exciting stuff... and how you can help!

Hey folks! What an exciting week it's been here! We are just 6 weeks away from our next trip to Ethiopia, and we are so excited about what is happening.

This week we were able to meet with the folks at Edge Outreach in Louisville KY to be retrained on the water purification stuff. They have an incredible new system that is smaller, simpler, more cost efficient (aka, cheaper!). We were so excited that Caleb David from One Child Campaign could join us to learn all about Edge and so that we could talk about how this partnership could grow and impact more people in Ethiopia.

I love visionary people. There's such excitement in sitting with a group of people who are ready to act, not just talk. And that's what we met on Monday in Louisville. WOW! Here's the skinny on what's happening:

We have an incredible opportunity to take with us a professional videographer to Ethiopia who will get raw footage of us installing water purification systems, interviews with the Ethiopians on how this is affecting them, etc etc. This footage will then be used by Edge Outreach to increase awareness for the need for clean water in Ethiopia. This is a win/win, y'all!!

I'm not in the professional videography field, but I know it's not cheap. However, this guy has agreed to come for peanuts and the cost of his travel! Seriously, for about $3000, we can do this and make an incredible impact on getting clean water to Ethiopia.

So...it boils down to this. We need 300 people to give $10. Come on, that's 2 drinks at Starbucks for the gift of clean water. I'm counting on my adoption community friends here because I know y'all "get" this. I've seen what can happen when this group of people get behind something. This is huge people.

WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE FOR GOOD IN ETHIOPIA!

We are beginning to plan for a time to bring Ethiopian adoptive families together to educate, plan and celebrate what is happening. Look for that in the coming months.

This is our passion. Seeing the difference in Ellie's life before and after clean water changed us.(pics below are before clean water and then 18 months home. Stunning difference!!) We know too much to just stand back and do nothing. Please join us.

You can give at http://onechildcampaign.showitsite.com/ Please note: Ethiopia water. You can give there by check or credit card. Everything we raise above what we need for the videographer will go directly to the water projects themselves, so the more we raise, the better.

Thank you for partnering with us again. We can't wait to show you what your giving has done.

Ethiopia 2012

One of the greatest blessings of my life has been God allowing me to be a part of something that is so much bigger than myself. When we brought Ellie home from Ethiopia, we were face to face with the reality of the damage that unclean water can do to a body and a life. We knew that we couldn't just give her meds and forget it had ever happened. We knew God was calling us to do more. Through a great friend (thank you Mitch Holbrook), we were introduced to Edge Outreach in Louisville KY, a group of people with a vision to see everyone in the world with clean water. We got in touch, were trained, and then waited. We knew how to make clean water, but we didn't know how to get it into Ethiopia.

I don't believe in coincidence. So, it was by DIVINE intervention that I happened to be googling "mission work in Ethiopia" and came across One Child Campaign. I read their blog with tears in my eyes. These people were the hands and feet of Jesus in a land that we love so much. I contacted them and learned they had a vision to put clean water in Ethiopia, and we had the means to do so.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Last summer, most of you will recall that we were blessed to travel back to Ethiopia to place our very first water purification system in Korah. To say that it was a blessing just doesn't cut it.

God blew my mind.

Now, we are here on the cusp of traveling again. If someone had told me a few years back that we would be traveling to Ethiopia for the 3rd time now, I'd have laughed. But my heart is so full of excitement and joy. I love these people. I love being there with them, hugging their necks and holding their hands and just knowing that God made me for this work. It's humbling, and it's life-shattering. I come home completely broken and transformed and yearning for more of Him, more of His presence. And it sticks. Like I said, it's just amazing...

We will be going May 17-27, and at this time the plans are already set for one water system to be installed. We are VERY close to having things set for two systems. I can't even begin to think of how many people that is who will be drinking in clean water for the first time ever! Someone asked me recently "Why are you doing water stuff? I thought you were going to tell them about God.". My response is that "I have no business telling someone about Jesus if I can't (or won't) be the hands and feet of Him". Giving clean water meets a physical need, and when we do that, we begin to gain the right to be heard. But what I love about the work of One Child Campaign is that it's not about us at all. We are going and giving tools to the local church to meet the needs of their communities. When that happens, the people in the communities come to the church to get their physical needs met, and they hear Truth. It's beautiful!

I could talk for hours about this (seriously, I could. Do you have time? Call me!) But here's the thing... it's expensive to go to Ethiopia. So, we are doing some good, old-fashioned fund raising. We are selling t-shirts to tell the story of why we are going, and in the process, hopefully bringing in some money to help us get there.

We would GREATLY appreciate you buying one of these shirts. They're pretty sweet looking too! (thank so much Devon and the Surge team!!)
Cost is $25 for each shirt. Payment is due at time of order. We will collect orders through February, then order and ship them out to ya! When you buy this, you too are being the hands and feet of Jesus because we couldn't do this without the support (prayerful and financial!) of so many of you. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much!!

Checks can be made to Jeff or Holly Prosser and sent to us directly at 1809 Jacks Creek Road, Richmond KY 40475

please let us know in the comments if you are sending an order so we can be on the lookout for it!

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good,
in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

Titus 3:14

Ethiopia Water thoughts...

I'm tempted to apologize for not posting sooner about the water project in Ethiopia this summer with One Child Campaign. However, I have spent the past couple of months thinking, praying, meditating, pondering in my heart all of the individual moments of our time there. I needed that time. God needed me to have that time. Now I'm ready to tell, so I pray you're ready to read. More than that, I pray you are changed as I try to put in words what we experienced.

Korah is a community on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. It's a community of unwanted outcasts of society. It's a community built on a trash dump. It's a community of dirt, filth, smells, hunger, disease. It's a community of some of the most beautiful people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. It's a community of HOPE.


When we arrived in Korah, I was immediately overcome with love for these people. They had nothing of material value, yet it was so obvious that they were wealthy, rich in love. I was able to listen to their stories- stories of leprosy, HIV, death, desperation, hopelessness, fear. And I heard over and over again, "But then you came to us. God sent you to us, and now we have great hope because of Jesus".

We were able to spend time with the ladies of Mission Ethiopia, hearing the stories of these beautiful ladies and how God has redeemed their lives. One by one, they told us how "before I had this work (with Mission Ethiopia), I did not have time to do what I love most which is praise God". I was humbled by those words. They have haunted me every day since then.


One of the first things we did in Korah was to test their water to see what impurities were there. It was positive for fecal matter. Really, is there anything else to say? These beautiful faces, forced to drink water infested with human waste in order to survive. I will never forget the moment that I showed the Pastor there what our test had proven. With tears in his eyes, he looked over at his beautiful little girl and said "She has been drinking that?".

Oh, but the story does not end there, my friends!


It was our honor to give this small section of Korah a water purifier. In just a few hours' time, we taught them how to work the system and chlorinate water to get rid of the impurities they were currently drinking. They were eager and fast learners, drinking in all of our explanations, ready to demonstrate what they had learned. And in just a few hours, we were standing there witnessing our new friends taking their very first drink ever of clean, pure water. The Pastor looked at me, with tears flowing down his face and said "She doesn't drink that anymore". This is church, folks!


We placed this purifier at the local church. You see, Korah doesn't need to think that some white people with money from America came in to give something to them. What they need is to see the local church providing their needs. After all, that's what the local church is really about, isn't it? Once they are meeting the physical need of clean water to the people of Korah, they can then teach them about the LIVING WATER. beautiful.

My heart is still soaring from that day. Even now, we are preparing and raising funds for the next water project in Ethiopia. You see, although what we were able to experience this summer was great, the need is still greater. Others need clean water too. They need food, clothing, sustainable income, medicine, love, compassion, hope. Our eyes are indeed open, and we cannot quit now. We want to now work to empower other local churches with the ability to meet the needs of their communities as well.

By the standards of this world, these folks are poor. But by God's standards, they are rich indeed. I've never seen a rich man smile as brightly as these children. I've never seen eyes that sparkled quite so brightly as the eyes of the lady telling of how she was now free to praise her Savior all day as she worked to provide for her family. I've never before seen anyone Smile from ear to ear as he talked of being imprisoned for sharing the Gospel, then tell me that "it's my honor to suffer for Jesus". But I did there. And it has changed me.

I'm changed to the very core of my being.



And I beg God to never EVER allow me to go back to the person I was before.

So, all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord- who is the Spirit- makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Thoughts on Ethiopia... part 1

Many of you have asked about our trip to Ethiopia. To say that it was incredible, mind-blowing, life-changing, awesome, etc etc is all just an understatement. It WAS all of those things. But it was so much more. It was redemption, sacrifice, vulnerability, humility, healing, convicting...

