After Christmas Sale

Well, I had a chance to sneak away while my mom watched the kids, and Patrick and my dad were working on putting up lights in our living room so I went shopping! After shopping for 5 girls, I was finally able to shop for boys clothes! I was so excited. I started picking out 3 of everything the same and then it dawned on me that boys probably didn't like dressing alike like girls do so I had to start over. I did buy them all the same red baseball hat that is similiar to Patrick's hat. My friend is going over to Ethiopia in a couple of weeks and she will take each of the boys a care package from us and I am sending the hats with her. We will also send a photo album to show them our pictures and where we live.

Ana & the Lights...the pretty lights!

Ana came home from the hospital today. She was having a hard time keeping her oxygen levels up but now she is back to her normal split personality - extremely happy one second and possessed the next.

On a more enlightening note we installed recessed lights in our living room. We have been lighting our living room and dining room with lamps for the past two years so it is nice to actually have lights hardwired into the house.

Hospitals, Toilets & Brownie's Oh My!

Ana went to the hospital with flu induced asthma, we installed a new toilet and ate some yummy brownies...all in a days work!

Genna ~ Christmas in Ethiopia

We couldn't help but think of our boys on this day of huge celebration here in the US. Emma pondered, "I wonder if they have a tree as big as ours?" It got us to thinking about Christmas in Ethiopia and what it is like. We know that culturally Christianity is very different in various parts of the world, so what would it be like where are boys are? A little googling turned up quite the insight.

To begin with, Christmas isn't celebrated until Jan. 7th! And their celebration is sooo different from our own.

On Christmas Eve the husband will buy a chicken, sheep, or goat and will slaughter it early in the morning. While the father is slaughtering, the mother prepares coffee over a small charcoal fire in preparation for the coffee ceremony that I wrote about earlier in the blog. During the coffee ceremony, the father will ask a blessing from God and then cut a large wheat roll called henbasha for the family to eat. It sounds very ceremonial.

Here in America most churches shut down for Christmas...it is very different there. They have an all-night worship service where people move from one church to another celebrating the coming of the Messiah. Favorite worship spots are usually the ancient church sites which were carved from solid volcanic rock!

They form up concentric circles with the men siting separately from the ladies. A choir sings from the outside circle. Usually candles are given to worshipers as they come into the church.

Later the next day the young men traditionally play a game similar to field hockey and they eat tons of food. Traditional Christmas dishes includes Injera, a sourdough pancake like bread, which serves as both plate and fork along with Doro Wat, a spicy chicken stew served in ornamented baskets, dulet which is made from sheep’s stomach and home made beer called Tela or honey beer called tejie.

It wasn't a big surprise but I read that gifts are not a big deal in Ethiopia. It kids get anything it is usually clothing.

There are so many dialects and cultures in Ethiopia that you will find various ways of celebrating Christmas - but what is true of them all is that worship, dance, color, food and music play huge roles.

Legend has it that the king bearing frankincense was King Balthazar of Ethiopia, so infusing frankincense in the celebration is a must. The locals throw in spices or nuts to flavor the frankincense which was traditionally a gift suitable for only a high priest.

And for Emma's musing - they do not typically use a "Christmas tree" as part of their celebration.

Regardless of the tradition, it tires me out just thinking about it!

Christmas Eve

Today was fantastic. We had a lot of fun worshiping with our brothers and sisters at VBC today. The sermon prep was surely freed up from my own sinfulness as many people were convicted and encouraged by the message and in turn blessed my socks off as they encouraged me with their comments. One of the older men in the congregation actually shouted out "Excellent Sermon" and people applauded. I can assure you that I have never had anyone applaud one of my messages so that was, at first, a little bewildering and then VERY encouraging. I really felt like the Lord was moving among us as the Spirit, dwelling within us, was encouraging the Body of Christ at VBC. Our current Worship Pastor changed songs at the end of the message to something that flowed with the tone and rhythm of the message. It was a wonderful way to reply to God's Word and I was especially encouraged by it.

I wondered throughout today what the boys were doing? What does Christmas Eve look like in Ethiopia and how would they respond to a totally different culture here? I am also excited to have them hear me preach and to teach them the ways of God. The entire day was encouraging with a great worship time, great lunch with family and friends, a great nap, and great fellowship with Jennifer's parents. Emma and Granddaddy prayed some deep and worshipful Christmas prayers for us and we are ending the day with great anticipation for tomorrow.

I asked the girls if they were excited about opening gifts tomorrow fully expecting the child-like answer of YES! But instead I was promptly reminded by Kayla and Emma both, "Dad! Remember, Christmas is about Jesus' birthday and not about opening presents!" So I said, "Well, you can be a excited about tomorrow's birth and the presents." They both beamed, "Then yeah, we are excited!" They probably won't sleep a wink tonight.

