Top Ten Favorite things about the Cheney's Christmas in Ethiopia:

1. We awoke to homemade cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven! They were DELICIOUS:), especially since I (Heather) didn't have to make them, or do the dishes:)

2. The staff made us homemade cookies, which were fabulous. I am attributing the cookies extra fabulousness to the fact that they had PURE cane sugar in them. You could actually SEE the sugar granules in the cookies. SO good!

3. Getting the girls Christmas pictures taken out on the street in front of somebody's blue door. This super sweet little girl came over and stood there watching us. At first I thought maybe we were taking pictures in front of her house. But no, she was just wondering why on earth these silly Americans would want their pictures taken in front of this random house with a blue door.

4. The church in the Kora village. The poorest people I have EVER seen, yet they have SUCH a love for Christ! This was a humbling experience for me. I think too many days at home I tend to feel sorry for myself. I begin comparing myself and what I (don't) have with everyone else around me. I complain that my shoes are too old and too beat up, etc., etc., etc. But you know what? At church this morning, I was wearing the same clothes and shoes that I often wear to church at home, and nobody noticed or cared. In fact, I didn't even notice or care. You know why? Because every other person at church this morning wasn't worried about the clothes on their back. They could have (justifiably) been worried about where their next meal would come from, but even that seemed to take a back seat while they worshiped our almighty God.

5. Watching Capri LOVE on the babies at church. Poor Capri gets hugged and kissed everywhere we go. It's like she is this thing that people just cannot keep their hands off of. They just want to know what she feels like. Whether we are going to church, to the market, to the Transition Home to see our kids, or even here at our Guest House. She is the one everyone (men women and children alike) wants to give a squeeze to. She HATES it, but has learned to tolerate it, without much fussing:). At church though, she got to give some hugs away to the babies.

6. Listening to squeals of laughter from London, Geneva, and Capri as they played with the staff here at the Guest House. They have really warmed up to some of the people that work here. It's so cute to see our girls outside playing soccer with the guards:).

7. Seeing our kids light up as we got to the Transition Home today for our visit. We had a really great day with them. We even picked out middle names for at least two of our kids:) Our oldest picked her own, (but we really like it) and she LOVES it! SO cute:) We are trying to come up with city middle names for our younger two...

8. Finally getting Words With Friends downloaded onto our ipad:) I know, such a trivial little thing, but still, something to help the time go by...

9. Going out to dinner and getting to pick whatever I wanted to eat.

10. Watching Adam drink his "milkshake" that he ordered. First of all, he ordered chocolate, it was vanilla. Second of all, it wasn't an American milkshake (loaded with ice cream:) it was milk shaken (with some vanilla flavoring added to it:). So, basically Adam ordered himself a glass of milk to go with his dinner (and he doesn't even like milk:)...

Hope you all had as great of a Christmas as we did!

Blessings to Everyone!

You know you are in Africa....

When you wake up to the smell of burning trash mixed with incense. (I love it by the way)

When you would rather give your children a glass of soda versus the water or milk that might be served.

When you have to carry toilet paper not just to the bathroom, but everywhere you go.

When "free range" takes on new meaning as you see goats being herded down the highway.

When your children can get corn rows in the hair for a nominal cost.

When you wake to the sounds of prayers being called out from all over the city before the sun comes up. (I love this as well)

When the chicken you eat, is as tough as steak, and the steak.... well it is ground up.

When the power goes out just about daily. (excluding the rolling blackouts of California:)

When you can pick your nose freely in public or go pee right along the street.

When you can get good coffee for less than a dollar or a caramel mocha for about a buck ten. (Heather's favorite:)

When you can get the freshest roasted coffee, roasted over an open fire that is brought inside the house. (no smoke detectors were set off here:)

When none of the streets are really named, and those that are go by 3-4 different names.

When your blond haired, white children stand out super easily in the crowds.

When pedestrians have no rights. Watch OUT the car is not going to stop!

When dogs are treated like dogs, and not little humans that bark. Dogs are mostly not fed, they are scavengers, and you know what? There are still a ton of them alive.

When goats are carried on your back, or dragged along as the owner holds one leg.

When everything is done by hand, laundry, cutting wood, tearing down buildings, cooking, recycling concrete with a sledge hammer.

When your house has a solid metal gate, a guard, and barbed wire. Yet you feel safer here than in many parts of San Jose.

