We are off! Addis Ababa here we come, but more importantly Meseret and Kamise here we come. We fly via Houston, Texas and Frankfurt, Germany today. If all goes as planned, we are looking forward to about 24 hours in flight. Yuck. Sunday morning we will meet Meseret and Kamise for the first time.

Monday, the day we’ve been awaiting for a year, will find us in court. Then as quickly as it all began, we head back to Orlando on Tuesday night, sadly without our girls. We will wait for the US Embassy to approve our case and issue an Embassy date in Ethiopia, for which we’ll return and immigrate the girls back to the USA with us. Yahoo.

In the next few days, I am thinking we will have an increase in blog entries. Thankfully, we have a beautiful family of friends that are making this journey with us as they share their resources, thoughts and prayers for us and the girls. Though internet access is limited and the connection poor in Addis, we will do what is possible to share about this part of our adventure.

After 24 hours of flying this was one of the best sights we could see. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

It is Saturday.  In six days, we leave for Ethiopia to formalize our commitment to Meseret and Kamise. We will be in court on Monday morning, October 31 where, if all goes as planned, the judge will name Meseret and Kamise Brockmans. It still feels surreal.

Early this week our agent notified us that their father made the 14-hour trip to the capital city of Addis Ababa to officially relinquish his rights as their dad and embrace them one final time. Emotions well from deep within us at the thought. One of the ruthless sides of poverty.

If you have been with us from the beginning of this journey, you might remember us saying that the girls mother died about four years ago. The father has other wives, but they are only able to care for the children they have birthed. There is not enough to care for step-children. Because of these harsh circumstances, their father put them up for adoption.

So we will pick up the baton that was begun by this struggling family and give all we can to enable Meseret and Kamise to be released to become all that God designed  them to do and be.

After analyzing our numbers, I’m encouraged to find we are inching closer to finding the funds to make this adoption a reality. We need just shy of $15k to meet our known expenses. I updated our gauges on the right side of this page to reflect our current reality. If just 150 of my 606 Facebook friends gave $100 we would have what we need. If you can be part of this adventure I invite you to consider jumping in with us. Navigate to our website www.brockmans.org and click on “Join us…” under Quick Links on the right side of page.

I just read a message from our National Director, Mark Gauthier that contained news about our alma mater, the University of Utah. I could not pass on sharing that news with you, and there is encouraging news from other parts of the country as well. God is so sweet to be moving through our efforts this fall. We are grateful and excited and long for even more stories like these. Here is what Mark said,

God is doing some amazing things among students and faculty.  At the University of Utah, three women who are roommates, trusted Christ during the first week of class.    In the first 18 days on campus, 29 students have placed their trust in Christ  at the University of Iowa.  A high school student, Breanna, went to East Asia with her church.  She came back and asked to volunteer at Brown to reach out to international students.  She has raised up two other students to help and they had 4 Chinese students attend the first Bible study.  One commented, “Maybe in a few months, I’ll be a Christian.”.  Each of these lives are forever changed, because of Christ’s lovingkindness.  Truly, your labor is not in vain.

We call it the Worldwide Day of Prayer or WDOP. Two times a year as a ministry all around the world we pause from our regular schedules to hear about places and ways God is moving as well as pray for his grace and favor as we continue to be about His work.

Judy Douglas, wife of our president Steve Douglas, opened our time in prayer. She began by asking if we knew why we schedule the WDOP for the this date in October. Even after 29 years on our staff I did not no the answer to that question. Judy went on to say that 60 years ago today the ministry began. This is the official birthday of Campus Crusade for Christ!

We have one staff person that celebrates her 60th year on our staff as well, and that is of course Vonette Bright. She could not be with us today as I learned that she just had her hip replaced and is convalescing in Minnesota. It was reported that she is doing very well.

This past Sunday I sat next to friend who knew I worked with Cru (officially January 1, 2012), and he asked, “How’s that name change working out for you guys?” I shared that we are beginning to receive some positive responses from our communities, but I allowed that change is not easy for everyone. The facilitator of the of branding team, Mike Adamson, shared a story with those of us who worked on this project today. It encouraged me and I hope it will you too, and give you a glimpse of how we hope our new name will be experienced.

Tyler & Brooke Miller – Charlotte Metro

It was only our second weekly meeting, and three Muslim students walked past the doors to a room full of noise and excitement. I was there to see them pause for a moment of curiosity. They looked to me and asked what was going on.

One hour later, I had made three new friends. During that time, we had an incredible conversation on the topic of Jesus, and who he really is. It all started because I was able to say, “We are Cru, a Christian group here on campus, and this is our weekly meeting.” The new name opened a door that might have been instantly shut in the past. A few weeks prior I had the same experience with a group of students taking a “smoke break” outside their dorm. “Cru” is making conversation with the unreached people on our campus that much easier so that we can get to the name that really matters – Jesus Christ.

Mike closed with this,

Thank you for your prayers and for endeavoring on this mission with us! We are thrilled to be doing this work, and even as much to have you alongside us.

I would like to pass on that thanks to all those who enable Lisa and I to continue to work in this mission as well.