Blogging Delayed

Jennifer's parents are visiting us this Christmas so blogging will be slow to nil until more time gets freed up. We are busy playing dominoes and working on home projects, so I will see ya after the 30th.

(I will be journaling offline until then and will update the blog very soon)

Christmas Eve, Eve

We had a great time with family today - we were able to talk about a lot of things and really clear the air in many ways. It's amazing how assumptions you make about others can derail a relationship and corrupt any intimacy that may have possibly existed. I spent some time getting ready for my message on Sunday and I think that working through some of the relational issues really bared some ingrown sin and helped me think more clearly.

I am also realizing how important it is to have the support of family in pursuit of an adoption - not just financially, but prayer and love that only a family can give. I feel like we have the full support of all of our family now and are working through "wisdom" issues as we proceed. God is soo good when you least expect it.

"Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe? Expediency asks the question, Is it politic? Vanity asks the question, Is it popular? But conscience asks the question, Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him that it is right."

~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

What are We Doing!?!

For those of you who I have not talked to, this blog may be a little confusing so let me bring you up to speed.

Jennifer and I are pursuing three boys from an orphanage in Addis Abbaba. Two of them are brothers and one is a street orphan.

Zelalem(11) and Yosef(9) are brothers who are in the 5th and 3rd grade respectively and who know some English. Their father had died of HIV and their mother is dying.

Bamura (10) is a street orphan who has lost both parents and does not know where his siblings are located. He has been living on the streets for the past few years working as a day laborer by carrying luggage at the local bus station.

It has taken quite a bit of prayer and heart searching for us to arrive at this position. A great Korean Pastor that I once worked for told me that parenting is the best method of discipleship, so we are heeding that counsel. It is a dangerous and crazy journey but we are trusting the Lord to lead us as He has done in the past. Faithfulness to follow seems to be the tricky part ;)

I will be posting up some specific prayer requests soon. I am not able to post pictures of the boys up because of the hostilities between Muslim's and Christians in that area. Contact me for more info.

Shaohannah's Hope Grant

Jennifer applied for this grant yesterday; it is the first grant that we have really applied for. You can read more about it here. The site is a great resource for global adoptions and I am adding it to my steadily growing list of "reading" I need to do.

It's 2:22 in the morning right now - Bri is sitting on the couch watching a Barbie video because she is having a hard time sleeping with her asthma flare ups; everyone else is sleeping soundly. I am keeping myself awake by researching Ethiopia.

I added a map and also a weather script to the site so that we can watch the weather over there. The boys will be in quite a shock when they see how long our winters are and what snow looks and feels like.

Current McConnell Pics

We took this picture last week at church before I preached.

Clockwise: Patrick, Jennifer, Ana, Emma, Kayla, Bri

New Videos

We received new videos of Caleb and Noah. We quickly unwrapped the video and put it into the VCR. We had been waiting for awhile for the new footage and was very anxious to see how the boys were doing. This second video had just been filmed opposed to the several month older video and pictures that we had.

We popped the video in and sat baffled for a moment. I said, "Who are these kids?" The boys totally didn't look like the earlier videos and pictures that we had received. Caleb had grown his hair out and Noah had shaved his head - they were totally opposite. Caleb was also much darker (black) and Noah was lighter (caramel). The boys looked like they had received some newer clothing and were clean. Their Mom was with them this time and shared several comments. She hopes that Caleb will become a Pastor one day and Noah either an engineer or doctor. She hopes that both boys will one day adopt like she hopes they will be adopted. The boys looked like great young men and we were even more encouraged by them.

Away We Go

We sent our first installment and all of our paperwork today! So the boys will be told this January about us and they will receive their first set of pictures of their new family. Exciting stuff!!!

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Ethiopian coffee ceremony is one of the most enjoyable event you can attend at an Ethiopian Restaurant. The coffee is taken through its full life cycle of preparation in front of you in a ceremonial manner. Coffee is called 'Bunna' (boo-na) by the Ethiopians.

The ceremony starts with the woman, first bringing out the washed coffee beans and roasting them in a coffee roasting pan on small open fire/coal furnace. The pan is similar to an old fashioned popcorn roasting pan and it has a very long handle to keep the hand away from the heat. At this time most of your senses are being involved in the ceremony, the woman will be shaking the roasting pan back and forth so the beans won't burn (this sounds like shaking coins in a tin can), the coffee beans start to pop (sounds like popcorn) and the most memorable is the preparer takes the roasted coffee and walks it around the room so the smell of freshly roasted coffee fills the air ...