When it is more common to see kids playing with a flat soccer ball than a full one.

When poverty abounds, yet it is vibrant, colorful and full of life.

There is more to come, I am sure.

Adam's gut feeling vs. MY gut feeling...

Today was by far the BEST day here so far! First, we went to tour a coffee factory this morning. I will never take a cup of coffee for granted again. The amount of work that goes into each little bean is incredible. After the tour, we went to get a cup of coffee. Adam and I each got a macchiato, and oh yes, London had her first (1/4 of a cup:) as well! She is definitely gonna be a little coffee drinker:). After the coffee tour, we went to lunch, and then to visit our kids.

This is where the best part comes in. First off, I got to sit and read with our middle child, which was SO precious. She is still learning English, and so we were working on learning to read the BOB books. Since she doesn't speak or understand very much English, this is one of the first real bonding moments I have had with her. Then, with all 5 of our girls we pulled out some yarn and plastic stitching squares. The girls had SO much fun with that. It was great to see them all enjoying the same thing. And, it was the first time we were doing something as a family. Our youngest had just woken up at this point, so I was feeding him his bottle. Once he finished his bottle, Adam took him for awhile, and as he left with him I smiled and waved. And he smiled and waved right back!!! OH BE STILL MY HEART!!!! He was all smiles and giggles today. For the first time, I had him laughing! With every smile and giggle I could feel him trusting me more and more, and I could feel myself falling more and more in love.

Here's the problem. Adam does not want to make a final decision yet about whether we should stay here in Ethiopia and wait it out or go home, but right now his gut feeling is telling him that we are going to need to go home. MY gut feeling on the other hand, is telling me, that in 3 weeks, (when our kids are even more attached to us, and I am even MORE attached to them), I am not going to be able to leave OUR KIDS behind in an orphanage half way across the world!!

PLEASE keep praying for us as we try to figure out what to do. Right now Adam and I are tossing around different scenarios, trying to come up with different possibilities. If any of you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Today is a HARD day. This morning was court date #2. We were just waiting for one piece of paper, a letter, stating that all of our information was good, and that the judge could legally grant us custody of our kids. The letter did not come. We did NOT pass. And now, to add fuel to the fire, our agency must go collect a whole lot more information. They need more proof that our kids are orphans. They must go find any living relatives and interview them and have them relinquish their rights.

We now have TWO new court dates. The first is for our two older ones, on January 3rd. The other is for our youngest one, on January 9th. This came as a HUGE blow. We have now been delayed almost a month from our first court date. When our two older ones found out that we did not pass, and that it would still be another 3 weeks before our next court date, they started crying. It is incredibly hard for our family to visit our kids in the transition home. It is tiring and emotionally draining every day.

Adam and I don't know what to do. We had already decided that if we didn't pass court today, we would really have to think about whether or not we should go home early (and not take custody of our kids). We decided that either way we would stay thru Ethiopia's Christmas (which is January 7th). We really want to celebrate it with our kids, plus our oldest is in her schools Christmas play that day, and is playing the part of Mary!!! (My mama's heart could not be more proud:).

So, now we are asking all of you out there to PLEASE PRAY!! We don't know if we should come home around January 10th, (and then return to Ethiopia anywhere from 4-12 weeks later) or take custody of our kids, and just trust and Pray that God will get us home on February 10th. Our tickets are for Feb. 10th, and it costs about $300/per ticket (x8) to change them. I keep reminding myself that God knows all of this. But, still not sure if that means that we should stay or go and then come back. Adam can only stay here until the end of February.

Today has made me incredibly homesick. I've done really well up until this point.

Though at times it is difficult, we continue to trust in God's perfect timing and the fact that this does not surprise Him. May He be glorified in all we do. Thank you for you continued prayers and for all of the support that we have been receiving.

"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!..." Psalm 34:8

Me? Preach? in Ethiopia?

This morning I (Adam) was able to go to church with an evangelist who started a church in one of the poorest of the poor's area. The place is called the Kora dump. It is the location where all of the garbage of Addis Ababa goes. The people that live there, live off what they find in the dump.

What an experience it was. Actually, it was very refreshing.

