Mike Rusch

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41 posts tagged Sosi

Conley’s few words for baby sister…

…for someone she’s never met, but is connected to already

link to video

A name and a face…

I was sitting at lunch with Matt Mooney this week and my phone rang with a caller ID that I didn’t recognize.

Matt commented, “that’s a Ft. Worth area code. That’s the only area code I really know”

I didn’t think much of it, and thought I’d call this person back after lunch.

Then the phone rang again. This time it was my wife, and I made the connection immediately.

The Gladney Center for Adoption has it’s home in Ft. Worth, and the next phone call we would receive from them would be news of our referral (that’s the first time we get to see a picture of our soon to be little girl).

I calmly (not really) told Matt I had to cut the lunch short, and off I bolted for home.

…not sure what happened next, but I was home and setting up cameras and getting the kids situated in front of the computer waiting for an email with a picture of a face that would change my life forever.

And then it came…

Honestly, I really didn’t know what to expect from my emotions, but there I was looking at a picture of a little girl I had never met, with a name I didn’t know, in a country I have never been to, who spoke a language (or was beginning to) I couldn’t speak, who had never seen my face and who could not look back at me…

But, she was my daughter.

How do you react in moments like that? I don’t know either.

Over the course of the next few hours as this new face began to become engraved in my mind, this knowledge moved from my head and become unconditional love in my heart. You see, once it reached my heart and then reconnected with my mind, my whole life changed.

Now there is a name a face, and everyday this little girl grows a little, speaks a little more, has new experiences, knows loneliness, finds joy and sleeps without knowing that I would leave immediately to be with her. I can’t think of anything I would not do for her, and she doesn’t even know who I am. But that doesn’t change anything.

I can not begin to even come close to explaining how much I’ve learned and experienced about God in these last few days. Both my understanding of love, of longing, unrest, joy as well as my understanding of what it may mean to be loved for no other reason than I have been adopted into His family.

Still not done processing this. In fact, I’m starting to believe that my life from this point forward will never be the same. Changed by a little girl thousands of miles away who doesn’t even know I love her…not yet anyway…not yet.

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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)

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)

"around every corner" blog post from Christmas Change

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New picture taken on Dec 7th…need a better photographer :-) ?

New picture taken on Dec 7th…need a better photographer :-) ?

taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009 taken Dec 9, 2009

More pictures of Sosi taken on Dec 9, 2009

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

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

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…less than two weeks

…less than two weeks

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…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?

…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?

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…and away we go. Next stop Ethiopia! Follow along on our journey Ethiopia (Preparing… part 1) Ethiopia (Going… part 2)

…and away we go. Next stop Ethiopia!

Follow along on our journey

Ethiopia (Preparing… part 1)

Ethiopia (Going… part 2)

Ethiopia Day 1

…we have seen very little in the 12 short hours we have been in Ethiopia; however, one this very present.

Beauty.

At some level, everything here seems to be broken or at least less than perfect, but as I begin to look intently into that brokenness I am seeing something greater there than I could have ever imagined.

From the dark & seemingly dangerous road we travelled to arrive at our guest house, to the stack tires used as a basin for washing the linen, to the broken stones that serve as our protecting fence there is a confident beauty to find if you will only pause to notice.

…as I open the window of our room, the slight smell of stove fires burning tells me that I am in a different place with a different people in seemingly a different time.

I already have a hundred stories and thoughts to explore…

I will not be here long enough to ever fully understand what they all mean…

Ethiopia Day 2

…a quiet city of 3 million people wakes us after a jump forward in time that causes us disruption in our rest; however, today could not come soon enough.

Today is the day we have waited for, longed for and cried for. Today a few blurry pictures come to life as a little girl without a family will be wrapped in the arms of two people who will never let her go.

It is by no coincidence that today is Epiphany here in Ethiopia. Today is the beginning of a time of celebration to mark the moment that God making His dwelling place among men and the Word became flesh.

I can not help but draw from this rich moment that today is our beginning of a time of celebration to mark a moment when an orphaned girl makes her dwelling place among my family and the reality of her existence will be held in our eyes for the very first time.

It is only because of what God has done for us that we have come into the brokenness of this place with the simple hope that His story of rescue and redemption become real in the world around us. We give all with no expectation of personal gain; however, the coming reality of the moments ahead shows us that in giving all we are gaining a small piece of a coming kingdom.

Today, it is my fear and my hope that forever more this small piece of a kingdom will call us to gain more by giving all.

Just a few more eternal hours away and she will be with us…

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