It's Here!

34 years in the waiting... from a little girl in Sunday school peering deep into the faces of three hungry children on a take-home paper and hearing in my spirit "Africa, Africa" to this moment....on the very verge of our trip to Ethiopia to adopt our two new children. This journey has been absolutely life altering in so many ways, but if there is one theme that resonates throughout it all it is this.... GOD IS NEVER SLOW IN KEEPING HIS PROMISES! God spoke to my young, tender heart, "Africa" at three years old. I thought after Bible College I would be a missionary to Africa, but God's plans were more intricate than mine. We aren't going to Africa as missionaries at this time in our lives (although that thought does not seem at all out of the question), but instead God is bringing Africa to us! Our lives are being kissed with two beautiful souls, deepening the wells of our blessing! It is beautiful to see. The unveiling of all God has spoken in our lives...for me since age three, for Kurt since we dated and even more intense since August of 07...all His words coming to pass...He never speaks something He doesn't follow through on! What a God we have!

Thank you for praying for us. We will try to blog in Ethiopia and post pictures. Life will never, ever be the same!

We love you!
Kurt and JoLynn

Four About To Become Six!

In six short days, we will be on our way to Ethiopia to enlarge our family from four children to six. We are so excited and overwhelmed all at once! Prayerfully, sometime around Christmas we will get all six kids together for a picture.

Our packing is almost done. Our living room is packed with luggage! We still have so much to do this week!

In church this morning, our wonderful church family prayed over us for our trip and our new children. We are so blessed with the church family we have. What a journey God puts us on...we are having the time of our life!

Thank you for lifting us up in prayer!

Kurt and JoLynn

The Original Four!

What A Year To Be Thankful!

We have had the most memorable Thanksgiving this year. We went home to Nebraska for the first time in almost a year and spent time with family. The most precious day was spent with Ali, Kurt's oldest daughter and JoLynn's beautiful step daughter. We have missed her terribly and we are so very proud of the wonderful, sweet, beautiful young woman she has grown into. We have never been so thankful! The four kids had a great time together, dancing, singing, and wrestling around as siblings do. What a gift to us all! We love you, Ali! So proud of you!

Dad and Jo

Preparation

We got Julianna's crib set up this weekend. We put her in Brooklyn's room as this will become her room as soon as we can get the bedroom in the basement finished. Bethany will move downstairs, Brooklyn to Bethany's room and Julianna will have Brooklyn's room. We still need bedding for the boys' room and while we are gone, some ladies from the church are going to paint some in their room. We have the greatest people in our church! They have been amazing through this process.

It will be good for Brooklyn to room with Julianna for awhile...give her a chance to bond with her after Bethany spent the first week with her alone.

Here are some pictures also of our adoption service. It was an awesome evening and God touched many lives. Joshua and Julianna have no idea how much they are loved by so many!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We are thankful for you!

Fighting to Get To Our Kids!

We were told by so many families adopting internationally adoption was not for the faint of heart. The devil simply does not like adoption. It's such a picture of what God does in our lives as we are adopted and grafted into the Vine. It is literally altering generations for the Kingdom of God, taking children with no inheritance and giving them a heritage...very much a snapshot of how God takes us as sinners, orphans living with no inheritance of heaven, and makes us His children with all the same rights and privileges as the very Son of God! Wow! So powerful.

So, the resistance we've felt in recent weeks to us traveling to Ethiopia hasn't been a shock to us and God has been so faithful to stand with us, strengthening us. Our vehicle situation became an immediate need and God provided through a precious family a beautiful van. We are now struggling with illness as Kurt has pneumonia and JoLynn the stomach virus. We won't be deterred. We continue to press on, knowing this is but a test of our faith. Kurt preached today regardless of the pneumonia and God's grace was there.

It feels almost like a battle for our children in these last moments before travel and you must get a fighting spirit about you, unwilling to let anything stop you from bringing these beautiful little ones home. What a moment of reward as we lay eyes on them for the first time.

Packing has been a continual process since November 3rd. Our living room is full of suitcases and bags as I consistently pack and check things off my list. Two weeks from today we will have our children safely sleeping in our hotel room. No doubt I will watch them through the night, soaking in the reality that they are finally in my care.

We have pictures of both children on our refrigerator and today I was filling up my cup with water from the fridge to make hot chocolate and my eyes fell deep into one of those pictures. I was noticing how tiny Julianna's hands were pressed against the care center floor and imagining her hand in mine. I compared her hands to the thick, round hands of her new brother Joshua and smiled at his cute, round face. Suddenly, I realized water and powdered chocolate were running over the top of the tall cup as I was snapped back into reality. I have been looking at those pictures of Joshua for 16 months and of Julianna for six months. I can't imagine how it feels to suddenly be looking at those same faces in the flesh. That moment is but 14 days away.

Thank you for covering us with your prayers...pray for good weather in Denver for our flights going and coming home. Pray for our health and for the health of our babies in Ethiopia. Pray for the multitude of details we have to cover before leaving from child care for our two here and their busy schedules to the paperwork we need to bring with us for embassy. We so need your prayers.

We will try to post updates from Ethiopia. Can't wait to post pictures of us holding our children!

Kurt and JoLynn

18 Days and Counting!

Wow! After 15 months of waiting and praying and working towards getting my two children home from Ethiopia, it has come down to 18 days!! We are almost vibrating with excitement and preparation. So much to do in such a short time! Car seats and high chairs, paperwork, packing, meds to purchase, donations to organize...it's so overwhelming, but so wonderful!

We have nearly arrived at the funds we need. Scripture has come to life before us as the Malachi test and promise has unfolded before us. "Bring your full tithe into the temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in My temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams." (Message Malachi 3:10) The NIV says that God will pour out so many blessings that we cannot contain them. Heaven itself has open up above us and we have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams, our vats so full we cannot contain them. There is a purpose for that overflow...that we would be the conduit for God to do the very same thing for someone else! We will forever send monthly support to families in the adoption process, being a blessing as so many have been for us. You just can't out give God. He will take you up on that challenge every time.

One of the moments I anticipate most, after those first moments with my children, is the opportunity to see the many children of my friends who are waiting to go home. I cannot wait to bend low and cup the faces of those children and tell them, "Your Daddy and Mommy so love you...and they are coming for you soon." I can't wait to hold them and whisper prayers in their ears and become Aunt Jo forever. It's such a precious gift for me and for their parents as we report back how beautiful their children are. Those were gifts to us as so many saw our Joshua Israel and held him and talked to him and took gifts to him from us. What a moment that will be!

Keep us in your prayers as we continue to prepare. Not being detail oriented, this is a challenge for me. Thank you for praying for grace and clarity of thought.

In just 19 days, we will be gazing into the faces of our children. The thought of it almost beyond what I can grasp right now. What fun it will be to pen that experience and share it with you!