On our way there we had to stop on the side of the road to get a quick tire change. While we were waiting, my friend asked me if I would like to preach. Not wanting to be rude and always ready to share, I told him that I would be happy to say a few words. When we arrived at church, we were late (since we had to get a tire change). The church was a small 2 bedroom house, that was stuffed full of chairs. There was about 50-60 people packed into an area barely bigger than my bedroom. I, along with my friend had been saved a seat. We sat at the very front, right next to the preacher, facing the crowd. It was the place of honor. (In the picture above, it is the seat that is against the wall, next to the podium) The whole service was in Amharic, which I did not understand at all. What I did understand though was the praise that was being lifted up in the name of Jesus! I understood the devotion of those around me. I understood that it took a lot for many of those to come to church, as I looked on the ground and saw numerous canes lying around. After the preacher had preached, I was given a turn. I gave my greetings from California and continued to preach, with a translator, for about 15 minutes. After I was done, they put their hands around me and blessed me! How humbling. Then as we sang, I stood, worshiping the same Sovereign God in a different language.

After the service, I was warmly greeted by the elders and the pastor. They started to show me a bunch of pictures of what the church is doing in this part of town. It was incredible to see the way the church comes together to help those in great need. You see, there is GREAT need in this church.

This church is mostly made up of widows, orphans, blind men, deaf men and lepers. I did not even realize that leprosy was really still around. Well, it is. I sat one foot away from it, and shook hands with it. It had taken all the fingers and toes of those plagued by it. None of the kids that were running around had diapers on, therefore urine was all over the ground. Many of those attending are HIV positive. I am also positive that many of those had TB.

I did not get a chance to tour the dump area today, but I will another time. I also was told that I will be able to tour some of the homes in the area. Some of the ways that the church has been helping those are by taking older, at risk, orphan girls out from the dump and housing them in a better area. They also buy charcoal (a necessity) for the lame and carry it to their houses for them.

I am praying about how God wants to use me, and my family, in this place over the next few weeks.

I know one thing for sure, and that is I am excited about next Sunday!

You can watch THIS VIDEO about Kora dump by clicking the link. The man in the video is a man that I met at church. He is one of the elders there.

The picture above is with me, the evangelist, the guitarist, and the pastor.

What is hard here in Ethiopia!

I love Ethiopia!

I love so many things about it. It is full of life. It is vibrant, exciting, new. I love the people, (they are very friendly.) I love the food. I love the coffee. We just bought mocha's for about $1 each, and they rival Starbucks any day.

I love our new children. We are attaching well, bonding, playing and learning to communicate. Right now we are only able to see them for a few hours a day. It also costs us about $35 to drive there daily. We hope that we can pass court soon and take custody of them so that we don't have to continue to drive there daily, and we can be with them all the time.

There is just one thing that is really hard for me here. It is HARD to go shopping. We want to buy a few souvenirs to bring home to remember our trip and for our kids to remember their country as well. We are by no means spending an outrageous amount. However, when we are shopping, beggars are everywhere. By beggars, we mean 9 year old kids, hungry, dirty, asking for help from everyone, (especially those with fair skin.) Women, nursing children who have gray hair. Which is indicative of chronic malnutrition.

I know that giving them the change that is in my pocket doesn't solve the problem for them. It only sustains them for a short time. In fact, we had to go to the same area two times today, and the same kids came up to us again, still hungry. I also know that by buying local made stuff we are sustaining many families and businesses. We bought a leather stool. There are numerous families that are all benefiting from this going all the way to the farmer that grows the grass for the cows. I know that this is a more sustainable way to assist people. However, it is still hard when I am holding a bag of items, and my pockets are now empty of all my small bills to hand out. I don't really know what to make of it.

I saw an online article this week that stated 1/2 of the US lives in poverty now. Really? I don't know if 1/2 of the US really knows what poverty really is.

I have been reflecting a lot on what Jesus said about the poor. We are to give to those in need. However, He is the real sustainer.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

They need Jesus. We all need Jesus. He is the only one that can reconcile all of us. In the meantime, we will continue to try to help sustain those in need at least for one more day.

Just a funny story...

So today when we went to see our kids, we also got to take a tour of our older girls' bedroom. This is really just where they eat and sleep, as the school that they attend is at the babies' transition home.

So, while we were at the older girls' house, one of the nannies was eating a snack of injera, which is a weird sort of spongy bread, and she was rubbing it into this spicy red sauce. Adam and I have both had injera with our Ethiopian cuisine when we go out to Ethiopian food. You use the injera as your utensil to pick up your meat.

