A Washing Machine in Ethiopia....They Don't Take it for Granted

I don't know about you, but I constantly struggle to stay caught up with our laundry!! When Phil visited Ethiopia in 2008, he saw women doing their laundry like this....

That picture made be GRATEFUL for my washing machine!!

Now imagine doing laundry for dozens of children without a washing machine. Think bedding, clothing, diapers, etc....ugh. When Phil visited the Soddo Children's Home in 2008, the electricity was intermittent and laundry was done by scrubbing it on cement chutes.



Since that time the orphanage has been blessed with receiving donated generators which insure electricity. And thanks to the special efforts of 8 young ladies (ages 9-14), in our church, the orphanage in Sodoo, Ethiopia now has a commercial washing machine!! Christine & Katherine, Leah & Alexa, Lydia & Natalie, Sierra and Michaela raised $250, without parental assistance, to help buy a commercial washing machine for the orphans of Ethiopia. They were able to present the money to Stephne Bowers when she visited our church last month. Stephne runs 3 children's homes for orphaned children in Ethiopia and has an amazing ministry!



Here is Stephne's heart-felt letter to those who donated the funds for the washing machine...

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Soddo and Awassa children's clothing can now be washed in our brand new washing machine which you so graciously donated funds for!

We still have to carry water from the well or bring water on donkey's backs- which then fills this blue container for the days' laundry! But now the nannies can actually get all the washing done before lunch time, which allows them to fold and put away the dry washing by 5 p.m. every day!

These machines can also ONLY function when there is electricity (maybe 3 days per week...?) and on days without electricity, we have been blessed with a generator for each home where we can continue 'normal' day operations without the frustration!

We feel so blessed and the staff are so very thankful for this gift!"

To God be the glory for young hearts sensitive to His call. Thanks girls!!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!

The Horton Family - Easter 2009....eagerly awaiting 2 sweet Ethiopian faces to complete our family!!


The Easter festivities began with Torie polishing all the girls toenails. Sarah Mei was especially excited about that!!


Next we colored Easter eggs and were reminded of new beginnings...just like our new beginning in Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest joys of being a mother is seeing your children grow and become good friends. Torie (freshman in college) and Michaela (7th grade) are best buds now and enjoy their time together!!


Easter morning began with attending our church's Easter Sunrise Service. We have a "civilized" sunrise service held next to Lake Norman at 7:00 a.m. each year. It is a great opportunity to reach out to the community with the Gospel message. We had over 700 people attend this year.



After attending the sunrise service, we attended our church's regular worship service and then came home for pictures, a big Easter meal and a Sunday nap!! It was a beautiful day!

$5 Friday - GRAND FINALE

This will be our last week for fundraising for Acacia Village - Ethiopia.
As of 10:15 a.m. - Thursday, March 19th we need $1,650 to reach our $10,000 goal.

In January, 2008 Phil attended the ground breaking of Acacia Village located in Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA. At that time Christian World Foundation had purchased the land for the building of the village and begun their fundraising efforts.



To date CWF has raised over $640,000 and begun the Children's Home in the village. We're thankful to be a part, with you, of this provision for the orphans of Ethiopia. It's VERY real to us now that we're adopting from Ethiopia too!!


To see all of the details for the project visit the Acacia Village website.
The following excerpt is from Christian World Foundation...
Acacia Village’s impact is threefold:
Acacia Village rescues children from the streets of Ethiopia and connects them with a forever family;
Acacia Village provides employment for over 100 Ethiopian citizens, thus providing opportunity to improve their lives;
Acacia Village helps U.S. adoptive parents by easing the transition of a child from Ethiopia to the United States.

With Acacia Village, you can help build the property and then go to Ethiopia to see how children are being saved. This project enables you to participate in the vision and then witness firsthand the fulfillment of the dream.

When Jesus stood among 5,000 people, the disciples encouraged him to send them away. "How can we feed these people with just a few loaves and fish?" they said. But Jesus refused to be overwhelmed by the problem — He refused to look at what they could not do. Instead, He took the food that was there, blessed it and multiplied it to feed thousands (see Luke 9:12-20).

As we build Acacia Village, we trust Jesus will do the same — not according to our efforts, but by the grace of God. Jesus says again, "Do not send the people away. Bring what you have to Me and I will bless it and multiply it."

