Be a PIECE of the Kennington's Adoption!

Dear family and friends... thank you for your interest in our adoption! Okay, I think we need to clarify this some... we have set up an account for donations at YWAM Adoption Ministry. The total cost for our adoption is estimated at $30,000. We are hoping to raise $15K of the funds by making a Kennington Adoption puzzle with 500 pieces. If you contribute a $30 gift (tax deductible through YWAM) we will write your name on the back of one of the puzzle pieces. When all is said and done the front will be a big framable family photo  including our new daughter. The back will be the names of all the people that helped bring her into our family!

YWAM charges about 2% for most donations made through their website (credit cards or PayPal), but you can also send in a check directly to them and no charge is made for checks. If you choose to send your donation by mail please make checks payable to YWAM Adoption Ministry and send it to:

YWAM Adoption Ministry
PO Box 512
Puyallup, WA 98371

Be sure not to write our name ANYWHERE on the actual check for the gift to be tax deductible! 

YWAM will send out tax deductible gift receipts to you and we will get your names from the list of donors provided by YWAM.

We invite you to journey with us and pray for our family, including little miss "T" in Ethiopia. We will keep you posted here no the blog, which is also accessible from our Kennington Adoption Facebook page.

Thank you so much for helping us change the life of another precious little girl!

We love you! Then Kenningtons

PS - please pass this on!! 

Home Study Approved!

This week our home study was approved and sent on to Children's House International and to the Assistant Stork in Washington DC to be taken to the Ethiopian Embassy. This was a major milestone in our adoption process, and one which we have waited for the past couple of months. The next step is expected to take another 6-8 weeks. After that we will likely get our court date and start making plans to go to Ethiopia to meet our daughter. Please pray for God's hand and timing in all of this! Thank you so much! We love you, Jim & Jaci

Surprise! One more daughter from Ethiopia!

We have been so blessed by our daughter, Bethlehem, whom we adopted in 2010. She is a bright, funny, engaging daughter who loves God! She has adapted to our family and is making friends at school and church. We love the fact that God's plan included Bethlehem in our family.

In mid-September some friends, Brian & Jan Rodenbeck, mentioned another little girl (she is 7) who is at the same orphanage and is waiting for a family.  We had some interest right away in the possibility and began praying. After talking to YWAM Adoption Ministry of Ethiopia and talking and praying as a family, we believed God was leading us to ask to adopt her.

So, here we are, leaning on the Everlasting Arms! We are really excited to welcome this dear child into our lives and home. We are presently awaiting a formal referral from YWAM & CHI. We covet your prayer support that God will open the doors as He wills. 

After a formal referral is made to us to adopt her, we will be setting up an account with YWAM Adoption Ministry to help us fund the adoption. You can also keep up with our adoption on the Kennington Adoption page on Facebook.

Thank you for your prayers!

Jim, Jaci, & Bethlehem Kennington

YWAM Ethiopia Adoption Ministry

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.