Children of Awassa, Ethiopia (Tullo)

Today we have committed to the Lord and to ourselves to make a difference in the lives of children at the Tullo carepoint in Awassa, Ethiopia. After returning from Ethiopia, Wendy and I have felt called to do "something" about what we witnessed when we were there. Although we are capable of nothing in and of ourselves, we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. Through prayer and seeking the Lord's will, we have come in contact with the Bestful's who have recently started Starved 4 Hope (a non-profit organization). They, like us, have recently adopted from Ethiopia and have felt called to action. Starved 4 Hope is responsible for finding sponsors for all 168 children at the Tullo carepoint as well as raising the necessary funds to complete much needed capital projects at the carepoint such as putting in a well, or building schools.

The current need is to find sponsors for all 168 children at the carepoint. Wendy and I are committed to help find these generous & loving people who will make a difference in the life of a child or children half way around the world. Sponsorship will enrich the childs life by meeting their; physical, emotional, & spiritual needs. Please prayerfully consider partnering with us by sponsoring a child today! The cost of sponsorship is $34 / mo, but the benefits to the child and your family will far outweigh this small price.

Please contact us at wjwalz@hotmail.com to find out more information. The website for Starved 4 Hope is http://starved4hope.org/ . All funds are funneled through Hope Chest and their website is http://www.hopechest.org/ .

We are so excited to see the Lord work through this new opportunity!

God Bless,

Derek & Wendy Walz

Also, the video off to the side is actually pictures of some of the children at the Tullo school taken from the founders of Starved 4 Hope back in September.

One year ago today...

I am watching "A Home for the Holidays" right now and this is the program that has been on TV the last 12 years at this time of year. And this same program, Derek and I watched a year ago. I watched it with tears streaming down my face as I saw so many kids that want families and love. At this time last year, I had a miscarriage only 3 months ago and I didn't know if we should continue to have a baby, look into adoption, or having no more kids all together. So as I watched this and saw how many kids are out their that need a family, it broke my heart. I know God used this show to speak to me that night one year ago to move me; move me, grow me, and bring about strength that is only God given. As I sit here and watch this show, I fight back tears again as I think about all the feelings I was thinking of last year and my feelings now and how it still breaks my heart to watch those kids. I know Derek will think I'm crazy when he reads this, but I would love to bring those kids home and love on them. I think of all the things that Derek and I did this past year and how crazy, exhilarating, and just not natural it is to adopt but we never would have done it without stepping out on faith! And because of our adoption, Ash and Mekie have livened our home with lots of laughter, joy, and yes, more tears but so much more happiness! Thank you God for that show that we watched one year ago today and for growing us enough to step out on faith and follow you on one amazing adventure!

Start to the Christmas pics....

Christmas this year was so amazing. We started our adoption right at the beginning of the year and our hopes were to have our children home by Christmas. Well God brought them home way before that. So God made our Christmas so special this year by having our children home with us! Four kids, I won't lie, are a handful but such a blessing! Well I am starting off my post with a picture of the youngest in oldest in my family. My great grandpa is 90 and my baby is 3. What another blessing to still have my great grandpa and my kids's great, great grandpa still able to celebrate Christmas with!
Some of these pictures are at my mom's house and my Aunt's house. We had my mom's Christmas and my Grandma's Christmas the weekend before Christmas so I just grouped them together.

Mekie in her pretty Christmas dress. I had so much fun picking out a dress for her but she squashed it when I showed her the dress and she said, "I no like it!" Well she had to wear it anyway but she looked like a precious Ethiopian princess even though she didn't think so.

Mekie was happy to get a car her Barbie's fit in (since Barbie's don't fit into Matchbox cars!!)

Ethan loving his Uncle Tyler (my brother).

Garrett getting a new sled. He loves it. He got to use it later that day! Continue to read to see the pictures and fun experience sledding!

Ethan then moving onto his Aunt Elissa! Oh, Ethan, he's my baby. I will have such a hard time when he doesn't want to be held any more!

Ash has grown fond of his Uncle Tyler. He told me the other day when it's his birthday he wants to have a monster truck on his cake with Uncle Tyler. And I responded by saying, " You mean like Uncle Tyler's monster truck". He said, "No, a monster truck AND Uncle Tyler!" It was too funny. So I had to call Tyler right away and tell him.

I have never seen a boy so excited to get a bookbag! Ash screamed with excitment over it! I couldn't get a picture quick enough to show his excitement!

After we opened presents at my mom's house, the kids wanted to go outside and play. My brother had the idea to go sledding. I brought the kids' snow clothes but not ours. So my mom came out with this ugly snow suit that is 30 years old. So I would freeze if I didn't wear it, so I put it on and looked so ridiculous. She even had this helmet with sparkles in it!!! So I had to wear that too! The kids laughed so hard when they saw me! Then we were off to the some hills down the road where Tyler and I used to sled when we were kids.

Ethan going down the hills. After I pushed him down, I thought "I probably should have went with him". He went so fast, I was praying he made it down without getting hurt!!! He did NOT get hurt and surprisingly nobody got hurt! That's a good day!!!

