Hope

We've had another busy week here! Friday was Dave's 40th Birthday and he was blessed in many ways....including waking up to signs in the front yard from a friend of his, who wanted to make sure Dave didn't forget how old he is. :-)

As part of Dave's Birthday celebration, on Thursday night, our family went to a concert together. We have long been fans of Steven Curtis Chapman and love his music. Steven sang lots of songs and we had a great time worshipping and celebrating. We also enjoyed some music from his son's group "Caleb" and were blessed by that. Mary Beth Chapman, Steven's wife, also spoke at this concert. If you don't know much about the Chapman family....years ago, their daughter, Emily, went on a Mission Trip and came home on fire for orphans around the world and felt her family should adopt. Her parents weren't ready - so Emily prayed (sounds a bit like what the Jansen girls did for their Dad!) :-) and the Chapman's ended up adopting three beautiful girls from China. About 2 1/2 years ago, through a tragic accident in their own front yard, their youngest daughter, Maria, was killed. This past Thursday evening, the Chapman family shared through music and spoken word, of how everything about their God and faith was questioned as they dealt with this deep grief. They gave testimony about how real God is to them now more than ever before and how they continue to live each day in the hope that they will SEE Jesus face to face, they will see Maria again and there will be no more tears. It is so wonderful to live in that Hope!

You would think that after losing a daughter you've adopted, you might lose a bit of your passion for adoption and orphans. But, the Chapman's haven't lost that passion at all - they have done even more for orphans around the world. Their organization "Show Hope" has increased the work it does for those children who so often fall through the cracks. Our request for today......please go to their website at http://www.showhope.org/ and see what wonderful work is taking place. Take a look at Maria's Big House of Hope....consider having an Orphan Sunday....ponder if you could give up something you really don't need each month to be a "Show Hope Partner". Did you know that every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan? Or that every 14 seconds a child loses a parents due to AIDS? (so how many does that make during the simple reading of this blog?) Or 16.2 million children worldwide have lost both their parents? As a "Show Hope Partner" your money helps in two ways.....The first half of your gift provides care for an orphan as they wait to go home to their forever family and the second half of your gift goes into a fund to help provide adoption grants to adoptive families (Show Hope provides 30-40 grants a month, but sometimes have to decline twice that many a month!).

As a family, we volunteered at the Concert to help Show Hope's Mission - and as a family, we ask you to consider what you can do. We know that not all families are called to adoption - but we are all called to care for orphans. How can you do that?

Today, we were able to attend the Ethiopian New Year's Festival put on by the local Ethiopian Group in Columbus. We were able to eat some Ethiopian food, experience some of their music and dancing, see Ethiopian clothing and see many, many beautiful Ethiopian children. It made us even more eager to make our trip over there! We continue to trust God's timing and provision in this entire process - we know He is in control!

You Can Count on Change

This week has brought a lot of change to our home. Vicki went back to work on Monday and the kids returned to school on Wednesday (with Jonathan beginning high school). Wednesday also marked Vicki's birthday, as well as Dave & Vicki's 20th anniversary. Needless to say, Wednesday was a pretty big day! We enjoyed a family dinner out at an Ethiopian Restaurant here in Columbus. Overall, it was a great experience and we were thrilled at how much the kids enjoyed the food there (they are usually picky eaters).

As we had dinner together, we posed the question....how do you think your new brother or sister will feel being picked up by two strangers (Dave & Vicki) put on a plane, and then being offered new foods for each and every meal after that? Everything in their life will taste different, look different, even smell different...... This led to a good discussion about patience with our new family member because of the variety of ways they may react to their new experience - and some understanding as to why they may react with fear, anger or tears for days, weeks or months. We all have a lot of understanding to go yet, but we had a good opening chat about this. We've tried to raise our kids to be flexible - because in a Pastor's home, you never know what may change next. We hope that as we've tried to prepare them that change is always happening in life, they will end up being more equipped for this upcoming change in their lives.

So, would you pray about this? Pray that we are equipped with patience, understanding and flexibility. Pray that our new family member is one able to "roll with it" and will embrace this new adventure that they will be taking and will feel our love and accept it. Pray that we will all bond quickly and continue to be a family unit that expects change to happen and will trust that God takes care of all the details.

God is good - all the time!

Thanks to ....WHO?

Dear Friend,

Thank you. We found the envelope that you left with a gift in it for our child and their journey to their "forever home." We are most grateful. We are sad that you craftily used a cashier's check, so we have absolutely no way of finding out who you are - so we use this public forum, hoping that you read our blog, to express our deep gratitude for you and your gift. We feel overwhelmed with being blessed with so much!

