Ethiopia: Day 1 of 9. July 31st

OK, well on day 1 we actually were not yet in Ethiopia.  But as I am wanting to share details of our trip I feel like I can't leave out day 1.

Day 1 is when we left Missouri.  Sure we only made it to DC, but we were starting on our adventure.  Is this really happening?  We've been waiting for 2.5 years and now we are on our way !!!  Pinch me.  Lots of emotions running through me.  Will we like our guest house?  Will they have electricity?  Does our luggage weigh too much?  What did I forget to pack? 

Also we left Missouri and our 3 big kids were still there.  So blessed to have the Gerdel family (truly our family) take care of my babies.  I wouldn't have it any other way---well except for maybe their doting grandparents :)  (which plan to on trip 2).  I knew we were going to be away from them for what seemed like a long while and that was going to be hard.

Day 1: Sitting at STL airport ready to board for DC!

This post (as we headed to DC) is to simply say THANK YOU.  Thank you to those that have gotten us here.  These past 2 years, you've encouraged, supported, financed, helped, baked, ran,  bought, donated, prayed, and encouraged some more.  The time had finally come.    We do have one adoptive friend who at one point said we should have called our 5K, C.H.L.O.E's run (or fund)....CHLOE standing for  the Church Helping Love Others for Eternity!!!  What a great reminder of when we give, tell, offer hope, encourage we are making an eternal difference.  Not only is Chloe receiving her forever family....she has the opportunity to receive Jesus as Lord & Savior and to have a new family for all eternity (and that does mean most of YOU will be her family)!

So to all of you thankyou....But on the 31st special thanks to Missy and Andrew who love my kids like their own, Jessica and Ryan who sacrificially kept our dog (huge sacrifice of yard and perhaps of non-scratched legs), Tyann Marcink and Amy Lanemann for watching our kids when Missy couldn't, Mark and Becky Baxa, Dr. Turner, and everyone else sending up prayers on our behalf as we headed off to meet our daughter!!!

We're on our way, Chloe!

Are you a Piece to the Puzzle?

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

UPDATE: We ended up selling 2 puzzles---470 pieces and then some.  God is so faithful through His people.  It's like each of you joined to share a small kiss with our Chloe.  I can't wait to post pics of the finished project.  We are blessed!

Are YOU a Piece to the Puzzle? 

Paypal Donation Button on right sidebar.   ----------------------------------------------------------->

So here is the deal.  Chris and I have been contemplating on whether or not to do this---but we need to have one last "hoorah" so to speak in our fundraising efforts.  Besides our Love 2 Run 4 Love (in which we have split the proceeds with a different family the past 2 years) we have not had a fundraiser since Jan. 2012 (Coffee for Chloe)---basically because we thought we were doing really well and were in the sit & wait game.  But because of the miraculous speed from referral to court and the 1 week notice to fly out and perhaps the busy flying season into Ethiopia our plane tickets were quite a bit more pricey than we expected.  They have gone down a bit since then, but none the less we find ourselves short for Trip #2, where we will officially BRING CHLOE HOME!  :)

This is where YOU come in.  Are you our final piece to the puzzle?  Our FINAL fundraiser?  Chris and I each have almost 1000 friends on Facebook, 500 of those are mutual friends.  Now I know MANY of you have already given to our cause.  You've run the race, you've bought items in our Labor of Love auction, or you donated items into the auction, you've drank coffee, you've generously given, and perhaps you ran again....This post is not for you.   But there are many of you who have followed our story, "liked" our pictures, loved us from afar, prayed for us and rejoiced as we posted the news of our newest daughter......but perhaps have not been able to give---this post IS for you.  The old adage "every little bit counts" is going to be true for this last hoorah.

We are going to sell pieces to a puzzle.  Each puzzle piece is only $5.  There are only 300 puzzle pieces.  So the first 300 friends to respond will have the opportunity to be a part of the bigger picture.  Piece by Piece.  We've seen it happen before....every person doing their small part....being part of the body, the church....to share God's love in a BIG way.  That's the big picture.




The puzzle is titled "African Friends".  Although the only animals Chris and
I saw were a plethora of goats, donkeys, bulls, dogs, and one camel.  :)

Then we will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece.  Once the puzzle is complete we will frame it in a dual glass frame---so that Chloe will be able to see who all have had a part in bringing her home to her forever family.  Since the beginning of this journey, we have repeatedly seen God's people help in mighty ways.