So this nanny starts trying to feed my kids the injera soaked in the spicy sauce. They of course refused. I am standing there thinking, 'well, I can't really blame them I wouldn't want some women I don't know trying to put food I don't know if I even like into my mouth.' So then when my kids refuse, several times each, she turns to ME to HAND FEED ME!!! I was SO wanting to refuse, but knowing that they seemed offended when my kids refused, I didn't want to be rude. So, I opened my mouth. Literally, there was nothing else I could do, she had the injera about an inch or so from my mouth. Then, the funniest thing of all, this nanny turns to Adam, and I kid you not, HAND FEEDS HIM this big huge bite (if you could even call it one bite) of the injera. It was HILARIOUS!! Adam won't even let his Grandma Cheney hand feed him (though she tries every year at Thanksgiving, b/c she wants him to "taste test" the turkey)!

After thinking that this food was really spicy, and we were without water, I tried really hard to NOT think about the fact that a women just hand fed us some food, with her hands dripping with red sauce.

Life In Ethiopia

Well, we have been in Ethiopia just about a week now. I feel like we are finally settling into some sort of a routine. We have moved to a new guest house, which has some things that are better, and some things that are not. The girls love it here because they have some toys to play with, and they actually like the food better! I liked the food at the old place as well, but the food here is good too. Also, breakfast and lunch are included in our cost, and dinner is just $5 per person (but kids 5 and under are free:).

The positives about are new house, are the toys, we have two balconies, (which the girls love to go out on and color or paint in the fresh air). We also have a bigger room. It's a two bedroom, plus living room. We have a "kitchen", although I'm not sure you can really call it that, b/c it's just a sink, some cupboards, and they did bring us a mini fridge, which is nice. A major plus is that we are in more of a neighborhood in this part of town. The old place we were in a loud area, next to shopping and a night club, which was open the WHOLE night long. The girls sleep much better here b/c it's quiet. Plus, their beds are better here than the old place, so that helps:).

The bummers about our new place, are that the bathroom is just outside our door, but I guess better out in the hall b/c the shower floods:). Also, Adam and I are sleeping on a box spring. Literally. It's loud (you can hear the coils every time you move) and makes me miss my (once thought to be uncomfortable) bed at home. Also, we are not with the other families that are adopting, which is a little isolating. But, we are just trying to make an effort to get over to see our kids the same times the other families are so that we can try to connect with people.

Our day in Ethiopia consists mainly of letting the kids play a bit at "home" and visiting our kids in the transition home. We did venture out yesterday with another adoptive family and visit the countryside. It was really cool to see some other parts of Ethiopia. We even got to visit a family who live in traditional huts.

Our kids in the transition home seem to be attaching to us pretty well. Our littlest doesn't cry for more than a second when I take him, and he lets me hold him in the presence of his sisters without crying, which is really great. The older girls are doing really well. They are excited to see us when we get there, and bummed when we have to leave. Which, makes leaving hard, but good that we are being missed. It's been super fun to watch all of our kids playing together. Our oldest loves to hold Capri, and rescues her from the nannies who love to cuddle her (but Capri doesn't love this so much:). Poor Capri really gets a bum deal at the Transition home. Between me not being able to hold her (because I'm holding our youngest) and the nannies trying to love on her and the kids chasing her around the yard because they want to touch her hair, her skin, and love on her as well, she is exhausted by the end of the day!

All in all, we are doing great here in Addis, and are so thankful for all of your prayers!

We tried to post some pictures but they are taking to long to load on here and the internet is really slow today. You can check them out on Facebook.

Meetcha Day!!

Yesterday, December 11, we met the newest additions to the Cheney family!! All THREE of them! They completely took our breath away. I, Heather, was a nervous wreck! Our kids had woken up at 4:00 that morning due to jet lag, and I was worried that they would be clingy, whiny, and plain old tired when we went to meet our kids. But God totally gave us a PERFECT moment in the day and they did awesome! They were all just as excited as we were.

