I have written an article about the leper community in Addis Ababa called Korah. That article is posted to my personal blog at:

http://www.xavierpacheco.com/post/Korah-e28093-The-Cursed-People-of-Ethiopia.aspx

Tags: ethiopia

While in Addis I plotted the location for the SeleEnat orphanage and two of the guest houses commonly used by adoptive families. These are the main Ethiopia Guest house and the new Ethiopia Guest House.

You can click on the links below to retrieve the Google Earth .kmz file. If you do not have Google Earth, you can get it from here: http://earth.google.com.

 

SeleEnat Orphanage
Main Ethiopia Guest House
New Ethiopia Guest House

Tags: adoption, ethiopia

We know this has been a long time coming and we apologize for not posting sooner. We were not able to post while we were in Addis for several reasons, one of which was we just couldn’t get any time to sit in front of a computer long enough to write something out. Also, the internet connection we had was very poor. We hope the following post will give you some glimpse of our trip to Addis but it is all very difficult to put into words.

As always, we have treasured your prayers and encouragement. We are home now and there are four children in our home! This post is mainly about our trip. We’ll post later how the transition is going.

Leaving for Ethiopia

Anne: On November 28th I was already completely spent both emotionally and physically when we boarded a plane in Denver. We had just said goodbye to Zack and Jess and it was extremely difficult! We left them with very good friends and family arrived later. The flight was long and tiring but fortunately we managed to sleep for a good portion of the trip (even right through the stopover in Rome). A blessing on this trip was that we travelled with the director of the orphanage taking care of our children. He is an incredibly gentle man and he and his wife Hannah commit their lives to these children at the Sele Enat orphanage. Abebe had just visited the U.S to visit his children here and to raise money for equipment for a new medical center. We were thrilled to unexpectedly meet with him again in Washington DC.

Arrival in Addis Ababa

Anne: When we finally arrived in Ethiopia we had to get through immigration and customs which took over two hours. We claimed our four large heavy bags at baggage and walked out into the greeting area. We had been told to hang on to our stuff carefully and were pretty unsure about walking out into the sea of people outside the airport. Then, we saw a man with the biggest-sweetest smile holding a sign that read, “Anne Pacheco Ethiopian Guest House.” He led us to our van and lifted our heavy bags over his head onto the van and insisted it was safe for him to do this alone.

Xavier: The driver is Samuel Liben (Sammy), one of the kindest people we met in Ethiopia and one who has become a good friend and important part of our trip in Addis (more on that in a different post). 

Initial Impressions of Addis Ababa

Anne: By the time we were in the van on our way through Addis Ababa it was after 10pm. We did not expect the poverty we saw that night. I guess I didn’t think we would see it so soon. Abebe rode with us part of the way then we drove for what seemed like a long time. Even at that hour there were adults and children along the street. There was trash, stray dogs and many donkeys. The guest house seemed out of place. Inside a high wall with barbed wire along the top was a welcoming house.

Xavier: That’s concertina wire, the sort you find used in the military and in prisons. Anyway, after a quick meal with another couple staying at the guest house, we tried to sleep. Unfortunately, dogs could be heard barking throughout the night so between the jet lag and noise, sleep was really difficult. We really wanted to be rested knowing that the next day we’d be meeting Yemi and Abe.

Meeting Yemeserach and Abenezer

Xavier: The following morning we were awakened by roosters and the cryer. The roosters started just after 2:30am and the chanting at the mosque began around 4:30am. We enjoyed breakfast with the other two couples staying at the guest house. Then we waited for the representative from the agency to escort us to the orphanage. When Miten arrived my anxiety level went up several levels and continued increasing as we drove to the orphanage. While driving we got a good look at what most of Addis looks like. We passed store fronts and homes made of cardboard, corrugated metal, left-over lumber and other materials. We saw “street people” sitting and selling whatever they could. It was not uncommon to see people minus limbs and moms with their children begging on the streets. The level of poverty was pretty shocking.

