wordless wednesday (i'm not the only one who's grown through this adoption process)

december 2008:


april 2011:

i know, i know...

it's almost 10:00 at night, and i'm just now getting this info out.  it's been a looooong day of talking to airlines, coordinating a herd of people to help with the little ones, and doing this freak-out/nesting/packing/cleaning thing that keeps happening when i get new info about our travel dates.

what was that?  travel dates??

that's right, friends!  we found out tentatively yesterday - confirmed today - that we leave next sunday to go get micah and bring him home.  next sunday.  mother's day.  the beauty of that isn't lost on me.

we'll be gone less than a week this time and will be returning to birmingham on the afternoon of saturday, may 14.  so many of you sweet people have asked if it's ok to greet us at the airport when we arrive, and the answer is a resounding YES!  it's yes as long as you don't mind a potentially bleary-eyed, weepy mess of a momma, her pack-mule husband, and the cutest little chubby chunk of preciousness you've ever seen.  :-) 

we are one happy group of people today.  and praise god from whom all blessings flow!!!!!

salvation comes from the RISEN king!

my little people surprises

jack:  he loves all things music.  it's no surprise to anybody who knows him that he can play a mean electric guitar (a red one, mind you) and that he plays his drums all. day. long. 

isabel:  she's sweet, she's cuddly, and she adores dresses and all things pink. 

so imagine my surprise when jack found a suddenly strong interest in this:


and when izzy dug in the backyard to find and play with this:



like me, josh loves that jack is so passionate about music at such an early age, but a little part of him was bummed that it didn't look like jack had much interest in going out back and hitting some balls.  but out of nowhere, the little guy asked to go outside and play baseball and now his favorite game is playing "ground balls" with his daddy (which he follows up with a celebratory band performance back inside).



(for the record, i'm still waiting to see how the throwing part of this new endeavor all shakes out...)



little izzy cracks me up - and perhaps grosses me out - when she decides to "dig foh wohms".




abby and jack are content to let her do the dirty work...



and dirty work it is!



just when i think i've got them pegged, they throw me a curve ball.  but hey, that's part of the joy of parenting all these little people!

torn between "in awe" and "of course"

i began praying a while back about doing something to help our friends, family, and yet-known friends know and love the women and children of sadamo genet the way we do.  several options came to mind, but when the opportunity for a $1,000 matching donor arose, i knew the lord had provided the golden ticket.  so twelve days ago, on compassion sunday, i shared with you that we needed $1,000.  by the grace of god in all of our lives, not only could our $1,000 instantly turn into $2,000, but that money would go directly to the sadamo genet child survival program in ethiopia to nourish bodies - and to nourish souls. 

i prayed this prayer over and over:  by the prompting and work of the holy spirit, lord, please provide us with a minimum of $2,000 to deliver to those in need for your name's sake.  on good friday - the day that our savior was pierced for our transgressions, the day he was crushed for our iniquities.  our peace came from his punishment, and by his wounds we are healed. 

now we are free to SPREAD HIS GLORY, and we are free to GIVE.

five-thousand, two-hundred dollars.  i'm grateful to the lord.  i'm grateful to you.  and i'm grateful to the lord for you.

  

"this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of god's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to god.  because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise god for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  and in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace god has given you.  

thanks be to god for his indescribable gift!"

2 corinthians 9:12-15

overheard at our house today (jack edition)

daddy (after teaching on the matthew account of the sheep and goats parable in family worship):  "what two animals did you hear jesus mention in that story?"
jack (after thoughtful consideration):  "ummmm...an african elephant?" 

me (after a brief "around the world" science lesson):  "guys, if you could get on an airplane and travel to anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?"
jack:  "i would want to go to ethiopia.  or moultrie."

looks like i may need to schedule another weekend of photography sessions down south!

wordless wednesday

just two days left to make the most of this thing i like to call god-math.

best. weekend. ever. (part trois)

"shower" just doesn't cut it.  my dear friends, kerry and dawn, went out of their way on saturday to throw what can only be rightly referred to as a baby deluge. 



