We're Home!

Dear praying friends,
We arrived home on Friday night after an arduous journey from Addis to Rome to Washington D. c. to Seattle. We were so glad to be safely home and in our own home and beds again! Bethlehem did great on the flights and is adjusting well to "America." as soon as my laptop is repaired I will upload some new photos. Today we are flying to Denver for my sister's Memorial Service. I was saddened to learn she was in the hospital with lung cancer when we returned from Ethiopia. She passes away yesterday and her service is tomorrow.
We love you!
Jim, Jaci, and Bethlehem

They're coming home

Dear prayer partners,
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart to everyone who prayed while Jim and Jaci were over in Ethiopia. 
They got Bethlehem's VISA!  Praise the Lord!  They should be arriving at the airport in about 15 minutes and heading out, arriving home tomorrow afternoon :)  -Jill

Embassy appt.

Greetings friends and family!  I (Jill) spoke to Mom and Dad on the phone this morning and their Embassy appt. went great.  In fact, their presence isn't requested there again.  They weren't however, granted Bethlehem's VISA to come to the United States because there is one piece of paper missing from the poice department that is holding everything up.  If their agency can obtain this by Thursday morning Addis time they will be able to make their flight home.  They hope the document arrives in time because it would be costly to change all their plane tickets for a later date.  Keep praying!  They didn't sound worried about it either way which is strange to me because I would be stressing out if I were them.  But that is what I love about them- how they always trust in God :)

More pictures from Ethiopia!

            Bethlehem trying to ride a bike on the SIM compound basketball court

       On Wednesday night we took our neighbors (Dirk-Jon & Maryam Baarson) out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The couple run the boarding school home for about 10 children. They invited us for dinner last Friday... they have been so nice and supportive of us that we wanted to thank them. Most of the kids were Middle School and High School... and they all orded pizza I think! :)

                 dinner last Sunday with a family here who have adopted 2 girls Bethlehem's age who wanted their girls to tell B about their experience moving to US

          Bethlehem helping Jaci bake cookies at the SIM guest house this week

                   Bethlehem in front of the Christmas tree at the Sheraton Hotel

Sheraton Hotel again... this Christmas display had a mechanical reindeer... it frightened Bethlehem at first until Efrim convinced her it was "fake"

The kids that we met on our drive Wednesday to the King's Forest. This is the oldest forest in Africa. The king of Ethiopia 500 years ago set aside this forest as it was his favorite place. On the drive there we met several groups of children, and gave them them the lollipops that our daughter Jill sent with us to Ethiopia.

Jim and Bethlehem hiking on the trail in the King's Forest. It was a great hike... 5.4 kilometers to the top where we got to go in the museum...

turns out it was full of stuffed animals endemic to Ethiopia. Bethlehem was pretty terrified at first of the animals... until our driver/friend Efrim convinced her they were not able to hurt her. :) 

Hello!

Here's a mother and baby that Jaci gave out some food to on our trip home from the King's Forest. She was standing in the field gleaning grain like Ruth in the bible with her baby in her arms.

Embassy Date!

Hello friends and family!  My dad isn't able to access Blogger in Addis to post on here so I'll share his great news.  They have an Embassy date Dec. 7th!  That was what we were so anxiously waiting to hear.  If they did not get this date, they wouldn't be home until Christmas Eve and would have had to change all 3 of their airline tickets which isn't cheap.  What an answer to prayer- Praise the Lord!  At their Embassy appt. they have to answer a few questions that they might need the attorney for, Dad said, but he is out of country right now.  Please keep praying that it goes smoothly and they are granted Bethlehem's Visa on the 7th.  -Jill