Ryan's words

I wanted to post the following article Ryan wrote in his July newsletter for our students and their families at our church.

As I sit and type it is pushing 4am and sleep is probably still a good distance away for me. I am wired. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked. I just got off the phone with my wife and four amazing Ethiopian children whom I’ve yet to meet in person. And that event has me quite alive at the moment.

During this past week, Jessica has been in Ethiopia and I have been an emotional wreck. Although not for the reasons you may think. Sure I miss my bride greatly, but that’s not it. And certainly I wish I were there to meet our children as well, but that’s still not what has caused my eyes to sweat so profusely. God has been teaching me something about His love.

The parallel between our adopting children and our adoption by the Father through the work of Christ (see Ephesians 1) had been brought to my attention sometime ago. Many thanks to Adopted For Life by Dr. Russell Moore. And the more this truth has had time to marinate in my brain the more real and breathtaking it has become. But this week something different had a hold of me. I was missing my wife and thinking of these children and the thought occurred to me that they don’t really know what it’s like here; what it will be like to live with me and Jess. All they know is what they’ve got and they don’t realize or understand yet what they will soon have. God grabbed this opportunity to help me know that I don’t really know what our inheritance is either. Understand that we are not merely saved from hell, death, and sin but we are saved to eternal life with the God who loved, created, and rescued us! We can’t really know all that awaits us or the depth from which we are being saved, but it is vast.

Jessica and I are going to great length to bring these kids home. We love them and are doing everything in our power to get them here with us. And it hit me this week, the great lengths that God went to save us! We are spending time, money and effort. Jesus gave His life! He left heaven. He left perfect community and walked among us so that by His tortuous death and glorious resurrection He might reconcile us to Himself. What an amazing thing!

I believe with all of my being that adoption is the clearest most beautiful picture of the Gospel that we have among us. Marriage is certainly a great picture of Christ and the church, as His bride. But adoption is a better picture only in that it is personal rather than corporate.

Maybe the most amazing part about it is that as beautiful as it is, it’s minute in comparison to His great love for us. We have chosen to love these four kids that we didn’t know. They’ve never wronged us. In our eyes they are innocent and deserve love. They are made in God’s image. Yet we, in our sinfulness, have transgressed an infinitely holy God and still He chose to love us, redeem us, and bring us into His glorious presence.

Gotta start somewhere

4 year old's picture

8 year old's picture

13 year old's letter for Papa

Ok if you have been following Haley's posts..well you'll have to forgive me...I am not as gifted with story telling and phrasing as she is! I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts Haley and am so, so thankful to God that He sent her with me!! You are and were such a blessing to me!

I forgot to mention in my last post that J.(8 years old) was excited to share a song he knew in English...Father Abraham...so we all sang and did the motions for Father Abraham the first day we met. Precious memories I will forever treasure. I can totally see him being a worship leader...he is so animated and LOVES to sing and you can tell he means and believes what he is singing. Another song he loved to sing had the line "God is love" as the chorus. I wish I could show the video of him singing it but I am not allowed to just yet. Be patient...one day you will get to see it when they are officially Wallings!!!

Papa...they love Ryan and haven't even met him...I'm a little jealous...jk! Every time they see a picture of him they would exclaim "Papa". I showed them a short video clip from DNow where the youth girls are lifting Ryan up in the air and they thought that was so funny and wanted to watch it over and over. They wrote him a letter and drew pics for him. Ryan was able to speak to them on the phone briefly the last day I saw them. They were all smiles. We have it videoed. J. would say, "Papa I'm fine, you're fine?" It was adorable!

Our daughter grabbed my hand and said baby room...she took me to see the babies in the orphanage. So sweet...she also said on the way up the stairs...you, no baby. I kind of mumbled under my breath...actually we are going to have a baby but she didn't hear me. That brings me to telling them about the pregnancy. I had our new friend Yonatan from the guesthouse tell them all in their language so they would understand and find out at the same time. Our daughter kept repeating the same phrase over and over and I asked what she was saying. Yonatan said she said, "You're lying" "Are you sure?" "Are you sure?" We both assured them yes I am having a baby. They started smiling big. When we asked what they thought, he said they are really excited and want the baby to be a girl. Haley asked S. if he wanted to be a big brother again and he said yes! Little man didn't say much about it but he's 4 I didn't think he would...as long as he didn't break out in tears I was pleased.

I still can't believe I actually went to Ethiopia last week and met my kids!!

More to come,

Jessica

Made it home

Praise God I am home safely and healthy!! What a blessing this past week has been. I promise I have many stories to share with you all about our amazing kids. I just need some time to put my thoughts together. I am so glad my first full day at home will be spent worshiping my King in church today. More to come soon.

Jessica

Can't stop smiling

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted more updates. But between jet lag, poor access to internet, and just not knowing where to start....but I've got to start somewhere right? Well I only slept 4 hrs after meeting them the first day...I woke up at 2:30 and all the thougts of them and our next meeting began. My mind was racing with with what I wanted to make sure I told them before leaving, among many other things. One of those things was circling up all the kids at the orphanage for prayer before leaving the second visit. So I did and my 2 older kids and a 10 year old sweetheart came and thanked me and hugged me afterwards and said God bless you. Oh break my heart! We have played with bubbles, beach balls, read Bible stories, put together a puzzle. I am so impressed with how much English my kids know along with others at the orphanage. 2 of my kids can understand most things I say and speak in phrases. Our daughter understands more than she can speak but she does a pretty good job too! Our 4 year old is a ham...he is so loving, he just held on to my face with his cheek pressed to mine the first day and then kisses your cheeks and forehead with such conviction. They are all very affectionate...which is common in their culture and I just love it. Our daughter plays with my hair and just giggles. They love to show off their English and their talents. They each sang a solo the first day I met them. I'm telling you these kids rock...they are going to fit in with us so well. Our oldest boy loves soccer and was hitting the beach ball like a volleyball and I explained to him that he was playing what we called volleyball and that papa is really good at volleyball and really like to play. He just lit up and began asking what my favorite sport is. They have told me their favorite colors and what they want to be when they grow up. I told them that Ryan is a pastor and they just smiled ear to ear and J. said "Yes!!" They ask if papa is coming each day but understand he will come and see them next time. I know I am all over the place but I just wanted to give you some tidbits of how wonderful my week has been. I can't believe its actually happening. God is so good! I am so thankful for this gift he has given me and don't understand why he picked me to be their mom but I am so honored. I am not worthy but He is. Thank you for all the prayers...I can feel them.

