The Guitar

Before we went to Ethiopia, Ty had the idea of getting a guitar donated to take to Mahelet'sorphanage. As soon as we started asking around we had some amazing friends in Carthage, Missouri that jumped on the opportunity. Just days later the UPS man arrives with a HUGE box. Inside...a shiny guitar in a brand new hard case! We were so amazed by the generosity and so excited to be the bearers of such a gift!  This guitar brought SO much joy to this trip...even way more than we expected. 

While in Ethiopia, we had the pleasure of staying with some amazing families at the Ethiopian Guest Home.  One sweet family in particular holds a special place in our hearts. They adopted 2 older girls. They are 2 beautiful, smart, lovely girls.  Zenash  is the older of the 2 sisters and she was Mahi's  buddy. She really was key is getting  Mahi out of her shell that 1st day. Every time Mahi would see Zenash that week she just wanted to go right to her. They lived together in the orphanage for about a month and Zenash helped take care of Mahi. So you can imagine how special she is to us.  Her little sister, Tarikua is a precious little girl! Tarikua is deaf. And here is where the guitar comes in...

One afternoon we were all sitting around. Ty had the guitar out just messing around. Tarikuajust lit up. She looked at her Daddy as if to say "can I go over there and touch that?" Her Daddy anxiously nods and sweet Tarikua goes over to the guitar and lays her head on it and starts to squeal with excitement.  We all just watch in amazement as this little girl "heard" the music. Her Daddy (who is a worship leader and music lover) later told me that he and his wife had quietly mourned the fact that Tarikiua would not be able to share their love for music. And here he saw that he had underestimated God. And that this was holy moment for them.  I think it was a holy moment for all of us in that room as we watched a deaf little girl hear and play a guitar for , who knows, maybe the first time ever. 

And here is Daddy and Mahi playing together for the first time.
Here is Ty playing for a group of kids at a drop in center. This is a center for people (mostly single Moms) to take their kids for free. Here they get 2 meals a day and school up to 2nd grade.  It was a wonderful day with these kids. They loved the music and my hair!  They wanted us to teach them an American song so we thought "Jesus Loves Me" would be a good one. We sang just that line for about 20 minutes and all of the kids got a turn to come to the front and sing it. They did  great and we all had a blast! The director said most of these kids had never heard this song before.  Well, 2 days later, Ty went back to visit the kids and when he walked in they all started singing, "Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me!"

And, for the last stop for the guitar...Mahi's orphanage. This little one got so excited and into the music that he peed his pants! He had no time to stop dancing, he might miss something. And some things are just more important than peeing your pants.  This little guy was full of soul and he expressed it with his dancing...just precious! The older kids were at school when we first arrived and when they got home they were so excited to see Mahi.  They loved the guitar and playing and singing. Ty taught them as much as he could in the time we had with them. 

That was where we left the guitar, I hope these kids are playing it and enjoying the sound of music they are making.  Music is such an important gift and we are so grateful to those who donated this guitar.  

HOMECOMING

ok...so I understand Mahi has been home 2 months and we have been bad bloggers. Sorry. We have been busy getting to know each other and living life. As you can imagine the girls are very busy! They are just a blast! Mahi is adjusting better than we could have imagined and Ella is the sweetest big sister ever. She is so patient and caring. Mahi is doing awesome with her English. We miss her Amharic. Now it's mostly English or Amarhic-English mix (which no one can understand)! She has NO trouble communicating with us. She is so loving and we probably get at least 100 kisses a day. She is very smart, too!
Anyway, we wanted to let you know we still have a lot to talk to you about from our trip but I wanted to post some homecoming pictures now.

here is Ella preparing a warm welcome for Mahi

Ella and Mankaw (Grandpa) at the airport coming to get us

Mahi and Mankaw

Mahi and Maemae (Grandma)
there we 40 wonderful friends at the airport to welcome us home. all of these people being there just made the moment even that much more special

i know it looks like Liam doesn't love her by this expression but I promise he does!

our 1st dinner together. the girls wanted it tea party style

Mahi checking out her new room

this is a toy bucket or a bath i guess??

trying out her knew bed...this was Ty's crib



obviously we were exhausted!! But overjoyed to finally be together...The Morgan Four

do with what you have

This is Mahi at the Guest Home
Ethiopian ladder
Ty toning up
Ethiopian weights

Ethiopian scaffolding

We are absolutely amazed by the people of Ethiopia. We will use the next several blog posts to tell you all about it. We are sorry for being a little slow on updating you but we are taking time to adjust to our new life (which is wonderful).

We had some wonderful drivers while we were there. We had some wonderful conversations with these men and they taught us a lot about the overall  outlook of the people of Ethiopia. One of our drivers told us how him and his family are happy as long as they have God and how everything good comes from God. What they need (food and shelter) comes from God and they have that so they are happy. 

What a lesson we learned. It is so important to be content. In America with the excess of "stuff" there is a frequent challenge to feel content. Most of us do have what we need and we have God or can have God. So let's keep it simple. Let's try to remember to be happy with just those things. Peace and contentment are in simplicity. And we don't mean God is simple in any way but a relationship with God can start with the smallest amount of faith and it can grow into total peace and contentment. That is what we are striving for more of everyday.  We saw kids with nothing and we mean nothing, and they had the biggest, truest smiles we've ever seen.  They are doing with what they have with a big smile and joy in their hearts.

The Ball

Mahi was in an orphanage for 6 months before her court date and then she was moved to a care center that is ran by our adoption agency. That is where we picked her up. While we were in Ethiopia we went to Mahelet's original orphanage. As we were sitting in the director's office visiting with him about the orphanage I noticed something from the corner of my eye. In a sack were some old balls. On top was the old rugged soccer ball that Mahelet was holding in these pictures. Mahi's Uncle Duke donated some wonderful new balls to her orphanage so her sweet Daddy politely asked the director if we could trade these brand new balls for the one old soccer ball that no longer holds air. "No problem" he said. So to mark that 6 months of our daughters life she has a wonderful old soccer ball. The love she was given there by the precious nannies will forever be in her heart and ours, too.

We have so much to tell you...

We are back, have our precious daughter and had the trip of a lifetime!! We will have to break our trip up into many blog entries because we want to tell you all about it! Every single thing about the entire week was simply amazing! The best of all was getting our sweet Mahelet! Her nannies call her Mahi so that is what we are calling her now. We will break down our first week with her during our blog entries but we don't want to leave you hangin' any more! She is just AMAZING!! She is the cutest little things you've ever seen. She has a new nickname that Daddy gave her...Peanut! And a peanut she is. She is 10 inches shorter than Ella but you would never know it by her spunky attitude. She is adjusting better than we could have dreamed of. The only problem is her sleeping pattern. She did great while we were in Africa but since we've been home she is awake several times a night. That's one reason it is taking me so long to blog...I'm tired! But I am NOT complaining. God has been amazing to us in this journey and we are forever thankful.
A few things about her...
Mahi loves to give kisses. She will just grab your face and pull you close and give you a big kiss with her angel lips.
She has a wonderful big sister who loves her and is so patient with her.
She has pretty hair, gorgeous lips, eyes you can read like a book and a sweet, sweet laugh.
She can count to 10 in Amharic (her native language).
She is all Ehtiopian...everytime she plays with a toy car or train she says "beep, beep!"

Thank you and Mahelet seeing a picture of us for the first time

We wanted to let you all know that the response for the supplies and donations for Mahelet's orphanage have been tremendous! Thank you all so much and we can't wait to be the deliverer of these great blessings.

We have been given:
-formula
-a beautiful guitar
-a wonderful case for the guitar
-blankets
-50 gift bags full of goodies for the kids
-crayons and coloring books
-bubbles
-medicine
-footballs, basketballs and airpumps
-a total of $475 to buy supplies (which we did most of this shopping Friday night and will finish in Ethiopia)

We have been amazed at the outpouring of love and gifts toward these kids. We will post pictures of our celebration with the kids when we return home.

Just a reminder to follow us while we are there please follow us on Twitter. http://www.twitter.com/tyrusmorgan

You can also sign up on Twitter and have texts sent to your phone.

Happy Easter and Thank you!

The Morgan Four

here is a picture of us holding a picture of Mahelet



and here is her holding the picture of us holding the picture of her

follow us on twitter

http://twitter.com/tyrusmorgan
go here to follow our trip to Ethiopia to pick up Mahelet!!!!!

And if you are real techy you can have twitter send text messages to your phone for "up to the minute" updates from the Morgan four! (and if you need help setting it up call me)

update to the update

I could just cry! You all are so thoughtful, loving and generous! We have been given $355 to buy donations for Mahelet's orphanage (remember Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world with an average income of $108 according to BBC).  Yesterday one of my sweet patients and friend brought us 50 bags for the kids filled with candy, crayons and toys. Tonight a dear friend brought over bubbles, crayons, coloring books and formula for the kids. The guitar should be here tomorrow!  And some balls and a pump are on there way from Coffeyville, KS. WOW!

that's all the words I have WOW and THANK YOU!!

donations update

So the guitar is on it's way from Carthage, Missouri and today we received another $150 to buy supplies for Mahelet's orphanage. This means so much to us that you all are helping in this way. You will be impacting these kids in a big way and we are so happy to deliver these blessings of love and hope.

Also, shoes would be a great donations to the children of Ethiopia. If you choose to donate shoes please make sure they are in new or gently used condition. Crocs or generic Crocs would be great because they are so light because our luggage may be an issue. The kids range from newborns to 14 years old.

Thank you all so much!!

Celebration and Supplies

We are 17 days away from our departure to Ethiopia to pick up our little girl Mahelet! Excited is an understatement. One of the things we are going to do while we are there is bring a few supplies as well as have a small celebration at the orphanage she has been at these past several months. We plan to bring small gifts to all the children, supplies for the team working there, and a guitar to leave behind for them to keep.

We would love any and all help anyone can offer to help with the celebration and supplies.

A few items that would be great are:

1. bubbles for blowing

2. coloring books

3. crayons

4. rubber balls that can be inflated

5. handheld airpump

6. monetary donation $55 already donated!!

7. a guitar donated by some wonderful people in Carthage, Missouri

8. a capo

9. guitar strings

10. guitar picks

11. guitar case also donated from Carthage, Missouri

12. tuner

13. single serve baby formula (Similac)

14. new blankets

15. diapers/wipes

16. ointments-diaper rash cream, antibiotic ointments, etc.

17. other the counter medications for infants and kids i.e. tylenol, etc.

Thanks so much for everyone's help and feel free to leave a comment here or email us of what donation you want to help with! You can use our PayPal button if you want to make a monetary donation for the supplies.

our prayers have been answered-we are officially THE MORGAN FOUR

It's a great morning in the Morgan family as our adoption court date passed. Only about 50% of court dates pass the first time.  Please watch the video to meet our new daughter!!!

the daily verse

we subscribe to http://www.thedailyverse.com/

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.

Isaiah 60:17

it is so fitting for today!!

IT"S FINALLY HERE!!

TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
Our court date is tonight!!
Ella is as excited as Ty and I are. Tonight she said, "M likes apple juice, too, like me and she smells good, too!" and then we were playing dress up and she got M out a honey bee costume. Oh our girls are going to have so much fun together!

So, now I'm going to try to control the butterflies in my stomach!! We feel so blessed and excited right now!

Thank you so much for your prayers! It is all in God's hands and there's no other place we would rather it be.

GLORY TO OUR KING!!


we'll chat tomorrow and hopefully show you pictures and tell you her full name...so stay tuned

2 days!!

2 days!!!!!

Our court date is in only 2 days!!

We are SO excited, I can't even explain it! This week is flying by. I can't stop thinking about "M" and that her and our lives are about to change in such a wonderful way. We have some awesome friends, Erica and Jason, who have adopted from Sierra Leone, Africa. They gave us some wonderful advice when we started the adoption process last February...they said to enjoy the process and try not to hurry time away. That is how I feel right now. I feel like I'm 7 years old and tomorrow is Christmas morning times 1,000!!! I feel like I am going into labor in 2 days!!! I will never (hopefully) be in this spot again with M. I love this feeling!!! This feeling of excitement and the butterflies in my stomach is a bit overwhelming. And to top it all of, we got 6 new pictures of M today. It looks like she got a brand new soccer ball and trust me, from the looks of the one in the other picture...she needed it! Adoption is a roller coaster of emotions but right now I'm going down the biggest peak and am filled with excitement and joy!! I am so thankful to God right now that he gave Ty and I this calling. I am getting to experience a feeling that most never will. Praise God!!

Thank you all for praying for us. We have gotten so many e-mails, texts, notes, etc that say you are praying. Thank you!! It means the world to us!

REMEMBER: COURT WILL TAKE PLACE SOMETIME WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING TOMORROW!!!! AAWWWWWEEEEE!!!!!!!

if you can't sleep, call me, Lord knows we won't be!!

4 DAYS!!

We are so excited! Only FOUR days until our court date for "M"!! We are so ready for her to be part of our family. We painted her room this weekend and Ella is very excited about that and wants everyone to see!  "M" has new Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that are very ready for her, too! She is one loved little girl and we are ready to shower her with the love that has been building up for the past year.  We are praying, praying, praying that everything goes smooth on Friday. 

the morgan FOUR!!

Anonymous is a genious!

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the same questions". ~Anonymous

I found this quote on another blog and it really hit me. I do ask God this question sometimes. Usually I don't ask "why" to God but being involved with Africa this past year, I have asked why do people die from lack of food and water--so many precious people everyday....well, here is my answer!

When We Unite

About two months ago, Ty was involved in a meeting at work with another company. Ty did not know these people very well and they did not know that he is adopting from Ethiopia. Every seat in the meeting had a little card laying on the place setting for each participant of the meeting.  Each card had a quote and where it originated, be it a particular person or if it was more of a folk saying from a certain place.  This was the card at Ty's place setting.

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. Ethiopia

I have wondered for a while if it has a special meaning. Of course it was special that it was a saying from Ethiopia! And the only card in the room that said Ethiopia! But I thought maybe there was more to it...

Well, lately I have been thinking how bad is sucks that Satan does not want this adoption to take place. I am sure he is trying his best to throw in wrenches here and there to stop it. That scares me a bit but then I focus back on the fact that God is my rock, Jesus is my King and the Holy Spirit is my comforter! And God DOES want this adoption to take place....the bible says so...

Psalms 68:5,6

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—

this is God, whose dwelling is holy.

God places the lonely in families;

Psalms 10:14

But you know all about it—

the contempt, the abuse.

I dare to believe that the luckless

will get lucky someday in you.

You won't let them down:

orphans won't be orphans forever

So now I am thinking that the meaning of this card is that our prayers to God are the spider webs and Satan is the lion

We have been praying a lot for this court date and we really need you to, also! We firmly believe through prayer we can tie up the lion! We are firm believers in the power of prayer so we need as many people as possible telling God their desire for "M" to become part of our family on March 13th.

Psalms 37:3-6

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Commit everything you do to the Lord.

Trust him, and he will help you.

He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, 

and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

The only being more powerful than Satan is God and that is why we need your prayers.

You all have been such a part of this process with us and we really want that to continue! It has helped so much having your love, prayers and support during this journey.