I've put off posting here for a little while so I could pull my thoughts together. I could write stories for days, if truth be told. But I don't want to just tell stories. If that's all I do now that I'm home, it's all been in vain. What I want is for people to see the change in me, in my life, and to be able to say why I'm different. Because, believe me, I AM DIFFERENT NOW.

This morning was my first time in corporate worship since we've been home (we took last week off to catch up on sleep and try to get over some jet lag). It was hard for me. It was too comfortable. I know that may sound odd to some of you. To explain, I'm going to share with you an excerpt of I wrote in my journal while at the Covenant Church in Ethiopia.

The Spirit is alive here this morning. I've watched the young man in front of me weep as he raises his hands in praise to God. I watched a family of 4 come in and immediately kneel. The mother seems both relieved and broken to be here- a picture of conflict. It's as if this place truly is her resting place on earth, as if she's been waiting for this moment all week long. I watched as she buried her face in her hands and wept, all the while her young daughter danced and sang in the aisle beside her.

The people here worship as if they really believe that God is listening. It's beautiful, scary, exciting, passionate, lively and ultimately it is convicting to me. How often do I sit in my pew and wait for something good to happen? How often do I walk into church with a thousand things on my mind and none of them Jesus? How many times have I felt led to lift my hands, but don't because I'm worried about what someone behind me might think? How many times have I entered into worship thinking of Holly instead of my Savior? Here I sit , a little cold on this rainy morning, watching the rain drop down onto the man across the aisle, unable to understand the language being spoken (Amharic), wondering if their bathroom has toilet paper. All of these things run through my mind and more. But the only thing that really matters is Christ glorified. And I know without a doubt that He has been glorified here today.

Here's the thing about that worship time. The people who came there brought everything they had; they brought themselves. They didn't have fancy clothes, cars, bibles, programs, bulletins, orders of worship. none of that mattered at all. They brought themselves to their Savior, broken and spilled out for the One they love. They came surrendered in their poverty, their need, their desire, their sickness, their desperation. And they bowed down to the One they know is greater than all of that. They worshiped with complete abandon, their only thought to bring glory to the Father. They came broken, hungry, hopeless, poor, in need. But they left whole, full, hopeful, rich in His grace, satisfied with Jesus.

This morning, I entered my church broken by my sin, hungry for His word, poor without Him in my life, in need of a Savior. And He was faithful, as He always is. I met God there because I was looking for Him. I came ready to worship, having put all of the unimportant things away.

My sweet Ethiopian friends taught me that it doesn't matter what our circumstances are, what our clothes look like, how full our bellies are, what our church looks like (even if there is rain pouring in the sanctuary!), or if there were crying kids in the service. They reminded me that what matters is whether of not I'm there seeking to meet Jesus. Because HE IS ALWAYS THERE, seeking to meet with me.

May I never forget this experience. May I worship with reckless abandon, the One who gave His life for me. May I experience daily the freedom He bought for me, for where His spirit is, there is freedom indeed. God be blessed.

what happened???

September 11th is the day that Ethiopia celebrates New Year's Day. As of today, the people of Ethiopia entered the year 2002!

YES, I SAID THAT RIGHT. IT IS 2002 IN ETHIOPIA NOW!

hmmmm......

No wonder no one knows what date Ellie was born! We aren't even in the same year as they are!

Go celebrate in honor of Ethiopia!

Ethiopia: Day 1

I'm going to try blogging day by day about our trip to Ethiopia. It's the easiest way to make sure that I don't miss anything.

Day one (Sunday, August 9th) was a busy and exciting day! We started early. We were awakened at 4am by the Muslim chants over the loud speakers outside our Guest House. We got up at 5am, and were on the road at 6:30am. We were picked up by Alazar, who drives for our agency in country. What a great man!

We headed over to the Transition House to pick up Sue, our agency director. I can't tell you how strange it was to know that Ellie was inside that house and not to see her. However, we knew that if we met her, we wouldn't want to leave her, and we really wanted to make this trip. We were headed out to Woliso, where Ellie was born and where she lived in the orphanage.

The drive to Woliso was about 2 hours southwest of Addis, and it was beautiful. It's rainy season in Ethiopia right now, so it rained some as we drove. The countryside was beautiful, so green and lush! Cows and donkey were everywhere- in the fields, yards and storefronts, and in the middle of the road. In Ethiopia, you don't use the brake much on a car; you just honk the horn!! HA!