The roasted coffee is then put in a small household tool called 'Mukecha' (moo-ke-ch-a) for the grinding. Most restaurants at this time incorporate modern coffee grinders into the process, this is to save time and it does not take much from the ceremony. For those interested mukecha is a heavy wooden bowl where the coffee beans are put and another tool called 'zenezena' which is a wooden/metal stick used to crush the beans in a rhythmic up & down manner (pistil and mortar).

The crushed fresh roasted coffee powder then is put in a traditional pot made out of clay called 'jebena' (J-be-na) with water and boiled in the small open fire/coal furnace. Again the boiling coffee aroma fills the room, once boiled the coffee is served in small cups called 'cini' (si-ni) which are very small chinese cups.

As you sip your first cup of coffee, you've gone through the full process of watching seeing the coffee beans being washed, roasted, grinded, boiled & now the culmination you're drinking them. By now the process is finished at most restaurants, but traditionally Ethiopians stick around to get at least a second serving of coffee and sometimes a third.

The second and third serving are important enough that each serving has a name, first serving is called "Abol"; second serving is "Huletegna"(second) and third serving is "Bereka". The coffee is not grinded for the second and third serving, a portion of coffee powder is left on purpose for these two ceremonies.

I took the above article from Ethiopian Restaurant's site.

Ethiopian Food - Injera

As Jennifer and I have been reading, the culture of food is very different from the US. The following is a staple in Ethiopia.

The sauce shown on the injera in this photo is called shiro. It is suppose to be very yummy!!

Injera dough must ferment for several days to produce a good quality Injera. (It seems to be very similar to a sourdough-type batter.)

The entire prep process can be read about here. It looks like we have a lot to learn about good food! When I get a moment I will tell you about the Coffee Ceremony that is celebrated in Ethiopia and I am thinking about adopting it here =)

Christianity Today Reports on Ethiopia's Orphans

These are the faces of Ethiopia's Orphans. Read an article from Christianity Today.

My Son's!

We have officially started calling "the boys from Ethiopia" our sons! After being in a family with all girls for so many years it is weird to even say that I have "sons". It is even stranger to say since they are currently in Ethiopia and anything could happen to them in the next 6 months or so. I think I am still in paternal shock and it will take some time for me to understand all that it means to have sons!!

Welcome and Orientation Call

Kathy and I talked for an hour. She went over the CWA contract and what we could expect from the adoption process for Ethiopia. She asked if we had kids in mind and at that time we had decided on Zelalem, Yosef and Bamura so I told her that. She wanted to make sure I knew that even though we had chosen them there were things that could happen in the process where we may not be able to adopt those specific boys. She went over the financial aspect of the adoption and recommended going to the CWA website to look at the different options for raising support and applying for grants. She was very practical but also very encouraging about the process and how God does big things with adoption. Overall I was encouraged with the call. She was very helpful. She sent an email also outlining what we needed to do next which was major paperwork and sending the next payment in.

Application Received

We received an email today letting us know that our application has been received and processed!

The Boys

I think that we have decided on the 3 boys that we will pursue - they are three of the same boys that we saw at the dinner with the Gardener's. Zelalem, Yosef, and Bamura are all three great looking young men.

Zelalem(11) and Yosef(9) are brothers who are in the 5th and 3rd grade respectively and who know some English. Their father had died of HIV and their mother is dying.

Bamura (10) is a street orphan who has lost both parents and does not know where his siblings are located. He has been living on the streets for the past few years working as a day laborer by carrying luggage at the local bus station.

Dinner with the Gardener's

We had dinner with the Gardener's tonight at the Old Spaghetti Factory - the food and company was outstanding. Steve and Michelle showed up in their usual hurried style (it seems like their lives are a whirlwind of faith walking) and we have a great conversation. Jennifer had talked to Michelle earlier in the week and told them that we were a go with the adoption and they talked briefly about the profile of the boys that we would be open to. They had brought several profiles for us to consider. To be honest, at first it was extremely difficult to choose 3 boys. They all looked like boys who needed a mom and dad, their health was good, and situations very similar. After talking with Steve and Michelle we had limited the decision down to a potential 3 boys. They look like good kids, so we will begin to pray for them and see where it goes. Michelle will mail out a hard copy of their profiles for us in the next week.

They also asked if I would be interested in being a Board Member at Kingdom Kids - of which I had already been praying about and am ready to make that decision. We will see how it goes.

Application Sent

We sent the application online today and the application fee.

