Video footage of the slide...

The fun is just beginning...

So as you can see from the lack of blog updates, life has been busy. The first picture is of our first outing with all of us. We had a friend pack us a wonderful picnic and we went to the park nearby. It was the first time I am sure Andrew had been in the water and he had a blast. You can see from the other pictures, he is becoming Cook material pretty fast and just copies Bobby and Thomas. We turned on the slip n' slide and he just giggled and giggled. He fell in the pool below and just came up with water dripping and a big grin. We are falling in love more and more every day. A neighbor came over today and Sydney cooed over and over and I felt like the mom who wanted to yell, do you see how cute she is...! It is funny with these two that you feel like you can brag since they aren't from your genes. Feel free to tell me to stop.

Today as I reflected on the four, I realized how incredible it was that the Lord can give you such unique love for each child. Each one is made so differently and so beautifully. It is neat to see our own little body of Christ and its gifts working together. We are growing a lot. When you return from a trip such as ours, it strikes us daily of how the journey only continues. It doesn't stop in the U.S.; God has been growing us just as much. I am shocked by my impatience, my quickness to want to fix it all fast, my quick temper, my quick everything because of just being on the edge. I am realizing so much that God has brought this into my life to help me die to more of my sin. God gives you so much patience with each child and you think you master parts of it, and then you add one more child or two and you just stare that sin of impatience in the face again and watch God transform in you all over again. I think I need 20 more to get it all out.

Bobby and Thomas have been more than amazing. That has been the biggest shock to me in that I prepared for meltdown after meltdown. They have just rolled with it. The timing could not have been more perfect with Andy having half days for two months. I just look at the clock and think, anyone can make it until 1 pm. Then it is 1 pm and I just smile, thinking all we have to do today is love on these children. It feels so amazing to see the love God can give you for these little ones.

Feeling sick with 6...

After a week of all of us having fevers, chills, coughs, runny nose, and all the rest, you could say we are ready to be done with this African flu! We are trusting that this too is all a part of God's plan, hoping that it is building some wonderful character (I am not seeing that part yet :)). Patience is certainly a virtue.

The kids are doing remarkably well considering they feel yucky. Sydney is starting to sleep 6 or 7 hours and that is wonderful. Andrew still sleeps all night with a few wakening spells for a minute or two. They both eat great, and as you all that means now I have 4 really big tummies to fill!

I will try to post some more pics soon!

We are home!

It is hard to believe that we are home. I have been down and out with the flu or some terrible cold so this is the first time I have some energy to let you all know how wonderful it is to be home with our four children. The greatest part thus far is how much Andrew just loves Bobby and Thomas and vice versa. Thomas has taken him under his wing and just makes him smile and laugh all day. He has gained so much muscle already being able to run around and chase them. He is exhausted! I think he is so overstimulated, he doesn't even know what to do with himself. My mom and sister have been here to help, and Andy and I laugh that we are just surviving with 4adults here. Luckily I am feeling a little better now that my sister has left to possibly help again.

Sydney is doing wonderfully. She eats every 2.5 or 3 hours which is painful yet, pretty cute every time you go get her. Bobby and Sydney both have fevers and I think getting what I have so the doctor is first on the list for the week.

We are so thankful for all of your love and support. We came home to the cleanest house you have ever seen, carpets steamed cleaned, a fridge full, gifts galore, and so much more. I just look around and get teary. I am so grateful for all of your support; truly, we could not have done this without all of you.

May 15

Don't you love how God leaves every little detail to the last minute so that we will rely on Him? We went to the embassy in the morning to do Andrew's blood work and they told us they could not rush the results--it would take 24 hours. We then went back to our man at the embassy we had met the week before and he wrote a letter asking to rush it. Our guy at CWA then went to the doctor, then to the labs where the blood work is processed and asked for a big favor. He said he would have the blood work there by 4 pm. That would mean a courier would have to bring the blood work to the embassy at 4:30, have the interview, then print the visa...

You will probably all believe it after reading what all has unfolded in our lives, but at 5:26, when the embassy closed at 5:30, our visa was printed and we flew to our guest house to pack, got on our flight after some more little complications such as the airline telling us that Sydney must have a printed ticket (after being told 4 separate times we could buy a lap seat when we got there). They told us we could not fly without the ticket. After some more time, God's favor again made a way. We are in Amsterdam and have never felt more relieved to have gotten to soil that was more familiar and closer to our little ones at home. Both Andrew and Sydney were amazing on the flight; they slept the entire way so now only one more flight to go....

WE will be home at 1:45ish in Atlanta!!!! KLM is the way to go or Northwest.... Praise God. "You have shown us favor unending!"

May 14

Today was a whirlwind here and both children were champs. The people here are hilarious; no one thinks it is impolite to stare so people just stare at us all day long. We went to the immigration office at 8:30 with our representative and he knew so many people there. Our guest house prayed for us this morning that the director would have favor on us and allow us to get the passport the same day so that we could get his medical test and then go to the embassy tomorrow for the visa. He approved it!!! We got the passport at 4 pm and went to the doctor for his evaluation. So at 8 am tomorrow we head to the embassy. Our representative again said this was impossible; he has never got a passport the same day. It takes 4 days and he has gotten it in 3 days. We watched him appeal for us and the director just signed it and pointed him in the direction to get it printed. It felt so much like all the bible stories where God just turns someones heart and shows favor to his people. We are so grateful for this. Otherwise we would be here until at least Tuesday.

It takes a few weeks to get an embassy date, but if you remember from our other posts, when we went for Sydney, we met a man who said just show up and he would remember us and process it the same day. So let's pray that he is not sick and that we can find him so we can get on our flight tomorrow night. We get to Atlanta on KLM at 1:45 and after custom, probably 3 pm Friday.

Andrew has been hilarious today. He hasn't ever been told no, so as you can imagine today was pretty tough. Tantrum after tantrum. Everything is fascinating for him and he doesn't understand that when we take something he gets it back. Pray for our flights that the tantrums will cease and that we don't have any explosive diarrhea! (as we did today... we threw away all his clothes!)

We can't wait for you all to meet our little ones and again, cannot thank you enough for praying us home. If you have been following the posts, i would love for you to leave a comment so we can print it for their baby books to see how many people were praying for them. I have so many of your emails that I will cherish for so long.

more pictures

May 13 - Praise and More Prayers Needed

Today was our first 24 hours with Andrew and what a joy. He is just so interested in everything and just loves being with us. It was fascinating to watch him do everything for the first time. He ate spaghetti last night with green beans and didn't stop eating. His stomach was so enlarged with his tiny frame, we took a picture. He ate the cabbage and chicken stew tonight and just loves looking at all the food. He ate 3 or 4 bananas all in one bite pretty much and he tries to eat the skin too. He is very similar to my other boys in this regard. He slept through the night wonderfully and took a great nap today.

We went today to get the passport for Andrew and it takes 4 days. We are meeting with the director tomorrow at 9 am to see he can process it in one day. Please pray for favor with him. Our agency says this is impossible, but they also said everything with this case is impossible and everything has worked. So let's bank on the miracle. Thank you so much for your prayers! After the passport, we then have to have 24 hours for his medical and process the embassy visa in one day versus 2 too! All by Thursday at 10:45 pm....

The Trip to Sodo - May 12

Andy and I just got back from Sodo today, a town south of Addis Ababa 7 hours. We both had wanted to go and take pictures for our children and see some of their roots. It is such a blessing because we came early here to go to Sodo for a night, but when we arrived we decided it was best to go meet with the director of our agency to see if we could get things moving with Andrew. So we scratched the trip originally, but now that we stayed, we were able to go. It was incredible. Getting outside of this city was the best thing for our souls. Looking at the Africa plains, mountains, vegetation, huts, people, camels, and so much more. You could just stare out the window for seven hours. The last 2 hours were the bumpiest roads we have ever traveled, but on the return we took a different route, which only took 5. We passed hundreds of camels, donkeys, oxen, and more. You pass families with 5 year olds plowing the fields with oxen. You only see huts that they live in and lots of dirt. It is a lot like the pictures you see and think of in Africa. It was an experience we will treasure.

When we got to Sodo, we went to the Sodo Christian hospital where a friend told us to go to bring some things to her friend who was a doctor there. We knew this woman lived next to the woman who ran the orphanage where our children were brought to. We only met this woman a few weeks before we left at an Georgia Ethiopian get-together and she told us to go. When we arrived, we saw two Americans who showed us the way to their houses.

When I say we met the kindest couple we know, I mean it. Her name is Stephanie and she takes in the children and runs the orphanage there. They invited us to stay for dinner because they had a team of nurses from the states doing a 2 week internship there as well. We were able to sit with the couple and hear all about our child and more. The thing that was most amazing was that she was the one who took our daughter in and kept her at her house for two weeks to feed her and get her healthy again. She prayed over her the night she was brought in and anointed her with oil. What a gift we can give to our child for her to know how loved she was and prayed for. We then were invited to spend the night which was wonderful since the hotels there are 7 dollars a night and you are the only white face around. We stayed with a missionary couple who had been in the African bush for 25 years and they fed us breakfast; their singing was beautiful as they prayed together. It was quite a weekend. We are so grateful for our time here. It is a beautiful thing to see how God's plan is always best.

Tomorrow we will go get Andrew Tarekgn Cook. We decided to leave the name they call him as his middle name. It means forgiveness, reconciliation. We will go out to dinner tonight for a mothers day dinner and start the next week with one more child. We are liking this slow transition. Miss Sydney was a doll on our 7 hour trip; she only cried for 5 minutes. She just looks around, cuddles, eats a lot, and smiles constantly. She is so beautiful, and we are already getting her chubby for the states!

Updated pictures:

Smiling Andrew
Smiling Sydney
Bathing Sydney
The landscape outside Sodo, the town they are from
The guest house dining room/den, with Kidist

Ethiopia #4

So here is the news.... Sydney's embassy date went well. I was throwing up before it, but I had to go so by the time we got there, i actually felt much better. the lady who went with us who was adopting two boys threw up on the way back and the funny thing was, it was just normal. When we got the embassy, the man processing our papers was American and we told him about our son. He said he would remember our names so that we didn't have to wait for an embassy date (which typically takes 4-5 weeks to get). He said, just show up and he would process it the same day. It also takes 2 days after the appt. to wait for the child's visa and passport. So that just saved us all of that time. We found out last night that we were able to get a court date for Andrew for tomorrow, Friday! So what that means is that we are staying another week. There are many things that we will just have to go on faith for.
Things to pray for
1. that the court date goes through tomorrow (some have been taking 3-4 times bc of missing documents)
2. the possibility of meeting the birth father after court
3. getting Andrew and knowing how to love him so well as we take him from the care center
4. that it would take 3 days to get the birth certificate versus 4 in order to make our frequent flyer tickets for next thursday
5. that we could go to the embassy on thursday, see the same guy, and get it processed by 6 pm for our flights at 10:45 Thursday
6. of course, pray for our hearts as it is hard to be away from Bobby and Thomas for another week
7. and lastly, for my in-laws and my famliy who have so willingly given up their life to serve us and our children... energy, patience, extra tenderness for the boys

Faith is the theme this week. Andy and I prayed last night to know whether to stay or not with so much unknown (remember the title of the blog....). God of course made it abundantly clear through His Word that we are be here. We will rely on all of you when we hit our weak, sinful moments of doubt to intercede for us as we trek through another week in Ethiopia.

We are so thankful for all of your prayers; we are really beginning to find a love for this place despite all the challenges. The power has been out so we have been playing uno with some fun folks in the guest house by candlelight. Quite the third world experience; many laughs, many tears, many memories.

Quick update on Andrew... he is amazing. He has changed so much in the past few days. I went yesterday after being sick for 2 days and he came out to meet us. He loved the ball we brought him and the moon sand. He knows we are there for him now. He smiles so much now when he sees us. He hasn't spoken until yesterday, we said over and over again, "Say Bobby", "Say Thomas". In the softest whisper he uttered both...he can talk! we are so grateful for these moments. It is such a blessing to see this transformation.

Hopefully we will have power so we can update you as the week progresses...

Ethiopia#3

[from Andy] I truly didn't know how encouraging prayer could be. Thank you to everyone. Your prayers are felt. I keep thinking back to Martha's choice for a blog name- surrender to the unknown. God knew just how much weight would be behind these words. What a day.

The last 24 hours have been so full. First, they have been full of sickness for Martha. I feel for my wife. There is something about sickness in a third world country. Her attitude has been astonishing especially as we read from Corinthians-- your grace is sufficent for me. Your power is made perfect in weakness. Today, she has made very slow progress, but progress. Her best moment, by my estimation, was when I returned from the care center/orphanage.

My task was to go and prepare the documents that will be submitted to the Embassy (the final step for Sydney). The documents are complete and hopefully will be everthing they need to be tomorrow during our embassy date. Then, the paperwork will be processed and handed over to us by Thursday for our evening departure. Lots of variables here so please pray.

The part of the visit that was marvelous was being with Andrew. The little guy started off shy and by the end of our hour together was beaming and following me around. It was so much fun! He was so active, alert and interested in me. When the other children came around us, he was busy pushing them away claiming me for his own. It was tremendous progress and I am so thankful for it. Needless to say, the news made Martha's day.

We did learn from our agency that, in their words, "there is no chance of getting Andrew by this Thursday or even next Tuesday." The news is hard but we're letting it settle now and relying on God's plan. I think we've surrendered to the unknown, at least for now, but evey hour is a battle to trust God's plan.

... Martha just WALKED in... her first steps toward a non-bathroom all day!

I decided to get up for an hour before going back to bed. i have been in bed for 36 hours, but strangley, it hasn't been that bad. it is strange in the states when you are sick, you feel like you are missing something when you are in bed that long. here, you just feel content and enjoy the quiet. andy has been such a trooper. he has done everything today. he and sydney are buds. she brings so much joy. in my quiet time today from Beth moore, here what i read today...

"faith is not an action; it is a response. If we strive to havve faith, we may be miserably disappointed. But if we learn to trust in His faithfulness, we of all persons may be most blessed."

Deut. 7:9,
"Know therefore that the Lord your God is god; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands."

Psalm 33:4,
"for the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful to all he does."

As andy says above, today we have both been able to surrender to going home without Andrew. we of course will still pray and hope, but are finally at peace either way. As any Christian knows, this is where god wants us. The first few days, we were certainly not here so again, your prayers are so helpful. I used to read that when people said that and just had no clue how much it was true.

Pray for a smooth embassy appt, good health, and protection that Andy won't get sick.

pictures

Ethiopia

So we are here. it has taken three days to be able to write all that has

happened and of course, writing may not do it one bit of justice, but didn't

want to leave you all hanging. after a pretty rough start the first 24 hours,

today has been better.

 

we got to pick up sydney yesterday wow. she is beautiful. she doesn't stop

smiling. she was definitely the most healthly little one there. we are so

grateful for little sydney. she is so content, hardly ever cries. She only woke

up once in the middle of the night. I turned over in my bed and saw these tiny

eyes staring at me and of course just smile. she likes to sleep on her side and

she loves both Andy and I's chest. She gets into a tiny ball and she is just

tiny! she is in 0-3 month clothes with the tiniest diapers. We gave her, her

first bath today and she loved it (and so did Andy). If anyone knows my husband,

purell, soap, and water are his favorites :). She peed and pooped all over him

yesterday; needless to say, he was ready to shower and in a third world country

with water that just drips, we both have had to grow up. today there is no power

so we are at a cafe with a guy who is here adopting as well and letting us use

his laptop.

 

Impressions.... roads that they build by hand and shovels, diaper rash that is

worse than you have seen, donkeys walking down the road, goats heads in a pile,

smells are intense, the millenium just passed here (calendar has 13 months), no

lines on the roads, no roads some places, almost every road is under

construction, the people are so nice, lots of Christians, you almost hit someone

every other minute while driving, kids in the orphanage watch american soap

operas... these are just a few to get you going.

 

on to andrew... i can't even go into the words we feel right now about him. his

sad eyes were so difficult to see. his lethargic body. his living conditions.

everything; they are too much for a mom and dad to handle. god has been good. he

has kept us calm yesterday when we left him, yet fought tears the entire day for

fear of having a river in the guest house. TODAY, we went back. we were so

nervous when we went back, yet we saw a different side to Andrew. He interacted.

We brought him blocks and the other kids and watched them just stare at them in

awe. By the end, they were all building and fighting over them. We saw Andrew's

fiesty side; he did not want to share the blocks. He spoke a tiny bit and it was

clear his spirit was in there. He sat in my lap, put his head down and just

stared. One hour there gave us hope. So much changed by loving him for just 1

hour. we are hopeful.

 

Sydney has a croupy cough so pray for her health to stay strong. we think a

doctor here will help us with that.

I wish we could post pictures of Andrew for you... i am going to try sydney

right now through our friend. you can check out the guy who is staying with us

and his friend who came with him, while his wife is at home with 4 kids. They

are from Charlotte....

 

http://web.mac.com/derekrogers/RPB4/Welcome.html

(check their blog out bc he has a laptop and is able to post pictures each day;

you can see their stop in Khartoume where there was a sand storm).

 

 

thanks to all your prayers, there is great hope as we found out yesterday we may

be able to rush some of the process. so far, he told us it will take 6 weeks. an

hour later after praying with him and Andy loving him so gently, he called and

said one step was done and he was working on getting us a court date! our hearts

feel that we cannot leave him in this tiny room with 3 cribs. As you all have

done, find every person you know and pray for us to bring him home. Please pray

for a court date on Tuesday and an embassy date Wednesday. Our flights are

booked for Thursday and we would love to bring these children home. Our hearts

are heavy, yet be assured, God is meeting us here. Our time with the Lord has

been so sweet and precious, our time with each other has been so amazing. Andy

and I have been able to pick the other up moment to moment.

 

We love you all. hope to update more.

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