Toddler Dedication & Compassion Sunday is April 11th

Friends and Family-

We are thrilled to invite you to attend Compassion Sunday at Rio West Church.

Date: April 11, 2010

Location: Rio West

Time: 10:00am-12:00pm

As you know the last few weeks have passed quickly in a blur of medications, disciplining, playing, kisses and finding a new normal. This upcoming Sunday is special to us for three reasons.

· Compassion International is an organization that releases children from poverty around the globe. For $40 a month they provide meals, immunizations, schooling and mentor relationships. This allows kids who are steeped in poverty to stay with their parents and have hope for a future. It enables them to learn that God loves them and has a plan for their precious lives.

We will have a guest speaker from Uganda who now works for Compassion International. He will share his experience and life story with us; I’m very excited about this.

· We will also hear from our dear friends Rachael and Stephen Brown, talk about their heartfelt decision to adopt Matt Brown, a terminally ill orphan.

· During the service we will have a Baby Dedication for Anaideia Ann and Lincoln James. It was the training that I received through Compassion International that fostered the desire to adopt internationally. Seeing Rachael and Stephen live out God’s command to care for orphans encouraged us to continue the adoption process even when it seemed endless.

I’m so glad these three special events will be happening together. God organizes the desires of our heart around his purposes. We have organized this Sunday with all of you in mind, please join us!

Aaron, Sarah,

Dereck, Caia, Nathan, Anaideia, Lincoln

Photos of the trip

Wow-the last two weeks have been beyond crazy. The two of them ran all three of us around like crazy people while we were gone. Our journey into Africa was very difficult for a multitude of reasons. It was far more difficult than I anticipated. My Mom was a huge lifesaver, we could not have managed without her constant help and energy. I will post more later but I wanted you all to know we are home.

Thank you for the wonderful welcoming at the Airport. Thank you for the meals and all the errands you all have done for us recently. Thank everyone for babysitting and loving on our kids while we were gone. The meals have been most helpful, especially today. While Aaron was at the Doctor with Dereck, it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get the munchkins down for a 2 hour nap. And yes it was totally worth it.

We have had a lot of tears around the house lately. From me and the kids. Having twin toddlers will take some fine tuning over these next few months. Mixed into our tears have been fun moments. More in the last couple of days, we are all relieved the plane ride is over.

We are in Africa, moments from meeting the kids!!!

Africa has been so neat to see. We have been in the capital which has a mix of old and new. The streets are mixed with SUV's and bicycles and the occasional goat or cow. Everyone is very friendly and we have had electricity most of the time. I'm unsure exactly how I feel, I go back and forth between elation and joyful tears. Time to pack the diaper bag and sort through our paperwork. I'm so thankful to be here in this moment, what a treasured day this will be in our memories-Sarah

God dances over each of us!

Can you imagine the day you were born? Picture with me, your parents dancing over you with delight. Singing and rejoicing over the fact that you exist and belong to them. God has danced over each of us. He created us and predestined us to be here and now. Zephaniah says he dances over you with joy! Wow!

Zephaniah 3:17 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁷The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

As we prepare to travel to get our kiddos our hearts are filled with joy. We haven't actually danced but our bodies and minds are breathing a long sigh of relief. The anticipation is almost too much, I can't express the love we have for kids who we have yet to meet. We leave tomorrow at 5:20am and will arrive in Ethiopia on Thursday evening. We will have a day to acclimate to the time difference and then Saturday at 10am we will meet our kids!

Thanks for the prayers and support. See you on the 13th at 4:30pm.

We get to TRAVEL!!!!

We are so thrilled! We booked our flights yesterday, we are officially planning our trip! We will post while we are in Ethiopia.

Plan on attending our "Airport Greeting Party" on Feb 13 @ 4:30,

Location:	Albuquerque Airport US
When:	Saturday, February 13, 4:15PM
You are all invited to join us in our joy! We will be arriving in Albuquerque from Ethiopia on February 13th at 4:15-4:30pm. I have anticipated this moment for years and I always pictured it with friends and family around. (I will most likely be crying, just a heads up) This will probably be a short gathering, 30 minutes or so, just enough time to say HI! We anticipate being able to pray as a group before we head for home as a family of seven. Thank you all for your love and support through this lengthy adoption. Please pass this info onto anyone who might be interested. Call Jenny (363-0540) or Angela (614-288-3885) on Saturday to confirm flight times. Flight info-United flight 5869 arriving from Denver,CO.

Only a few more days until we will know if we have permission to leave for Ethiopia.

Praise God! Our kids were successfully moved into the capital! This is the BIG step we have been waiting for over the last 8 weeks.

We received several new photos. Anaideia finally has hair and appears to be walking:) Lincoln got all of his curly hair cut off again:(

Relieved? Yes, I'm very grateful that they are in a better environment with access to medical care and Nannies who know that they are siblings.

I feel a great heaviness that I don't think will go away until they say that we have permission to book our flights. We expect to know this on Monday (only a few days away).

Keep sending your Peek-A-Boo photos, I love them. It keeps making me cry but they are good tears! Thank you all for your support. I believe we are close to being done!

Posted by Aaron & Sarah Sanchez+5 at 9:22 PM

Adoption video, send in your Peek-A-Boo photos!