P.S. Becky....tell Rachel the kids loved getting her letters and gifts and lit up talking about her and Jordan. I really enjoyed being a part of that.

Love to you all from Addis,
Jessica

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray with us

I may post here several times this week in order to keep all who care abreast of happenings in Ethiopia as Jessica and our friend Haley are there visiting our kids. Actually, right now, as I type this they are at the orphanage. It's about 6:15pm there.

This is a special post. Haley's dad has been sick for a couple of months now and they aren't quite sure what's wrong. Why don't I just let Haley tell it. Here is a message she sent to her friends asking for prayer:

Friends, as I was in the air flying to Ethiopia, my Dad was being rushed to the emergency room after nearly two months of trying to figure out what has been causing him pain in his back. Everything seemed explainable, but definitely not right. He has been to Dr. after Dr. and everything was checking out ok...until yesterday when he was unable to get out of bed with the pain significantly increased. At this point the Drs. are Oncologists and Hematologists. As I sit right where I know for sure the Lord has led me to sit, my Dad is in pain and unsure of where we are headed. Man this is hard. However, even in heartbreaking confusion I trust the Lord. Please pray for Dad, and pray for me as I commit to the joy God calls me to have in all circumstances. Jess and I are headed to the orphanage to meet the kids in about 20 mins. All I know to do is ask for your prayers.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray with us and pass this on to get others to pray. Haley is near and dear to our hearts and on top of that, in many ways, has made the trip to Ethiopia possible. As she rejoices with Jessica there with our kids she also suffers by being on the other side of the world from her daddy and not knowing all that is happening.

Specific ways to pray:

• For healing and comfort for Mr. Scully
• For peace and calm for Haley
• For assurance and patience for the Scully family as they wait for answers
• For accuracy and clarity as the doctors look for answers
• For the potential strain this could put on Jessica and Haley as they fight different emotions and jet lag

I know even now many of you have begun to pray. Thank you.

I do want to leave you with a quick kids update. I awoke this morning to two text messages that immediately made happy tears flow. Jessica's said, "kids English is really good. They are amazing!" And one from Haley said, "You wife is showing your kids video of you and they cant take their eyes of you saying 'papa'." As I type this I weep with joy.

Lord, please help us get these kids here quickly.

Thank You, God.

Thank you for reading.

glucose comas and driving on empty

Readers,

My heart is both heavy and happy. The mix of emotion can most likely not be accurately described with words, at least not in a blog. It would take volumes to express and would be as unintelligible as it would be hefty. I will nevertheless ramble a bit here for both our sakes.

I deliver Jessica to Dallas tomorrow and she will board a plane with one of our dearest friends, Haley, for Ethiopia to visit our kids. I have ceased the adjective labels such as "soon-to-be" or "hopefully" to describe the children. They are no one else's. And desperately loved and longed for by us. The only adjective I want to use currently is a possessive one - OURS. (heavy sigh)

So, Jessica is going to visit them and I don't get to. Will someone cue the pity party music? I am really excited for her getting to go...it's just...seriously. Someone? The MUSIC!!! It's just I really want to meet our kids too. So I'm a bit sad.

Jessica has purchased enough candy and toys to stock the Texas State Fair for three millennia. She's sitting on the floor packing balls and bubbles and books and suckers and Starburst into her suitcase. I told her in a foreign country to try to blend in. "Try not to look too much like a tourist." That's what I told her. Apparently her idea of blending in is wearing a pages from coloring books while tossing out candy to the onlookers like she's the Krewe of Janus. I love my wife. I love that she'll read that and purse her lips, shake her head and smile at me with her eyes. Anyway, the orphanage has quite a treat coming. Possibly one or two glucose-comas as well.

I just wrote a letter to our kids that Jessica will deliver. I cried through my writing until I ran out of things to say. I asked Jessica if she had any ideas of what I could say and she allowed me to read some things she has written in a journal to them. I just thought I had cried. My wife's heart is incomprehensibly wonderful. Beautiful were her words. And our kids will one day be immensely blessed. My letter will no doubt be butchered in translation, all heart-felt emotion and loving tenderness sapped from the page by poor interpretation. Aren't I Debbie Downer? Sorry all you Debbie's out there. Especially you little ones. (wink). Most of my negativity is only here to mask a deep longing for this process to come to completion with our kids safely home.

Contrary to the tone thus far I am rather happy. There is a little life growing inside of Jessica that I also am excited to meet! Seeing its little heart beat was amazing, and then Jessica began feeling it kick, and now I CAN FEEL IT TOO!! Forgive my seeming insensitivity by calling it "it". Many of you may know that we are not finding out the sex of the baby...until its born of course...then we'll know. We like living on the edge. I've been driving my truck on empty for two days. Edgy. You don't know me.

Thanks for reading.