Side Note:  Not that anyone is giving for recognition, but if you've given in any way to our adoption process, we have you written down and you are etched in our hearts.  Just because you don't have a puzzle piece,

 does not mean you aren't listed as a generous donor in our adoption book.  :)

Thank you in advance for being the church!  For doing your part! 

26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:26-27

HOW IT WORKS:

1.  Decide how many pieces you want to buy.     1 Puzzle Piece=$5

2. If you have a Paypal account, you can transfer money between Family & Friends at NO cost.  Just login to your paypal account hit the "send money" tab and send To: tee.time4me@yahoo.com, plus leave a comment below, saying you did so OR you can "Donate" using the button on the sidebar--but small fees are associated with each donation, so we won't get the full $5....In that case please give at least $7 for each piece. 

3.  You can also mail a check to our home address, if you'd rather not go the PayPal route. 

Strickland Family: 210 Wenona Dr., Washington, MO 63090.  Again, please leave a comment if you plan on doing this.

4.  Then we will update periodically, piece by piece, and watch the puzzle come together. 

So comment below and let us know if YOU are a piece of our family puzzle!

(interested to see who races to be the first 300 and how fast we can sell out this puzzle)

16 comments:

1. 
   AnonymousAugust 21, 2013 at 12:19 AM

   God Bless!

   Reply
2. 
   RayLynn CarrAugust 21, 2013 at 7:46 AM

   The Carr family will purchase 8 pieces. God bless your family and this journey you are taking together! I will be mailing a check.

   Reply
3. 
   anxiously hopefulAugust 21, 2013 at 8:45 AM

   The Jennings family is purchasing 6 pieces. The check is in the mail!

   Reply
4. 
   Donna SteersAugust 21, 2013 at 1:54 PM

   I just bought 5 puzzle pieces :) <3

   Reply
5. 
   Tony & Denise GregorAugust 21, 2013 at 2:16 PM

   God Bless your family. We just sent a Pay Pal payment. Let us know if you don't get it. We are praying for you.
   The Gregors

   Reply
6. 
   AnonymousAugust 21, 2013 at 2:37 PM

   Praying and praising God for Cloe and your family!
   Ten puzzle pieces please....
   Our check will follow.

   Reply
   Replies

   
   AmberAugust 21, 2013 at 2:57 PM
   Thank you so much... Unfortunately I forgot if you post as "anonymous"---I need your name. :) 
   Reply
7. 
   genilynAugust 21, 2013 at 2:55 PM

   2 pieces from the McCaffreys are headed your way via paypal.

   Reply
8. 
   JenAugust 21, 2013 at 4:57 PM

   The Chases are in for five pieces! I'll send the money via PayPal now. :)

   Reply
9. 
   KarlAugust 22, 2013 at 2:11 PM

   We'll send a check for 4 pieces!
   Karl, Casey and Dante

   Reply
10. 
    JennyAugust 22, 2013 at 10:42 PM

    Just bought five pieces! Love from, Bob, Jenny, Otto, Future Baby Moore & Future Baby Eckerman!

    Reply
11. 
    JaneAugust 26, 2013 at 12:53 PM

    Hi, I just bought 4 puzzle pieces. Paid with Paypal just now.
    The Holestines

    Reply
12. 
    cmorrellAugust 26, 2013 at 4:26 PM

    The Morrells are buying 4 pieces! So excited for you and such a creative idea!!! - Carrie, Greg, Emma and Claire

    Reply
13. 
    AlanaAugust 28, 2013 at 10:46 AM

    I just donated via paypal! Love you guys! Alana

    Reply
14. 
    Jen RawsonAugust 29, 2013 at 10:44 PM

    Love you guys.
    Ken and Jen Rawson

    Reply
15. 
    chuck &amp; kimSeptember 5, 2013 at 12:58 AM

    We just sent our donation through Paypal...let me know if you don't get it.
    
    love, hugs, and continued prayers
    chuck & kim

A piece of my heart is so far away.....

Where do we even begin?  I will update with some daily Ethiopia journaling soon (maybe in a week or so once school starts).  We have one full week before school, which includes school shopping (since we have been preoccupied), a little boy turning 8 years old---(I guess that is not so little) :(, and another little boy starting Kindergarten.  agh!!!  (Let the water works begin!)  Today has been such a blessed day (albeit a little tiring) to be reunited with our 3 big kids and love on them.  9 days is a long time to be away.  Tobe said, "I was starting to forget this place."  (our house!)

