" Steve replied. Steve decides that he and Alexa would not go to service. We would just wait until second service was over and cruise on over to meet this family. That sounded like a good plan. Until we get a call from the pastor's wife Sunday morning explaining that Nate and Stefany would be attending first service, could we meet them between services? "Uh, uh...yeah, sure" was Steve's answer. Guess what? We're going to church...as a family....in the summer!

We were a bit nervous, but I explained very carefully to Aleyah what we were about to do. We were going to see "the man" talk. I even turned the TV on to a church channel to show her what I was talking about. "See all the people? They are not talking. They are listening to the man." I know this story can't get any longer, but really it can. Aleyah did absolutely wonderful. She gave everyone her killer smile and sat quietly during half of the service. Eventually she got a little restless (which I also thought was orchestrated by God) so I took her out to walk the halls. We heard the lovely sound of little ones singing in a nearby room. We peeked in the window and saw children her age singing. SHE wanted to go in!!! I told her she would have to put her gum in the trash if she wanted to go in. Her hand flew to her mouth and her gum was in the trash in five seconds flat!! We walked in, joined a group of children, colored and even had snack! ONLY GOD.

Before I leave you I should tell you that our meeting with Nate, Stefany, their son Jordan (from Ethiopia) and the rest of their entourage went very well. Very sweet people. As a matter of fact, they probably don't know that God used them to get our family of four to church! I asked Stefany if she had a Facebook or e-mail and she said, "The best way to reach me is probably my BLOG." ONLY GOD!

I added Stefany's blog to my blog list (Enjoying Christ). Who knew God would use the world wide web to connect His people?? ONLY GOD.


Below is a video of Aleyah and Natti. Natti and his sister Beza are from Ethiopia and live two miles away from us with their family. Pause background music before playing video.