A New Beginning

Hey everybody! Sorry about the delay in posts, the holiday season has been a major turning point in the lives of our family. Let me explain; we've been in the midst of an adoption process that has lasted for the better part of about 28 months. You heard right, 28 months, thank God it's done. Keep in mind that the typical adoption is usually only about a year.

I left off with the Right of Passage back in November after we presented Alec with his book. It was shortly after that, that we had been getting updates that our time was nearing for us to go to Ethiopia. It was expected to be before the end of 2009. If I've got my timeline right it was shortly after that the date was being pushed back to next year, due to problems in the Ethiopian Court, and then we were back on schedule to go again, and the roller coaster just kept going up and down. Finally we were left waiting for travel dates from the Embassy, crazy, crazy! Anyway, the date finally came down, we were leaving Christmas day, we had to be in Adiss Ababa, Ethiopia by the 26th of December, WOW!! So Christmas came a day early for the boys and my beautiful niece. The next week was spent going to the orphanage to pick up our long awaited daughter, Eliana Nigist Stapp. (Nigist is her Ethiopian name, translated means "Queen". Her name is part of her heritage so we wanted to keep it). Anyway lets get back on track, that week following Christmas day was life changing
we ran constantly in preparation of our return to the states, a visit to the US Embassy, assisting the orphanage as they moved to another location etc, etc... As you know I'm in the military and have travelled to a few places in my career, not to mention travelling with my folks when I was younger, I've seen poverty, but never like this. I thank God for the opportunity to save the life of at least one child, and if not to save her life at least to have provided a better one.

"Where does this fit into the Right of Passage?" you might ask, initially I'd say it doesn't, but then I'd have to rethink it, and my reply is what an example for my boys! Christ adopted us into his family, much the same way we adopted Eliana into ours. She was a faceless foreigner, half a world away, one that didn't even exist a year ago, and guess what? Now she's my daughter, she's their sister, she's now apart of our family, and most importantly she's being raised in a God fearing home in hopes that one day she'll be a culture changer, much the same way that I'm raising her brothers to be. Christ on the other hand pulled us out of utter darkness, orphans of a dark and cruel world where we were nameless to the masses. But guess what? He knew our name and took us in as His own, and clothed us and fed us, and now we're spoken for, for all eternity. Thank you Jesus!

I say all this in hopes that you will pick up the torch somehow, someway. I'm not saying that you have to do what I did, that's between you and God. The scripture is specific though, read Deut 10:18, it says that we are to care for the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners among us. What part are you playing? Have you thought of investing in the life of a child at Church, the neighborhood or through a mentoring program? How about sponsoring a child? There are so many options out there, just find one and do it. I pray that you'll consider adoption though, I pray that God calls you to taking in a child into your home for you to love and disciple for God's greater plan. I assure you that you'll never be the same, we may not be able to save the world on our own, but if every believer did their part we'd be off to an amazing start. If you have any questions about adoption we'll be more than happy to share our story on a personal level with you.

God Bless

Joe

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