As we continued driving, I was thinking about how we should approach the children when we met them. I knew exactly when we were approaching the orphanage because I had seen its location in pictures. Then I saw the sign, also seen in pictures. The driver honked for the orphanage guard to open the gate. It was raining so none of the children were playing outside as we had observed in pictures. We were greeted with hugs by some of the workers who were incredibly friendly and loving. By “hugs” I mean all-out embraces and kisses. We were led from the courtyard to a small office. As Anne and I waited a nanny went to get the children. At this point, I cannot begin to describe my feelings and my level of anxiety. Were we going to have to win these two children over somehow? Would the meeting be awkward? Had they been anticipating us as much as we had them?

Anne: On the ride over we asked Mitin, if the children knew we were coming and she affirmed that they did and that they were excited. As we waited, I did not know what to do, should we stand or sit? I felt so out of place, uncomfortable and unprepared. Then X said, “There they are”, with a cracked voice and we saw them through the window holding hands with the nanny approaching us. As they entered the room, they immediately went into our arms. Abenezer went into my arms and Yemeserach onto X’s lap and we received hugs and kisses from them. I held Abe and cried; I couldn’t believe this was real.

Xavier: I was moved by the affection shown towards us. Yemi returned my kiss and took my hand. She examined my hand and my ring and then straightened the hair on my arms. After spending some time with them they took our hands and led us outside and to their classroom. We met their teacher,  a beautiful and caring woman and were greeted by about 15-20 children.

Playing and Eating with the Orphans

Xavier: We spent the rest of the morning at the orphanage playing with the children. We took balloons, those long ones you make shapes with. I had spent hours learning from YouTube how to make various animals and other things but the children were thrilled to just have the balloons. They just wanted to make noise by rubbing their hands against them.

Anne: Actually, it was complete chaos. Balloons were popping; scraps of balloons were on the floor with the babies; the children were swarming around Xavier, reaching out for another balloon and he couldn’t keep up. Xavier was trying to make balloon shapes but the kids just wanted long ones that they could hit each other with and make noise. The teacher and workers were laughing and doing their best to establish order. Yemi and Abe kept yelling, mom! dad! The hard part was the toddlers calling Xavier daddy in Amharic and trying to get his attention.

Xavier: Yemi snatched the camera and started shooting photos. Anne and I apologized for the disturbance we caused but the workers waved it off and continued to enjoy the event.

Anne: I was doing my best to memorize the faces and names of waiting children and referrals. One of the administrators started blowing balloons for Xavier so that he could play with the kids. Everyone was having a great time.

Soon it was lunch time and we were expected to stay and join them. We were both surprised by the huge plate of food for each child. The four year olds had about 3 cups of rice on their plate with sauce and cabbage. We were served rice with a red meat sauce. There actually wasn’t any meat in it, just a fatty red sauce and Injera.

Xavier: Ethiopians will feed you with their hands as a form of affection. Both Yemi and Abe fed us and though we had no idea where their hands had been, we did not dare decline their show of affection. It was actually quite endearing. They continued to feed us like this during our visit at various times.

Xavier: We took tons of pictures and talked to the workers for quite a long time. We were so impressed at the love and commitment the orphanage workers had for these children.  At about 1:30 we went back to the guest house to rest. It was a wonderful beginning.

The Week in Brief (by Xavier)

There is so much that happened during the week that it’s going to take several posts to get through it all. Although the main purpose of our visit to Ethiopia was to get Yemi and Abe, so much more transpired.

We stayed at the Ethiopia Guest House where accommodations were quite nice despite loss of power and the water pump going out several times throughout the week. There were two other families staying at the house, also there to get their children. It was wonderful getting to know these families and their children and I believe we established some lasting friendships. 

We made two more trips to the Sele Enat orphanage to finish taking pictures and learn about waiting and referred children. On Tuesday, after we visited Sele Enat we hired a driver to take us to Entoto which is the highest place in Addis and the location of the oldest Orthodox Church. We went with another couple who were staying at another guest house but were with our agency and whom we’ve gotten to know in training. On Thursday Anne visited the care center with Yemi and Abe. The care center is where babies and toddlers are kept. I went to Korah, a community of Lepers and one of the poorest places in the world (more on this in a later post). That evening, we enjoyed dinner with some friends of ours who are working on a Bible translation project with Wycliffe. After dinner we enjoyed a special moment as we celebrated communion together. Finally on Friday, I got some last minute shopping done, including 40kilos of Ethiopian coffee which is absolutely the best! Then, later that evening we were treated to a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony hosted by the guest house staff.

