Terwilleger Adoption Story Video

Here is the final product of the video my friend Gregg made for an upcoming sermon illustration for his church in Georgia. I hope you enjoy it!

Making the Video

So Gregg came over yesterday at 1:30pm and we filmed until about 4:00pm. We just kinda shared our story, the history and process of our adoption decision, and some of the ins and outs of the process leading to today. Of the hours of filming, he has to cut it down to 4 to 7 minutes. I'm excited about the end result. The interesting thing is that Kathee and I both felt like we really didn't get in to the depth of the adoption process. It's funny that you can spend that much time sharing the story, and yet it feels like you are just getting started. I guess this is just a passion for us and part of our life, so it just kinda flows. I'm excited to see what comes next. I'll keep you in the loop of our travels. Until next time...

The Telling of Our Story to a Church in Georgia!

So I received a random call last week from a good friend of mine. He is serving as a worship and media pastor at a church in Georgia. He was sharing with me that the pastor of his church is going through the book of Romans during their Sunday morning worship time. Gregg shared that in a few Sundays Pastor David is going to be preaching on Romans 8. In Gregg and David's conversation, Gregg shared with Pastor that Gregg has good friends in Moline who are adopting, and that they had planned to adopt from the early stages of their marriage, that they decided to start their family through adoption and then begin having biological children, etc, etc. The pastor was intrigued that our story and the story of God adopting us (as a first choice and not as a back-up plan) seemed to mesh well. So when Gregg called on the phone, he was asking if Kathee and I would have time to be interviewed by Gregg for this sermon. Gregg would fly in, interview us, and then the video would be used during the pastor's sermon.
So Gregg flew in today, came to church tonight before Catalyst started (the name of the youth ministry I pastor), and then came home to have dinner with us tonight after Catalyst to discuss the plans for tomorrow.
So we are bit shocked that God would want to use our story to impact the lives of people at a church in Georgia! We praise the Lord that the Lord can and will use this opportunity for making His name great, and that hopefully people will have a flesh-and-blood experience with knowing they have been adopted by a Father who loves them, planned to adopt them long before they were aware of it, that He waited for the right and perfect time, and that His Son was the payment to build His family. We also hope and pray that this will light a fire in the hearts and minds of the people at The Vine to see the blessing, joy, and privilege of adoption. And so our story will be captured on video to be shared with the world.
When Gregg completes the video, I'll get a copy and figure out how to upload it to this. In the meantime, if you have highspeed internet, Gregg has a video on his blog that I think is one of the coolest videos I've seen. He just recently did it for his church as a year in review (if only I could do what he did for my annual reports... oh wait, I haven't written an annual report in about 5 years). Check it out if you have time... it's really, REALLY cool! The link is: www.gregghampton.blogspot.com. The title of the video is one year recap (I think you'll see that the technology is of the quality you'd see on tv advertising today).
So I'll blog more probably tomorrow night about the time spent. Good night all!

A Meal in Ethiopia

This post came from Rachel, an AWAA staff who moved and is now working in the transitional house in Addis. This house will be where our son stays after we approve the referral and until we go and pick him up. Thanks to my brother Aaron knowing about David's Place, an Ethiopian and Eritrean restaraunt in downtown Iowa City, we have been able to take part in this meal. I believe we have now gone there two or three times. We love it!

A meal in Ethiopia is an experience. Like any other part of their culture, it is community oriented and relational! And it all revolves around injera. What is injera? It is the sourdough pancake-like bread of Ethiopia. It uses a grain called Tef, which is not found in the United States. Injera serves many purposes….not only is it consumed as part of the meal, it is also a "tablecloth" or plate, and an eating utensil. The injera is spread out on a mesob, a handmade wicker table/tray with a dome cover. The entire mesob of injera is covered with an assortment of individual stews and sauces, which contain meats, vegetables, and lentils (see picture!). Ethiopians are known to prepare the hottest and most peppery food in all of Africa, using what is called Ber-beri spice. To eat, you tear off a piece of injera roll and use it to grab your choice of food (feel free to mix)…then, put it all into your mouth! Everyone eats from the same table. Don't be surprised if the person sitting beside you wants to feed you…this is very cultural. The word belonging to this act is "Enibla" which means "let's eat together." When all the food and injera have been consumed, the meal is over! Of course, then comes coffee…