Much Love,
Kurt and JoLynn

The 11:59 Miracles

We have had several needs recently. Our older minivan has finally given up the ghost. It's sitting in our driveway needing to go to the junk yard. Our car has been dying as we drive and then not starting up and we have read all sorts of problems with this year of Impalas and the trouble in getting it fixed on the internet. With the time winding down to travel and knowing we will have a family of seven quickly, we needed God to direct us in what to do...trade in our car for a van, try to find a 12 passenger van? We didn't really have the cash flow for new car payment. We put out a request for prayer about this and God came through miraculously. Dear, new friends who have also adopted came to our house and told us they wanted to GIVE us their minivan! We were overwhelmed, speechless, humbled....God provided just in time through precious people willing to give sacrificially. It's a beautiful van and we are so blessed!!

We were waiting on God to provide for the remaining $1900 we needed for our tickets. Our travel agency let us pay for two tickets and gave us a week extension on the other three. We should have known God would not fail us. By 9:30 all of our ticket money was accounted for!!

We belong to a adoption web board with the most precious families from across the country. These are people we may never meet face to face, but we are bonded together in a unified calling and unique understanding in this adoption process. All of them are either in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia or are just home with their new children.

Knowing of our deadline...one posted this:

My daughter is studying about pioneers right now and we read the other day about the devastating effects of a prairie fire and how neighbors would immediately drop what they were doing and rush to help, plowing a strip of land around endangered farms (creating a “firebreak”), beating the fire with wet blankets, and doing whatever they could to stop the fire. At the end of the day, the community members were exhausted and filthy and had given their all in the fight, but often they had saved their neighbor’s farm! So when I read about the “fire” JoLynn was facing today, I wanted instantly to run to the fields to help her fight! If you are a “neighbor” and can help, please post as such!

Several of these precious families have committed to send $100. Shortly after reading that, our phone rang and we couldn't find it. We searched for our cordless phone and found and saw it was our doctors. We have the most awesome doctors...husband and wife team. They have helped us with all the preparations medically we will need for us and our new children. Kurt called them back and they told us they wanted to give us the remaining ticket money, $1500.

So often the disciples were left amazed at the works of Jesus as He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast demons from tormented people, and multiplied a few loaves and fishes into food for the masses. In the last 15 months of this journey, we have been left amazed at the miraculous work of Jesus over and over again. Jesus did not perform the provision miracle of feeding the 5,000 by Himself...He chose to use the hands of the disciples to carry out the miracle. The bread and fish were multiplied as the disciples gave it. In the same way, in this calling to the orphan, Jesus has used the hands of His disciples to provide the miracles to get Joshua and Julianna home to a new family, church, and community. He has used your hands! So many have given sacrificially to save two lives and to alter generations of people. You can be sure, God will multiply those gifts and bring a harvest into your lives. How he loves the orphan and how He smiles on those who care for them. Those of you who have given financially, with a vehicle, with gifts and support and prayers...we thank you and our children will never be the same because of you!!!

Whatever miracle you are needing from the Lord..no matter how late the hour seems to see the miracle come to pass, God is an 11:59 God. He is faithful. Believe Him to the very end! He will go the ends of the earth for you!

Waiting on a Miracle

God has amazed us over and over again in this process of adopting our children. Just in time, with each deadline, He has come through in ways we could not predict. What I've learned more than anything else over the past 15 months is trust. God is absolutely trustworthy! He never falls short of the complete promise. He is truly Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.

We are arriving upon yet another deadline, unsure how God will work. We are to have almost $6800 for our airline tickets by Thursday. We are short $1900. We are again lifting our need before a great God and knowing He has not brought us this far to leave us hanging.

Thank you for praying for this need. After this deadline, we will need about $6000 more to travel. God is faithful. Our kids will be home very soon.

Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings,
Kurt and JoLynn

Dreaming...

In just over four weeks, we will be soaring over the ocean on our way to our children! A 16 month journey coming to fruition! I can't even imagine the moment. I religiously watch "An Adoption Story" and imagine that moment for myself. What will those first moments feel like? Will Joshua be scared of these white people who speak a weird language and smell weird? Has he been looking at the pictures we sent of us and dreaming about what we are like? Will his spirit recognize us, sending him running into our arms? I have loved my little man for 16 months and I will, no doubt, want to embrace him and tell him how much his mommy loves him, but will he be ready for that in those first moment? We have heard so many different stories and each one is different. We have no way of knowing how he will feel and respond in those first moments. We sure don't want to put any expectation on him. What will that first moment be like for Julianna? My mothering instincts will want to scoop her up and hold her close, smelling her hair and skin, feeling my 20 month old daughter for the first time. Will she cry? Will we frighten her? The thought of that breaks my heart, but is very possible. Time will tell how that first amazing moment will unfold. However it does, it will be among the most precious of memories...a miracle unfolding before me.

We have spent the last couple of days since our great November 3rd packing, making lists and more lists, and praying. We still have $8,000 to raise to travel...$2100 we need to pay the $6800 in airline tickets by the 12th. We are trusting God just like we have for 16 months and have no doubt of His provision. He never leaves a miracle underfunded or incomplete. We don't know how this provision will come, but we will faithfully wait for it.

We fly out of Denver on December 6th, fly to Washington DC, then boarding Ethiopian Air to Rome, then to Addis Ababa. Our flight is an overnight flight and by the time we get there, it will be evening in Ethiopia. We will have to try and sleep again.

What a Christmas this will be! The kids will come home on December 13th to the first snow they've ever seen more than likely, Christmas lights and a Christmas tree. We hope to not overwhelm them, but it seems that it will be so very special. What a gift they are to our family this Christmas.

Got six new pictures of Julianna today. Isn't she a beauty?
We have our tickets and hotel on hold, leaving December 6th. Please pray with us as we raise our final travel expenses. We are still about $8000 short.

The realization that in just over a month, we will be face to face with these children is hitting us now. We are overwhelmed with love and anticipation. We know the transition could be difficult for them, but God has given us such a passion for them, we know we will be able to walk through their grief and loss and teach them to bond with us. We are so excited about staying at the Ethiopian Guest Home. It is a guest house specifically for adopting parents with suites made to fit your need. After the Tuesday embassy date, we will just be hanging out at the guest house all day and night, bonding with our new children. It will be a time we look back on as precious and pivotal, no doubt.

The outpouring of love and support for our family and these children is humbling. What an awesome community and church they are coming home to...a group of people who have
loved them for months and months and given so they can
come home. We are touched.


Thank you for continuing to pray for Joshua and Julianna.
Christmas will be so sweet this year!

Kurt and JoLynn

The Amazing Story

Click on the picture, turn up your speakers, and grab a tissue. God is so mighty!




Bringing Joshua and Julianna Home

Let us Introduce!

Our children! Both children miraculously passed court in the night and now they are Joshua Israel Coleman and Julianna Kay Kynadee Coleman! It's finally happening! And we will have them home by Christmas! What a gift for Christmas!!!`

Here are some pictures and a link to our video story!

Thank you all for praying! That is what got us through the last 15 months of this process and what has kept our children safe in Ethiopia!

God is amazing!!

Love

Kurt and JoLynn

A Surprise from God!

God is the best Daddy anyone could ask for. He is a master 'gifter' and delights in unexpected miracles and gifts. It's all part of His pursuit of His children. The great chase that leads right to our hearts.

One of those amazing kisses from heaven arrived recently for us. Unexpectedly, we got an email that said something like this. "Our request to combine the files of Joshua and Julianna into one court date has been granted by the court...both children's court date will be November 3rd" Wow! What a surprise! Only God could have orchestrated such a miracle. We are beyond thrilled!!

Please pray on the evening of November 2nd as court will be in session in the middle of the night. We will hear of the results on November 3rd. If both kids pass court, we should travel in early December...home for Christmas!!! Wouldn't that be amazing?? What a gift to our family! Please pray for the judge and the Ministry of Women Affairs...for favor and success in court for Joshua and Julianna.

God is so many things wrapped into one amazing Creator...embrace His Fatherly love today. He is the perfect Daddy!

More Delays

We are a bit frustrated as we were told of our children's court dates today. Joshua's court date is now October 31st and Julianna's not until November 25th. This is very disappointing as we were hoping to get her court date the same date as his. This pushes back travel to at least December 26th. That would be only if both court dates go through the first time...which would be a miracle. We could very well have to wait until January. We are so heart broken for Joshua, having to wait so long, but are just holding on. As a dear friend of mine in this adoption world told me...it's time to PUSH..just as the end of labor requires pushing, this time at the end of the adoption process requires mental and emotional and spiritual pushing. We feel weary, but felt the prayers and support of many today that gave us the extra energy we need to keep pushing, keep interceding for our children, and pushing through in spiritual warfare to get our children home.

Thank you for praying for these court dates and for our adoption service on October 25th.

Blessings,
Kurt and JoLynn

Julianna's Closer....

Friday, we got great news that Julianna's paperwork was submitted to court in Ethiopia for a court date. We should hear within a week or so what date that will be. Please be in prayer that her court date is on or near Joshua's. If successful, we will get them home by Christmas.

What a journey this has been...an absolute life lesson in reckless abandon to the plan of God and whole hearted devotion in trusting God. Nothing has been so out of our control and beyond our resources and abilities. We feel our trust and love for God has never been deeper after this past 13 months. So often, in our modern, western culture, we have the resources and ability to make things happen, to fix things that are wrong. It rarely puts us in a desperate situation where God is the only one we can count on. This adoption has been completely out of our control, beyond our resources, an absolute leap of faith. It has forced us to rely completely on God. It has truly deepened our affection and childlike faith for such an amazing God.

May you find yourself in a similar place...no where else to turn, no resources of your own, no way to fix the issue....without the God of the universe completely stepping in. Not something you would normally wish on someone's life, but oh, the benefits and blessings when you find yourself at the end of yourself...completely reliant on your Father God with no other recourse. Dependence is a freeing, wonderful place to be!!

Blessings,
Kurt and JoLynn

Frustration

We are heart broken....Joshua's court date has been postponed to November 3rd and Julianna still has no court date. There are problems in the courts in Ethiopia.


Thank you for your prayers. Joshua has waited so long...extra long compared to other children. He, no doubt, needs just as much grace if not more than we do in this process. Please pray Julianna is given a court date quickly. Now we are just hoping to have them home by the end of the year. This is the most difficult process...we need prayer today.

Blessings,
JoLynn

A Last Minute Holiday...

Ok...so other countries aren't like ours. They can call a holiday the night before and close every governmental office. Israel's case was not heard because they did just that....called a Muslim holiday last minute. Our case worker hoped it would be heard tomorrow...which is in the middle of the night tonight our time.

The agony of this part of the wait is so tense and nerve wrecking, but we have friends that have had to endure four court dates before a yes was given. Deep breath....

Thank you for praying. Keep checking back and perhaps tomorrow you will see a great announcement with Joshua's smiling face.

Love to you!
Kurt and JoLynn

Tonight is the night!

In the middle of the night sometime, somewhere in the courts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a judge will look over our paperwork and decide if Joshua can be our son. We will find out tomorrow during the day his answer. Thank you for praying for favor for Joshua. We are ready to be new parents!

If Julianna does not get a quick court date, we will travel to get Joshua in November and see Julianna, but have to leave her there. I, JoLynn, will return by myself for her when she gets through court. We just can't make Joshua wait any longer. It's been an extra long process for him. How heart breaking it will be for us to see Julianna and not be able to bring her home, but we know that God is orchestrating this process, not us. It may be that Joshua needs some one on one time to bond with us for a bit.

Thank you for praying with us about all of these things. We are still praying about a vehicle and will hopefully be finishing a room in the basement before Julianna gets home.

We finally see a flickering light at the end of this long, long process. It's been over a year since we saw that shining face of Joshua on a photolist and heard God say, "This is your son....watch what I can do if you trust me." Thousands and thousands of dollars later and another child added and we are down to court dates and travel expenses. God is amazing!

We are having an adoption fund raising service, Saturday, October 25th with music from our worship team, Intensity, children's dance, our children's music team, Tesfay, special speakers, Gaylon and Robin Pelton, adoptive parents of a baby from China, and a concert by Eternity Focus. We are looking forward to this great time of awareness and celebration.

The kids sent Joshua more pictures of them and his new house and one of our cats. Here is a couple of those pictures. We cannot imagine how he is processing all of this in Ethiopia. He has known about us since March of this year. Please pray his court date passes tonight!

Your prayers and support have brought us to this place....the eve of court for our first child. It's humbling and powerful! We appreciate and love you all!

Kurt and JoLynn

It's a Countdown!

We can barely believe we are in the countdown to Joshua's court date! 20 more days and we could be new parents of our boy, Joshua Israel. How exciting! We will find out around that same time how quickly they can set a court date for Julianna. We are still praying to be able to bring them home together. Two trips sounds absolutely exhausting!!

God has been amazing to us recently. We can tell He is accelerating things as we draw closer to bringing our kids home. We figured we would have to live on a little less as far as clothing and those things with five children. Through people handing very nice clothes down and some garage sales that were complete jackpots we now look in our kids' closets and realize that they have never had this many nice clothes ever! What a blessing!

Some friends of ours gave us a crib that is nearly new for next to nothing. We've found car seats and strollers and pack and plays at friends' garage sales. Its been amazing! We are all ready furniture wise except for a high chair. Isn't God wonderful? We are still praying about a vehicle.

My sister got married in August to the most wonderful man from Uganda. He has lived in Houston for many years. His sister came from London and was just a precious person. What a wedding, beautiful to the eye, touching to the soul, and absolutely anointed! The reception afterwards was close to a worship service at times, dancing to Israel Houghton! We had a blast!

We all miss Amy so much, but are happy for her new life. Hoping for some nieces and nephews soon!

Thank you for praying! How exciting to dream about Christmas this year, our home filled with excited children, two of which will change our lives forever. We are blessed.

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

She's been Moved!!

God is certainly moving things along with our kids in Ethiopia. Julianna was moved to the Care Center in Addis Ababa over the weekend. That means she will have her second medicals done and a court date scheduled...hopefully close to Joshua's.