Many of the highlights of this trip will need separate posts. Let me just say in brief that the Ethiopian people are extraordinarily beautiful and some of the kindest people I have ever known. We were particularly taken by their love for children. It was such a contrast to the west where children are often viewed as a nuisance. I was amused by how the guest house guards and staff would play with our children at every opportunity.

Needless to say, we were dismayed at the vivid poverty in Addis. Our decision not to take Zack and Jessie was confirmed by the constant images of disease, hunger and hardship beyond anything we had ever seen. I am certain that Jessica in particular would not have been ready to see many of these images. The worst I had seen was in my visit to Korah, a village established about 75 years ago for lepers and where the Alert Hospital was built by Dr. Ross. I will be posting more about this experience.

Trip Home

We were anxious to get home to our children in the U.S. I have to say that Anne and I are particularly proud of how well Zack and Jess have dealt with all this. We missed them terribly and it was very frustrating not being able to communicate with them continually. One really gets a sense at how dependant we are on “good” technology. Anyway, Zack and Jess really have been great with all of this. While much focus has been on Yemi and Abe these past months,  Zack and Jess have not responded negatively but rather have joined in our excitement. The union of these children has been wonderful, and while we know there will be many challenges to overcome, we know we will all grow from it.

About Yemi and Abe

They are both beautiful children and we are grateful that overall they are healthy. Yemi, whose name is Yemeserach meaning “good news” is very-sweet. She loves babies and wants to be a helper. A few times she was really observing and copying her mom. She quickly bonded with me and does not hesitate to express her affection. She will, without hesitation, grab my hand, play with my hair (or lack thereof) and cling to me. Of course I enjoy this greatly. Abe, whose name is Abenezer meaning “God make us wide”, is cute as all get go and is full of energy. He is quite smart (clever) and can capture an audience quite easily. Abe is a happy boy and is quickly drawn to things mechanical or electronic-like cameras, flashlights and just about anything with buttons as the Ethiopian flight attendants will attest to. Both children are strong and very athletic and have great hand-eye coordination. Abe can do perfect running cart-wheels and Yemi can catch a football while in a running pattern like nothing else.

As it is with adoptions, there are various physical and behavioral issues to deal with and we are discovering them. We remember that these kids were first left without a home and put into an orphanage. They spent time there, made friends, established habits only to be pulled from that to be brought into a totally different environment with people they don’t know. They are thrown into an entirely different culture with people who do strange things, eat different foods and speak a language they don’t understand. Furthermore, we know next to nothing about their history prior to the orphanage. Combine all of this with the fact that Zack and Jessica now have two other siblings in the home who are demanding mom and dad’s attention and are suddenly taking up space in the house. Any notion of personal ownership is thrown out the window (which I consider to be a good thing by the way). The Pacheco home is going to become a home where grace abounds. There will be trials, no doubt and from that will come great things for all of us – God’s grace is so totally sufficient!

Last entry: It’s 5:00 am Monday morning. I heard someone stirring upstairs and found Yemi messing with a loose tooth. She yanked it out and smiled at me. I kissed her and sent her back to bed with a washcloth -- tough kids.

Tags: adoption, family

Just a quick post to say that tomorrow, Anne and I head for Ethiopia to meet and bring home our children Yemeserach and Abenezer. As always, your prayers are treasured. Not sure if I'll be able to post while we're away, I’ll try.

Thank you all for your continual support and encouragement! It's hard to believe this time has finally come. We love you all and can't wait to introduce you to these two beautiful children. Until then, may God bless you.

Tags: adoption, family

I just wanted to write down a few thoughts. Perhaps this is a bit premature, but it seems that we’ll be leaving for Ethiopia in nine days, on Nov 28th, provided everything comes together with flights and all. This really has been an amazing journey for our family and we simply can’t believe that it’s about to finally culminate with this much anticipated union.

