Mike Rusch
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31 posts tagged Family
This is a reminder that things are not as they should be…
Read story at NBC Philadelphia.com “Little Soldier Girl Didn’t Want to Let Go”
Friday is so far away…
This morning is a Saturday like most Saturdays with everyone still asleep giving me a few moments of quiet. I’m sitting here with my Ethiopian sourced coffee listening to Matt Maher sing about meeting “a man who treated children like they were ambassadors to the kingdom.” It’s pretty cold outside and my iPhone is getting its periodic update to make sure I’m in synch with my life. It seems to be taking a while and maybe that is a signal that I’m more out of synch than I thought.
It is the season of Advent, but I have a personal advent taking place that is taking precedence for the moment. Advent, latin for “coming”, is this season of waiting and preparation (so tells me Wikipedia). However, my heart tells me that Advent is not just waiting, it is waiting with a deep and personal longing for an arrival. It is an ever present thought of soon, very soon, things will be set in place and made right. It is the anxiety that sits at the corners of my thoughts, and it is leaning in at the very moments that “waiting” just isn’t sufficient.
Friday is coming soon, but it is still so far away to someone who isn’t just waiting.
This coming Friday a small stack of papers will cross the desk of someone I’ve never met in a place that I’ve never been to before. In that moment, I will have no voice, no way to communicate my feelings, no way to share the tears that have fallen, no way to express how life is incomplete and no way to show the faces of the others who would do anything to be heard.
It is our prayer that as this small stack of papers is opened for consideration that a divine hand will guide the human hands that must apply their mark, their signature and their approval.
…and while that mark is applied I pray that a little girl who is alone and unknowingly waiting will be filled with a smile and the comfort that her mom and dad are waiting no more.
Because in this advent, a waiting moves to preparation which manifests itself in an arrival. It is an advent that sometimes looks exactly like a mom and dad reaching into a small blue box used a bed to lift out their daughter
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)