As we drove into Woliso, I was overwhelmed by all the children we saw. They came runnning out to the street- dirty, hungry, some naked- but all smiling and waving. We stopped to buy some bananas and gave some out to the children along the way. They just gobbled them up! They were so hungry! Their hair has a golden tint to it, and it's not from heredity or from dirt; it's from malnourishment.

At the Ammanuel Orphanage, where Ellie stayed, we met Yob, the director, and Shetto, the nanny. Yob was very excited to meet us and know that we had adopted Ellie. Shetto, the nanny, told us how sad and shy Ellie was when she first met her. She was tearful and obviously moved when she heard that you were happy and healthy now. We got the chance to thank her for taking such good care of Ellie, and that is something I will be forever grateful for.

Shetto, nanny that cared for Ellie

Yob, Ammanuel Orphanage director

The tour of the orphanage was nothing short of heart-breaking. It didn't take long, as it is small and compact. We saw the bed that Ellie slept in, and I was overcome with seeing how dirty and tiny it was in that dingy and damp room. I held a baby that was filthy and smelly, and I was broken at the thought that I have been given so much when these children have so little.

The kitchen was the hardest part of all to see. They showed it to us, and all I could think of was "where is the food?" There was none. Nothing. What were they going to eat that day? Was it somewhere else? Would they have anything at all, other than what Sue had brought along with her that day? How many days did Ellie live here without enough to eat? How many nights did she go to bed with her little belly hurting from hunger?

Jeff entering the kitchen

another kitchen view- the thing in front of the orange tank holds coals that they cook over

The children at this orphanage are beautiful. There's no other way to say it! I wish I could post pictures of them with their beautiful smiles and knowing eyes. They would melt your heart. It's against policy to post pics of orphans on the internet, so I can't. But I pray that peoples' hearts are opening to the call of God to open their homes to these children!

While at the orphanage, Yob told us that Ellie's birthmom was nearby and had another baby that she wanted to place for adoption. Before we knew what to think, we were in the car again, on our way to meet the woman who gave life to our beautiful daughter! My emotions were raw, to say the least! I was nervous to meet her, wondering what I should say or how to act. But when I saw her, I was very much at peace.

Her name is Tigist, and she is quiet and beautiful. Ellie has her eyes. She stood not much taller than me, very thin and petite like Ellie will likely be. She was holding Ellie's baby sister, who is about 8 months old. She gave very little eye contact and spoke very softly, but as we stood together longer, she looked directly at me a few times. She is from the Garage (pronounced ga-raw-gi) tribe, known for its strong work ethic. I have no doubt that she works long, hard hours. Before you start to judge her for not taking care of her children, know that she works for about a dollar a day. She can't provide for her children in that kind of poverty. So, she gave Ellie (and is giving her other daughter) a gift that is beyond my scope of mind. She gave them life not only in birth, but through the miracle of adoption. We were able to get a few pictures of us together, that I will cherish forever. She teared up as we thanked her for the gift of Ellie. We promised to love her forever, as if I had given birth to her myself. I pray she is at peace knowing that Ellie is taken care of and loved dearly. I pray she rests well in knowing that her sacrifice was an answer to my prayer.

Ellie's birth mother, Tigist, holding her baby sister

Once we left Tigist, we made a couple of other short visits to other children who are being adopted. Then it was back to Addis, Ellie's baby sister in hand, to meet Ellie face to face for the first time! Stay tuned... that story is next!

Out of Africa...

Tonight we completed our application for adoption. Again.

This time, we are going with Ethiopia. There are a lot of reasons for this choice. For one, it's known to be a very smooth process, and after the mess of Vietnam, we are ready for "smooth". But there are more important reasons than this. Here are a few to start with...

~ One in ten children die before their first birthday
~ One in six children die before their fifth birthday
~ 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
~ 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
~ The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
~ 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
~ 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia

I really believed that we would find Ellie in Vietnam, and for a while I was ready to quit the whole process because that country fell through. But Jeff and I believe that God has called us to adopt. Period. And we love Ellie, wherever she is out there. So, we will look in Ethiopia. And I do believe that she is out there.

Please pray with us that God unites us with her. I trust that He has chosen the perfect little girl for our family, a girl whose personality and spirit matches our own. A girl who will know that we are her mommy, daddy and brother.

So... she will look a bit differently than we originally thought. But who cares? She will be ours, and well, that's enough for me!!