Over the past months, since June, we have been graced with so many photos, videos and comments about our children from families who traveled to Ethiopia. The descriptions of our children were amazingly consistent. Abe is a ham who likes to run. Yemi is sweet, and a care-giver. Both are affectionate and energetic. In a sense, we have been able to bond with our children as we studied their photos in detail. I recall their first “in processing” photo. They looked somewhat scared. As we received more photos, we could see them interacting with other children, happier and healthier. This was so relieving to us. I literally spent hours analyzing their photos, wondering what they were doing. We sent them each a small photo album of our family here; I often wonder if they also stare at our pictures and wonder about us.

We are so grateful to those families who spent time with our children, loved on them and took pictures for us. We are sorry that we were not able to share these photos online sooner. Just recently, we learned that the orphanage has now allowed us to share these photos with you. We have put together this slide shown containing only a few of the many images we received of Yemi and Abe. We hope these images bless you as they have blessed us these past months.

 

Tags: adoption, family

Just a quick update.

Today was great! Anne, the kids and I went to Denver to visit with the couple who run the orphanage (Sele Enat) where our children are now living. This was an event hosted by our Agency and many other families were there, many with children they’ve brought home and others who are still waiting. We were touched by the love this husband and wife have for these children. It was clearly evident by the joy in their eyes when they saw, hugged and kissed the children who once lived under their care and are now living with their forever families. We cannot wait to meet them again in Ethiopia!

On that note, it is very likely that we may be leaving in two weeks to get Yemi and Abe! We are just waiting on official word that everything is in order. We are asking for your prayers that all flights will come together for everyone involved, for the transition in our family, and for our children here and in Ethiopia.

Blessings!

-- Pachecos

Tags:

Orphan Sunday is November 8th. Visit www.OrphanSunday.org and see if there is an event you can attend.

 

Tags: adoption

For the longest time I pondered over how I would open this post when given the chance. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that there really is no way to express my feelings about today’s significance and Anne is pushing me to get to the point. We passed court today and now two incredibly beautiful children, Yemisrach (Yemi) and Abenezer (Abe) are officially joining our family. All that stands between them and us is time and about 8,378 miles. In Ethiopia it will take about 8 weeks for paperwork and embassy requirements. Then we will travel to Ethiopia to meet our children and bring them home forever.

To say that this journey has been unbelievable would be an understatement. If you read our post from August, “How It All Started”, you read about what led us to make the decision to adopt. This is more of the story.

In early April we made the decision to start the process of adoption and emailed our application at the end of the month to International Adoption Net in Denver. In our application we were fairly specific in regards to the ages and sex of the children we would adopt and our notion was that we would have ample time to plan and to save the money needed. We were expecting a 12-18 month timeline and for things to move slowly. Anticipating plenty of time we planned on being fully prepared in every way, financially, emotionally, logistically, etc. So much for planning!

Less than two hours after we sent in our application we were surprised to receive stacks of paperwork via email! We immediately began appointments for fingerprinting, doctor visits and our homestudy. If you know Anne, then you know that she tends to become a bit of a freight train once she gets started. Things were crazy; the dining room was not only stacked with home school books but growing piles of adoption paperwork as well.

One Friday towards the end of May we had been out trying to get fingerprinted. After over an hour of waiting at the Police station we gave up and left discouraged. Anne returned home to a call from our coordinator saying she had been stalking us. Actually she had been trying to reach us all afternoon because the agency had just realized that they already had waiting children that matched our request exactly! We couldn’t have known what God had planned but just when these children were put on a waiting list for parents a second time, we were led to submit our application to adopt children just like them!

I recall staring into their faces when we received their initial photos. Abe was so cute, yet he looked frightened. Yemi was smiling beautifully but was stiff. This all happened so suddenly. It was less than a month after having decided to adopt and there we were, faced with perhaps one of the most significant ‘decisions’ we would ever have to make. We read through what was available of their history and social information but how does one decide whom they will accept as children? Unlike childbirth, in adoption you are faced with decisions; which child will you choose, what imperfections are acceptable? Needless to say it is not a simple subject and that will have to wait for another post.

