our dozen beautiful feet

When I was in college, I took a Christian Theology class.  One of the main ideas in the class was that of the tension of the Already/Not Yet status of followers of Christ.  I didn't fully understand the idea at the time, but as I'm walking through and experiencing adoption, it's becoming more clear to me. Our Initial Orphan Status "Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith." Gal. 3:23-24 Our first, original state is that of being under guardianship. We were orphans, being given to the care of the Law.  The Old Testament law acted as our guardian (the literal translation is "child-conductor"), gave us boundaries and direction when we had nothing else.  When a person is given guardianship of a child, they are responsible for that child.  But this doesn't always mean family will h...

I haven't written, because I haven't known what to say or where to start.  But, I want to remember this trip, so I will try. After a red-eye flight at 3:30 a.m., we arrived in Addis Ababa around 10:30 a.m. with all luggage and kids in tow. 2:30 a.m. in the Delhi airport... Totally shot, we were so happy to see Binyam, our agency's driver, waiting for us right outside the airport.  He drove us to the guest house and we settled into our very spacious room to get cleaned up and rest. I promise Paul didn't sleep the whole time. :) Addis was a lot more modern than I was expecting it to be.  Lots of tall buildings, malls, well-planned streets (remember, I'm comparing it to India, not the US), and seemingly a burger joint on every corner, which made us very happy.  It's at a high elevation and has beautiful mountains surrounding it.  The countryside is truly beautiful! CHICKEN HUT! And Kiryn's excitement about being a big sister! We were all s...

Last month, Luke's bottom from teeth started getting a little wobbly.  But before we noticed that, we noticed his adult teeth were coming in.  I'd never seen anything like this before, but we did a little research and found it totally normal. Here's some photo progression of Luke loosing his first tooth, which came out while we were in Ethiopia! : ) One down, one to go... Once they both fell out, his adult teeth moved right in, and he never had a gap-toothed grin! : ) 

We heard great news as we touched down back in India this morning.  Our friend, whose baby Yusuf has been so sick with liver problems, has been granted favor and given a free bed in the best hospital in the capital to be treated for infections in preparation for a liver transplant. Last time I wrote, the doctors had said the transplant would cost $50,000.  After doing some digging and research, we gave them some information and direction, and were able to bring them to Delhi with us when we came up to go to Ethiopia a week ago.  The family has spent the last 8 days visiting doctors we'd been in contact with, and the best hospital has offered to do the transplant for only $12,000-14,000. This is simply a miracle!  We are so excited for this family. Please pray for this baby Yusuf. Pray the surgery is a success.  The father will be donating a portion of his liver to save his son's life.  We are trusting God has brought them down this path and the transpl...

I'm so pleased and honored to introduce our daughter, Meryn Helena Preedy! She was adopted and became a part of our family on December 30th, 2011, after a court hearing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We are praying for a quick processing of paperwork in the coming days and weeks and for visa clearance from the US Embassy at the earliest possible moment, so she can leave Ethiopia and join us in our home.   More about our trip in the coming days, but for now, I wanted to share these few pictures!  We are ALL so excited and love her to pieces!