Orphan Sunday in 4 weeks

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

ED is no fun

Wow, what a week at the Stem house. The pictures in the previous post were taken a few hours before the following happened. Teddy fell off the bunk bed ladder Wednesday night, and when he did he busted his lip and knocked some teeth loose. I was in the room in a flash had him in my arms and the other 2 are getting a cloth, ice, and the phone to call Kellar who is at CCF. I tell Kellar to meet me at the emergency room because Teddy has cut his lip. We go to urgent care arriving around 9:15 pm. The wound is to deep for them to treat so we are driven to the ED. Kellar stays with him, I take Ashleigh and Eli home to bed; by this time it is 10:30. Teddy ended up having several stitches inside and outside his mouth. Kellar says he was a trooper. Teddy and Kellar arrived back home at 2:45am.
Thursday afternoon we go to the dentist for them to xray any damage. No visible damage. Yeah! He will Just have soreness for awhile.
Last night (Friday) Teddy wakes up diarrhea, vomiting, and a fever of 104. We tend to those needs at home during the wee hours of the morning. At 9:15 when he wakes (2 hours later than usual) he is still with fever. We call our pediatrician and they want to see him. They run a flu test (negative). They think he has developed an infection and will have to be sedated again for them to tend to his mouth. Thank you Brent and Emelie for staying with Ashleigh and Eli while I go to the ED with them. We are discharged at 3pm. Another long day at the hospital. Teddy is such a good sport to allow the doctors and nurses to poke him where he hurts.
Please continue to pray for our family as we cross the language barrier. I bet in these first 4 1/2 weeks Teddy has learned over 100 words and we have continued to learn and use his Amharic. There is a big part of me that does not what him to loose his native tongue (although in actuality he already has). You see Teddy grew up in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. He knew Tigrayan and spoke Tigrayan until February of 2009 when he entered the Gladney foster care center. Where he quickly learned Amharic.

Sept. 30th camera fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow

New Pictures of Tewodros!

These are the newest pictures from Suzanne & Kellar & Tewodros. They're doing well so far. Please pray for them to have safe travels and for the language barrier to be broken down quickly. Thanks

Ashleigh & Eli

Update from the Stem's

Hey, it's Ashleigh. My parents made it to Ethiopia. And they met Tewodros. Here is the email my dad sent us:

Yesterday was long and hard. Tewodros came to us in the morning but began crying and wanted to back to foster care center. We went with him and met and played with his friends. His closest friend left Sunday which made Monday really hard. After a couple hours he went outside and left with us willingly. He was sad and quiet on the ride back. He fell asleep in the car but when I carried him to bed he woke up and went back down and out the front door. Suz carried him back up and held and rocked him until he fell asleep after about an hour or more, about 4:45. He slept until almost 6:00, some on his cot some in bed with us. Suz and I went to sleep around 9:45, but were awake from 2-4 from time adjustment. We awoke to him wispering Mama and Papa. So sweet. Today is a much better day so far. Going to market soon. Please pray for continued transition.

Here's a link to some pictures

Leaving on a jet plane tomorrow

Thank you to all who have followed our adoption journey to our son. I am a mix of emotions nervousness and excitement. Jesus told his followers I will not leave you as orphans. James tells us true/pure religion is to look after orphans... God has adopted me into his forever family. Now our family has given a little boy in a far away place a forever family. Tomorrow evening we will board a plane in Raleigh, then DC. This plane will fly us to the beautiful country of Ethiopia (I have never been before, but have seen hundreds of pictures of the landscape and people). On Monday morning I will be given the awesome joy to hold my newest son.

A few things we are taking:

Suzanne:

2 pants, 2 skirts, 2 capris, 8 tops, 2 pj's, 1 sweatshirt, 1 jacket, 3 pairs shoes

Kellar:

4 pants, many shirts, 3 pairs shoes

Tewodros:

2 shoes, 5 pants, 10 shirts, 3 pajamas, 2 jackets

2 suitcases full of our humanitarian aid items:

box of toothbrushes from our dentist, several packs of diaper, 3 large formula containers, 8 tubes A&D ointment, 4 wipes packages, 20 baby outfits, several packs of bottles, crayons, markers, colored pencils, coloring books, beach balls...

A backpack full of fun stuff for Tewodros

Snacks

Blanket for Tewodros

soccer ball, floppy frisbee, and beach ball for Tewodros

PAPERWORK (documents, itinerary, passport, airline tickets...)

MONEY (thank you bank ladies who helped me with finding 100 bills after a certain year)

While we are gone Ashleigh will post on here when they hear from us

Stay tuned many pictures of Ethiopia, our trip, and our family will follow in the weeks after our return