End of Summer

Well, summer is officially over here at the Stivers' house. Gone are the days of late night movies, swimming, sleeping in, late afternoon trips to Dairy Queen, sunscreen, and trips to the water park. "His Call" Academy has now officially began it's 2nd year of school! We are reading, writing, and "arithmaticing". We are doing everything from learning our colors to Pre-Algebra.....please pray for the students (and the teacher).

We ended summer this past weekend at the St. Louis zoo with some very special friends (it was Luke's 8th birthday). We swam at the hotel pool, jumped on the beds (why do kids always like to jump on beds in hotels), saw lots of hot, stinky animals (us and them), and ate lots of snow cones and ice cream. It was a great time and a super way to end the summer of 2010!

Happy 4th

We spent the 4th of July weekend with a wonderful family, the Walters, that we met on our trip to Ethiopia. They were there adopting their son, Micah. We have kept in touch since we have gotten home and were so glad they could make the trip from Lexington for the weekend. The kids had a great time being together, swimming, watching fireworks, and playing in the yard. A.J. was so happy to see Micah, who he called by his Ethiopian name all weekend. They are a beautiful family with 2 adorable boys who are very close in age. We are already planning another get together in October.
Fireworks at my in-laws.
Happy 4th of July from Harper!!

Happy Birthday Syd

My girl is 11!! I can't believe she is 11!! We had a great time at Venture River with some sweet friends. We spent the day sliding, swimming, and floating!!! This 37 year old mom was worn out keeping up with these girls but we had a wonderful time.

Happy Birthday Syd!!

This says it all......

"I can not play it safe and please God."-Keith Seabourn

"Buzzin' Cousins"

These guys have so much fun when they are all together. It has been such a wonderful blessing watching them all grow up....now ages 13 to 3. The past week we enjoyed their bi-annual play, a great trip to Six Flags, and fireworks on the 4th of July.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

(Pictures in reverse order)

Our time in Ethiopia ended on Thursday evening as we prepared to leave the hotel and head to the airport around 7:30 p.m. We spent most of the afternoon packing all of our things and saying good bye to many very special people. There were only 4 families able to leave this day, others were forced to take later flights home due to the continuing volcanic ash situation.

I loved this picture of A.J. and Jody looking out our hotel room window. Each afternoon we had watched young boys playing soccer, cattle and donkeys roaming, and people walking through a huge field across the street. On this particular afternoon it was raining as they gazed out that window for the last time.

The second picture (from the bottom) shows Jody and A.J. taking our huge load of luggage into the airport. A.J. was, and continues to be, a hard worker that loves to carry through on tough jobs. The airport was extremely crowded. The lines to check in were long. There was a brief moment in time that I thought we might miss our flight. I wanted to come home so badly by this point, I think I would have rented a boat and rowed us across that Atlantic Ocean.

A.J. and Sydney did WONDERFUL on the flight home (thanks to a little Benedryl)!! They slept from Addis to Amsterdam and most of the way to Detroit. Unfortunately, no drugs were strong enough for Jody and I!?! Thankfully we had some good snacks and movies to watch to pass the time. I can't even begin to tell you how pumped I was to be on that final leg from Detroit to Nashville. Jody and I were both on the verge of tears when the plane hit the landing. I remember looking right into his eyes and knowing exactly what he was feeling and thinking.....you just know after 15 years......

Next, our airport homecoming!! Praise the Lord, we were all together again!!!

As our week in Ethiopia was drawing to a close, we were able to visit two very special places. On Wednesday night we had a traditional Ethiopian dinner at Yod Abbysinia. This was a wonderful experience. While we were eating our dinner we watched a beautiful display of the Ethiopian culture, lots of singing and dancing. A.J. danced right along with the performers and that was so fun to see. The food is "shared" with others out of a large, center platter. Lots of different types of meat, rice, spicy stew, and sauces. Everything is eaten with injera, a thin, spongy type of bread....just tear some off and scoop it up with your fingers. A.J. loved it!! (By now I was really craving a cheeseburger and fries!?!)

On Thursday all 23 of us (adults and children) crammed into a 16 passenger van and went to Bethzatha, named from the Pool of Bethesda in the Bible. This is the home A.J. was in before going to Hannah's Hope. It is run by Samuel (see picture), a Ethiopian man that walked away from his lucrative career to serve the Lord and help the orphaned children in his country. He was amazing and it was a joy to hear him speak of his experiences. I could not fight back the tears as we toured Bethzatha. The conditions there were not as good as Hannah's Hope. It broke my heart to see the children with severe special needs. The dedicated staff had no washer and dryer for their laundry (there were 66 children). The food was cooked in a concrete shed. But, you can see the precious faces of the children. Their eyes begged for love and attention, and as you can see Jody was happy to give it!