Now is the time to stop being overwhelmed by the immensity of the problem. Now is the time to help.

Please consider giving $10 today via our blog link.
With grateful thanks!! The Horton Family

Adoption Update

Sarah Mei with my sister's dog, Chelsea


We're EXCITED to announce that we submitted our dossier to Ethiopia!! The Lord provided the last of the money we needed to pay an international fee for one daughter. We decided to go ahead and send in our dossier for one daughter and if a sibling group becomes available, we'll pray for God's provision for the 2nd child at that time.
Our request is for a daughter under the age of 4, healthy or with mild to moderate special needs. Please pray for God's hand of protection on our daughter(s) until we get matched and can pick them up.
My understanding is that we could get our referral anytime in the next six months. Then our child will undergo more medicals, and we'll be assigned an Ethiopian court date. Once we pass court (and that may take more than one time), we'll travel 5 weeks later.
Our prayer is that we'll travel and be home by Christmas. We'll see what God's timeline is??
I'm praying that God will "lead them by a straight way to a city (our home) where they can settle." Ps. 107:7

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say this---those He redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men,
for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Ps. 107:1-9

Sarah Mei is 3 and our 2009 Snow Day

We celebrated Sarah Mei's 3rd birthday at the end of January. It's hard to believe she's only been home 1 1/2 years. She is SO much a part of our family. Life just wouldn't be the same without her sunny personality and her charm!

Here are a few photos of our Chenzhou (her birth town) girl dressed in a traditional Mandarin dress that was given to us by our adoption agency. (She also had to put on the requisite princess tiara and jewelry to complete the ensemble.)




Just days after celebrating Sarah Mei's birthday, we were surprised with a snow day. It snowed about 2 inches, enough to make snow angels and sled in, and it was also enough for the local schools to close (including the school where Phil is the principal.) We were looking forward to a relaxed day by the fire; however plans changed!

The 3 girls (Torie was at college) headed out to our neighbor's house to go sledding. A 1/2 hour after their departure we got a phone call saying that Sarah Mei was hurt and we needed to come get her. While Michaela (13) and Sarah Mei were sledding down the driveway, they lost control of the sled and went head-first into a tree. Michaela was fine, but Sarah Mei broke her nose...yikes! After spending several hours in the ER, we were released with instructions for giving her pain relievers, keeping ice on her face (have you ever tried that with a wiggling 3 year old?) and following up with a plastic surgeon next week. She was a trooper at the hospital but her face is pitiful!!

We returned home, after our ER odyssey, and just minutes later AnnaGrace (our stoic, I stepped on a nail but it doesn't really hurt, child) said ouch and held her wrist. I asked her what was wrong, and she told us that she had fallen on the ice earlier (before the sledding episode) and hurt her wrist. Wait a minute...if AnnaGrace says something hurts...it HURTS. We looked at her swollen wrist, called the orthopedist office and Phil made the trek back out. Yes, you guessed it, her wrist was broken...



It won't be a snow day we'll soon forget!!

Adoption Update, Life on the Farm & Volleyball

The last month we've been busily putting together our adoption dossier (all the documents that must be sent to the Ethiopian government for approval for our adoption.) I've become very adept at filling out forms with ALL of our personal information on them...salary, net worth (are we supposed to have a black number for that one???), monthly expenses, personality strengths and weaknesses, etc. While I've been filling out this paperwork, special friends have been filling out references ad nauseum. Not only do we have to have references x 3 for our dossier, but we also have to have references x 3 for our home study and references x 3 for each of the grants and adoption loans for which we are applying. Special thanks to Lisa Barna, Mike & Iris Wallace, Lisa Cernuto, Malcolm & Krista Williams, and especially Wade Malloy, our pastor, who wrote a reference for EVERY agency - that's 5 references, to date, ugh!

While I am filling out paperwork, the girls are busy keeping the farm running. Below is a picture of one very cold morning last week. Although we have freeze-proof water pumps, one of them froze anyway. This necessitated multiple trips from the house to the horse pastures, a wagon in-tow, with buckets of warm water. For such big animals, horses can be rather fragile. Our oldest mare (age 26) won't drink water if it is too cold. I know, I know, some of you are saying...just let her get thirsty and she'll drink. Unfortunately, if she doesn't drink enough she develops colic (a severe horse stomachache) which can require a vet visit and in extreme cases, surgery. Needless to say we don't let it get to this point; thus, the girls with their wagon and buckets of warm water. I have to admit, I was quite content to sit by the fire and fill out adoption paperwork while the girls braved the cold.





