Adoption.

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

http://home.stx.rr.com/fissiksman/adopt.html

My parents are leaving next week to Ethiopia and the are coming back with the kids on the 21st!

That also means I will be taking a (long) break from the computer.

For those who were wondering who God Unit is that would be me.

Hasta Luego! (hope I spelled that right)

[Cadc]

good luck jesus freak, have a good one!

[Napalm]

I like the title of the web tab when you go to the link. It's labeled "insane rantings"

That's funny

[LGM]

Great news, Jacob!

What a real step of faith on the part of your family.

I also enjoyed your dad's virus page... I'm one of those curious folks

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

lol LGM... my grandfather thought it was real and pulled the cord on his computer.

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

This was related to ThinkTanks. it had to do with my temporary retiring.

[Caboose]

Great News! Hope it all goes great. Yea I remember before I left one of the last of the threads I saw on PTT was about someone thats going over there to bring back a wonderful kid. Its a great thing your doing

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

This is the E-mail my dad Sent me.

4/11/07 Plane trip! Here we are, stuck in the airport in DC. We
didn't get to see anything special from the air - I know we don't fly
over the white house or anything, but I hoped to catch a glimpse of
SOMETHING! Maybe on the way out.

It was an interesting flight up - when we got to the airport and
unloaded all the bags, Karen reached over, locked the door and shut
it. Keys in ignition, car running. You're off the hook, Jake - at
least you were in kinder when YOU did that! Fortunately, she had a
spare I had made for her that doesn't do the ignition, but DOES open
the locks. We were both a bit panicked before she found that key!

We're taking turns walking around the airport, getting in some much-
needed exercise before our long flight. I hope to sleep a LOT on this
flight, and I hope they have DC power available at the seats so I can
play on the computer while flying. I don't like the way pressure
changes make my body feel, but I'll be all right once we're back to
earth after a day or so.

I love you guys a lot, and I hope we'll be able to contact you often,
but if not, see you in a couple of weeks!

xxoo, me


4/13/07 WOW!

It's been so busy so far! I got NO sleep on the plane. Karen was
able to curl up against the wall, but there was NO legroom, and I
couldn't even bend over and sleep on my lap. The good news was the
sun came up at about 1:30 AM Laredo time, so once the light was
hitting my eyes it wasn't so unbearable. (on the return flight, we
should have like 17 hours of night, just to get even) The flight,
other than sleep, wasn't that bad. The food was good, at odd times
for my body, but .... We landed in Addis, went through the VISA line,
the baggage line, the money exchange line, and then the customs line,
met Dagne and then headed to our hotel. Dagne told us that the kids
wanted him to call from the airport to tell then that we had arrived
for sure. There's a U.N. conference going on right now, so all the
major hotels are booked through the beginning of May, so we're in a
hotel that we weren't expecting, and will look around for a guest
house somewhere.

We got some halfway decent sleep last night, but my body still doesn't
accept the time change fully. We got up, had breakfast, and then
Karen was going crazy waiting for the departure time. Our driver
showed up and took us quickly through the city. Addis Ababa is a city
of about 5 million people, so it's huge and crowded. It looks and
smells like Nuevo Laredo, and you see people by the side of the road
doing the same things, but the building materials and style are a bit
different. It's about 7000+ ft of altitude here, so I feel a bit
weird. The biggest difference between Addis and N Laredo, other than
the darker pigmentation, is the COMPLETE lack of anything resembling
road rules. I thought drivers across were wild! Seat belts are
considered an insult, I saw in five hours of driving 4 traffic lights -
there are NO signs like stop, yield or the like. When you get to an
intersection, it's survival of the fittest. The cars talkRoad
condition and speeds change in a he
artbeat, people just make their own lanes everywhere and people are
walking in the street around these drivers! It's truly amazing.

We pull into the foster home and there on the left is Esayas. He ran
to the door, open it up and grabbed Karen in a big hug that lasted a
couple minutes. He then turned to me similarly as the little ones
arrived for their hugs. Shataye showed up last, also with a huge hug
for us. No shyness whatsoever. They are intelligent, sensitive,
thoughtful, clean up after themselves, funny, and interested in all of
our stuff. Just like Jake, Esayas grabbed a camera and asked how to
work it. We spent several hours there seeing their rooms, giving out
little gifts to the kids, taking pictures and translating the
important things to them through the counselor.

