Mike Rusch

…a few days ago we received some new photos of our little baby girl who is across the ocean in seemingly another time and another place.

These were especially difficult pictures to see, and maybe not for the reasons you may think. They were difficult because in a country that in 2008 had an estimated 5.4 million other orphans, our little girl is number 26.

We know this because the number “26” was written on the small white band that is wrapped around her tiny left ankle, and it somehow seems to carry with it her identity.

I could spend hours sitting her writing how dehumanizing this is or how she means so much more to us that just a number, but I’m not sure that will accomplish very much. It won’t change things because tomorrow another child will enter the orphanage and their little white band will be number “56”, “76” or something equally as insufficient.

The only thing that will remove this number from her ankle will be our presence. Our anxiety grows because we have a lifetime ahead of us of removing any trace that she was ever just a number to someone, and we are ready to get started because in her eyes there is life and love awaiting to be discovered. There are sounds of laughter that will ring in our ears for decades to come and there are tears that will fall as she asks the hard questions of “why me?” and “what happened?” and “where do I go from here?”

Our comfort is that someday soon this will be over and the white band will fall away. However, we will leave that place knowing that “104” and “223” are there waiting and we will never know their names. But, our hope is that maybe their names aren’t ours to know. Maybe, just maybe, their names are quickly approaching as their families sit anxiously just we do here today.

It is with great joy that we say our court process in Ethiopia is over, we have passed and now we would like to introduce you to our little girl!

Her given African name is Sosna and she has affectionately been called “Sosi” by her incredible caregivers. We will add “Elle” to her name.

Here is our referral video from the moment we first saw her face…

(here is link to video in case it doesn’t work)

Sosi was born on March 1st of this year and is from the far northern part of Ethiopia called Gonder.

Here are more photos (sorry had to post them seperately)

The photos above are in the order they we received them, and you can see how quickly she has grown. She has been in a Gladney care center in Addis Abeba for the past few months and she if perfect.

Here is a short 19 second video of her at the Gladney center

At this point we have to be in Ethiopia on Jan 18th. We are still unsure of all of the travel arrangements, but those plans will be coming together very quickly and we will keep you updated.

We owe an incredible thank you to so many people for all their prayers that made today’s process a mere formality. We are blessed to be surrounded by such an incredible family of friends, and we are so thankful that you are a part of this story.

It hasn’t been easy and we know that it won’t be easy in the future, but there is one thing that will never change…

This little girl is loved beyond our ability to express and we are going to bring her home as quickly as possible.

And, when we step off the plane when we are back in NW Arkansas, all are invited to come and welcome her home!

Until then, follow our journey here, on our Rusch Family Blog, via Twitter (Mike & Corrie), YouTube or Facebook (Mike & Corrie).

We will have more info coming in over next couple days…

The music in our referral video was written by Aaron Ivey for his children Amos & Story.

Thank you to Aaron Ivey for giving us words to express how we have felt since that moment. And, now we can not wait until the moment we get to hold her.

Make sure you visit AaronIvey.com for the story behind his song Amos Story (music used by permission)

…the paperwork never ends (Corrie is filling out all the US Embassy documents)

…just 8 more days & we will be with her

…169 hours and 13 mins from this moment, Corrie & I will be sitting at the airport gate, boarding passes in hard and mentally tired as we try to remember if the 15 bags we just checked in have all we need.

“do you think the big orange bag have enough formula & diapers?”

“do you remember if I packed the extra battery for the camera in case the power converter doesn’t work?”

“where’s the copy of your passport and shot record?”

“did we remember to give your parents the blue folder for Will’s homework?”

…169 hours and 13 mins doesn’t seem like that far way, but it is when your mind is full. And a full mind is what leads to the search for that the one thing we may have left out of those 15 bags.

169 hours from this moment I pray that I will have the presence to reach over and take Corrie’s hand to say, we are ready for the life ahead of us that is waiting.

I know we may not do everything right and there are greater challenges ahead that we may think. However, we can have peace because this journey is no longer about the doctors orders that another pregnancy is too high of a risk or the words that we read in the book of James or the overwhelming scale of the orphan crisis. This journey is simply about our family and our little girl who is coming home.

So, those 15 bags may have something missing, and that is okay. It is okay, because our children are all safe and their mom and dad are waiting at a gate waiting to board so that we can all be together.

“We had to pay extra for the orange bag because all the formula put us over the weight limit.”

“The two extra batteries are fully charged.”

“I have a digital image of my passport & shot record that I can access from anywhere in the world.”

and “Will’s blue folder was in his backpack that I put into my mom’s hands.”

so, 169 hours and 31 mins from now, I wonder what we will be thinking about next?