when kerry first asked me about doing a baby shower to celebrate micah's coming arrival, i was just coming off of the diaper shower from these sweet friends, and our family had been tremendously blessed with a closet full of diapers, wipes, and formula.  so we shifted gears a bit and turned the shower into a donation party to gather some desperately-needed supplies for acacia village (where micah lives right now in addis).  as i was putting the guest list together, my heart warmed as i realized the diversity of those the lord has brought together to surround us in love and support us throughout this journey.  mine and josh's families, other families i used to babysit for, decades-long friends from college, photography clients, and our real estate agent - it almost has the makings of some goofy television sitcom.  but the lord has grown each of those relationships into some of the most dear ones in our life.  



and one thing i've learned about dear friends and family is that they care about what you care about.  in some big, big ways. 



in case you're not getting the full effect there, let me quantify it for you.  what you're seeing is 760 diapers, almost 1,600 wipes, enough formula to make 108 bottles, outfits for 15 of the older kids at acacia, and enough disposable gloves, baby wash, bottles, antibacterial hand soap, and diaper rash ointment to stock every babies 'r us store in the southeast. 

and it's all going to ethiopia.

that touches my heart and humbles my spirit.  oh, and it should tell you something that the shower hadn't even begun yet when i started crying...thanks to this beauty that kerry asked a friend paint for micah's room:



not only does it pull in the meaning of micah's name - "who is like our god?" - but the red leaves of the tree are made up of the fingerprints of so many of the people who are loving and praying our baby home.  (by the way, i'm keeping it handy for a while longer because there are definitely some fingerprints missing.  this boy has been adopted by far more hearts than just our own.) 

so come on over and stamp away!  i'll leave it by the front door while we're in ethiopia.  :-)

oh girls, i am so thankful for you.  each of you.  and i praise the lord for his loving gift of family and friends.

best. weekend. ever. (part deux)

after the acrobats finished their balleweena performance, some amazing friends of mine took advantage of the family we had in town and planned a donation shower to gather goodies to send to acacia village where micah currently lives in ethiopia.  but first, it's impossible for me to share about that shower without telling you about another...

the lord has richly blessed me with a group of women from church who have become dear friends over this last year or two.  we all worship together as a part of the same faith family, many of us homeschool together, a handful of us are adopting together, and one of them is stuck with me weekly in our small group.  our lives are woven together in many unique ways, and i count it a true joy to live life with these precious gals.  shortly after we arrived back home from ethiopia in february, several of them got together to throw me a diaper shower to help us get ready for a new baby in the house.  a HUGE thanks to lacey, carrie, amelia, brook...



and jenny (the chic with the camera) for coordinating such a tremendous showing of love and kindness.



oh, and remember how i said that we were walking this adoption journey with others??  lora lynn and sheryl were fresh off an airplane from uganda adopting their collective three children between the two families - and somehow they drug their jet-lagged selves over to brook's house to love on me. 



these sweet friends and the others who came spent their time that night showering us with gifts...



writing us letters of encouragement and truth (which i still haven't been allowed to read - although i did, to no avail, try to enlarge this photo so i could see what was written on the cards)...  :-)



and most dear to me, covering us in prayer for everything from a successful court date to quick bonding and attachment to health and provision...  (in case you're wondering, this is my "hold it together, allison" face.  by the time the last amen had been said, i had failed miserably.)



girls, i love you all so dearly, and the lord blessed me beyond measure when he put you each in my life.  thank you!!!!!!

we'd better start looking for flights to ethiopia!

you know it's got to be something big for me to post twice in one day!  we just got confirmation from our agency that micah's paperwork has been finalized and is being submitted to the US embassy tomorrow!!!  you know that means, don't you?? 

our baby's coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!

best. weekend. ever.

family, friends, dancing, fun, laughter, tears, giving, receiving.  this weekend was busy, but i'll start with this sweet girl...



this weekend was the ballet recital that almost never was.  the dress rehearsal got canceled at the last minute on friday because of the terrible storms that destroyed many areas of the southeast, and what we now know is a raging infection invaded poor abby's ear and almost kept her out of the performance on saturday.  after much praying, she woke up feeling well and chipper the morning of the recital, and she was thrilled to be able to participate in the dance with the rest of her class.



but if abby was thrilled, izzy was ecstatic.  that girl wants to be a "balleweena" so bad she can't stand it, and she was soaking up every minute of the hour-long recital.



this year's recital was called "the joy of the lord", and it was a circus-themed production.  abby's class - the "acrobats" - started their performance with a bang.  if you look behind abby in this picture, there's a little one upside down in a handstand...