Mekie was so fearless going down the hills. She had no idea what to do but we put her on a sled and pushed her and she went flying down the hill. When she got down the hill she stood up and started laughing.

Ash and Derek making a trip down the hill. Ash took a while to warm up going down the hills. So Derek when down with him for a while.

Tyler (my brother) and I making a trip down the hill together holding hands! Don't you love my mom's snowsuit and helmet. I looked so ridiculous I couldn't take it off!

Garrett flew down the hills on his new sled!

Mekie enjoying her first time sledding!

I could hardly move in my mom's snowsuit. So the kids needed help climbing the hill so when I tried to help them, I kept falling down. Finally Derek came to help me!

Oh, my little Ethan loving sledding!

Mekie and Garrett making snow angels!

After sledding we headed back to mom's to play some Wii. Tyler and I dancing to a dance game that my sister-in-law got for Christmas. It was too funny to see Tyler dancing!

Derek and I trying out our Eygptian moves.

The kids dancing to a robot song! This is the one Wii game Mekie can actually play. That girl knows how to dance! Garrett and Ash actually did good at it too! Ethan was too busy having grandma hold him!

What a great start to Christmas! We loved spending the time with family! Well next set of photos will be of our Christmas. I will try to get faster with posts.

I also need some prayer requests for Ash. He woke up this morning with a high fever and crying because he had a bad toothache. So we are actually going to have it pulled next week. So please pray for him!

First Snow

These were photos of the kids' first snow fall. They were so excited about the snow. They took off and went rolling down our little hill! Ash lasted about an hour and Mekie about 10 minutes. Hope they get used to it!

My Grandma sent us one of those Hallmark books that records the voices. So it's about the first Christmas with my grandma reading it. They love it. They listen to it all the time and we always have grandma close to us!

Breakfast with Santa

Two Saturday's ago, Santa comes to Grabill so the kids can eat breakfast with him. So, we got up early and were in Grabill by 8 a.m. because Garrett had a basketball game right after. So at the door, we were greeted by a reindeer. Then they had donuts and cereal.

You can see the donut evidence on Mekie's face. Then shortly after eating Santa arrived. Ash went crazy with laughing. And the rest smiled and waited for Santa to come shake their hand. Mekie shook his hand like it was no big deal.

Ash was too shy to shake santa's hand but he gave him his famous smile.
Below is a picture with each of the kids on Santa's lap. This was the year that each child sat on Santa's lap with out crying. Last year, Ethan wouldn't even get close without crying. This year he crawled right up on Santa's lap and told him he wanted "a tractor", Santa said, "What color?" Ethan said, " uh, green, no, no red!" Ash asked for a reindeer and a monster truck, Garrett a DS and Mekie a doll house. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Ash was so excited to sit on Santa's lap that the line was starting to form and he ran right to the front of the line to sit on his lap. I felt bad because my child cut in line but he was on Santa' s lap before I could tell him to stop.

On one final note, we got a call on December 8th telling us that our adoption is final in the States. We are so excited to have that done. We will now be able to get US passports and Birth Certificates. So, it was such great news to have!!! Yeah.

A Long Week.....

Well it has been one long week. Derek left Monday morning and won't be back until Friday evening. Well I started off feeling fine and as the day progressed I felt a head cold coming on. And then by 7:30 my head was in the toilet. I got some kind of flu bug and was throwing up all night. So in between throwing up I had to get the 4 kids put to bed without getting any germs on them. Garrett and Ash were such good boys and big help. And then I had such a great friend that took my kids all day on Tuesday for me so I could sleep and disinfect the house. So far the kids are healthy but I still have an unsettled stomach. Ugghhh!!!

So finally on Wednesday I started feeling better and took the kids to a spagehetti dinner at their preschool. It was called Home for the Holidays and they had "The Willy Wonka Shop" for the kids to pick out gifts for others for .25. And then they could wrap them. Then they had crafts and decorating cookies with hot chocolate. The kids really had a great time and were so well behaved. You never know what will happen when you have 4 kids and only 1 mommy.

Then today I finished wrapping presents and only have a few more things to get and I'm done. That's right, DONE!!! I am glad to have that done so I can focus on baking! I love baking! Then we ordered in pizza and watching Strawberry Shortcake.

Only one more night to go! Can't wait to you come home. We miss you and love you!!

Ethan trying to dress himself. Keep trying, Ethan, you'll get it!

Oh, my boys!! They make me so proud. Garrett is using the vacum, Ash the dust buster, and Ethan his toy vacum. They boys will make excellent husbands someday!!

And this was the day after Thanksgiving. I had been up since 2:45 in the morning because I was on of those crazy shoppers out at 3 a.m. But I had promised to get the tree up and decorated. So after we finished decorating the tree, I pulled out santa hats and the kids went crazy! We have had so much fun this holiday season doing all our traditions with Ash and Mekie. They are such a blessing!

Well I hope to get more pictures up of the kid's meeting Santa in the next few days so stay tuned!!!