We hadn’t made any plans nor had we fully discussed the details, logistics and circumstances and we didn’t have the money to finance this. I do not think it is a stretch to say that we were entirely unprepared. The agency said, “Take the weekend and think it over.” We still haven’t figured out what exactly we were supposed to think over. Was there even a decision to be made? When God hands you a gift, do you hand it back? When you are given children without a home or family, can you say no? We felt obligated to take the weekend but we already knew our answer, “Yes, of course we will adopt these children, God willing and by His grace alone!” We realized that neither the decision nor the outcome were ours. So there we were, with pictures of two adorable children and what seemed like an insurmountable task.

What transpired over the following five months was nothing short of miraculous. The process itself was quite complicated with many points that could go wrong and cause delay. However, the delays never came; everything just seemed to go smoothly. We enjoyed spending a whole day with our amazing social worker and she completed our home study in record time. Paperwork that should have taken two weeks was returned over night. Busy doctors’ offices took it upon themselves to arrange for notarization. Anne hand delivered important documents to the Secretary of State and spent the night with great friends. The next day she picked up the authenticated documents and hand delivered them to the agency. I was amazed at the energy she had for this. Almost daily we learned something new, received good news or were encouraged by friends. We received invaluable advice from many who had travelled this path. We received countless words of support and encouragement from people all over the world. Boxes of clothing stacked up in our basement. Friends handed us the keys and the title to their van so that we could transport our larger family. Friends, family and even strangers stepped forward to ease the financial burden of adoption expenses. In an economy where almost everyone we know is struggling financially we are continually reminded of the widow who gave out of her poverty. It was as if God had shoved Anne and me aside and said firmly but lovingly, “Be still, and know that I am God!”

We realize that this is merely the beginning. We’ve yet to travel to Ethiopia, meet our children and start the next phase of life together as a family. This will come with its own set of challenges. We know little of their past and we don’t know what health, social and psychological issues we face. We almost certainly will see hurt, sadness, resentment, loss and grief. But we know that we do not stand alone. We know that we cannot trust in our own abilities or fret about our inabilities for we have One whom we can lean upon and He is fully trustworthy, capable, all-knowing, ever-wise and all-powerful. The author of Proverbs says it well:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Today, because of what God has done through others, we are making plans to bring our children home. We are not worthy to serve Him in this way, yet still, God has chosen to entrust two more of His children into our care. We pray we will honor Him in doing so.

Just in the last twenty four hours we have been overwhelmed again by the support, encouragement and prayers from our friends and family. Words cannot express our gratitude and love for you. Thank you and God bless!

Tags: adoption

We have officially lost count of how many times we have been told “write everything down!” Yeah, yeah, easier said than done! The way this process has been moving, one of us would be writing continuously! The other complication is simply putting this emotional roller coaster on paper. So, in an effort to get started, to put something on paper we decided to start where we are comfortable; that would be with technology. Yes, I know its lacking a little intimacy but we wrote a piece of our amazing adoption story on Skype. Even more surprising is that we are actually going to share it with you all!

Anne: It was about 10 years ago and conceiving was taking a lot longer than we liked. We started getting interested in adoption. We looked into a local – domestic - agency and started the process to adopt an infant. Xavier didn't pass the psychological eval so they kicked us out. . .

Xavier: Actually, I had to take it twice.... They said I had a double personality or something like that. I checked with my advisors (the voices in my head) who disagreed.

Anne: Kidding aside, we were a little overwhelmed with the process, the home study the idea of a baby who could possibly have problems all when I didn't even know what a normal infant was like. We started the training but we were dragging our feet in a way. At some point in this process we got pregnant and miscarried, and then turned our focus towards conceiving. After three long years we conceived our son Zachary.

Xavier: I wouldn’t say we stopped thinking about adoption; we just sort of put it on the back-burner while we were enjoying our newborn. Later we actually started considering adopting from China. I remember all the information on China Anne got for me. I was really into it. Anne filled out a few applications but the cost was daunting. I have to say that we really felt a strong desire to adopt, but there were so many barriers to overcome the biggest of which was cost.