...and abby whipped out a cartwheel to add to the excitement.  (please tell me you can see her tongue stuck out in this picture.  she's like her momma in that there's a direct line from her brain to her mouth.  brain concentrates, tongue emerges.)



no offense if you're one of them, but there are some CRAZY parents at these things.  i'm pretty convinced that some of them camp out at the church the night before the performance to get the best seats.  it probably looks like the apple store when a new iphone is released.  a friend of mine somehow scored a seat on the front row and she was gracious enough to offer for me to piggy-back off of her awesome view.  it made for some pretty darling pictures when abby saw me...





but these are some of my favorites...






until next year (when we have two balleweenas)...

good news all around

a) our house didn't blow away in the massive storm that just came through.  neither did anyone else's house around here.

b) after 10+ years of wondering, i now know that my wedding gown still fits.  the fact that i actually drug it out and put it on tonight isn't as weird as you might think, though.  i'm styling a bridal session for sunday, and i thought we might be in need of an additional dress.  (so why did you need to try it on? you ask.  well, it kind of just fell off the hanger and onto my body.  it was really weird.)

c) on a significantly more important note, we've hit our original $1,000 goal for compassion's sadamo genet CSP!!!!!!  but please, please don't interpret that to mean that we don't need more.  there are 15 additional women in the village who desperately need the teaching, training, and provision that enrollment in the CSP offers; at this point, though, compassion doesn't have adequate funding to enroll those women and their babies.  besides, if the lord can turn $1,000 into $4,000, there's no telling what he could do with more.

i'll just go ahead and say it...i'm praying for $5,000.  :-)

god-math

UPDATE:  after today's mail run and a precious friend's delivery to our house tonight, YOU have given $890 to the women and children of sadamo genet.  (and if you do the god-math, that equals $3,560!!!)  but don't stop now - if we can give that much in four days, imagine what the lord can lead us to do by the time good friday comes!!

ORIGINAL POST:
i've never claimed to be a genius.  in fact, since josh and i began the blessed journey of parenthood, i would come closer to saying that i've engaged in a bit of a "brains for babies" trade-off.  the old noggin isn't quite as sharp as it probably once was (as evidenced by the fact that yesterday i walked upstairs with the sole intent of retrieving the dirty clothes baskets and came down empty-handed.  three times). 

but i can do simple math.

even my 1st grader's got this one down.  as she sits at our kitchen table completing her math lesson each day, she can whip out some addition and "equals/does not equal" facts.  take this one, for example:
$1,000 = $1,000, right? 

not so in god-math.

if you've been us following for a while, you know that this journey started out more than two years ago when the lord called us to adopt a baby from ethiopia.  in july 2010 we fell in love with the son we had waited so long to have.  the next month we clung desperately to one another here while he was being buried in an unmarked grave there.  we had thought we were naming judah for life here on earth; but in actuality, his name - "to praise" - held far more more meaning for our lives here on earth and his eternal life with christ.  by god's spirit our hearts and eyes were opened wide to the many needs of ethiopia and her people, and days after judah's death, the lord graciously began a work that i wrote about in this post.  here's an excerpt:

on friday when we got the phone call that judah had died that morning, the forceful weight of grief came crushing down on us.  and i didn't just do the weeping thing.  i did the lay-on-the-floor-in-a-fetal-position-sobbing-so-hard-that-i-could-barely-breathe thing.

it wasn't pretty.

but i just couldn't escape that still, quiet voice that kept reminding me of the very purpose for which we had named our precious baby.  judah - "to praise".  i suppose it's one of the mysteries of the LORD, but josh and i felt that judah's death could wreck our hearts while simultaneously provide us with a beautiful opportunity to praise GOD for his goodness, mercy, and love.  through the pain, we clung desperately to isaiah 55:8-11: 

