Hey friends,
Just wanted to give an update on how things are going and where we're at.  A few weeks ago we received great news that we had a scheduled court date.  It wasn't what we were hoping for with the closing of rainy season and all, but God's timing is impeccable and we trust Him whole heartedly with each step.
So, Kenny and I will be traveling in October for our court date of October 14th! Woohoo!!  We are staying for 6 days.  I am so excited to see Beza and have missed him like crazy!  But truthfully I am also so excited that Kenny and I are taking our first trip alone! I cant wait to introduce him to the people, the culture and country that I SO dearly love!!  I just know he will fall in love with Ethiopia as much as I have.  I am excited to see the desires and passions that God will lay on his heart.

So for the next 44 days, to be exact, we will be planning and prepping! My mom is coming to be with the boys which is such a blessing since she's coming from Montana. Plus it's fall break, so she wont have to worry about school schedules, packing lunches and CAR RIDER LINES!!!

I wanted to give y'all an updated list as to where we are financially.  We want to be honest as to what everything is going to cost, so this maybe more detailed then more need. 

Our first trip expenses
Plane tickets-bought and paid in full!!!
guest house-$90 per night for 6 nights $540
Driver fees-$50 per day $300
Food I figured roughly $250-300
Visa's for Kenny and I-$40
Total is $1,180

We will have to pay for medical and visa for Beza during one of the trips and it will be roughly $315

Our second trip
Plane tickets somewhere between $4000-5000 for 2 tickets
guest house-$90 per night for 6 nights $540
Driver fees-$50 per day $300
Food I figured roughly $250-300
Visa's for Kenny and I-$40
Total for second trip between $5,130-$6,180

The seconds trip is all estimations based on how much time in advance we have before we leave. 

Care fees
We are also still occurring our monthly care fees of $450 a month.  As of now we still need to pay September, October and God willing November will be the last month! So that total is $1,350

As I sat here and added it up, I was almost afraid to see it. But I was reminded of how far we have come!  In the beginning, when this huge number in the $30,000+ range seemed impossible!!  Now I sit here excited that number is around $10,000! All I can say is, we got this! Ha!
Kenny and I would like to ask you all to prayerfully consider partnering with us the last leg of this journey in Bringing Beza Home!  This is just a thought, but if I have over 300 Facebook friends and if everyone donated $20 that would be over $6,000. Then if you shared it on your page!??  My point is, is that every little bit makes such a huge difference.  Some may donate more, some less, but its all making a big difference.  I know some may not be able to donate, so please PRAY! Praying for finances, for us and especially for Beza during this time means so much to us.  If you would like to donate you may do so using our PayPal link.  You may also email me for my address at Gavinsmommy_03@yahoo.com

With Love,
Taira  

Hey friends, I wanted to send everyone an update and let you all know where we are! First, I'm sure most of you know Kenny and I made a last minute decision in June, for me to join an amazing team of people leaving for Ethiopia in two days, yes you heard right, just two days to prepare! I had felt The Lord nudging me about a week before to go, but of coarse it sounded crazy and just the logistics of it with the kids made it all sound impossible! But I thought, if I'm suppose to go, I'll go! So my sweet husband cashed in all his frequent flyer miles and bought me a ticket and my amazing friends said "yes" to my kids without hesitation.  😳 To say I was a nervous wreck was an understatement! Since I purchased my flight so late I had to fly out alone and stay an extra day alone! 😳 Everyone was in complete shock and told me how brave I was. But honestly, I was a momma on a mission and I KNOW there isn't a momma on this planet that wouldn't go to the end of this Earth for their babies! So I wouldn't say I was brave, I almost felt desperate. I was desperate to touch him, hold him and to really know he was real. It may all sound weird, but my heart just needed it  At first I was told, no way could I tell him I was going to be his mom. Our case was still touch and go and not much was certain. But by the end of the day they called me back and said, "yes, you can tell him." They felt that it would be more confusing to him by not telling him, then telling him.
My time with Beza was amazing, fun, joyful, so much love and a little reality set in too!  There were two fears that I had, would he like me and would be even want to leave the orphanage?  Granted he's been there for 6 years! But, God heard my prayers because that little boy is so anxious to come to America and the staff commented on how well he warmed up to me!  Praise God!!   I can't tell you how much joy he is going to bring to our life.  He is so full of energy and spunk! He has a laugh that is so contagious that you can't help but laugh with him.  He craves the love and affection that he so desperately deserves!
This blog post is long overdue and honestly I started it several days ago! I kept thinking of all this stuff I wanted to write about.  To tell you about our days together in Ethiopia, but it is so painful.  It has been a long and hard 5 weeks away from our boy.  I have been able to email the director and keep in touch to see how Beza is doing.  As much as I love to get those emails, there also so hard.  The first one after I left, I was informed that he wasn't doing well.  He was very sad and wants to know when I will return.  Truthfully, that was most of our conversations.  He desperately wanted to know when I will return and deserves an answer! But, when you can't give him one it is heart breaking.  I finally told him, I don't know if it will be 1,2,3 months before I return, but I PROMISE I will be back!  There have been many days where I thought, why did I even go, my heart is broken and I KNOW his is! But I know I was meant to be on that trip and even if there are days when I don't understand it all, God does!! We met some amazing people there running some incredible organizations.  And if that was the reason for going, to make some connections and call them friends then it was well worth all this heart ache. But I know there is so much more to it then what I can see with my own two eyes.
I've been doing this summer Bible study and there's a passage that rings so true for me, right now. 
It says: When I'm in a particular negative mood, three thoughts come to me: Faith can be work. Love can be labor. Hope can get long. We hear much hairsplitting over faith and works, but does anybody else occasionally think that faith is work? Believing what we cannot see can sometimes be the highest high in the human experience, but at other times it's like inhaling fire. And just try to convince me that love is never labor. 
The NIV translate the phrase as "your labor prompted by love," but multiple translations cast love as part of the labor. One scholar translates the Greek as "toil of love." That's even better. Sometimes loving comes easy. Other times, it nearly kills us. Does your heart feel like a nail to a hammer right now?    Uh, YES!!
So to update you all to where we are in the process is we have been given our first court date for our lawyer in Ethiopia next Friday the 1st. So please be praying, praying, praying. We do not attend this one. Our lawyer will meet with MOWA who will in turn give us a comment. Which is their approval of the adoption. Then we will be immediately issued our court date. But they have up to 10 days to issue this comment. The timing of all this is so critical because every year the courts close for 2 months for rainy season and this closure could happen any day. We are still very hopeful as they have not released the dates. So this is our biggest prayer request, that we get a court date before closure! Many people have asked where we are financially and Kenny and I have been working on making lists, contacting travel agencies for quotes and punching the calculator! So here's the nitty gritty!

Plane tickets-costing $2000-2500 a piece times 4
Beza's one way flight- $1500
Room stay-$80 a night
driver fee per day- half day is $40, full day is $80
Food per day $30
Our visa's upon arrival-$20 per person

We based everything off of 7 days. 

We will also have some fees to pay for the adoption-
Beza Visa-$230
MMR-$30

Total is between $12,000-$14,700

We are trusting God with every penny of that!  But literally we don't have a single penny of it! Haha! We are still occuring monthly care fees and we are just able to keep up with those. We had an awesome yard sale the beginning of July and we made $1100! Thank you to everyone who donated! We were able to catch up on our care fees of $900 and then we had to mail off a $183 check with our PAIR letter to DC! God provided!!  In the coming weeks we could be in major crunch mode, pending the court date so if anyone has any fantastic ideas to help raise funds, let me know! Also, when we get the word to leave we will be taking up donations for Beza's orphanage! They are in desperate need!  Formula, diapers, clothing, balls and there are several older children so anything that they like would be helpful. 
Doctor visit-$85

Hey everyone, I've been asked several times this past couple of weeks as to what is going on with the adoption?  If you haven't talked to me in person and only see updates on Facebook, my updates sound kind of wishy washy.  Its very easy for me to post the GOOD things that happen with the adoption, but the not so good things I tend to keep to myself.  I have stated from the beginning of the adoption that I never want someone to look at our struggles and change their mind on adoption.  But people also need to know, its not a walk in the park either, so finding that healthy balance for me is tough.  So, here it is, the good, the bad and the ugly! Haha!

Okay, now to get y'all caught up to where we are now.  Back in January we spent the whole month waiting on all of Beza's official documents to arrive from Ethiopia.  Once they came we were ready for the next step, that step is called the PAIR process.  So February 1st, with all those documents ready we sent them off to our Government.  Basically this is where the U.S. looks at all the documents that we have sent and they decide if there is sufficient evidence that Beza is legal for adoption to the U.S.  March 12, we received a letter stating that there was NOT sufficient evidence proving that we could adopt him.  They gave us a list of things they needed. They said you have 45 days to get all the new information to us, or risk a denial letter!  To say we were a bit heart broken would be an understatement. 

Some of you may remember this, but part of Beza's story is that he was abandoned 5 years ago.  Back 5 years ago, things ran differently in Ethiopia.  There was a different government body that was in place at that time, that placed orphans.  So the government body that's in place now, has no record of him and one of the things listed to collect was a letter from them. We have since gotten that part figured out and it ended up being pretty easy. :)  The other thing that was requested was police statements from the officers that found him.  This is the part that is proving very difficult.  Ethiopia just doesn't run like we do.  Our 45 days run out this Sunday and we have had to file for an extension.  So we have another 42 days this time.  There is lots of little details that have happened as well, lots of them are questions that I have?  Some don't sit well with me, but I also have to focus on what is best for Beza and at this time the answers to my questions are not relevant. 

I think there are many more days then not, where I question if this adoption will go through.  I've never cried so much in all my life!  This is by far the hardest thing I've ever done and I've had to do some hard things.  I was pregnant my senior year of high school. I was a military wife for 6 years and endured 4 deployments, 3 of which were a year long each.  I gave birth to our second child without Kenny.  I've bought a house, a car by myself, but nothing can prepare you for adoption.  There just isn't 2 adoptions that are alike! I do my best to stay in my routine, be around people so I don't have to think about it.  But the minute I am alone, I cant stop thinking about it.  It completely consumes you.  You plan life around it.

We do get excellent monthly updates about Beza  They usually include 4 or 5 pictures and even videos!  He has the most contagious smile and the biggest brown eyes! I just long to wrap him in my arms and snuggle and kiss him! We do get to send him packages too!  So all of this really makes the struggling SO worth it!

This is my new verse and I LOVE it! Short, sweet and to point!

You armed me with strength for battle. Psalm 18:39a

Please join us in prayer for these police letters.  God has been so good to us and so faithful through all of this.  He has really placed incredible people around us who daily encourage us and gives us new strength for each day. 

 

Hey guys, I just wanted to give a quick update.  As far as Beza goes, he is doing great! January 7th was Christmas for Ethiopia and our agency took all the children out for a special day.  They went to an arcade and had hamburgers and French fries!  We got quit the kick out of that! They took several pictures of the kids and in Beza's photo he was stuffing a hamburger in his mouth.  As much as I wouldn't condone French fries and hamburgers for dinner, it made me happy to see him enjoying an American meal.  So I may need to lower my standards in the coming months! Ha ha!

Today we received some not so fun news about our grant funds.  Our agency had hopes that we would be able to access the funds sooner then later and now that is not the case.  Last week we were under the impression we only had $2100 left for our referral fees but now were back up to around $6500, plus travel.  This may all be so confusing, but I want to explain it the best way I can.  Once those funds are released to our agency (after first court appearance) they will hang onto it until our adoption is complete. We may have some extra fees that will come up such as Child Care fees.  We are now responsible for his daily care of $15 a day and we initially pay for the first 90 days.  But mostly likely we will not have a completed adoption within 90 days, so that's where those extra fees may come in.  So they would be able to access the grant money to cover that.  Then if there is anything left they will give it to us. 

So I am writing to ask for LOTS of prayer! 

1. Pray for our sweet Beza and even though he doesn't know about us yet, that his heart would start to be softened.
2. Pray for us, Satan is definitely trying to work his way in when good things are happening.  
3. Pray that we seek The Lord for all our funding avenues.  It may not look the way we thought it would be, so we just need to be open minded. 

THANK YOU and we love you all!!  
 

Melkam Gena!

As I was signing into to the blog this afternoon to start this I heard two amazing songs that I had never heard before that I wanted to share.

First I want to start by saying a HUGE thank you to all of you for sharing and donating to our adoption of sweet Beza these past couple weeks.  During these last two weeks we have raised $2,460 towards our massive number of $16,995.  So we were able to send our agency $10,845! Woohoo!!!  Obviously we are still short of that BIG BIG number, but our agency is has been very kind to us and is allowing us a little more time to raise the necessary funds. I think they really love Beza as much as we do so they are really rooting for him! :)

As I had posted in the last blog about the grant we had received and not being able to access it till closer to the end of the adoption, well our agency is in contact with them about accessing it early to help with costs now.  So please pray with us that they would find favor in letting us use it earlier then expected.  So, if we are able to access our grant we are currently only $2,150 short of that BIG number. 

We received an email right before Christmas letting us know that the investigation process (that they do for every child) could take awhile because he has been an orphan for so long.  During the investigation process they have to go back 5 years and speak with the individuals who found him and so on.  We really felt it could go either way, but we would never know till we dived in.  So that wasn't a hindrance for us.  Well, yesterday we got an email saying that Beza's investigation was complete!!!!!  Praise God! So as you can see, we are just taking 1 step at a time.  Our goals right now is to just complete Beza's referral fee, later we will work on travel expenses. 

The title to this blog post Melkam Gena, which is Merry Christmas in Ethiopia's native language.  Today is Christmas there and I can't help but wonder what Christmas must look like for him?  Im pretty certain it isn't like ours, but my prayer is that his belly isn't hungry and that he gets some extra special attention today.  This is the last Christmas he will have without a family and BOY will he be spoiled rotten next year!! :)

Kenny and I are so thankful for you all over this past year and a half.  We would love for you all to pray for our sweet boy and this adoption process.  Pray that it will go smooth and move swiftly.  If you feel led to make a donation we would be forever grateful.  There is a PayPal account attached to or blog.  Also we have a way for tax deductible donations as well.  You may make checks out to Ordinary Hero but please remember to put our names (Kenny and Taira Massey) in the memo line.  There address is:
Ordinary Hero
P.O. Box 1945
Brentwood, TN 37024


You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see you good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16