This past weekend, we have been working with numbers, throwing around figures and reworking them all again, to figure out how we will pay for our next "installment" for this adoption process. Again and again, we didn't come to a final solution, because right now, there just isn't enough money there. And, again and again, we keep telling each other how faithful God is and that God has got it covered in ways we don't even know yet......and we truly believe that with all of our hearts, but this living by faith thing is a bit un-nerving sometimes.

So, dear friend, you must know, that your anonymous gift is so much more than the check that was left......it was a direct reminder to us that God has this covered in ways we don't even know yet and that walking forward in faith is the most exciting, invigorating way to live and today we choose to keep walking that way. Thank you not only for your financial gift, but for being a tool used to show God's faithfulness. We still have a long way to go for our next "installment", but your gift spurs us on with hope and determination. May God richly bless you for your thoughtfulness and generosity!!

Love,
Dave & Vicki

p.s. We just rec'd our first 2 bags from "Just Love Coffee" and can personally tell you - it is great, fresh roasted coffee! Thanks to those of you who have already ordered coffee - God is going to use your coffee habit to bless an orphan! :-)

Ethiopia - Birthplace of Coffee

Did you know that they say that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee? They even have ceremonies there to bless the coffee (no wonder Vicki wants to travel there!) ;-)

We have been looking for a way to make coffee a part of our fundraising efforts and are excited that we have found a way. We have found the "Just Love Coffee" Company who have opened up the online "Jansen Expansion Coffee Store". For every bag of coffee that is purchased, they will send a portion of the money for our Adoption efforts and will continue to do so until our adoption is complete. We think that the coffee bags with the Ethiopian flags on them will be especially tasty....... Please check out the link to your right and start shopping!

We are thrilled to find this opportunity and excited to partner with this company, who deeply care about the orphans in the world. Please take some time to read the "Just Love Coffee" story on our Store page. Thank you for your help in caring for the orphans.

Please take 4 minutes and watch this

Please take a little over four minutes and watch this video at www.vimeo.com/13771428

I came across this video today on the blog of another family who is awaiting the adoption of their child from Ethiopia. I join them in feeling like what we are doing is not enough and yet, at the moment, my hands are tied to not do more. Or can I? What else can be done to help these people, these children, all of who are important! For now, I post this video and plead with you to watch it and open your heart to what God may want you to do. At least pray for their safety, protection and peace. For now, I can help spread the word of these orphans who need to be cared for.

Addis Ababa is where we will someday fly to bring home our child - this video makes me wonder if our child is out there rummaging through the trash? Please pray for our child - I can only trust that God is caring for him or her at this very moment. There are times when I must force myself not to think of our child, because I can not see the papers and procedures that need my attention through my tears. But, those tears are my reminders to keep pressing and plodding on, trusting in God's plan in it all.

Thanks to you!

Thank you to everyone who came to share in our Pancake Breakfast - and a very special "Thank You" to those who helped in various ways! We are so grateful! We were able to raise $1100.00 today, just enough to assist us in sending our Formal International Application Fee and first agency fee in this coming week (with just a couple of pieces of paperwork left to fill out, of course!) ;-) We had so much fun seeing so many friends today and appreciate the overwhelming support in so many ways in our adoption journey. YOU are making a difference in the life of an orphan - how cool is that?

If you were unable to attend the Breakfast, but would still like to contribute (we are only 1/5 of the way there in our financial journey of adoption) please contact us at VJansen90@gmail.com.

Thanks again everyone!

Home Visit #1 - Done!

Home Visit # 1 in done! Yahoo! We spent about 2 hours with Katie, our Social Worker, early this evening. She was very nice and did an individual interview with every member of our household, a couple interview and then a walk through of our home. She answered a few of our questions, clarified some paperwork and set up an appointment for her next visit....August 19th. Until then, Dave & Vicki have LOTS of reading assignments to take care of and just a few final pieces of paperwork.

Katie shared with us that the most likely reason our final Home Study paperwork might take a while would be our Child Abuse clearance from the State of Ohio, simply because it takes a while. Would you please pray specifically that this paperwork would be done ASAP? Thanks! We need our final Home Study paperwork done in order to apply for Adoption Grants and would really like to get the Grant paperwork process started soon (well, except that means we're just filling out more paperwork....again.....).

After the Home Study, our family enjoyed some ice cream together and then went to church to set up for the Pancake Breakfast fundraiser tomorrow. We were able to get everything as ready as possible for it and can't wait to see everyone tomorrow morning! If you're in the area......feel free to come and have some breakfast with us!