Meet Sofani

Staci and I are very happy to announce that we will soon be welcoming a 4^th child into our family.  His name is Sofani and I met him while I was on a mission trip in December in Ethiopia.   It was no accident that the two of us met and Staci, the kids and I couldn’t be more excited about the addition to our family.

Pastor Mark Ellcessor, Todd Austin and I landed in Mikelle, Ethiopia on the second leg of our mission trip in early December ’11.  We were supposed to be staying in the Axum hotel in Mikelle; however, we were bumped from the hotel while the government used it for meetings.  The plans had changed and Gabe, our contact person while in Ethiopia, was taking us from the airport to the guest house where we were now supposed to be staying when we were involved in a car accident.  Gabe’s SUV was totaled and we relied on the help from some of Gabe’s friends to drive us to the guest house.  We were dropped off only to learn that the arrangements were not correct.  We didn’t have reservations and our contact, Gabe (the only one of us that spoke the local language), was dealing with the police at the scene of the car accident.  We were stuck.  No room in the Inn.

It was then we met Atsad.  She ran the guest house and insisted that we go with her to her home.  She drove us with all of our belongings to her home.  We were greeted with incredible hospitality.  I met three children upon arriving.  One was a young girl about Avery’s age.  Another was a boy that appeared to be Jackson’s age and the youngest was a boy that was around Anna’s age.  I felt right at home and began playing with the oldest boy.  In spite of the language barrier we instantly clicked and I felt a strong connection to this child.  On the second day of our stay I learned that only two of the children were Atsad’s. I learned that the oldest boy, Sofani, had lost both of his parents when he was very young.  He had also lost his grandmother a couple of years ago who was his caretaker after his parents passed away.  Sofani is a cousin of Atsad’s and hangs around their house when he’s able.  My heart was broken.

I bonded with this child and the rest of the family that so graciously took us in while we were in Mikelle.  Atsad’s husband, Girmay, who was in another part of the country while we were staying in his home, called home one night and I spoke with him and thanked him for the hospitality that his family extended me and my stranded friends.  I got Girmay’s email address before we left the country to return to the U.S.

We arrived in Indiana and the first week back was tough.  I was no fun to be around.  I was irritable and clearly there was something wrong.  I had a growing burden on my heart for Sofani.  After about a week of prayer and discussions with Staci, I fired off an email that will forever change the course of our lives.  I asked Girmay to approach Sofani about becoming part of our family.  We heard back the next day.  Sofani was excited and so were we!  Staci and I knew nothing at the time about the international adoption process but we knew this was God’s plan for our family.

We began corresponding with Girmay from that point forward while learning as much as we could about the adoption process.  Last week, we completed our home study and sent a packet of information to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) yesterday.  Once we get back our approval from immigration, we’ll be submitting our dossier to the Ethiopian government and making arrangements to fly to Ethiopia for a court date this summer.  If all goes as planned, we’ll be making another trip to Ethiopia later this year to bring Sofani home. 

God has had his hand in this entire process.  First, he got me to read a book called “The Hole in our Gospel.”  This book turned my perspective on the injustices in this world upside down.  Next, God had me agreeing to take a week off of work to go to Ethiopia with Mark and Todd on a mission to teach on leadership at bible colleges and deliver Amharic bibles to students in the seminary.  He took me deep into the interior of Ethiopia to see a level of poverty that is unimaginable.  I knew this trip would change me, but I thought I would come back ready to drill wells, build housing or work further with World Vision.  I did not expect that I would come home wanting to adopt our fourth child. 

Our family has experienced tremendous joy since this process began.  We have peace knowing that this very complicated process will continue to go smoothly and Sofani will soon be with us.  We hope you will all share in our excitement. We can’t wait for you to meet him.