Monday Morning...by Mommy

I just finished reading the blog of my very best friend, Kim, who is also in process to adopt orphans from Ethiopia....Kim and I have been friends for 17 yrs and have done many things in ministy together...We laugh as we grow older and see what the Lord has done in our lives..We were young babies when we met...just married..decorating apartments...big hair...then we had our babies Meghan(now 15) and Emma (almost 16) together and we loved it. We got together daily and had play group..went to the park..shopped at Babies r Us and loved dressing our girls.....When we started our walks with the Lord, he started our path toward holiness together and we went through some times!!!!! God is humerous and sanctification (being changed into Christ's image) is sometimes painful and certainly can cause some stressers in friendship...But Kim and I continued on life's journey together....Back around 10 years ago we started serving together at Church and we began a bonding in the spirit....we realized God had put us together to walk our spiritual walk two by two (as he did with many people in scripture).. We have seen God use us together (although we are so different in the ways we handle things)....God has poured his favor on our unity and our walking with him in service...In this phase of our life, in our forty's, wouldn't you know God has given us both such a tremendous burden for orphans and such a zeal to help them in anyway we can.....Isn't God funny???? Never would I have thought that at 43 I would be in the place I am.....and Kim and I would be talking about cribs and play areas again....We both have wonderful teens and young adults who love the Lord and walk personal walks with the Lord....We are blessed amongst woman (I know , Mary is too.....but so are we).....Some might say  (and have said) "what if you get children from Ethiopia and they are unhealthy????What if they have issues...?? What if ...What if ..What if??????   Kim and I are not "what if , friends"?????   We are friends who pray for one another......laugh at life's ups an downs......cry , too....but only for a little while........God is Good to place people in our lives for all of the seasons he has for us.....to encourage us....to lift up our hands when we are down.....to speak the truth of God's word into our hearts so we can stand firm when when have been shot with an arrow..(we all have them , right)....Thank you Lord......for this day......and for all of the encouragers you have surrounded me with!!!! Especially my Tee Tee...Kimmy!

Trusting God for his financial provision by Mommy

It is hard to trust God sometimes......As we started this journey we knew that we "couldn't afford" to adopt....Money seems to be the "issue of th day" in this economy......Yet, God's word says that he is the provider......He knows what we need before we even ask......Our famly has always experienced God's provision and we have NEVER had much excess.....Just what we need......And so it is with adoption.......We had to do something that was a bit uncomfortable......We had to ask for help......They call it "fundraising"...I call it "awkward" and yet....we understand the blessings that are in store for anyone who helps one of these "little ones" as God calls them...So last week, we sent out letters to all of our family and business associates asking them to help these babies "come home"........In a spiritual way  you are torn.......You can't wait to see God provide and at the same time you hope and "pray" that the people you've sent the letters to don't think you are "out of line" for asking them to give money....I do trust God and his promises...."It is MORE blessed to give than to recieve"........" You will reap what you sow"......."if one's gift is to contribute to the needs of others,let him give generously"....This is the LOVE that God has given us for one another and this is his love for US.....I am looking forward to sharing with all of you how the Lord has supplied this monetary need.....HE WILL DO IT......IT IS HIS WILL AND HIS PROMISE!!!!

from traci....my thoughts for today

It's funny.....when you are pregnant you feel like everybod knows it, even whenyou aren't showing yet....and when you do start showing with your little "bump", like my sister Melissa is, you look so adorable in your little shirts that pop out where your belly is......
But, when the Lord puts adoption on your heart, and you start to meditate on his love for orphans and his heart to heal them and help them, you suddenly feel that same change of pregnancy....except this time you want to shout it from the rooftops......It's unexplainable, but I can actually say that I feel pregnant.....(sometimes it's just bloated (haha)..but it is the anticipation of knowing that you have children somewhere needing you......wanting to get into bed with you and cuddle.....to read a book with......and somehow you feel like everybody knows.....
You feel like your "showing".......Can you tell???? you want to ask.......Can you see something in me that is different......I am going to be a mother, again!!!!!!
That is how I feel when I think of my children in Ethiopia......I can't wait to see there faces......

Jim's thoughts

I can't say that adoption has been on my mind for years. As most men these days my day to day thoughts are mostly on working and getting more wotk for tomorrow. Being able to make the next months bills and hopefully having a little left over for something fun. Over the years Traci has asked me if I was interested in trying to have more children? I would always say," well I'll think about it", and then life would take over and time would go by...... well, your know the rest "I would never get back with an anwser". Then our friends asked us what we thought about adoption and to pray about it. I watched u-tube videos one night and I felt feelings that I hadn't felt in a long time. I sat there watching and heard in my ear " you spend so much time and effort on things that don't amount to anything eternal". This is the moment that I knew that I should do this. Don't get me wrong ,I still have my natural fears about the cost of making it happen. But, I do know that I'm not in charge of this thing called life, BUT GOD IS!!! So we started praying for our new family members. Then days later a name came to me  strongly, "Misha", and that night we met someone that had also chosen that name for thier daugther. We took it as our first sign and so our name has been chosen for our daughter-to-be. Now we are all looking forward to the day that we start recieving the faces behind our dreams.

Orphans of God

Meghan's Words

I am just so excited about the adoption and the news that I am going to have more siblings. Its just amazing to see all the Youtube videos, and put myself in those shoes and be able to think about that happening to my family. Im looking forward to finding out the gender of the children, so I can do all the shopping for them. I can't wait to see their faces for the first time its such an amazing feeling to know that their is someone out their maybe right now that will soon be called a SLUSARSKI:).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4anyzSLX9U&feature=related

What Ethan thinks:

 I am very excited about the adoption. I was very excited and surpised when my parents said that we were going to adopt. I would love to have either a brother or sister or both.

                                                  From,       Ethan Slusarski

traci (momma's) first blog about the adoption

I am so excited to stat blogging our adoption process for all of our friends and family.  We can't explain all of the emotion attached to starting this process.  Since we started all of the paperwork (which is BRUTAL) it is almost like the feeling of being pregnant.......Like you don't like the "pains" but you anticipate the end result and you get a jitter in your stomach....all you mom's know what I am talking about....I have no idea what this year is going to be like but I do know that God is in control and that his timing will be perfect for our family....Thank you all for being supportive and encouraging our family.....I hope this time around to be more "easy going" and to also be more "orderly"....I was a pretty unorganized new mom many years ago and  have come a long way!!!!!  hahaha.....I'll keep you posted as things progress....Our next phase is sending in a form for the VISA's and fingerprinting me and Jim for the FBI check.......Then we start the ball rolling......

Our Family (The Slusarski's)

James, Traci, Meghan, Ethan having our annual mountain dinner together : )

Our Adoption Begins!!!!

January 15, 2011
                 We have just made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia and are going to blog our steps in our journey to bring home our children. It has been several months since we first thought of adding to our family, So we wanted to begin our blog by telling you how we came to this decision. Our best friends were in the process of going through the Foster progam, but have always had the heart to do international adoption. In our conversations with them they asked us if we ever thought about adopting ourselves. We had seen pictures and videos from their previous mission trip to Africa and the countless needs of the Orphans. My wife was quickly on board with the idea, because of her feelings over the years to have more kids. I was reluctant at first to give a quick answer being the provider in the home, and quickly thinking of the added cost it would take. Even through the best explinations on why this was right didn't help me, because I've always been a more visual person. I decided to go to the internet for more information, and found so many videos of families that have felt the same calling. I was swayed immediately watching the encounters of these families holding their children for the first time. I was overwhelmed by the joy of the children and their new parents. I remember after a long night of watching videos of these stories going up to my wife who was asleep in bed and telling her the good news. The next morning I couldn't wait to show her the reason for my willingness to accept the idea that we should expand our family.