Randy’s sister Julie & Cindy, Grammy and MacKenzie, traveled to Ethiopia to bring newly-adopted Ermias home.  Ever the adventurer, Julie set her mind to tracking down Daniel’s and David’s older sister Tigist.  Despite having virtually no shared language or contact information other than “somewhere in or near Adama,” they set out.  Naturally, they had no problem locating her and arranging to meet her at a hotel with WiFi.  Those who know Julie understand.

It was time to introduce Tigist to Skype and to give her a first-hand visual look at how her brothers are doing!  What an amazing time we had (although it was about 2:00 in the morning our time on a school day).  The only thing that could have made it better would be if the boys could communicate in Amharic which, unfortunately, they don’t remember.  But with Julie’s host as a translator, all the messages got through just fine.  There were plenty of tears on both continents as we visited.  Tigist had never heard of Skype and was probably wondering how we fit her brothers into that little thing called an iPad.

We also got to see Tigist’s son Naol.  What an adorable little boy!   Tigist is doing well, and showed our family to her home.  There, they met her husband and brother (yes, that makes him Daniel’s & David’s half-brother also).  Additionally, Julie was able to take pictures of some of Tigist’s pictures.  So we now have baby pictures!!!  And pictures of the boys’ mother and father.  This visit was such a blessing to all of us; we can’t thank you enough, Julie (and the rest of the traveling crew).

We posted a few of the pictures.  Click on the one shown and take your time enjoying these pictures.  We still look at them often.

David and Daniel

The boys’ annual birthday party / fundraiser was held at Bradley Lake Park.  What amazing weather!  It was a beautiful day and many friends joined us for the event.  As usual, the kids spent the bulk of the time playing soccer and other active games, while the parents visited with each other and enjoyed the food.  We continued the tradition of inviting our family and friends to honor Daniel and David by contributing to the Adoption Ministry campaign.  Funds used go to support the orphanage in Ethiopia.  We are extremely grateful for the outpouring of love and support, with the financial contribution exceeding $1,500!  Thank you.

The party did experience one mishap, with Andrew on the receiving end of a large bump from a collision with David.  The size of the bump gave us serious concern for a while, but he recovered nicely.

Click on the picture to see more.

Daniel & David

Above all else, our prayer for the boys has always been that they will follow the Lord their whole lives. When we first adopted them, we were thrilled to learn that they had both accepted Jesus as savior and lord of their lives.  We quickly became aware that they were quite familiar with the Bible.  Both have demonstrated wisdom – Daniel to a very impressive degree – and an ability to apply Biblical principles to every day life.

So it was really not a huge surprise when they expressed interest in being baptized. But it was a huge joy!  Our friend and pastor, Paul Moffett, performed the baptisms.  Paul wrote one of our reference letters leading up to adoption, so it was a special treat all around.  As he spoke with the boys, he mentioned our personal history as well as the story of the Ethiopian official mentioned in the book of Acts.  Ethiopia was one of the earliest places to receive the gospel, so we think of our boys as spiritual descendants of that man.