We feel God accelerating things in this process, which is such a nice feeling after over 12 months. We went to a few garage sales of some people in our church and in a week's time have a car seat for Joshua, a stroller, crib, and pack and play for Julianna. Not to mention GOBS of clothes for Joshua and a few for Julianna. A family in our church had a Harley Davidson leather coat we bought for Joshua. SO CUTE! We aren't Harley people, but it's cute anyway!

God has provided for our fees for Julianna in the most precious, breath taking, heart stopping way. A wonderful, young couple in our church lost their delightful seven month old baby in September. We got extremely close to them as we walked them through grief. They moved away in June. We needed $5000 to complete Julianna's process as of a month ago. We have trusted fully on God for this process and so we just kept walking forward. We got a package in the mail a few weeks ago from this young couple. They had sent a beautiful picture with the word "Pastor" on it and a card expressing love and gratitude and they inquired about our adoption with Joshua. They had moved away before our referral for Julianna and didn't know we were bringing home a girl also. Also in the package was something that completely blew our minds....a check for $5000!! We immediately emailed them to tell them what a beautiful gift they had just given and who it was for and as we talked back and forth, realized that Julianna was about the same age their daughter would now be. What a legacy their daughter had. We asked if we could give Julianna a second middle name and name her after their daughter and they were honored. So our beautiful Ethiopian princess will be Julianna Kay Kynadee Coleman. What a legacy! You wouldn't think God could bring anything beautiful out of the horror of losing your baby girl, but He gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. I'm sure this couple would much rather have their daughter in their arms, but since they cannot until heaven, they have reached beyond themselves and given to another little girl, abandoned in Ethiopia, in need of a family. It is breath taking. It is humbling. It brings us to our knees.

Thank you for praying. God just keeps answering prayer over and over again. He is the Great Provider!! We were approved to buy an SUV and will be purchasing one soon. We are praying for the resources to finish the basement to put a bedroom down there for Bethany. We are now raising and praying for our travel expenses.... about $15,000.

God is amazing, isn't He? He loves calling us to things way beyond ourselves, our resources, our abilities, our imaginations...but He always, always provides and equips us to accomplish those things. We just have to be dangerously surrendered!! Kay Warren, we are so thankful for your book and your anointing! So timely for us in this season!!

Stay dangerously surrendered...it's the most exciting adventure ever!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Vacation and Parades

We got away for a couple days to Colorado Springs. It is one of our favorite places to go. A beautiful view everywhere you look. The kids loved the cliff dwellings and the Denver aquarium. However, they hated Elitch Gardens. $175 down the tubes as they rode three rides and hated every minute of it. Definitely haven't birthed adrenaline junkies!!

When we returned home, Bethany was in a parade along with the other locals girls that were in Miss Kansas.

Brooklyn approached us with the desire to also go to Ethiopia. We asked her to make it a big part of her prayer time for a couple of days and let us know what God said. If she still feels led to go, we are asking her to believe and have the faith for her own ticket as we are Bethany. We will see what God leads us to do. We would never want to hinder an opportunity in her life. It would be very hard to leave Caleb home alone, but we will just see how God directs us.

Yesterday, I realized with warm comfort, that I will be 53 when Julianna graduates from high school. This sounds wonderful to me...to have kids around well into my grandmother years! We also realized that in four short months, we could very well be traveling to get our kids. Each time one of our friends travels and we hear their story, the anticipation rises. Just like a mother in her ninth month, we feel so ready to get them here. The waiting is getting harder. When they get home, it will have been 15 months of waiting for Joshua. That is a LONG pregnancy!!

Thank you for praying for us and for our children. We are so touched by how many already love them. At this moment, they have no idea how many are pulling for them. Some of the kids in our children's ministry pray for them faithfully every night. It will be a great testimony to all of them to see them come home.

Julianna is doing better and seems to be over her malaria. Thank you for praying for our children's health. We are paying our car off and will be looking for large vehicle of some kind. God is an awesome Provider..we are amazed at how He continues to give us everything we need.

Be blessed! We love you all! Walk dangerously surrendered!

BTW...if anyone knows how to put pictures on blogspot in a nicer format....I don't know how to place them within the post in an organized way!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

A message delivered for our Joshua!

We have been blessed beyond words with some of the most precious friends through this adoption. They are other parents adopting from Ethiopia and we all network and pray for each other and walk with each other through this journey via a web board. We have never met these people in person, but they are some of the most treasured friendships we have! We understand this unique journey and calling. We laugh together, compare notes, cry over losses and frustrations, and challenge each other to press on through the Word of God. Several of these amazing people have even supported our adoption by sending money...people in need themselves of funds to adopt and having never laid eyes on us, yet they give. They are some of the most inspiring, surrendered people we know. Our love and admiration for these families runs deep... many of them returning more than once to adopt orphans from other countries, many of them starting over with children after being grandparents, and almost all of them, like us, not the wealthiest people in the world. They are living in the faith zone and God moves in miraculous ways to provide for them to open their homes to these incredible children. It's never easy. Some of them find themselves in very difficult situations when they get their children home, ranging from unexpected illness in their children, to attachment issues, to financial tensions. Nevertheless, they willingly surrender to the call to care for the orphan. As one of them has declared..."My life is not my own". How blessed we are to know these amazing warriors in the Kingdom of God.

One of these precious people is now in Ethiopia, picking up her children, ending one journey and beginning a new one. She made the effort to see our Joshua and this is what she reported to us today. It touched us deeply and gave us great peace in a day that was a bit sad as we heard of Julianna's malaria. God is such a great Father, reassuring us He has a plan that we will look back on and marvel at. This was the message we got (we were all discussing pouting in children):

"JoLynn, this is where you are in trouble! Joshua is so darn adorable that you won't be able to say "no" to his pout! I found him and bent down to hug him. He looked at me with his huge brown eyes and then stuck out his hand for me to shake. I asked a Nanny to tell him that I knew his Mommy and that she loved him, which they happily did. He was watching a worship video. I knew you'd like that!"

What an amazing gift!! These friends that go before us to get their children and love on ours become like aunts and uncles. Words cannot describe how deeply we love these families. We cannot wait to go get our children and then have our turn to love on the ones waiting, telling them how much their new mommies and daddies love them. It's a process of bonding that takes place before the child is united with their parents. To all our adopting friends....how we LOVE you! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for our adoption and our children and our finances. We are praying for you! Don't grow weary, our dear friends...the road is long and hard, and it literally takes fighting with the devil to get these children home. Satan hates adoption...it too clearly represents God heart for us. We've got your backs in prayer. Stay dangerously surrendered!!

Thank you all who are praying for Joshua and Julianna! We are working hard on Julianna's dossier. Praying that she can be moved to the Care Center soon.

Love
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Prayer for Julianna...

We are needing prayer for Julianna. She has been sick with malaria. Please be praying for her total healing and restoration and for God to comfort her. She doesn't have her mommy and it breaks our hearts to think of her sick without a mommy with her. Please be in prayer that we get the last $5500 for Julianna's fees and her dossier finished so she can be moved to the Care Center and get better medical care.

