Author: PastorChad

Tasting grace through humility and hope changes you. We are being transformed and can never be the same. The sponges of our souls are absorbing so much. In time, each of us will be able to better process all that we have seen, heard, and felt. Broken open is a good starter for me but there is so much to filter through. Like stones or shells on the beach we will pick each one of them up and reflect what the moments have meant. Our family has greatly increased in size here in Adama Ethiopia.

Yes there is another meaningful note. Adama – out of the earth – soil – Adam – God creates – good breathes life. Out of this place in this human family God has created life and brought us together through a journey of hardship, great suffering, loss, and yet, hope, promise, a belief in humanity to love, a deep faith that God will never ever be done with us. God continues to breathe life within all of us. Adama can also mean beautiful child. Beautiful children of God are everywhere. And this city named Adama – previously named Nazaret. This is Greek for Nazareth – meaning branch or root for growth to come. Christ born in Nazareth – Nazaret – the human family intertwined together in him. Rooted and Rising together. God speaks and writes the stories we carry in our hearts.

A late afternoon lunch along with a few hours of soccer together made for a great memory to carry with us. Our closing prayer time and good bye hugs wrapped us all in a blanket of care and lasting accompaniment.

Yes tasting grace through humility and hope changes you. Thank you Lord for this gift.

Susan and Koko signing on tonight from Adama, where we experienced a truly incredible day and moment in time. Perhaps this story of love and family is best told through the photographs we took, although impossible to post them all here. We sum up this day as one that will be stamped on our hearts forever – from the ‘so much more than a hug’ hugs Koko and all of us received from Abebech, Koko’s birth mother, to the wonderfully prepared ethiopian meal we shared, to the many relatives, friends, and neighbors who greeted each of us with huge welcoming smiles and hugs, to the powerful testimony and declaration of love and gratitude that seemed to just spill out of Abebech, with all listening on – God was in all of it. We cannot fully express the level of emotion. Nervousness, tears, laughter, dancing, and a whole new family waving goodbye to us at the end of the day, wishing for us not to leave. Koko shares that she was overcome with emotion as Abebech shared the details of making the heartbreaking decision to relinquish care of her, and asked for her forgiveness, making sure Koko knew she loves her very much – both with tears falling down their faces (like nearly everyone else in the room). Honestly, I could go on attempting to describe so many vivid moments from the day, but the tears are welling up once more at all that we were blessed with today. Just know that Koko is good, we are good, and the day was very very good. We spend one more day with the family tomorrow before heading back to Addis Ababa. Wow. Just wow.

Monday was a day of working with customs to find my passport and get the projector out of customs lock up. Thankfully check check within 3 hours of time.

Our family outing was throughout the city as we took in the people, places, and food. The awesome thing is this: you can’t tell the difference between the Ethiopian food in Addis from the Ethiopian food in Seattle. All authentic all the time. We are fortunate to have such a gift. The meal today was a true feast and all enjoyed it greatly.

Walking through Friendship Park was amazing. The rolling thunderstorm made it even better. What a place of beauty in the heart of the city.

An evening meal of comfort food at the guest house completed the day. We prepared our hearts tonight for the two big days ahead as we will meet with Koko’s birth mom and family relatives in Adama. May the Holy Spirit wrap these two days with peace and hope. So many sacred moments along life’s way.

Monday was a day of working with customs to find my passport and get the projector out of customs lock up. Thankfully check check within 3 hours of time.

Our family outing was throughout the city as we took in the people, places, and food. The awesome thing is this: you can’t tell the difference between the Ethiopian food in Addis from the Ethiopian food in Seattle. All authentic all the time. We are fortunate to have such a gift. The meal today was a true feast and all enjoyed it greatly.

Walking through Friendship Park was amazing. The rolling thunderstorm made it even better. What a place of beauty in the heart of the city.

An evening meal of comfort food at the guest house completed the day. We prepared our hearts tonight for the two big days ahead as we will meet with Koko’s birth mom and family relatives in Adama. May the Holy Spirit wrap these two days with peace and hope. So many sacred moments along life’s way.

We are adjusting to the new time pretty well. A good nights rest and we were up early and ready to go again. We did a nice long walk along the Bosphorous shore and visited with a few shop owners and of course there were several cat pictures that were needed. If you know you know – but this is the city of cats galore.

After a quick late lunch we headed back to the airport for our evening onward connection to Addis Ababa. After arriving at midnight we had an extended time getting through customs as we had brought some gifts along for our guide. The fees are incredibly high when you get pulled aside with those electronic gifts. Wowza. After much haggling we finally headed out and got to the Ordinary Hero Guest House at 2 am. If you have a moment – check out their website and learn their story.

All are excited to be here but first we crash hard for a short night.

