Koning family: Trippin to St. Louie!

Once upon a time....

Flash back to 1999, we were a family of four. Happy in our new roomy house and comfortable in our ways. A few years later, the Lord blessed us with an additional little package, little boy #3. Now we were a family of five and sure that would be the end. As time moved on, so did we. The Lord used the time that passed to open our eyes to His will. Several years ago, Bob and I individually heard the call to adoption. It has been a long "pregnancy", but during this incubation time, the Lord has brought us to where He wants us to be. Spring 2010, we traveled to Ethiopia where two little angels were waiting for the Lord's timing - to become our children. Now we are home and can't imagine life any differently! What a blessing to be in His will.

Galatians 4:5 says "God sent Christ to buy freedom for us, who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as his very own children." We are just following his model. A Perfect picture of salvation.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Trippin to St. Louie!

Our adoption agency has directors that live in Ethiopia (they are Ethiopian) and every fall they try to make it possible for the director and his wife to visit the United States ~ allowing an opportunity for families to gather and reconnect with them. This year, Tsegay (the director), his wife (Almaz) and two of their sons were in St. Louis, MO for a gathering at an Ethiopian Restaurant on September 7th. Of course that was a Tuesday evening and of course we had school that day and the following. So, I described the situation to Beti. She is old enough to understand the school thing and she DEARLY loves school, so if we were to try to make the trip, I would have to have her buy-in. It took her all of a few minutes to decide that we should go. It didn't work out for all of us to go, but I (Audra), Beti, Nardos, and Levi made the trip.

We left at noon and arrived just before the appointed time for the gathering, 4pm. The gathering lasted for 3 hours and we left the St. Louis area just after 7pm. That put us back REALLY late. The kids went to sleep in the van around 10pm. My head hit the pillow some time after midnight. Either way, the girls were glad we made the trip. Levi actually tried the Ethiopian cuisine. It's a good thing the first round of food was not too spicy. He filled his belly with Zil Zil (which is like stir fry beef, onion, and green bell pepper). The second round, however, was pretty spicy. At that point, he was done! The kids' favorite part was the cake that was provided to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year.