We know God is completely in love with the orphan. He sees everything Julianna is going through. Thank you for calling on Him to move on her behalf.

Blessings,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Finally a court date!!!

Our prayers have been answered and today we heard that on September 30th, our case for Joshua will be brought before an judge in Addis Ababa!! We are thrilled to have a date to look toward. If Joshua becomes a Coleman on that day, we will travel on November 1st. This seems far away, but God is truly orchestrating this process. We now are racing like mad to get the paperwork done for Julianna and get her fees in to try to coordinate her court date with Joshua's so that we can travel once and bring both children home together. This would be absolutely wonderful...to bring both our children home in November.

So, this is how you can pray...

~We need favor and quick moving paperwork as we prepare a second dossier for Julianna. The sooner we get that in, the sooner she can be moved and prepared for court during the coming months.

~We are believing God for $5500 for the remainder of Julianna's fees. Getting this amount in will ensure her quick movement through the process.

~We will then start again raising money for our travel....about $12,000 or so. We have two grants applications out and are praying for provision. God has been so faithful up to this point. We look forward to seeing how He will provide for the second half of this journey.

~We are continuing to lift up Julianna and her health and well being. Pray for Joshua's heart to be strong as he has waited a very long time for his family. By the time we get him home in November, he will have been waiting for family for a year and a half.

~We are still in prayer about an 8 passenger vehicle. Our car is now paid off, so we are just praying for wisdom and guidance in buying a van or SUV.

Thank you for praying! What a wild journey! Thank you for hanging in there with us during this long process. We've almost been in this process a year now. It's been long and hard, but we are so thankful for you who have not given up on us and our children. Thank you for asking about them, for praying for them, for believing in the call of God to care for the orphan, and for supporting us financially. Very soon, you will be able to see the fruit of those gifts as two precious children are no longer orphans, but adopted into our family, forever to be part of our hearts.

Joshua and Julianna, half a globe away, have no idea how many people already love them and pray for them. What a blessing they will be to us!!

Jumping for joy!
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Precious Baby Girl!!

We got the information on the beautiful baby girl that could very well become our daughter...our Julianna Kay. She is around 15 months old and very tiny...only 20 pounds. Her big, brown chocolate eyes melt your heart!

We had already heard from God on this child and sent the acceptance letter immediately. We are beyond excited to be able to bring her home hopefully by the end of the year.

We also got word today that they are doing all they can to get Joshua's court date scheduled before closings. If it is successful that will mean we travel in late August! At that time, we will be able to see and spend time with our daughter, but won't be able to bring her home. Talk about heart break!! However, it will also mean we can bring her home later in the year on a different kind of visa that makes her an immediate US citizen and saves us money on readoption.

We are trusting God to work this out according to His best plan. What a wild journey so far!

Prayer needs at this point in our journey:

Joshua's Court Date: We need God to give us favor with the judge, approving our paperwork and making Joshua legally ours this month.

Travel Plans: 5 weeks after a successful court date, you travel for your embassy date. We have an unbelievable amount to purchase and prepare for and pack during that 5 week period. We need favor and provision and an organized plan.

Health and paperwork for Julianna: We will have to prepare another original dossier for Julianna if the two kids have separate court dates. That is alot of leg work! Pray for this process to move quickly. Pray for Julianna's health in the orphanage. She is small, but healthy at this point. All of her medicals look great at this point. Pray for God's hand of protection over her life as she waits.

Finances: Always the big issue in international adoption! We have alot to believe for! We are profiled on Legacy Child's website, a grant ministry for parents who have lost a child and give toward a child's adoption in memory of the child they lost. Pray that anyone visiting that site and interested in giving would be drawn to our profile. We are looking for some other grant companies to apply to. Specifically, we need about $8500 for our travel to get Joshua. We need $10,500 for Julianna's fees and then eventually at the end of the year, travel money to get her. Only one of us might travel to get Julianna...probably JoLynn.

These prayer needs in addition to what we are already praying for are what we are asking you to pray about. We are so thankful for your prayers and support for this amazing journey toward changing two children's lives.

We speak favor and blessing and protection over each of your lives. Receive the mighty touch of an awesome God!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman

The letter has been sent!

We got news today that the letter has been sent from Joshua's home town to the capital city, declaring him deserted. Its unsure if they will get our case into court before closings at the end of July, early August, but we aren't at all worried about it as we know God will get us into court when it's time. If we are to bring Joshua home before Julianna, perhaps we will get a court date before closings. If we are to bring them home together, it will probably be delayed. Either way, we are at peace and have finally learned to trust God fully through this process.

Thank you for keeping our son and daughter in your prayers today. We held and loved on a 3 month old baby boy today and my heart was whisked to Ethiopia...to an orphanage where a baby girl is waiting to be referred to us. We have never met her, don't know if she will be ours yet, but we love her anyway. It's amazing how large the heart can grow in this journey, loving someone you know nothing about. We anxiously await God's plan to unfold and to someday soon have two more beautiful children in our home.

Thank you for praying!! Funds continue to come in slowly. We will need God to move in a mighty way as we draw closer to travel. He is an amazing Provider and we will all know it was Him and Him alone who brought this miracle when it comes about.

Don't be afraid to trust God with your every need. He calls us to God-sized assignments so that when we come through to the other side, it will be clear that it was a God-sized miracle that got us there!

Blessings to you all,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

The Wild Amusement Park

We recently got an email from a friend of ours, a domestic adoptive family from Nebraska, that said the following, "I love roller coaster rides, but the ride you guys are on is a little much sometimes!" Another adoptive mom, waiting on her Ethiopian kids said this today: "You are on the ultimate of life roller coasters. Isn't it cool how God orchestrates life as one big amusement park? We just need to learn to see the joy in all the little things. Who needs 7 flags?! "

We just crept up a tall hill of this roller coaster and now God has sent us sailing down the hill in a wild turn, our hair blowing, our adrenaline rising..a thrill and bone-chilling scare all at once.

As you know, we lost the referral of the five-month-old baby girl that we fell instantly in love with. We grieved that loss and still feel the hint of pain upon thinking about her. We told God we would surrender to whatever His plan, whoever He wanted us to love and embrace, however we could minister to the orphan. We have been praying for a week about a seven-month-old baby boy. We were just trying to find that open door to bring home the second child we knew God had spoken to us about. We truly felt it was a girl, but were willing to love whomever. This morning, I (JoLynn) was praying about this baby and felt prompted in my heart to email our agency and say, "Just checking one last time about a baby girl birth to age 5". The response we got sent us sailing down the hill.

A toddler girl was dropped off at one of our agency's orphanages. Because she was abandoned, her information cannot be released for two months to ensure she is abandoned. Her medical condition is also unknown. Our agency told us we could be referred this baby if all goes well in the next two months.

This will mean we will not bring Israel home this summer, however, his paperwork has been delayed anyway and it was looking like he would not make court before it closes in July. This seems to be God orchestrating an amazing story to bring home the two children He spoke to us about in the January. It breaks our hearts to make Israel wait for four or five more months, but this seems to be God's plan.

Thank you for praying. Here is how you can pray specifically.