"for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what i desire and achieve the purpose for which i sent it."

we knew that GOD had a larger purpose in what was happening -- we just didn't know what it was, and we surely didn't know how to get there.  so we prayed...

we prayed for the LORD to extend judah's influence far beyond the six weeks he lived on earth.  we asked him to give us clear direction on how we should move ahead.  but most importantly, we prayed that through his grace, we could affect significant change in judah's name -- for GOD's glory.   

our prayer became this: "please multiply the reach and the effect of this story."

we had soon partnered with compassion international to support - in judah's name - a child survival program in the small village of sadamo genet, ethiopia.  it was our utter delight and joy to meet the mothers and babies there in february of this year and listen as they shared with us stories of hope, healing, and provision.  but even greater than that, the women served there heard the gospel for the first time through the work of compassion and its supporters, and sixteen of those precious mothers have surrendered their lives for god's glory.

fast-forward to this past week when i received an email from our case worker, patricia, letting us know that four babies had died due to a measles outbreak in the community that quietly found its way to the doorstep of the orphanage there.  in some ways it felt like i was going back to that day in august when patricia told me that judah had died.  so armed with god's leading - and a donor who was willing to match the first $1,000 that we could raise for the sadamo genet CSP - we set out on a mission.  $1,000 equals $2,000.

by the time tuesday morning rolled along, a second donor had offered to match the first $1,000 as well.  $1,000 equals $3,000.

today is thursday.  josh called me down to his office first thing this morning because he needed to tell me "something important".  as i rounded the corner i immediately searched his face for a hint of what was to come.  the glimmer in his eye gave away the fact that what he was about to say was good.  i just didn't know how good.

yes, the lord has stirred the heart of yet ANOTHER $1,000 matching donor!!!  now $1,000 equals $4,000.

when we commit our hearts and our resources to eternally impacting the lives of others, we're acting in obedience to the lord's commands in scripture.  he honors that obedience, he blesses that obedience, and clearly, he multiplies that obedience as well.

and that, my friends, is god-math.    

*the instructions below are copied from the original post.  i'm both marveling and giggling at the bolded phrase.*

IMPORTANT:  in order to be able to track all giving toward the $1,000, i need to receive the money here and send it in collectively to compassion.  please send your tax-deductible checks (payable to compassion international!!) to me, and i'm going to send them in to compassion on good friday (april 22), and i'm praying fervently that by the prompting of the holy spirit, i will have a minimum of $2,000 to deliver on that powerful day.  if you are uncomfortable mailing your check to me, please donate online HERE (but comment or email me with your giving amount so that i can add it to the needed $1,000).  

"but who am i, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?  everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."

1 chronicles 29:14

the rotating door that is my mailbox

news from and for ethiopia abounds!  

on the sadamo genet CSP front, three checks showed up in my mailbox today totaling $200 for compassion.  and as you all know, that $200 has already wonderfully transformed into $600 thanks to two matching donors!!!  but we're a long way from the $1,000 base that we need to maximize this campaign, so be it $10 or $100 (or another $1,000 match, for that matter!), please give sacrificially for the sake of the earthly and eternal lives of the women and children of sadamo genet.  read HERE for details and instructions on giving.  THANK YOU to those who have already given.  it's been a long time since i've been so pumped about checking the mail.  :-)

something else arrived today as well that made me smile.  really big.  we got copies of micah's ethiopian birth certificate as well as the court decree naming us as his parents.  legal, final, perfect. 

(insert big, goofy grin)

we've known for ages that micah was our son, but there's something incredibly gratifying about getting documents in from the federal first instance court in addis ababa that are signed by the judge saying josh and allison lewis are his parents.  you know that line in mandi mapes' song, this love (which plays on the second half of our video with micah) that says, "i'll take your hand, honey; you can take my name"?   

geta'endale lewis*.  he's a lewis now and forevermore.  ours.  (*getaendale is micah's birth name, which in amharic translates to "the lord saves".  YES!)

with the documents that arrived today, we were able to complete our paperwork for the US embassy and mail it out for delivery this week.  we're almost there, people!!!!!!!!!!

blessings in and blessings out.  i'm so grateful today for the lord's calling, love, and provision in our lives and the lives of so many around us. 

to god be the glory!

my phone call this morning deserves a big, fat WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!

the lord never ceases to amaze me. 

my phone rang at 9:10 this morning but as i looked at the caller ID, i didn't recognize the number.  i answered, hello?  thanks to the roaring chatter of little people over the breakfast table, i completely missed my caller's introduction and had to ask her to repeat herself as i took the stairs two at a time toward my (quiet) bedroom. 

what followed was something along the lines of this...

my husband and i have been following your adoption story this whole time.  we've rejoiced with you, we've cried with you, and it was through tears that i read your post this weekend.  for the next few minutes we talked about orphan ministry and the privilege we have of caring for the "least of these".  and then she dropped an enormous, delightful bomb on me:

god has put it on our hearts to offer another 

$1,000 matching donation.

ummm, i'm sorry.  what was that?

we've now got a SECOND matching donation for the first $1,000 that's given to the sadamo genet child survival program.  if you send $10, it automatically turns into $30.  if you send $100, it's instantly $300.  the math just keeps getting better and better!!!!  

if you're anything like me, you want the most bang for your buck.  sale prices make me giddy, and it's been my personal mission in the past to walk out of publix each week with a total that was less than my coupon savings.  well this is one of those golden opportunities where our bucks can have some serious bang because every dollar we give is TRIPLED!  

please read HERE for instructions on your tax-deductible donation.  and thank you, thank you, thank you for your love demonstrated through your giving.

remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for god loves a cheerful giver.  and god is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 corinthians 9:6-8

overheard at our house today

jack screaming from the next room over
me (while running in to see what's happening):  what's wrong, buddy?  what happened?!?
jack:  i bit my shoulder!!!!
me (looking at him with a look of obvious confusion):  i'm sorry, what?  WHO bit your shoulder?
jack:  i did.  oh, it hurts so bad... 
yes, there were some major bite marks.  no, i still don't know how he managed that.  or WHY, for that matter.

isabel (skipping in from playing outside):  mommy, i love you sooo much.
me:  oh honey, i love you so much, too.
isabel (running back outside to play):  i just wanted to come tell you that because i feel so happy.

NEEDED: $1,000

it was the first time in a while that i had felt that feeling.  that sick at my stomach, this-shouldn't-be-happening feeling.  i was sitting at my computer late thursday night catching up on work when i saw an email from our adoption case worker, patricia, that i hadn't read yet.  we've been getting the thursday update for a while now, so i opened it expecting the typical news of the current happenings in ethiopia as it pertains to their government and adoption.  but what my eyes soon fell on were words that made a lump form in my throat...

"tragedy struck this past week at shashemene (an ethiopian orphanage that our agency works with) as a measles outbreak claimed the lives of four infants.  thought to be carried into the orphanage by a child who had been hospitalized, the crisis sent several more children to the hospital as a result of the accompanying secondary pneumonia."

"claimed the lives of four infants."  that phrase crept down to the innermost parts of my being and painfully reminded me of the phone call we got from patricia on august 13, 2010.   it struck me that after reading her thursday email this week, i now know of five babies within about 150 miles of one another who died from preventable disease.  150 miles.  that's about the distance from birmingham to atlanta.

if you're like me - and i'm guessing you are - you don't know five babies who have died from measles or pneumonia in your area.  in fact, i'm guessing none of us know five babies who have died in a matter of six months from anything.  and certainly not preventable disease.  i imagine that five infant deaths within a short period of time in our area would cause not only a panic, but an uproar.  we would demand answers, and we would demand a solution.

well folks, i'm on a mission to effect change in ethiopia through a present solution, and i'm asking you to please join me.

as most of you know, after judah died we partnered with compassion international to sponsor a child survival program in sadamo genet in memory of our son.  and in february, the lord blessed us beyond measure by allowing us visit that program and spend time laughing with, crying with, and learning from the mothers and children who are served there.  before you read another word here, please read about our trip to sadamo genet if you haven't already.   i can't imagine closing the page of that story and not being changed.  those women are real, their children are real, and their needs are great.  

in light of the obvious, dire, and ongoing concerns within the village of sadamo genet - spiritual, medical, developmental, etc. - i would like to challenge us all to answer the call of 1 john 3:17-18 and spend our worldly goods on behalf of those in need.  let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.  food for their hungry bodies and food for their hungry souls.  it just doesn't get any better than that.

BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS REALLY, REALLY EXCITING...

a donor has come forward and has offered to match the first $1,000 that is given to compassion for the sake of the mothers and babies at sadamo genet.

WHAT?!?  count with me, people...that's $2,000 that can literally help save the lives of children like judah and those precious four babies that died this week at shashemene by providing them with proper nutrition, preventative medical care, and needed sick care.  i have hugged these necks and held these babies.  oh please see the true impact of your giving.

this is gadisa (the little guy who's pictured on the main page for the sadamo genet program.) 

on the day that micah officially became our son, this blog received almost 1,400 hits in a matter of hours.  let's be really conservative and say that half of those hits were duplicate visits.  that's 700 people that joined in celebration with us as the lord showed himself mighty in light of some enormous obstacles.  700 people that cared enough to share our story.  now if each of those 700 people donated even the cost of a single meal at a typical american restaurant, we could have the needed $1,000 knocked out in no time.  think about it - this could be so simple but so huge!

so here's what i'm asking you to do:  GIVE to the babies of ethiopia.  do you need to think about it?  pray about it?  i'm going to respectfully answer with a big, fat NO on that one.  you can scarcely turn to a book in scripture in which the lord doesn't command his followers to serve, look after, defend, share with, or show kindness for those in need.  let's give!!

IMPORTANT:  in order to be able to track all giving toward the $1,000, i need to receive the money here and send it in collectively to compassion.  please send your tax-deductible checks (payable to compassion international) to me, and i'm going to send them in to compassion on good friday (april 22), and i'm praying fervently that by the prompting of the holy spirit, i will have a minimum of $2,000 to deliver on that powerful day.  if you are uncomfortable mailing your check to me, please donate online HERE (but comment or email me with your giving amount so that i can add it to the needed $1,000). 

thank you so very much - and i really mean this - for caring about our story, for supporting our family, and for loving the children of ethiopia.  it's truly a marvelous place!  i'm eternally grateful that my heart has been tuned to the beauty and needs of that country, and i'm praying that yours will be as well.

REPOST this.  TWEET this.  TALK IT UP on facebook.  

help me raise $1,000 in twelve days!!

wordless wednesday (the dishwasher brigade)

the past few weeks in 100 words or less

we romped around in the creek (read: muddy water) with the cobbs...



and had an evil-knievil-of-a-time riding the monster truck in the backyard:



the kids and i hit aldridge gardens for a science lesson (really we just needed a getaway for some good mommy/kiddie time):







uncle bailey helped josh get the roof on the hand-me-down playset we got 18 months ago but just made it around to assembling (have i mentioned that josh is a total rock star for putting this thing together?  alone.  from memory.)  and all the dead grass?  see the monster truck blurp above:




while the guys were working, the little lewis ladies and their sweet cousins cuddled a bit (brayden and jack must have been off alternately wrestling and playing matchbox cars):




during the 7 minutes they were all well, some of the fanning crew came over to play on the aforementioned playset:




and in an act designed either to exhibit great love for the newest fanning or to make me insanely jealous, josh spent 30 minutes doing this:



the kids made giraffe sandwiches for lunch one day:



and then, much to my delight, asked me to take their pictures:




to be accurate, izzy requested a "sheshun":



abby and izzy worked intently on their arts and crafts:



and we had a night in with the taylors (the answer is no, i don't have a clue what abby and izzy were doing with their mouths or why jack was staring me down like i was interrupting some fine dining experience): 



and finally, josh and i took a picture of our own to celebrate baseball's opening day:



so maybe "100 pictures or less" is more like it, but there - i'm officially caught up with photo blogging.  i've got wordless wednesday ready to go for tomorrow, but i'm praying that with our agency's wednesday report from ethiopia will come some good news to trump it!