Meanwhile, a piece of our heart is in Ethiopia.  This part of the wait is supposedly the hardest.  I don't know that yet, I am sure it will be.  I am still suffering from jetlag (i.e. it is 5:30 am and I'm up--which NEVER happens).  But I do know that she is so loved where she is at and is being taken care of until we return and that makes it easier.  Also, knowing I have LOTS to do in the next 5-8 weeks like all things mentioned in paragraph 1, as well as bedroom remodel of the "sisters" room, and sadly me being one more year closer to 40!  I am to the point that I am forgetting what age I am.  LOL!

Some people are still confused.  Chloe is not home.  This process is long and hard.  Every country, every program a bit different with lots of processes and bureacacy.  And it is ever changing.  It has changed multiple times while we've been in the process, and is about to change again (thanking God we beat that deadline).  Chloe is a Strickland according to Ethiopia.  But now we must wait for the US Embassy to say "come back-- she is cleared to immigrate into the USA".  So we wait.....this can be anywhere from 5-10 weeks.  Hopefully shorter. 



So pray as we wait (our final wait!!!)  to go back.......and I promise to post some of our Ethiopian adventures soon-----as most of you know....we have "some".

Why Am I Surprised? {and kind of a HUGE clarification}

 

¹² When this had dawned on him[Peter], he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

{Acts 12:12-16}

 

Interesting story from Acts.  Here the church is praying, God answers quickly and miraculously, and the people are like "Say What?"....sound like anyone?  ME!  I cannot  believe that we have a court date exactly one month after our referral date.  I prayed for it, I asked you to pray for it, I knew God could do it,and I said He could do it out loud.  But, even still when things were moving along, I was a bit taken back.  We had heard rumor that courts were closing Aug 6th (not even sure if this is true or not)---so my thought was that God would just prolong the court closing for a week or two so that we could still sneak in. {Insert here: His ways are not my ways!(Isaiah 55:8)}  Instead, Chris & I witness the fastest to date (at least in the 2.5 years I've been on our agency's email list) referral to court!!! 

 

THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR  PRAYING!!!  THANK YOU FOR BEING THE CHURCH!!!

 

Now what?? We head to Ethiopia to meet Chloe in person this week.  We will get to meet her, the wonderful nannies that have been caring for her, we will experience and enjoy where she has lived the first 15 months of her life, see where she stayed, and soak up Ethiopian culture.  We get to worship God on Sunday in Ethiopia.  Then we will stand in front of a judge and say "YES!" to Chloe.  Hopefully at this point, the judge will declare her our daughter and then we will be able to introduce publicly the newest Strickland.

 But here's the bad news--I know many of you know this, but to clarify for those that don't--  We do NOT get to bring Chloe home yet, the hardest part of the wait (as if I thought 24 months was hard) will be when we leave Ethiopia without her.  We will come home, she will continue to be loved on by her nannies and we will pray again for the quick turnaround for Visa processing and our US Embassy saying we can come back and bring her home. 

 

PRAYER NEEDS:

1) Please pray for our safety, health, and smooth traveling.  It has been such a whirlwind, a bit crazy, pray I pack everything we need and that our stomachs stay well.  :) 

2) Please pray for our big kids here with family friends.  Being away from Eden, Eli, & Tobe while on a completely different continent and 8 hours ahead will be a bit different.  Just pray they also stay healthy and that the families they are with are blessed for their sacrifice to our family. {We LOVE you!}

3) Pray for Chloe.  Pray for her health and continued safety.  Pray for the House of Hope, the transition home she is in now. Pray for all the transition that she is going through and has gone through.  Our daughter has been through so much in her short life and that cannot be forgotten.  Adoption is beautiful and redeeming, yet it is born out of tragedy, loss, and grief.  We are not sharing all of Chloe's story to every person.  But if you read this blog here you will read similarities and some of the possible struggles that Chloe has gone through and will go through.  (I will post more on this before bringing Chloe home---but for now this is a good starting point---and for all I know may not be us at all, but the orphanage visitors is a fact and a definite issue we will deal with).
4) Pray that in all things God gets the glory.  He has answered prayers in mighty ways and is continuing to work all things out.  He cares for the orphan, He cares for the lonely, He cares for families, and He cares for YOU!  Praise God for the things He has done. 