* Pray for this baby girl's little life, her health, her status with her family, etc. We need God's best for her life, whatever that may be.

* Pray that if it is God's plan for her to be our little Julianna Kay that God orchestrates both children's court dates together and that we can bring them both home as soon as possible.

* Pray that God would provide for the extra $9000 we need for our second child's adoption along with the remainder of the finances for our travel, now including Bethany's airline ticket.

* Pray for the heart of Joshua to be strong as he waits. Pray that discouragement and disappointment do not overwhelm him as the other children leave before him with their new parents. Pray for God to encompass his heart with peace.

Thank you for your prayers. What a ride, huh? What a story it will be in the end! If only these children knew how deeply God loves them at this very moment, moving heaven and earth for the orphans He so loves.

God has placed the most amazing book into our lives that we highly encourage you all to read. "Dangerous Surrender...What Happens When You Say Yes to God" by Kay Warren (of Saddleback Church). It has rocked my(JoLynn) world and caused me to bend a knee to a God who doesn't always do things the way I want. The Kingdom of Kurt and JoLynn is now crumbling as we truly surrender to the Kingdom of God.

Kay has this prayer pasted on her desk and reads it every day. It's a prayer of death...dying to yourself and dying to everything we insist we deserve, giving our lives completely in surrender to God. There's nothing easy about surrender, nothing easy about dying...but the end result of walking the path God has planned is so amazingly worth it in the end.

Praying for you today as you surrender to what God has in store for you!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman

The Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
Put me to doing, put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you;
Exalted for you or brought low for you;
Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
You are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
Puritan Prayer of 1600

Bethany to Ethiopia!

We have been dealing with the sadness of saying goodbye to the dream of adopting the 5 month old baby we fell in love with and God has led us to a new adventure.




Our daughter, Bethany, is twelve. She is a great girl and just entering the difficult years of adolescence. We were praying about her the other day and God prompted our hearts to take her to Ethiopia with us. We talked with her and asked her to make it a part of her prayer time. She was fearful at first, but with time and prayer, she has heard from God herself and is very excited about this plan. Bethany will be raising her own money for her ticket and we will now rush to get her passport and shots so she can join us.


This will absolutely be life changing for all of us, but will alter the young life of Bethany in a profound way. She is intensely spiritual and we know God will speak to her as she observes with her own eyes the affects of the horrible famine and drought and need of the beautiful Ethiopian people. She wants to pursue the Miss Kansas pageant, starting in Miss Teen next year and wants her platform to be Africa/AIDS/orphans...something in that area. This will deepen that passion and cause her to truly become an advocate for her brother's homeland.


Thank you for praying for Bethany. Pray for protection, health, favor, and provision on her life. Pray for revelation and life change as she goes with us. She will be a great help to us too.





Blessings,

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Adoption Miscarriage...

Often in the adoption world, you experience loss.. We have lost the referral of this precious baby girl. The details of why are policy related and regarding us adopting two children at the same time who are unrelated. The news hit hard and broke our hearts. We know this baby will receive a wonderful family and we will always pray for her, but we won't be her parents.

Please pray now that we are able to get Joshua home quickly. We need to hear of a court date this week.

We love you all...thank you for your support and prayers.

Kurt and JoLynn

New Prayer Focus

Friends and Family....Prayer Partners!

Now that God has blown our minds by placing Julianna in our lives, our prayer list is now revised. We have more specific prayer needs regarding both Joshua and Julianna.

1. Speedy paperwork for Julianna: We are adopting Julianna through a different agency and we will be redoing some paperwork...some will transfer over. Pray that we have favor with this agency and our dossier.

2. Finances for Julianna: We have paid all of Joshua's fees and were doing well on our travel expenses. Tickets went up, so we had extra need there and now have all of Julianna's fees to pay quickly.

3. Safety and health for both children: Famine is hitting Ethiopia hard. Pray for health and safety both physically and emotionally for our children while they wait to come home.

4. Divine Timing: We would absolutely LOVE to bring our children home at the same time. This truly would take a God-orchestrated miracle. Please pray for favor and timing and that both kids would come home together.

5. Joshua's Court Date: We are still waiting to hear on Joshua's desertion paperwork and to get a court date. We need favor with the judge whenever God arranges that court date.

6. Direction and Provision on a Vehicle: In these days of high gas prices, we are praying for direction in what kind of vehicle to purchase. Obviously, what would be ideal for size...a Suburban...won't so ideal for gas prices. We are looking into vans and just need God to show us what would be the wisest choice. We also need provision in this area.

7. The fun basics for Julianna: We are now looking at purchasing all the fun stuff we will need for Julianna...crib, high chair, car seat, stroller, etc. Just need the favor of God here!

8. Bonding between our entire family: We already are in love with these children. God has already sealed our parents hearts for them. Pray for bonding in their hearts for us and for each other and their other siblings.

We are absolutely overjoyed and overwhelmed with excitement over all that God is doing through our lives. We heard very clearly on these adoptions, but today God blessed us with the most unexpected, amazing confirmation. Kay Warren, wife of Rick Warren, author of the book I am currently reading, "Dangerous Surrender" emailed me (JoLynn) to encourage me with these adoptions. She is a warrior woman for Africa and AIDS and her email cemented our call to rescue at least these two!
We couldn't be more blessed! Thank you for standing with us and praying for these two children of destiny...future world changers.

Love
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman

Julianna!

God is the most amazing, sovereign, creative Father!

Obviously, this blog talks about praying for Joshua, whom you all know about, and Julianna, whom you don't. We began this adoption journey in August of last year as God stirred our hearts toward the orphan and toward Ethiopia. We saw Joshua on a photo list and immediately knew he was the child God had planned for our family. We began the process with him.

In January of this year, God began to speak to us again...stretching our faith a little more. He spoke to us of a daughter we would adopt...at the same time as Joshua. We thought one child and one set of paperwork and one large sum of money to raise was requiring a whole lot of faith, but God wanted us to believe for one more. God spoke to our hearts about a baby girl, gave us her name, Julianna....and even gave us a glimpse of her in a dream.

We immediately contacted our agency about it and they began working on finding a baby girl. Baby girls, for some reason, just weren't coming into the orphanage. Baby boys and many older children were. We prayed about both...a set of older children, and a baby boy. Although it broke our hearts, God had already given the vision...we had a baby daughter in Ethiopia...so we prayed for those children and tearfully declined them.

Thursday night, we got a call from a different orphanage we had talked to. They had a baby girl, five months old, they wanted us to pray about. Our hearts leaped with joy! God had spoken to us in January, five months ago... and so right around this child's birth, God knew who she belonged to and began to speak to us about her. Pictures came by email and only confirmed what our hearts already knew. This was our Julianna!! Today, we sent in the initial paperwork and fees to begin our journey for Julianna.

We cannot tell you how precious and beautiful this child is! We cannot show her picture or share her birth name until after the court date, however, we can promise you this..she is breath-taking!! She looks much like Joshua with big, olive shaped eyes, and a wide beautiful smile. We are absolutely smitten with this baby already. Joshua will have a sister from his homeland and our family will be complete. We are moving paperwork through quickly as the orphanage does not want her delayed. We see the providence of God as He allowed Joshua's case to be delayed in order to make time for Julianna to join him!

We are now praying that God moves along Julianna's paperwork swiftly and that the funds come in miraculously so that we can bring both children home together. What a day that will be!!!

Thank you now for adding Julianna to your prayer list. She needs to come home to her family. Pray for her heart as she is missing her birth mother now and pray for her physical body as she waits for us in Ethiopia. Famine is hitting the country hard and both of our children need prayer over their physical health.

We are overjoyed. God led me (JoLynn) to a book to begin just before we got this call. "Dangerous Surrender...What Happens When You Say Yes to God" by Kay Warren (Rick Warren's wife). It is a life changing challenge...saying yes to God no matter how impossible the task appears, saying yes to God no matter how unequipped we feel, saying yes to God when the future is unknown, the provision is by faith, and the path only lighted with each step taken with dangerous surrender. What an adventure this life with Christ is!! By the end of the summer, we could be a family of eight...with two new amazing children of destiny in our arms. We are blessed beyond words.

Often it is said that those adopting internationally are saving children. That may be true in many ways, but we truly feel these children are just as much saving us....rescuing us from a life of self-centeredness and self-absorption, bringing depth and perspective and utter joy to our journey.

Thank you for praying for both our children on the other side of the globe! Pray for safety, pray for favor, pray for finances. How precious it will be the day they become Colemans and we can show you the faces of the children you have faithfully prayed for.

We love you! Dare to say YES to God today! Whatever He is asking from you is big! He's a big God, needing a big work done on this earth before He returns. Don't run from challenge, don't run from what seems impossible. Just say yes..and watch miracles begin to unfold in and through your life.

We love you!
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

My friend's adoption story

One of our many precious friends we have grown to adore are featured on CWA's website. Their story is amazing. Julie and her husband took the first care package to Joshua and took pictures of him for us. They just brought home two stunningly beautiful girls from Ethiopia...the youngest in the picture. Read their story on http://www.cwa.org/adoption_stories/snow.htm

JoLynn

Need Prayers Regarding Desertion

We have had delays on some paperwork in Ethiopia. We need a miracle. Joshua's birth mother cannot be located. They have searched and searched for her. The courts now want the paperwork changed from 'placed for adoption' to 'desertion'. When they are changed, it will be up to a judge to do one of two things...approve the adoption with the new paperwork or require a 60 day wait. Please be in prayer for the judge to approve it immediately.

The courts in Ethiopia close for two months beginning in August. That would mean we couldn't have a court date or get Joshua home until late fall. This is just too long for him. Please pray fervantly for the judge over our case to approve our adoption without another waiting period.

Blessings and thank you for your support and prayers.

We still have about $6000 to raise now for our travel with the hike in airline tickets. God is a big God...able to provide. Thank you for praying.

Loving you all,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Do you have a child in Ethiopia?

The days of dreaming of having biological children have gone for me. Dreaming of children of the womb is much easier. Your mind dreams at ease. The baby you will one day carry lies only in the heart of God until the moment you conceive. There's no worry, no wonder about that baby. He or she is safe in the arms of God, not yet breathed into existence. When you obey the voice of God to parent an orphan, the dreaming stage isn't so carefree. You are well aware that your child is very likely born, living somewhere you've never been, perhaps hungry, perhaps cold. The unknown sends you running to that same heart of God, forcing yourself to trust His care over your child a sunset away.



We know our Joshua. He is now safe in the foster home in Addis Ababa. This current article from msnbc, highlighting the staggering famine now revisiting Ethiopia after drought and food price hikes, sends my thoughts across the seas even more. God has been clear with us....our daughter is in Ethiopia. We know what we are to name her, we know we are to pray for her, but we don't know who or where she is. The picture in this article haunts the heart of any mother. In contrast, the 'pregnant' mother of adoption, waiting to hear of her daughter or son? Well, her heart is broken. This could be my child. Could this be your child?



God has always called His people to care for the widow and orphan. Is He pulling at your heart to bring an orphan into your family? It doesn't matter your age or income. God makes a way. We know grandparents now starting over through adoption from Ethiopia. We know countless people who live pay check to pay check and yet are willing to add another child to the numbers at home. "There's always room for one more" we've heard many say.



The child in this photo has a mother, but both she and her mother need a miracle. We have miracles sitting in our bank accounts, in our large homes, and fancy cars. We have miracles trapped within our desire to acquire more for self....when the most fulfilling investment we can make is in the life of a child. God's child. We hold so much power...the power to be conduits of God's miracles!! What more can we ask of life?



Do you have a child in Ethiopia? Is your destined offspring waiting for you to say 'yes' to God? I have a son and a daughter there for sure and maybe more. This could be my daughter. She needs me to believe God, to pursue her no matter how hard the process of adoption may become, to never give up on her in prayer, and to bring her home where we can teach her to be a vessel of miracles for God.

Do you have a child in Ethiopia? Don't answer with haste....inquire of the Lord. His ways and thoughts are much higher than ours.









SHANTO, Ethiopia - This year's poor rains have nearly killed Bizunesh. The 3-year-old weighs less than 10 pounds. Her long limbs, weak and folded like a praying mantis, cannot carry even her slight weight. She cannot speak. She doesn't want to eat. Health officials say she is permanently stunted.Bizunesh — whose name, sadly, means "plentiful" — is one of untold numbers of children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia."She should be bigger than this," said her mother Zewdunesh Feltam, rocking the listless child. "Before there was maize, different kinds of food. But now there is nothing ... I beg for milk from my neighbors."The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition — and called the current crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."Millions will need food aidThe U.N. World Food Program estimates that 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains — nearly double the number who needed help last year. An additional 5 million of Ethiopia's 80 million people receive aid each year because they never have enough food, whether harvests are good or not.In Shanto, a southwestern agricultural area that grows sweet potatoes, recent rains arrived too late to save the harvest.The crisis here is vivid. A feeding center run by the Irish charity GOAL has admitted 73 starving children in the past month. Some, like Bizunesh, are frail and skeletal. Others, like 4-year-old Eyob Tadesse, have grossly swollen limbs in a sign of extreme malnutrition.Eyob, whose mother said he used to be a lively, talkative child, sat in a stupor, unable to speak, not moving even to brush away the flies that swarmed over his face. The sunny room humid with a recent, too late, rain shower was made gloomy by an eerie silence despite being full of sick children. Chronic malnutrition can affect children for life, stunting their growth, brain development and immune systems, which leaves them vulnerable to a host of illnesses.Many mothers said their families were trying to survive on a gluey, chewy bread made of the root of the "false banana" plant — one of many wild or so-called famine foods that Ethiopians depend on in times of trouble.It's not known how many children have died or are starving now. Local and international aid and health workers say between 10 and nearly 20 percent of Ethiopia's children are malnourished — 15 percent is considered a critical situation. In 2006, Ethiopia had 13.4 million children under age 5, according to UNICEF.Hunger will get worse Samuel Akale, a nutritionist with the government's disaster prevention agency, said the hunger will get worse. "The number of severely malnourished will increase, and then they'll die."WFP officials say the drought has affected six of Ethiopia's nine regions, stretching from Tigray in the north to the vast and dry Somali region in the south, though not every part of each region is affected.Spokesman Greg Beals said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is preparing an appeal for additional tens of millions of dollars."This is a real crisis that needs to be addressed," he said.Ethiopia is a country with a history of hunger. It's food problems drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed some 1 million people. Pictures of stick-thin children like Bizunesh were broadcast onto television sets around the world.This year's crisis is far less severe. But drought and chronic hunger persist in Ethiopia, a Horn of Africa nation known for its coffee, a major export. In 2003, droughts led 13.2 million people to seek emergency food aid. Drought in 2000 left more than 10 million needing emergency food.Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land, and agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports. But many also go hungry because of government policies. Ethiopia's government buys all crops from farmers at fixed low prices. And the government owns all the land, so it cannot be used as collateral for loans.Aid agencies say emergency intervention is not enough and are appealing for more money to support regular feeding programs.
"What we're doing at the moment is waiting until children get severely malnourished, taking them into the feeding program, getting them back to a level of moderate malnutrition and then watching them cycle back," said Hatty Newhouse, a nutrition adviser from GOAL.
There are fears that the next harvest also will fail.
"We are crying with the mothers and the children," said Akale, the nutritionist.