One of the reasons we love living on a farm is because of the responsibility it instills in our girls. Horses must get fed whether you feel like it or not. However, we'll be adding laying hens and meat hens to the farm this spring, and the girls have unequivocally informed me that the hens will be my "job." They are not enamored with the feathered friends!!

On another note, Michaela is playing club volleyball for the 1st time. Last weekend was the first tournament. She had an impressive string of serves and did a great job setting.






After enjoying the volleyball tourny, it was back to our adoption dossier. It is now complete except for 1 form that the state must mail to us. Upon receiving that form, I'll drive the dossier to Raleigh to have it authenticated by the NC Secretary of State. Then the packet will be overnighted to a courier in Washington DC who will hand-carry the precious cargo to both the US State Dept. and the Ethiopian State Dept. for authentication. After these 3 steps, the dossier will be submitted to Ethiopia for translation and approval. Once our dossier is on the way to Ethiopia, we will be officially placed on the waiting list for our agency. We have requested one or two girls under the age of 4 with or without special needs. But we are praying for God's leading as the agency matches us with our daughter(s). The average wait for referral is 6 months or less. After we're matched with a child, the agency will order a 2nd medical report on the child and our documents will go to court in Ethiopia to make the child(ren) our official daughters. We will travel five weeks after a successful court date. In my best human estimation, our daughters will be home for Christmas. What a great Christmas present that will be!

Pray with us that God will provide the finances needed to submit the dossier to Ethiopia, and that He will begin preparing the hearts of our daughters in Ethiopia to join their forever family.


"One adoption won't change the world but it will change the world for that
child."
(I saw this quote on someone's e-mail tag...not sure who to give the credit to but I love the quote!)

Acacia Village Fundraiser

Many of you have been keeping up with our fundraising efforts via e-mail updates. Our goal is to raise $10,000, via our blog and e-mail loop, to donate towards the building of a children's home in Ethiopia.
Christian World Foundation, an arm of Christian World Adoption, is committed to providing humanitarian aid to the countries where they have adoption programs. One of the greatest needs in Ethiopia is a place where children can live safely, be provided with adequate food and medical care, and be prepared for their adoption to the states. The 1st phase of Acacia Village is a children's home that would offer hope and shelter for the needy children in Ethiopia.

At the beginning of 2008, Phil and I began praying about what we could do to help the children in Ethiopia. God laid on our hearts to begin fundraising for Acacia Village. We realized that our contribution, alone, wouldn't make an impact, but "our" combined donations could make a difference. We sent out our 1st e-mail to 100+ contacts in our address book and have been blessed to see over $6,000 raised for this effort. We need to raise $3,590 more to reach our original goal of $10,000. If you haven't made a donation or if you have made a donation and would like to contribute again, please consider clicking on the Chip-In button and making a donation large or small. Each donation is fully tax-deductible, and you will receive a tax donation letter from Christian World Foundation.
Following are a few photos of the beautiful children that Phil met when visiting Ethiopia in January, 2008:




Please help us help them.

Adopting AGAIN!!..this time from Ethiopia.

We are requesting 2 girls under the age of 10 (preferably one will be an infant/toddler...but we'll see who God has planned for our family.) It's so exciting to know that God had our daughters picked out for us before the foundation of the earth!! We can't wait to meet them.

Now comes the paper pregnancy...the updated homestudy, the I-600a, the fingerprinting, the ordering of birth certificates, marriage certificates, the divulging of tax returns and bank statements and the months of waiting. Praise God we're veterans now at the paperchase, so it doesn't seem so daunting. (Remind me of this in a few months!)

Please pray with us that God will protect our girls in a country that is in the midst of another famine. Pray God will prepare both our hearts and ALL of our girls' hearts as we prepare to expand our family. Pray for God's provision of the necessary finances to pay for this adoption. After an international adoption and 2 open-heart surgeries, in the last year, the finances seem a bit daunting and yet we are at peace that God will fund what He has called our family to complete!!


No this isn't a photo of one of our daughters. This is just a sweet baby that Phil had the privilege of holding when he visited Ethiopia in January of this year.