Remodeling the Basement

As Jennifer and I have talked about it we will definitely need to remodel the basement. We are thinking that we can get two bedrooms, an office and family room out of it. We really should install two egress windows for safety. Because of the family room and office being downstairs we are thinking about making our bedroom downstairs and all of the kids upstairs. We are still talking about it though.

Geoff is going to come over sometime and price it out for materials. I think with all of the carpenters and handymen at the church that we should be able to do the labor part of it for free. We will have to run electricity downstairs also. We will probably also get the 2nd bathroom fixed and install some lighting in the living room and dining room.

Of course we will need a bigger dining room table and possibly a full size fridge. A family of 9 will be hoppin around here! =)

A Conversation with God

Jennifer is out running errands today and the older girls are at school. The babies are asleep so I have some time to sit and think about this whole adventure. So I stopped, and I prayed and this is kinda how it went

Me: God, are you calling us to adopt again?

God: You already know the answer to that Patrick. - I clearly tell you in James 1:27 that “Religion that is pure and undefiled before (me), is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Me: Yeah. But I don’t know how we are going to do it?

God: Remember 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Me: Yeah. But people are going to say that we are foolish for doing this?

God: But (I)chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise (Patrick); (I) chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; It’s good that you are weak and foolish, so now I will show Myself strong and powerful and wise. 1 Corinthians 1:27

Me: Yeah. But it costs 20,000 to adopt a kid.

God: You are right, so I want you to adopt 3 kids, which will be about 26k. Have you not read Psalm 50:10 - For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

Me: Yeah.

And then for a moment, I felt like Mary - “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” - Luke 1:38

God is calling us to adopt!

Processing it All

I got up and walked around the house today. With the video still heavy on my heart, I realized that we have an unfinished basement, and we probably should sale our suburban and buy an older one anyway. I was also looking at our bills and trying to figure out how we could trim here and there to allow for more kids. Unfortunately, there wasn’t that much room to trim. Our daily budget isn't the only concern, I have heard how much it would cost to adopt – about 20,000 dollars for one kid. It's a slap in the face of reality. There is no way we are going to be able to do this. This may turn out to be a very short and unrealistic adventure.

Breached

I had determined to toughen up my heart against this! The video was filled with kids just like I expected, but I had really prepared myself for the emotional response that videos like that can generate. Kid after kid was interviewed and they all had similar stories in that it was hard to believe that situations really exist like that. All of them wanted a Mom and Dad because their parents were either already dead or were in the process of dying from HIV.

And then a father shuffled onto the camera with two of his kids. And for some reason his face captured me. It was weathered and cracked from age and the sun, he had on simple clothes and was clutching a hat or jacket or something. He kinda had a half smile and gently placed his kids next to each other. And the interview started. To be honest, I never heard anything they said – I got lost in my own imagination.

I put myself in his place and it was a hard thing to do. The interviewer said something about the mother had died and then I was back in my imagination again. There I sat, clutching my hat with Emma and Kayla, Bri and Ana sitting next to me. And I was explaining to an interpreter that we had no food, my wife had died of HIV and I needed someone to come and take my kids. I heard the interviewer say something about the father was dying of HIV and just wanted someone to come and take care of his kids because he wouldn’t be around much longer. So I saw myself sitting there saying the same things, and I started crying.

I can’t imagine ever asking strangers from another country to come and get my children because I was dying and they would have no one.

That was the crack in my calloused heart - I had been breached.

A Video

Jennifer has finally wrangled me into watching this video she brought home from her retreat.

Steve and Michelle Gardener are acquaintances of ours who we know through the Bades. They run an adoption ministry called Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries (www.kingdomkidsadoption.org) and we have had some contact with them through our adoption of Bri and now Ana. Their focus has really shifted to Ethiopia and they have teamed up with Christian World Adoptions (www.cwa.org).

Michelle went over this past summer and interviewed several (approx. 100) kids at a Christian orphanage and video taped the whole thing. She gave this video to Jennifer for us to watch.

Are You Crazy??

That was my first question to Jennifer when she came home from a Retreat and shared with me that she felt like God was leading us to adopt again...this time from Ethiopia. The very thought of adopting again was laughable on so many different levels. We have not completed our adoption of Ana, we didn't make enough money, our car wasn't big enough, our house wasn't big enough and our budget wasn't big enough. Not even to mention that the kids would speak a different language, come from a different culture, eat different foods and who knows what diseases they may have been exposed to! Why would I risk all of that and walk into the face of foolishness when my life was already challenging enough?

Jennifer simply said that she knew it was crazy, but she was praying. I responded, "Yeah, you better, because it would take an act of God to move me in that direction."