Today we had a rich day of exploring the old city. Our guide Onur did a great job of story telling as we walked the streets and saw the sites. Visits to the Blue Mosque – Hagia Sophia – and Topkapi Palace captivated our attention. The second level of the Hagia Sophia was a highlight. Ancient depictions of faith, empires, architecture, and people around every corner. Our minds can barely understand the twists and turns of human history.

We also took in the Grand Bazaar – the largest covered market in the world – a Carpet Tour – and an evening Sunset Boat Tour on the Bosphorus Strait. Most of Istanbul is on the European continent but the boat tour got us to the Asian continent side as well. The kids touching four continents on this trip.

And we capped the evening off by walking the beautiful streets of the city.

Our spice, tea, and candy store may have gotten some of our best attention. Hey, if you haven’t tried Turkish tea or Turkish delight and eaten until you are full, have you really been to Istanbul?

A closing Turkish Proverb for this day:

People should be like trees, with strong roots and flexible branches – İnsanlar ağaç gibi olmalı, kökleri sağlam, dalları esnek.

We made it to Turkey with ease. Excellent flight and excellent airport experience. They have a newly built airport since the last time I was here over 10 years ago. The walk from the plane to the passport control went on for a long time. For those traveling with me next year to Greece and Turkey – get those good walking shoes ready.

Our driver was of good cheer and made the hour drive enjoyable. We are staying just a few blocks away from the Blue Mosque. Getting into this area of town has its twists and turns but he made it look easy. Our hotel has great welcome staff and made the kids feel at ease with good Turkish tea and cookies. After a short rest and moving through our slumber we did a mile walk through the eclectic streets before diving into a wonderful dinner. Our kids loved the flavors and fanciful dishes while people watching. No rush made for meaningful conversations. My favorite thought of the day was when Norah mentioned how small she feels when traveling so far and being immersed outside the normal of her life. That is a gift I have found time and time again with international travel and it awakens me to real life. We can get so consumed by our world that we forget all the activity and people that span this earth. When we think we are the center of the universe then everyone else gets pushed away. Watching love and laughter and movement the world over connects us more deeply. We. Need. That. Depth. We need to humbly enjoy our smallness.

We crawled into bed with barely a mutter as the jet leg has arrived. May visions of a blessed day awaken us for a full Turkey day tomorrow.

In gratitude today for the Lilly Sabbatical Grant that makes this family adventure possible. Today we jump the pond for adventure in Istanbul, Turkey.

We make memories and leave only footprints.

We honor all those we walk alongside by listening well.

We experience and then write sacred stories.

Our hearts sing as we share adventure together.

Merritt has wanted to spend time doing all kinds of sports activity this past year. The dad requests to shoot hoops or throw the baseball or do bean bag toss is at an all time high. Those competitive juices are flowing and he loves giving me a run for the money. While I have so many times failed him by being too busy to accommodate these requests, I am practicing more regularly the joy of simply saying YES! Today it was 2 hours of playing baseball. I have not pitched this much since middle school. I only have hit him once 😝. He is hitting the ball and working on his swing for a potential try out this next school year. We live right next to the rarely used school ball fields and bought the ball gloves so “Batter Up!”

I am enjoying the read and challenge offered in The Starfish and the Spirit. The energy of a movement starfish is to fill everything every way with the fullness of Jesus.

So often we think of our churches as needing to simply fill the chairs and get enough volunteers and pray for enough resources to maintain the place. But if we say our church is healthy but the murder rate in the city is high and fatherless homes are increasing and addictions are increasing and children are going to bed hungry, then we’re not making any gains in universal flourishing in every corner of culture and that means we certainly are not healthy. We can’t just talk about filling buildings we must talk about filling everything everywhere!

The Biblical word for this is Shalom. Shalom means universal flourishing , wholeness, and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspire joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be!

Tomorrow we begin our international journey. While the world is incredibly messy right now, we trust the Spirit’s leading as we go forth. We are ready.

Jewel had her ceremony for moving into middle school today. Adelaide has been the best of the best school for her. Her friend group brings her joy and her teachers throughout her years there have been great. We will always be thankful for this great school in our local neighborhood. It is so hard to believe that we now close the elementary school chapter in our parenting years.

This afternoon – one kiddo at high school cross country practice. Another at a friend’s house for the afternoon. Another riding bikes in the neighborhood with other little kids. Another going on a long walk with me. Another spending time with mom. The wheels are turning and we go lots of different directions each day before landing at our home pad for the evenings.

June by John Updike

The sun is rich
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,

And long green weeks
That never end.
School’s out.
The time Is ours to spend.

There’s Little League,
Hopscotch, the creek,
And, after supper,
Hide-and-seek.

The live-long light
Is like a dream,
and freckles come
Like flies to cream.