First Day of Kindergarten...

Today was Maddie's first day of kindergarten...I am holding it together amazingly well :) I have been praising God all day for His timing of bringing us Zemma. Without her I would feel as though I had nothing to do...or, even worse - I would have had to find a job....Thank you Lord for Zemma! :)

Walking in with Daddy

Waiting to go in

Mommy holding back tears...

Saying goodbye :(

With all of her cousins out front

In her class line

New Roots

We are now officially Kansans...except for the fact that we still own a home in Missouri. Pray that our house sells. For now, we live in Luke's parents basement...Here are some pics of our new - temporary home.

The View from our basement windows

Our basement living area

the girls room

Our "for now" home.

Maddie's 6th Birthday

Changes

There is a lot going on in the Brosius family right now...new daughter, and now new job...new city....new house (or basement for now - we're living with Lukes parents for awhile...)!
We found out right before our vacation that Luke has been given the head coaching position at a 5A school in Topeka. Needless to say, he is pumped...and overwhelmed/intimidated :) So, in late July we will be packing up and heading to Kansas! We are excited to see where the Lord brings us from here on out. We are looking forward to being near to so much family. But we are also mourning this life that we love and are so comfortable with. We will miss our friends, and my sister and brother in law who live right down the street, as well as our church. But we are confident that this is where the Lord is leading and trust that He has us in His hands.

Mexico

Zemma, Madelynn and I had the opportunity to go to Mexico this past week with all of Lukes family (except for Luke, unfortunately). We had a great time, and are so thankful for such a great gift from Lukes parents!

Unfortunately, being a single mother on the trip didn't allow for many pictures :(

Morning Coffee Guesthouse

For those of you traveling to Ethiopia in the future, and are looking for a guesthouse to stay at I strongly recommend Morning Coffee Guesthouse. It is affordable, clean, and has excellent service and food! More than that though, I would stay at this guesthouse because it supports a greater good. Birtukan is the owner of MCGH. She is an amazing woman who serves the Lord selflessly. She started Morning Coffee, not for herself but because she wanted to make a difference in the lives of ophans living in Ethiopia. Her ministry (Yezleminich...not sure how to spell that) includes caring for children who have parents but are unable to care for them due to poverty. They have an orphanage for those children, but at the same time they train the mothers to make livings for themselves (jewelry, roasting coffee beans, and selling spices) so that someday they can provide for their families. In addition to that, they have started a sponsorship program (kind of like compassion).
We absolutely enjoyed our time with Birtukan and her family. She taught us alot, and was an encouragement to us in our spiritual walk.

Last Day in Ethiopia

These are the words that I wrote in my journal for today:

Today is our last day in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. It has been an amazing experience being here in Zemma's home country. The people here are wonderful, the culture is rich. I hope that we will be able to keep Zemma's heritage alive after we leave here. It is something that she should always be reminded of and carry with her. Maybe someday we will return with her, to remember, and to serve her people.

We spent today at a golf course. It was beautiful, green and had flowers all over. Here are some pictures from our last day: