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Update: Ethiopia Adoption Program
A Year In Review
Dear Families,
Happy New Year! It was wonderful to receive so many Christmas cards with photos of you and your children. You are all absolutely beautiful and we are blessed to be remembered by you during the special season when we celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. We pray each of you has a wonderful and blessed 2007.
In brief summary, 2006 was a great year. Our first children came home in January and we haven’t stopped since! What a great way to start the year. In 2006 we brought children home of every age, from the very youngest to teenage boys and girls. It is so great to see them blossom and grow under the Godly parents the Lord selected for them. It’s wonderful to watch these parents blossom and grow as they parent the beautiful children the Lord set aside for them. International adoption is a multi-faceted journey, and even we as staff members grow and mature as work with our families.
We hosted two Ethiopian ministry officials in the spring 2006. These gentlemen traveled with us to Washington D.C., and we took them to meet senators and other influential adoption advocates on the Hill. This was an important trip for them and also gave us the opportunity to act as ambassadors for the United States. We all learned a lot of American history on that trip. I think it was a time they won’t soon forget. They even got to meet one of our adoptive families who had just returned home with their new son. We all had a great time that day!
CWA staff members made several trips to Ethiopia during the summer and fall of 2006. These trips are vital to cementing relationships with our Ethiopian peers and those who make our adoptions possible. We also established essential relationships with the directors of the orphanages that we partner with. Of course, our favorite part of every trip is meeting the children; we love to hug them, talk to them and get to know them a little better. It makes what we do so much more rewarding, and the fruits more tangible.
In 2006 we have moved our Addis office to a great new location and facility, and we recently began a small construction project on site. We are enclosing a portion of the three car carport to make a nice classroom for the children, and renovating a large empty unfinished room to make a recreation/family meeting area. We are excited about these projects and as of today, they should be near completion. What a blessing to have a comfortable space to provide basic lessons and Bible teaching to the children as they wait for their forever family to bring them home. What a blessing it is to have a spacious room for families to gather together in as they arrive in small groups to meet their children! Your generous contributions to the KidStart Plan have made these construction projects possible.
Our Older Child training program began in 2006. Families adopting older Ethiopian children have traveled to Spokane to learn more about life with an older adopted child, especially an older Ethiopian child. Michelle Gardner and her husband Steve facilitate this two-day event and have received rave reviews. The families are amazed at how informative the training is, how real it is, and they enjoy meeting other CWA families adopting older children from Ethiopia. It’s a great way to begin your support system! We encourage ALL families adopting from the Ethiopia program to attend this training regardless of the age child or children you are adopting. If you are interested in attending, you can ask your Case Manager for more information.
2006 brought wonderful adoption stories. Many of you have written or called to excitedly share your God stories with us. We have heard of miraculous provisions of funds, miraculous healings, and been witness to the Holy Spirit’s movement in so many lives. We have witnessed the expedition of cases that only God could have orchestrated, and seen children some thought might be impossible to place brought home in record time. God is good and so full of surprises!
Speaking of surprises, several families have blessed us with surprise visits at our Flat Rock office! Some of you have stopped by before, during and after your adoptions! It’s so fun to get to meet you and your children in person. We love seeing you, and welcome you all to stop by our North Carolina office any time.
2006 was the year of the “Love Van!” We purchased a Dodge Sprinter van for our Ethiopia office in Addis. The van was sorely needed to transport families and staff to appointments in Addis. We invited our CWA families and friends to fill the “Love Van” with donations of school supplies, clothing, diapers, toys, etc. for the children in Ethiopia. What a response we got!! Some of you even dropped off your donations personally, again giving us an opportunity to spend time with you. We are so blessed to work with such generous and warm people. The “Love Van” was a fun project for all.
Finally, just before the end of the year, we hired a new Case Manager. Aster Hiruye is Ethiopian and will move to North Carolina to start working with us in early February! What an answer to prayer. God has blessed the Ethiopia program and an additional Case Manager was just what we needed to help us help you. We look forward to being able to introduce her officially when she arrives!
Sadly, 2006 is gone, but I am really excited about the coming year, and all that God has in store for the Ethiopia program! We are beginning 2007 with a trip to Ethiopia, January 15 through January 28, 2007. We always enjoy visiting our office and the orphanages we partner with. It is heart warming to meet each child personally, to touch them and to hold them. Their smiles are infectious and we can’t help but love them all. We will likely make several more trips throughout the year as we grow our adoption program and begin other projects. As new projects come to fruition we will update you!
Thank you for allowing us to be part of your lives. We look forward to a great 2007 and extend our best wishes to each and every one of you. My prayer for each of you is that “You, Lord give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you.” Isaiah 26:3
Take care and God bless,
Tracy Froidcoeur
Ethiopia Program Director |
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