About 50% of the court dates are not passing the first time and could be rescheduled for up to 6 weeks later. We don't want to be away from "M" one more day!

The court date is in 2 weeks...that means in 2 weeks, Ty and I will have one of the biggest days of our lives!! We will be getting a new daughter! Addis Ababa (the capitol city of Ethiopia) is 9 hours ahead of us so the court will actually take place in the middle of the night Thursday.

3 WEEKS!!

(you will need to stop the music at the bottom of the page before you push play on the videos)

So...as you can see Ella does not feel very good. But, she did have enough energy to make her Sister "M" birthday cupcakes!

Only 3 weeks until the court date!!!!

4 WEEKS!!

Our court date is 4 weeks from today!!  We are ready and excited!!  

Also, in February, "M" will celebrate her 2nd birthday. We are sad that we will not be there to celebrate with her but she has a lot of friends and people that love her that will be with her on that day.  We will be able to celebrate many of her birthdays to come.  

Also, this was amazing news! Another local family is adopting from Ethiopia! Click here to read about them.  Melissa emailed me this week and said she had come into contact with several people in one week talking about Ethiopian adoption and that "M" was the confirmation for her to adopt from Ethiopia!! Can you believe that!! It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. "M" is already changing the lives of other Ethiopian children and she is not even 2 years old yet!!  Well, actually, I know this was ALL God, but the fact that he used "M" in this families story just makes me so happy and honored to soon be her Mommy!!!  

WHEN YOU PRAY FOR US AND OUR ADOPTION, PLEASE PRAY THAT COURT GOES THROUGH THE FIRST TIME WITH NO PROBLEMS.  THANK YOU.

5 WEEKS!!

Only 5 weeks until our court date!! PLEASE PRAY THAT IT PASSES THE FIRST TIME!! Thank you!!

This weekend we are celebrating! It was one year ago this weekend that we made the decision to adopt! We are so excited to be this close to our court date.

Ella is READY for her sister. I think a light bulb went off this week and she is talking about her often. She always has a seat for "M" or gets a drink for her. It's really sweet!!

6 WEEKS!!

OK..that week went fast! Now it's just 6 weeks until our court date! Ella is really starting to understand the concept of having a sister and it is precious. Today we were at Sam's shopping with our sweet friend, Courtney. We put Ella in the cart which had 2 seats in the front. I said "Ella, who is that seat for?" (thinking she would say 'my baby' or something like that) She said, "M" (but she said her full name--so sorry, I still can't tell you her name) And just now I was talking to her about sharing her Mommy and Daddy and that we are going to share her when "M" comes home and she said "And I go to school with "M" and it be so fun!" I am so excited for both of my girls to have a sister!

7 WEEKS!!

It's only 7 weeks until our court date!! We REALLY need our case to pass court on this day for several logistical reasons but mostly for our sweet "M".  We don't want anymore time to go by in her young life without us there.  We know she is in great hands but we really want to be with our little girl.  And Ella wants her to hurry, too! Yesterday she told me she is going to get her a present...a shirt!  Also, Ella knows she gets to go to school this summer which is after M gets home and she really wants to go to "cool"!  These girls are going to be best buds and we can't wait to watch them together.  M better be ready for a sweet but tough little girl that will always have her back-"Ella Gwace Mogan"  (Ella Grace Morgan)

So please, when you pray for us, pray that our court date is heard on March 13th and it passes.

Thank you friends!

The Morgan Four

WE HAVE A COURT DATE

We found out today that our court date is scheduled for March 13, 2009!! We are SO excited!!! We do not have to be in Ethiopia for this appt. as we have signed over power of attorney for this meeting.  This is the date that "M" will legally become ours.  Then we will travel to get her about 5 weeks after that.  Also, we got 5 new pictures of her today and she looks so happy and healthy. She was playing with a soccer ball in the pictures and wearing pj s that say "Sweet Dreams".  So cute!! She is adorable and we can't wait to show her to you soon!

The Morgan 4