We have been thinking a lot lately about our dear teenagers in Ethiopia. We sent Christmas presents for them with a very nice family who was kind enough to take our heavy boxes with them in their suitcases. We haven't heard yet whether they were able to deliver the gifts ... hope that they weren't confiscated at the Addis Ababa airport! Those guards might look awfully silly wearing the pink and purple toe socks we sent for the girls!
Anyway, back to the story. I think about Aschalo and his living conditions at Kolfe Boys Home quite often. I remembered reading some great news about plans for Kolfe and the boys on Eileen Mestas' blog and decided to catch up on my overdue blog stalking (check out her two posts from January 8th). So on Wednesday, I sent Eileen an email asking some questions about Kolfe and, specifically, Aschalo. I was checking my email the next day to see if Eileen replied (she did ... thank you!), and there in my inbox is an email from a new friend of this past summer when the kids were with us, Melani. Melani mentions to me that her parents are in Addis now for some mission work and they will be checking in with the Kinfe kids and will let us know how they are doing. Thank you so much, Melani!
Ok, stick with me here. I'm getting to the really good stuff. Today, day three, I am at my work desk eating my lunch and typing a reply to Melani (I promise, my bosses ... I was on my lunch hour!) when my husband calls me. He just happened to take the afternoon off from work today and was home to receive a phone call from Scott Brown of Gladney. Scott gave Rick some fantastic news ... no, the kids have not been adopted yet, but they are now well on their way! The adoption expenses for Aschalo, Genet and Yesalemush are no longer an issue for the lucky family that will step forward to bring these children home!
Ever heard of David Nasser? We had not until this afternoon. Landree had ... we had dinner with her this evening and asked her if she had ever heard of him. She looked at us warily and said, "Yes ... why? I just ordered his book yesterday." Yesterday we did not know who these people are, but today David and Jennifer Nasser are the two most wonderful people on the face of this earth! What a gift they and the students of Liberty University have gathered for these kids! This is truly amazing! Sorry folks ... you're just gonna have to click on the link to get it all. I don't think I could do the story justice if I tried to repeat it myself. All of the details have not been worked out quite yet ... all of this happened only yesterday ... but the current plan is to pay all adoption expenses for these kids and possibly put some away for their education.
Anyone who ever has anything bad to say about the youth of America these days had better not say anything to me!
And now to finish the story. The mail came today and we received a beautiful letter from Genet and Yesalemush. The end of the letter ...
"We are so busy, we spend our time by study. Many children are finish their process and goes to U.S.A. we are very sad. Every day we pray to God to help us to get a family from Texas. We ask you again don't forget us to find a family to adopt us."
My dear children, you are NOT forgotten!!!
And for the non-Texans, I'll interpret ... "a family from U.S.A"
We know the day is just around the corner now when we will receive that next call from Scott telling us that the Kinfe kids are coming home! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most spiritual person they've ever met, but that doesn't mean I am not a believer. I believe in the goodness of people and I find myself believing with all of my heart that God has had his hand in this one. Three solid days of Kinfe kids on the mind and heart, and oh what a happy almost-ending!!
As the song says, "... the rest is still unwritten."