Anne: The biggest for me was the idea of leaving our two young children for two weeks to go to China! We also looked into Guatemala and got really excited about that country.

Xavier: As Anne said, we were pretty excited about the possibility here. Sadly, that turned out to be ugly with all the corruption in that country. At this point, I pretty much settled on that adoption was not in God's plan for us.

Anne: Xavier was discouraged and we delayed - meanwhile Guatemala shut down.

Xavier: Discouraged is an understatement.

Anne: We realized that the door had been closed and saved us a lot of heartache. Many families were in the midst of adoption when the program closed.

Xavier: I really didn't want to entertain the idea of adoption any longer - it just made me angry to think about it because in my heart I wanted it, but I didn't feel it was what God had in store.

Anne: Xavier was done - didn't want to be disappointed any more - It took a long time for me to let it go. I talked to a lot of different people about adoption and spent a lot of time thinking about it - I was really sad. I finally prayed that God would take that desire away. I always believed it was a possibility in our future but thankfully I was able to put it aside. I just stopped thinking about it. Then, in 2008 I went to a conference where I heard Voddie Baucham speak passionately about his experience with adoption -- I even shared about it with Xavier and was disappointed when he wouldn't hear of it. I was very moved and convicted that adoption wasn't just about growing our family. I started thinking a lot more about it again and praying that God would use us in this way. Around the beginning of 2009 I had two separate conversations with friends about adoption. In both conversations we talked about being open to adoption but needing it to be clear that that was what we were to do. I told both women that it would have to come from Xavier. I was not going to initiate adoption again. God would have to work through my husband this time.

Xavier: It was Passover 2009. In our family we try to celebrate the Biblical holidays and we particularly have fun with Passover. It's a pretty big deal and takes a lot of preparation. I don’t think that Anne was thinking anything about adoption; she was busily getting ready to host three Seders, each on a different night with about 15-17 guests each night! We try to have different guests each year. We were celebrating our last Seder with some very special people. Many close friends were there that night, including the Khaliqi’s who had just recently adopted two young adorable boys from Ethiopia. Now you have to know a bit about Passover. It's a celebration of God’s redemption of His people. It commemorates God freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. For us, it's also a powerful foreshadow of our own redemption from slavery to sin to freedom in Messiah. Our Seders are not typical. Rather than the formal sort, we sit on the floor around a low table; tell the Passover story, fellowship and feast - break bread together so to speak. There is a lot of celebrating and fun going on. We make sure to have plenty of children at each Seder which keeps it lively (see Shanah Leaf’s picture of the children). Each of our guests has their own redemption story so the evening was very moving. When we were finished with the Seder, everyone was just hanging around enjoying the fellowship; the  atmosphere was festive yet still contemplative of the theological significance of the occasion. I need to add that the Leafs had just gotten back from a missions trip to South America in a very impoverished area, some other friends had been in the middle east dealing with harsh persecution and the Khaliqi’s had recently witnessed the hardship in Ethiopia. I will never forget John's prayer that evening, acknowledging that we live in such "ridiculous abundance.” Anyway, I was watching the children playing and particularly those two Ethiopian boys.

Anne: While the men were reclining in the den the women were in the kitchen talking - big surprise!

Xavier: Hey, reclining is all part of the Seder you know!

Anne: My friend Jill was sharing with us about her boys’ story - how much they had been through at such a young age, about how it turned out that her family had been moved to send in their application the same week that their boys had been placed in the orphanage and the boys’ transformation with lots of love and good food.

Xavier: Later Anne came down to the den and sat by me as I was having fun watching and playing with the children. I don't know what caused her to do this; she leaned over and pointing to one of the boys from Ethiopia, and referring to his adoption she said, "That's redemption." At that moment, everything came together. Here we were, just having celebrated our own redemption and here I was looking at a tangible outworking of that reality by God’s people. Through various events, God made it clear to me that adoption was not about me, us, or even about those children. Adoption was about Him and His redemptive purpose; for at the heart of the Gospel is adoption.

