Trees of Glory Update

We have the privledge of sponsoring a little girl named Kidist that lives in a village not too far from the capital city of Addis Ababa , Ethiopia. She is able to go to the care point center, Trees of Glory for food , clothing, medical supplies and this fall... schooling. Children's Hope Chest is doing some amazing work in Ethiopia right now and we are so thankful to be a small part of that work. For $34 a month you can sponsor a child and know that your money is going directly for supplies for that child.

A team is going to be visiting Trees of Glory in Novemeber and taking every child there a care package. We were able to fix a care package for our little girl and send it to her with pictures of our family. The cool thing is, depending on our adoption timeline, we will get to visit with Kidist in person too! We are planning on going to TOG on our trip to Ethiopia to meet the boys and go to court. Abby will get to go with us to TOG and see all the children, play and love on them too! It is going to be amazing!

A fun surprise

Today I was able to Skype with Mikias' little sister that lives in California. We were on the computer for about 30 min and she was able to meet our whole family. She is the cutest thing ever!

She told me some fun facts about Mikias ( pronounced MeKeyas):

He likes baseball, basketball and Foosball

She thinks he would like a baseball cap and a little car in his care package and also pictures of our family.

He likes chicken tibs and eggs

He likes brothers, sisters and babies :)

He laughs everyday and is happy

He is sometimes shy

She doesn't think he will be afraid of our dog, Mac, but maybe he will.

I promised to send her a recent picture of him when AWAA sends us one. She also thanked me for taking care and adopting her brother. I am so excited that they will be able to skype and send letters and cards to each other!

I forgot to ask her if she thought he would liked to be called Micah when he moves to the US..I hope he will since that is what we all call him already!

Manna

I have been thinking a lot lately about the manna that the Israelites were given in the wilderness. How it was sweet and filling and straight from the Provider. Also, how there was just enough each day to meet their needs. Any more and it would spoil. Each and everyday they rose, went out, expectant for God to provide this life-sustaining food for them. After all those years, do you think it became second nature for them to look to Him to provide? Do you think it increased their faith?And every day He did. It is such a picture for us.

As Christians, God wants to provide our needs, He desires to give us what we want, but we have to become in the habit of looking to HIM to provide it. I think our minds are too small, (as well as our expectations) for Him to give us everything we need for this life in one swoop. He knows that part of this faith walk is to be able to look expectantly into His face and believe that HE has everything we need. Everything.

Our adoption is the reason I have been thinking about manna and those Israelites. If He would have given us all we needed to financially back this adoption, I know I would not have looked to Him with the fervency that I am looking at Him now. Nor would I appreciate when He allows the blessing to flow at the exact time we need them to.

You know what..I don't think I would have the confidence that adoption is exactly what He has called us to either. There is something about God calling AND providing that makes the call even more sacred.

Another thing that the children of Israel did, was they went. They put feet to their faith and when it was time to pack up and leave Egypt. They went. They gave God the chance to provide. Could He have provided for them in Egypt..well, yes, but would they have recognized Him for who He is....Jehovah Jirah. The God who provides.

Sometimes it takes a call. A step of faith to really really see God as our provider. Sometimes it takes the simple act of just picking up the manna and having the faith to not doubt it will be there tomorrow too.

We joke about how many stares we will get when our homeschooling family increases to 7 with two Ethiopian children, but it is my prayer that we will be a living testimony of God's provision. How HE alone can take simple Israelite slaves and turn them into a mighty banner of His love, grace and yes, His provision.

The Number game

Soooo Today we reached our 6 month DTE anniversary! Crazy I actually thought at one point we might have our baby home by now! we haven't even seen his face yet! Still I am thankful to be this far along. I am hoping and praying that we will get our referral call this coming week!

AND courts open tomorrow!!!! We have made it through the two long months of rainy season! Yay!!! This means when we do get our

referral, we will be submitted to court and eventually get a court date to travel to Ethiopia. So I am happy to be 6 Month DTE, but even happier to be sitting number one for a baby boy.

(We share this spot with two other families, so I am hoping and praying we all get our phone calls soon!!)

Number 1 baby!

We are now number 1 for a baby boy! We have sat at number 2 for 7 long weeks and I was sooooo happy to hear of a baby boy referral today! We will celebrate our 6 months DTE on Sunday and hopefully next week get a call and see our sweet Isaac's face! YAY!!

Life Song for Orphans!

We received a a phone call this morning that we have been given a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans! The grant is for $2500 and if we can raise $2500 by November 15, Lifesong will give us $2500! That is $5000 for our adoption!! We cannot use our own funds for this, it needs to be money that we have raised. We are sooo excited because the extra money that Mikias was....you guessed it...$5000!

We will be working on a fundraising letter to send out, but if you have been thinking and praying about giving to our adoption, now would be a great time to give and to give to our account at Lifesong!

We are so excited that God has provided for us in this way!

If you are ready to give today just go to Lifesong for Orphans and Donate to: Mullis Family #1552

Here is the letter from Lifesong:

September 20, 2010

Dear church, family, and friends of Greg and Jackie Mullis,

Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) is a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless…in their affliction” (James 1:27).

The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is astounding… there are over 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone!

God tells us in His word He has heard the cry of the orphaned and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17, 18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for – through adoption. As believers, He adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans!

We believe adoption at its core is evangelism--a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, “visit the fatherless…” but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips, and some to adopt.

Greg and Jackie have sensed God’s call . . . and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt 2 boys from Ethiopia. As you may already know, international adoption can cost around $30,000 and prevents many godly families from adopting. Lifesong believes God has raised up the Mullis family “for such a time as this…” and we have committed an Adoption Matching Grant of $2,500 to help raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of this child. This means Lifesong for Orphans will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything the Mullis’ raise from their church, family, and friends between now and November 15, 2010, up to $2,500. We invite you to support them financially to make this adoption possible. Your gift is tax deductible and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. *100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs--nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

Will you invest financially in the life of these boys? . . . It will be an investment with eternal return.

God bless you for laying your treasures up in Heaven,

Andy Lehman

Vice President

p.s. I trust God will do great and mighty things through this, and all for His Glory!

PO Box 40 202 N Ford St Gridley, IL 61744

phone 309 747 3556 fax 309 747 4647 www.lifesongfororphans.org

bringing joy and purpose to orphans

Update

We were sent an email today that said that "M", the little boy we would like to adopt, should have all his paperwork in his file in the next 4 to 4 1/2 weeks. Then we will be able to receive his referral. We still dont know when we will get a baby boy referral, but it should be in that timeframe too. This means we can go to court for both of them and adopt them together. Even though 4 and a half weeks seems like an ETERNITY right not..it is happy news that his case is progressing and it seems to be great timing in regards to Isaac's case!

Sooooo not a referral yet, but we are getting close!

Why Ethiopia

*There are more than 5 million orphans in Ethiopia.

*One-tenth of Ethiopian orphans will die before their first birthday. One-sixth will die before their 5th birthday.

*Malnutrition is the cause of more than half of all child deaths.

*60-150 million Ethiopian children live on the streets.

*Half of Ethiopian children will never go to school. 88% never attend secondary school.

*Only 24% of households in Ethiopia have access to safe drinking water.

*The average life expectancy for men in Ethiopia is 48; for women it's 50.

*One out of every four women die in childbirth.

*There is only one physician for every 34,988 people.

*In the US there are approximately 65,000 domestic adoptions each year. 14,000 of those are private infant adoptions. Yet in 2009, there were less than 13,000 international adoptions in the US, and less than 2,500 children adopted from Ethiopia.

Our adoption video

I Just Haven't Met You Yet By Michael Bublé Lyrics

My Isaac song... :)

The Words I Would Say - Sidewalk Prophets [lyrics]

My song to Micah..

So another month, huh?

Well, we found out yesterday , based on what our family coordinator says, we wont get our referral phone call until end of Sept/ beginning of October. This is just what she foresees...not certain ( meaning it COULD come earlier..or later) So bummed! Now, I know that doesn't sound like a very long time, but when you spend most of your waking hours staring at a cell phone , willing it to ring...days and weeks can really begin to wear at ya!

Thankfully we are beginning my favorite time of the year..I love fall! The crisp air, football season, the change of leaves, the anticipation of the holidays. I am so excited that now I will be able to add the memory of seeing our new children's faces to this wonderful season.

I know God's timing is perfect and if court had not closed and if baby boy referrals had not slowed down like they have, we may not be able to be referred Mikias ( Micah) as well. So it is all in HIS perfect will. Here are a few prayer requests concerning our adoption, if you would like to pray with us:

1. That they are home by Christmas (and that is still a possibility) :)

2. We receive one or more grants that we are waiting to hear from

3. That we can raise $5,000 more for Micah's adoption

4. That I can wait on the Lord and not stress out as I stare at my phone obsessively

5. For Micah and Isaac's health. We are unsure if they are at AWAA's transition home or in orphanages right now, but I know the TH is battling illnesses right now with a lot of the kids and I am sure the orphanages are too.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. I have to keep thinking back to last September when I was waiting to see if AWAA would even approve our application to adopt...Oh how far we have came!