Meeting for the first time, was exciting and scary, for all of us I think. Our littlest screamed and cried in my arms for at least an hour. Which, I kept reminding myself, was a GOOD thing. We wanted him crying, because this meant that he has formed attachments with others, is able to attach, and will be able to transfer that attachment. However, since he is most attached to his oldest sister, it was difficult for her to see him crying. We kept telling her that he would be okay, and she could go play. Once he calmed down, she was able to really relax and play as well.

Eventually our littlest fell asleep (in my arms--which I SO loved:) and when he woke up, he didn't start crying immediately! And, he was letting my snuggle him, kiss him, and sing to him without crying!

Today, our second day visiting the transition home, was much better. Our littlest didn't cry nearly as much, and I got to feed him a bottle and snuggle him right away. I even got a few little smiles. And, he was able to sit with me, with his oldest sister in the room (yesterday he screamed every time he saw her, so we tried to stay out of sight as much as possible). Plus, our oldest seemed genuinely happy to let me take him today so that she could go do writing and drawing in the notebooks we brought.

Adam got a chance to hold the littlest today as well. He cried at first, but then settled right down. I got a chance to play with our oldest, which was so nice. I feel like we had a few bonding moments today.

Our middle child seems to be smiling a lot more than I had anticipated from the pictures we had received, which is nice. She is not quite as serious as I first thought. Bonding with her is going a little slower because she doesn't understand English. Luckily, our oldest understands quite a bit and is able to translate.

We will be going to COURT on Tuesday morning, Ethiopian time (so that's MONDAY NIGHT AT 10:00 PM CALIFORNIA TIME)!! PLEASE PRAY that the judge will see all of our paperwork completed, and give us custody of our kids.

6 hours....

In about 6 hours we get to go to the transition home that are children are living in and meet them for the first time! I can't sleep. I know that part of the lack of sleep is due to jet lag, not eating dinner right now, and the club music that has been going on all night long. Some of it actually sounds like a po-go stick bouncing. However, I mostly can't sleep because of thinking of how our lives are changing in the next 6 hours. I feel like a kid on Christmas eve! I want to sleep, but am wide awake.

We found out here from some of the staff that our girls are SO excited to meet us as well. That they have been counting down the days from 21 just like we have been.:)

I love being back in Africa. There is just something right about it. Something that has been missing. We also have learned how to correctly pronounce our kids names. We are trying to get our girls to quickly learn the new way as the way that we thought, is actually a different name.

Our kids really did amazing on the flight. We are super impressed. Thank you for your prayers. The only really hard time came at the last 30 minutes when we had to put away the ipad and headsets to watch the movie. We have not met any other families here yet. Though I am sure they have met us as we were the ones arriving to the guest house at midnight with 3 kids crying and yelling loud due to excitement.

The body of Christ

This last month has been incredible. We have been constantly amazed as we have watched the Holy Spirit use the church body to come behind us and support us in our adoption. We accepted our referral just over two months ago. We estimated that the additional expenses of adopting more children was going to cost us about an additional $15,000. The month of October we mostly prayed about it, knowing that to our God, money is nothing. This last month of November we have watched the floodgates open. We wanted to have as much of that money before we traveled as we could. We leave in 4 days. Well, in only ways that God can provide, we are fully funded. We have literally had an average of $500 come to us in various forms over the course of one month! All glory to God! We thank each and every one of those that have come behind us and supported us. Thank you for being a part of this with us.

We have received some bad news this week. We were told that the letter that needs to be written by MOWCYA and submitted to the Ethiopian court was written, but it was a negative recommendation. This was due to them using our previous submitted paperwork for just one child instead of our new paperwork that is for 3 children. They are supposed to write a new one by 12/20. Our court date is on 12/13. This means that we are not likely to have a approval letter submitted to the court by the time that we go before the judge. Which means that we are going to Ethiopia prepared to fail court. We were really hoping that things would work out a little better than this. We fully trust that this does not take God by surprise and that He has a perfect plan.

Please pray that our approval letter will be submitted this week prior to our appearing in court on the 13th. We would LOVE to be able to pass court on our first attempt. If we fail it could really delay things for us.

Also, we leave in 4 days! Pray that we utilize our time wisely. Pray that it will be an awesome time for us as a family. Pray that it will be a great time meeting our new children. Pray that we can meet the needs of our new children. Pray that we will find time to keep in the Word. Pray that God is glorified in all that we do. Also, we don't know where we are going to be staying for the long term. We have a place for the first week, but don't know where we will be after that.