$1,000,000

On another note, I heard about Oprah giving $1,000,000 to people to give to others and I started thinking about how many children could be placed in a family with $1,000,000 - at least 40 (at $25,000 per adoption). So if you get a phone call from Oprah...

Oh right, patience

Many people have been asking me if it is hard to be patient as we wait for our little one. The first 8 days after submitting our dossier weren't so bad. I heard myself answering that it wasn't so bad, we trust God's timing. The latter part is still true 8 days later, but...have I mentioned how much we want to be parents? Those of you who know us well know this. Waiting 4 years, I know, is not that long, but at times, like now, it feels very long.

But God is still good and His plan is still perfect and still for our good. Pray for us to remember this.

Our t-shirts in action

Go here for fun pics of the Johnson family sporting our Mission Threads t-shirts and some smooth moves by AJ and Co .

Yet Another Birthday "Bash"

Here's one from a couple of years ago. Chris' eyes are wild with enjoyment as he smashes fellow dean, Matthew Bradberry, with a tasty chocolate-cherry cake. I'm not sure how much Matt actually tasted. Resident student, Andrew Hwang, snapped this amazing photo.

A Typical Day at Work

Here is Chris enjoying the aftermath of Minsoo's birthday celebration. It's Korean tradition--at least in the dorm--to smash a cake in the birthday boy's face. The guys gather around to sing "Happy Birthday" usually in Korean, then they all cheer as the executioner charges with cake in hand to apply facial mask to said victim. It's quite a hoot. The dorm outlawed it for a while since so many guys were going head over heels--literally--from the smash. Chris enjoyed treating this "special" kid to a new complexion. Happy Birthday, Minsoo! We love you!

An Orphan's Ticket Home

Our adoption agency has started a fund raising campaign called An Orphan's Ticket Home, which is aimed at helping place more orphans with families.

You can provide a "Ticket Home" for over 5,000 children

It's the holiday season, a time when many of us buy a ticket home to see our families. But what if you had no way to purchase a ticket? Or even worse...what if you had no family to go home to? We need your help to purchase a ticket for children across this world to come "home" to see their "family". Your participation with us will determine whether many ever get that "ticket home."

We have embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise $1,000,000 to purchase "tickets home" for children. For some it simply means the initial stage of securing birth certificates and crucial legal documents that provide them with a legal identity that make the dream of a ticket to a loving home much more of a reality. For others it means a safe and clean transitional home where they can await adoption. And for others, it means a loving and adoptive home.

This $1,000,000 will give 5,100 children the opportunity for a ticket to a loving home.

If each America World family participates by purchasing one "ticket" at the cost of $300, we can meet and exceed this goal! Your ticket purchase will allow children "admission" to a system that would move them towards a permanent home. Would you please read ahead and see specific ways that you can join us in this effort?

Purchase an Orphan's "Ticket Home"

The kiddies...

Dress up time - Our beautiful princess niece, ferocious lion nephew #1 and nephew #2 (the Bee)...

I love this guy...

What we do...

Chris and I both work as "dorm parents" along with 7 other deans to 120 international students. No, we don't live in the dorms 24/7 - we live just across the street. Here are some of our students...

Our dossier is off!

Our dossier is finally finished! We received back all of our certifications on Thursday, made copies of everything (which took about an hour) and sent the whole things off today. This is what happens next:

Before America World can submit a family’s dossier to the Ethiopian government’s Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, it must be sent through a careful process of certification and authentication in order for it to be used as a legal framework for adoption. Certification and authentication is a three-step procedure in which dossier documents visit their respective Secretaries of State, the U.S. Department of State, and Ethiopia’s Embassy in Washington, D.C. Family Coordinators will assist families through this process as well. The authentication process concludes the paper chase, and America World delivers the finished dossier to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. Once the dossier is in Ethiopia, it is translated, processed and examined by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. Our staff works with government officials and orphanages as a match is made between prospective parents and a child. Prospective parents typically wait 3-7 months before receiving a referral of a child from Ethiopia.

We don't really doing anything else, except pray and wait and go on about our life (like Chris working on his last paper and his thesis). Our agency does most everything else, until we receive a referral.