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galations 4:4-5

Never had Passover been as relevant as it was that evening. Anyway, after Anne’s statement I responded with something like, "We need to do that, adoption." I think Anne's jaw hit the floor. Later that evening, we stayed up 'til about 2 or 3a.m. talking about it.

Anne: After Xavier said, “we need to do that" I was pretty distracted for the evening! I had specifically said - it has to come from Xavier. After our friends left and the kids were in bed I was dying to bring it up! I wanted to be cautious because I didn't want to be pushy (like I may have been in the past). Overall it was just an amazing night. Anyway, that’s how it all started. How we actually started the process and how we got to where we are now is an entirely different and amazing story which we will fill in later.

Xavier: Anne was never pushy. Looking back, I am grateful that she never really let go of the desires in her heart. We have been so fortunate to receive pictures and videos of our children. Other families who have travelled to Ethiopia to meet their children have emailed us, telling us about ours. I am so emotionally caught up with these children, I find myself staring at their pictures continually, and I weep because I miss them as though they have always been my own. Yet they are not with me now and that greatly pains me. In a sense, it has given me some perspective about my Father in heaven; I have always been His, but I have not always been with Him. I suspect that this has grieved Him greatly.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17)

Tags: adoption, passover

It is now my turn to post an update (this is Xavier). We have been charging full speed ahead since this all started and I simply have not had time to sit down and write out any of my own thoughts. As I am writing this now, Anne is writing out thank you notes. We’ve been thinking about how we are going to rearrange the house and particularly the kid’s bedrooms. Things to do: get rid of stuff (toys and clutter), find used bunk-beds, plan for multiple vaccinations, develop the perfect Ethiopian adoption packing list, and more. I don’t even want to think about the car situation.

This weekend we attended another five hours of training in Denver. We now have 14 of the 24 required hours of this training completed. We are so thankful for Amanda’s help in watching Zack and Jessie while Anne and I attended the training. They really enjoyed spending time with their big sister and her help was invaluable to us.

We cannot say enough about how much the support, encouragement and outpouring of love from friends and family has overwhelmed us. It has simply been awesome watching this happen and it truly humbles us. We are excited to say that we have close to two thirds of the total need for this adoption. We remain faithful that God will see this through.

Last week we received a wonderful surprise! When other parents travel to Ethiopia to bring home their children, they try to take pictures of waiting children to bring back with them. We were fortunate to receive some absolutely adorable pictures of our children. I want to share with you some of the comments from the kind woman who took these pictures for us, “…we first met and loved your children…She is so cute!! She is a very happy young lady…He smiled very easily and is such a little sweet heart. I cannot wait for you to bring these two wonderful kids home! They were excited to give and receive hugs and enjoyed the new toys we gave them. Here are a few pictures to make your day!” And did it ever make our day! Many tears were shed. It amazes me that even though we have not met these children, they are already in our hearts as though we have always known them.

Many people have praised what we are doing with this adoption; it is as though we are doing a great charitable deed by changing the circumstances for these children. We  appreciate everyone’s kind words and I certainly do not mean to minimize anyone’s sincerity. Yet, as we have traveled this path it has become clearer that we are the ones who are receiving so much. This adoption has profoundly impacted us in so many ways through these children. Speaking for myself, I can say this. Over the years God has used  several means to soften my heart. Never has He used something, someone so powerfully as these two children. I once read or heard somewhere that a person does not go into adoption and come out unchanged; this is so true. It is difficult to explain but perhaps I can say it like this. For thirteen years I have pursued my God. I have sought to know Him, mainly through academics and religiosity. There have been many times at which I have felt closeness with God, but nothing like this. It was when I first looked at the faces of these two children that I was overcome with awe, feeling as though I was gazing into the face of Christ Himself. How does one respond to that, other than to fall to the ground crying out, “woe is me!” I will not presume to know what God is doing but I do know that much has and will continue to change in huge ways for the Pachecos!

Bless you!

p.s. we will be posting an area on this blog that give more information on the adoption process along with our experiences, tips, insights that we are learning in the process. Stay tuned.

Tags: adoption