(Karen writing now)

On the driving, I felt like the driver had been told that I was about
to DELIVER four children by his manner. Even pulling out of the
parking space was done at emergency speed.


Back to the counselor. She said that Shataye and Esayas are humble
kids and that she really liked their characters. The kids grew up
Lutheran and she said Shataye especially was devoted and that when
other children were leaving or arriving to the foster home the kids
prayed for them without being told to do so. She thought the older
children and their mom are believers. When we asked about their mom,
Shataye said that her mom believed we would raise them well and that
is why she was able to let them go. The counselor said that Shataye
was already cleaning houses to help support the family. It was
clear that they were loved by all there. All the workers wanted to
take their pictures with the children.

Esayas has completed fifth grade and Shataye sixth. We do not know
how we were told seventh.
The little ones both have some kinder. The kids ages on their birth
certificates could very well be correct which means Shataye would be
12, Esayas 11, Sarah 7, and Tseganesh 6. But we will watch them more
to see. The counselor thought at most one year older for both Shataye
and Esayas. She and I hit it off right away. She was very interested
in hearing our story and tomorrow we are meeting with her and her
fiance who is a pastor to discuss ministry possibilities.

At the hotel the kids showed that the know our alphabet and how to
write it, even the little ones. Shataye picked up one of the
children's books we have and read it out loud. Shataye and Esayas do
know Amharic (which is wonderful because we have a computer
translation program for that at home) and they know many English
words. Tseganesh repeats everything we say and will have English down
in no time. As far as bonding I'd say we've made a good start. They
are all affectionate and the little ones must sit on either side of me
in the car, etc. Tseganesh likes to play with my hair and hands.

Esayas likes football. Shataye like to cook (YEAH!) Both like math
and Shataye likes English.

(Steve again)

Esayas is very affectionate. It is very common to see young men
holding hands here, or fathers and sons walking with arms around each
other. He likes to hold my hand. The kids are fascinated with my
hair. I think I'm taller than they expected. We were at a playground
and they all took turns showing off for us. "Dad, dad!" you'd hear
whenever I was not watching closely enough. Esayas wants to go
swimming. We packed suits for the kids, but forgot ours! So I'll
have to try to find one here.

Sarah doesn't appear to be the wild child we had her pegged as. Now
Tseganesh... not too bad, but she's a bit spoiled and likes her way.
All babies do, but we'll keep that one on the front burner.

We showed them some pictures, and then I introduced them to tobymac.
They liked him, so they have good taste. Well, at least in music...
for lunch they wanted injera. I'm glad I knew the rituals beforehand
from our training session, since they all start with the dad. They
are all good eaters. Shataye wanted me to eat more than I did, but
that was all I could handle. (for the record kids, fresh injera is
MUCH better than the old stuff we had at the conference.)

Shataye has a cough that sounds like bronchitis could be near.
Hopefully just allergies, not tuberclulosis. Please pray for this,
but beyond that, they all look really good. Some scars and a few odd
marks here and there, but overall healthy kids.

The little ones just showed up in their swim suits and gave me a
kiss. Too cute. Now it's the new jammies. "look dad, Pajamas!
(pretends to sleep)" another kiss.

Well I'll leave for now. Please keep praying for health for all and
good communication. Their language skill are MUCH better than I had
feared. Speaking of language, both Karen and I keep trying to bust
into Spanish whenever our point is not being made... too much living
on the border!

xxoo, me

If you liked that and would like to be included on the E-mail list e-mail me at pkidz2@stx.rr.com

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

Esayas is just like me just shorter and younger and blacker (and he doesn't speak English that great :P) The great thing is I can pull old pranks on him that he doesn't know of.

[Jacob the JESUSFREAK]

Ever play hide and go seek with 6 people? its fun. I'm it right now.

Kids are great and they really want to learn english. (thank God for Rosetta Stone)