"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

{Ephesians 3:20-21}

 

 

Dear Chloe, We're coming baby girl!  Can't wait to meet you, hold you, play with you, and say "YES" for you!  Oh boy and your sister and brothers are so excited too.  See you on Friday!  Love, Mama & Dada

At Last!

This song was what Chris and I walked down the aisle to once we were pronounced husband and wife.  It fit, plus it was a super classy song and Chris wouldn't go for anything that wasn't classy.  :)
As I listen to the words, it seems to fit in our current situation just perfectly.  It is a love song that fits here in the adoption world as well.  It might be even more perfect when she is home at last, but none the less.

At last, our call came on Friday, July 5, 2013.  The last day it could have come on so as to not cross the 2 year wait mark, since July 7th, which is a Sunday this year is our Waitaversary.  This is how it went down----

Every year over the 4th of July we camp with our dearest friends, the Gerdel's and Missy's mom and family.  Most of the time it is miserably hot and yet we make it fun, plus we usually include a float trip on the Meremac River.  We've camped at least 6 years---floated at least 3.  A few months ago, Chris and I decided financially we just didn't want to float this year.   So we actually said it out loud so that we would stick to that decision.  However, the Gerdel kiddos were upset that our kids wouldn't be floating with them, so we let our two big kids go along and promised Tobe a day of hiking and one on one swim time.  He was a bit sad, but then was excited.  Of course on the 4th our agency was closed, so we had a peaceful, wonderful time watching fireworks and swimming, and yet in all of our minds was the possibility of a referral the next day (and thinking THAT's why we didn't float!)  So we sent off our floating friends and after a bit headed off to go on our hike---

However, we no sooner got out of the camp grounds and into a place where phone reception actually came in and we got the call!!!!  It was so great that the call came through, because service was sketchy.  I heard our agency give a few details, then the call was dropped, we try again, and the call was dropped, finally it rang once more and I just said loudly "We are coming in!!!!"  See we live near CHI's headquarters and the entire time since we are at STL family we thought we would be driving in to see our referral packet.  We were about another hour out, but we just knew we needed to drive in and get this packet today!!!!  I tried to text Missy before she got on the raft, but missed her.

So....we drive in---see the most beautiful pictures of our beautiful girl and are just thrilled!!!  We spent the afternoon oohing and awing over her and let some family and friends in on our news, but waited to show her pic to her big brother and sister first.  Once we showed Eden & Eli (of course Tobe got to be the first), we got to share with the Gerdel's (who if you recall Missy was the one who jumpstarted all of our fundraising efforts by giving up her bday gifts and running 30 miles for her 30th bday for Chloe)......so just because God likes to put the icing on the cake---guess who share the same bday?????  YEP.  One year after Missy's run, our little Chloe was born.  Another friend pointed out, our Chloe has been along with us in this wait the entire time!!!!  Chloe is 15 months old right now, if you add the 9 months during birth mom's pregnancy---you get our 24 month wait!  Chloe began life as we began our wait!!!!!  Just amazing.  All my adoptive mom friends continued to tell me, His perfect timing (which I believed), but man I couldn't even imagine some of the "coincidences" that God has orchestrated so that I know He had this in His hands the entire time.

So to finish off our Friday night we got to make our fun announcement video.  :)  We didn't get to post till the next day because of the sketchy service.  But we were so excited to share with our church family today what God has done and praise His name.  Like I've said many times before, the church (and not just our home church) but THE church has helped bring Chloe home via prayers and funds.  This has been a joint effort. 

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10201372703498032" width="226" height="400" frameborder="0"></iframe>

WHAT'S NEXT???
Court.  Adopting from Ethiopia is a two trip process.  First trip is court and second is embassy process.  So.....CHURCH here is the prayer need.  I've mentioned before Ethiopia has a rainy season, where courts just close down.  This usually happens mid August.  Now realistically we probably won't make it to court before then, which means we wouldn't make our first trip till mid October.  BUT, our God works miraculously and ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE with Him.  There have been some that have moved through this quickly and there are plenty that don't.  Would you please pray consistently that we could make it to court BEFORE it closes?

***Sidenote:  There are rules and regulations that prohibit us from sharing any identifiable info on Chloe until she is officially ours when we pass court.  So no pictures online and her Ethiopian name will not be posted online.  We will use her Ethiopian name as part of her name.....

We can't even begin to thank you all for the prayers and well wishes and prayers and so forth for our family and our daughter.  We will keep you updated!  Thanks for listening.