Flight Prices

The price to fly is going up everywhere. We have checked into some flights if we travel in June or July and we are now looking at around $8,000-$9,000 for the three of us. We were aiming at $10,000 total for our travel expenses, including hotel, food, and our last CWA fees in Ethiopia. This pushes our total amount we needed to around $15,000-$17,000 for travel! Whew! We really need a miracle now!

God, no doubt, will provide. He has been providing in wonderful ways up to this point. I guess this will make it a bigger miracle!

Please be praying about this in addition to praying about the document we are needing the officials at Soddo to produce and a court date. We are really hoping to bring Joshua home before my sister's wedding in August. She wants him to be the ring bearer in her wedding wearing his African dress. Her fiancee is from Uganda and will be in African dress too. We SO would love to have Joshua home for that.

Thank you for praying! This is, by far, the most difficult part of this journey. Waiting and waiting and praying for those final finances to come in.

We value your prayers so much. Thank you for extending your faith our way. It will make a huge difference in the life of a child.

With deep love,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Fund Raising Shirts

We had some shirts designed to raise awareness and raise a little bit of money. Our shirts are $15 and available in a variety of colors. Here is a sample. If you would like a shirt, email me and let me know.

JoLynn

Pray for Document

There are families who are being scheduled for court dates that had their second medicals done after Joshua's. We have been frustrated by the delay and just heard from our case worker today that they are waiting on a document from his home town. We don't know the nature of the document, but please be in prayer for God to move paperwork on our behalf. He has done this for us several times in this process. We really need to get all this done so the court date can be scheduled and Joshua can become legally ours. He has waited long enough!

Thank you for praying! What an amazing journey this is. Very soon, Joshua will be landing in Kansas to be with his new family and friends!

Thank you for standing with us and with him. Can't wait for that court date to go through and be able to post all his precious pictures for you to see!!

Blessings,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman

Garage Sale Success!

We have been so busy, I haven't had time to tell you about our amazing garage sale fund raiser! The fair grounds gave us the large commercial building for free and it was a true blessing. We were amazed at how many people came and donated items to sell and stayed to help. My sister, Amy, made a wonderful tri-fold poster about adoption and Ethiopia. I will stick a picture in this post later of that poster. People in the community were genuinely interested.

Drum roll, please!!!

Our total raised from this sale:

$1802.56

Praise God!

With the lovely extra tax refund we should be getting from our wonderful President, that brings us to about $6000 raised for travel. We need another $4000. We are still waiting on some grants and haven't heard from them, so thank you for praying!! We are getting closer!

We love you all!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Still waiting!!

Waiting....that seems to be the word we use so often nowadays. So many ask what is going on with bringing Joshua home and that is the word we have to use, waiting.

Addis Ababa has an energy shortage. Every four days, they turn off all power in the city for 12-14 hours. This is delaying court dates, which is what we are waiting for. We have yet to hear of our court date. The court date will be where the judge and Ministry of Women will decide if the paperwork looks right and Joshua's birth mother will need to attend if she is still alive. If all goes well, Joshua will become a Coleman and we will travel 3-4 weeks after that date. Many times, families have to wait on 3,4 court dates because of something the judge wants to add to the paperwork or trouble getting the birth parent there. We need to pray for favor in court.

Waiting is so much part of all of our journeys, refining our character, strengthening our trust and faith and dependence on God. Whatever you are waiting for... an answer to prayer, a financial miracle, a healing, a child...God is much more interested in the journey than your destination. Praying for you in your waiting!!

Thank you for praying for Joshua!! Julianna will have to come later. The timing hasn't worked out so far. We almost accepted a 19 month old baby boy, but after much prayer, felt he wasnt ours. It was heart breaking to say the least. He will have a precious family, no doubt. We are still waiting for the one God has chosen for us for our second child and know at some point it will be Julianna.

Be blessed!

Kurt and JoLynn

In Translation

Life is just about waiting and preparing right now. Our dossier is in Ethiopia being translated. After 10 days they will submit it for court. We should hear in a few weeks about a court date. In the meantime, we are preparing the house. We spent all of yesterday moving dressers and beds, organizing and cleaning. We have alot of items to purchase before we go from several lice treatment kits to some luggage and back packs. We are collecting donations for orphanages such as children's vitamins, Tylenol, latex gloves, and a variety of items the orphanages desperately need. Our first large suitcase we borrowed from a friend sits being slowly packed.

Tuesday we will finally get in to get shots. My kids are not happy about getting Hep A and B shots. Kurt and I will get six each....ouch.

Another friend just returned home from Ethiopia. She was getting her three beautiful children and making her home a home eight! She was unable to take pictures of Joshua, but sent a treasured description of her encounter with him. It's truly like a gift everytime one of our new adoption friends gets to go and love on our son until we can go get him. Here is her description. I think we may have a linebacker on our hands! Caleb may have met his match!!!


JoLynn,I am so happy to hear your Joshua is coming home... he is SO STINKIN CUTE. He followed me everywhere and my sister loved on him for a long time too! He is ready to come home and I am glad he doesn't have to wait! He looked great, was happy and a SERIOUS CHUNK!!!! OH... you have a great little guy coming home to you soon!

Thank you for continuing to pray for our travel funds to come in. We are having a massive garage sale on April 19th. Several people are donating items for that. We are planning a night of worship soon too.

Open your heart today to the plight of the orphan...it's God heart. I believe there are many reading this post now that God would call to open your home to adopt an orphan if only you'd open your heart to His voice in this area. There's so much need, so many who have no one, and we have so much to give them. Let God not see all the gifts and blessings He has given us buried and unused.

Praying blessings and favor all over your lives!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn