O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained praise,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 

 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him? 

 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field, 

 The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

 O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 

What a mighty and gracious God we serve! What does one say when their hearts are overwhelmed with praise? Often times when I feel words are inadequate in expressing my gratitude to the Lord I will do one of two things: sing a worship song or echo the words found in Scripture. How excellent, majestic, worthy is your name in all the earth! Over the past month I have found myself overwhelmed with the desire to praise, thus I have found myself whistling, singing, and reciting Scripture. Why am I overwhelmed with praise? In God's sovereignty and grace He has allowed us to be apart of His plan, specifically His plan for all four of our children! What an awesome privilege, what a heavy responsibility, what a mighty God we serve!

A month ago tomorrow we picked up Kiah and Jenessah from the orphanage in Ethiopia . Those of you that do not know, after much prayer we decided to shift Kiya's name to Kiah which mean's Salvation and change Semira's name to Jenessah which means God's Grace. There are many reasons why we decided to do so, but ultimately it came down to the reality that we believed the Lord desired for us to do so. God is into redemption and often times redemption comes with a name change (i.e. Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul). We were a little nervous how our girls would receive their new names. Yet, when God leads He always prepares the way. Both of our girls, without a doubt have embraced their new home, their new family, and their new names. If we accidentally call them the wrong name, they will get a smile on their face and quickly correct us. Even if their siblings call them by the wrong name, the correction is quick to follow. This is just one of the many miracles in how the Lord is working in Kiah and Jennah's heart!

There are many questions we have received since being home. I will try to answer some of the most common questions.  First, how are all four of your kids adjusting? Short answer: they are all doing really well! Surprisingly well! We very well may be in what many people call, "the honeymoon stage." We know parenting is a challenge and we have done much parenting in the past month (for all four of our kids). Each one of them seems to be receiving the parenting and adjusting to the new normal. Tiffany told Luke the other night, "Luke, I love you." Luke's response, "Mommy, I love Jenessah." Before each meal Kiah and Jenessah  often times are the first to remind us we need to pray. They do not fully understand our prayers, but while we were in Ethiopia some of our dear Christian friends would pray in Amharic. From the first day we picked up the girls we have prayed over them and with them. They know prayer is important to our family. They now are the one's who will make sure we pray before meals, bedtime, etc. Just today at lunch Jenessah was singing phrases of Jesus Loves Me. I am amazed at how the Lord is already growing the seeds that we are striving to plant. Their hearts are soft and have absorbed everything we have invested. What a privilege to be apart of God's story in raising our children in Him. 

We had planned on an extended time of "cocooning" when we returned home, to help with bonding. Our extended stay in Ethiopia served as an initial "cocooning" and when we got home we limited activities. Shortly after staying home, it seemed our daughters were ready to begin trying and experiencing new things (as long as we were close by). We started with a quick trip to Costco, all six of us. We did not know what to expect and were ready for anything. They did great! They were wide eyed and active participants in choosing our food. Since then we have brought the girls to church, which has been awesome worshiping together. It is a blessing having the support and love of our church family! We believe the prayers of our family and friends has been the reason our family has transitioned so well! Thank you for you prayers, thank you for your support! We are blessed because of God's love for us. We count it a privilege to share that love with others!