Final Post

I'm feeling 2012 is the time for a new blog. This blog has served us well to update friends and families on our adoption and in general our life. I will always cherish it.

To continue to follow along you can go to  http://hannahandjimmy.blogspot.com/

Ethiopian Christmas: Melkam Genna

January 7th is Ethiopian Christmas. This year we celebrated a day later with a terrific feast prepared by Jimmy with some great friends. I am no expert on the history or celebration of Ethiopian Christmas but here are a few tidbits:

- Christmas is a major holiday in Ethiopia where more than half of the population is Orthodox Christian - The celebrations occur January 7, the Feast of the Epiphany, instead of December 25
- Christmas in Ethiopia is called 'Genna'
- To say "Merry Christmas" in Ethiopia you would say, "Melkam Genna"
- For more information click herehttp://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/christmas-traditions-around-the-world-ga4.htm

Our menu included Beef Tibs, Dora Wat, Shiro Wat, Injera (we did buy the Injera) and Tej. All of these were first recipes for Jimmy except for the Dora Wat and all were DELICIOUS!

Friends we have made from our church were here to help celebrate. We had 11 adults and 11 children- it was crazy, in a great fun way. We are so blessed to have these folks in our lives!

Sarah Bess set and decorated the table by herself and came up with this idea- a crystal glass that was my grandmothers, with almonds at the bottom and leaves cut from the yard. I was pretty impressed!

This picture is actually from today but had to add it. Gabre's hair is finally long enough to put in some little 'puffs'. OK- so it's not quite long enough, but I still thought it was cute. Jimmy thinks I made her look like she has horns, but SB is voting with me on the cuteness! Davis, just laughed.

Happy 2012! My 'One' Word

Many folks are sick of doing New Year’s Resolutions. Or maybe love them but want to add a different twist? I love the concept of having one word to represent your hopes and goals for the upcoming year.


My word this year is Be Still. And to those of you counting, I do know that is two words- but as Jimmy said, I have always been an overachiever. Psalm 46:10 has been speaking to me for a while, Be Still. And know that I am God. I tend to go, go and then go some more. Over volunteer. Over Schedule. Over do. And this all leads to being overstressed. I have found time and time again, unless I am still I am missing the opportunity to hear God. He is always here in the present moment, but if I am not then I cannot hear him or grow my relationship with him. So I hope to Be still in order to Move. In order to be present to Him and to this beautiful family I am part of.

Advent Devotions

So, some of you saw my post where I was talking about how I was just feeling motivated lately to write. Shortly after that, one of our pastors asked me if I would write two devotions for advent for our online advent devotional. I was very nervous, but excited to say yes. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading over the scripture she gave me, praying about it and writing those devotions. I hope for the opportunity to do a lot more of that. The devotions are online at our church website, but I thought I would do a post to include them on the blog to have them for the future.


Devotion 1
Titus 3:3-7

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

I don’t know about you, but I almost have to laugh at this passage starting with “at one time we too WERE…”.
Were? As if we Now no longer experience malice, envy, hate? I wish I could say none of these emotions ever enslave me. Unfortunately if I am honest, I experience all of these emotions from time to time. From simple envy, “I wish I had those boots”, to complicated hate, “I hate it when you don’t listen to me!” I don’t even like the word hate. We don’t allow our children to say the word. But do I feel it? Yes. Envy? Yes. Malice? Yes. If the story ended there, I would be left without life, without hope, without grace.
But thankfully it doesn’t end there. Paul reminds us…The KINDNESS and LOVE of God SAVED US. Through his mercy, through renewal by the Holy Spirit, we are SAVED. We are TRANSFORMED. We have HOPE. Through this grace we become a family in Christ and we worship. It’s not just that we ‘were foolish’ but we are foolish. And so we worship, because it’s not just that he ‘saved’ but that he SAVES us.
That leads me to think more about worship. How do we worship? According to Webster, worship can take many forms including prayer, meditation, reading scripture, listening to sermons, singing, dancing, and fasting. But there should also be more. He calls us to more. He calls us to Follow Him.
So what would it look like to worship by following Christ? How does he ask us to follow Him?
Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and "love thy neighbor as thyself."
Can we do it? Can we love everyone? The people that hurt us? The people that believe differently than we do? The people that hate us? Can we love even them? Can we as the family of Christ adore him, by following his greatest commandments?


Heavenly Father, Please don’t leave me where I am today. Bring me with you. Teach me to love as you love. Amen.


Devotion 2
Day 18: Psalm 130


A song of ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.


I had never truly experienced ‘out of the depths I cry to you, Lord’ until this past summer. After meeting our beautiful daughter in May, we had to leave her in the orphanage in Ethiopia to wait for the US Embassy to approve her visa.
We were told to expect to wait 6-8 weeks. Those first six weeks were hard. But then another six weeks went by and still no approval. One morning, I woke to an email that we were not approved, AGAIN. I felt total despair. I don’t know that I cried out to the Lord as much as I screamed out to Him, wailed out to Him to bring our daughter home.
Friends and family tried to comfort us by telling us to feel peace, it was all God’s timing. Really? Then why am I praying SO hard? Why am I HOPING so hard if it is all God’s timing. Does prayer even matter? So I consulted my trusty spiritual advisor (known to some as Owen Barrow).
And he said something that began to change how I think of prayer:

“What if human choice/error is actually disrupting/distorting/polluting God's timing? What if God wanted her to be home, and the powers that be are blocking God's will? Then, in fact, you would be praying for a miracle…or for God to in some senses override the brokenness and give birth to his kingdom right before your eyes. And in that case, we pray boldly.”

So I began to pray boldly. To pray on my knees. To wait for the Lord with my Whole Being and while I waited to HOPE.
“Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.” (Jim Wallis, Faith Work)
All of us hope. My children are hoping for a bike for Christmas. My husband is hoping for his new business to grow. I am hoping for my daughter to sleep through the night.
I don’t believe that hoping and praying for these things are wrong. However, I worry that I can turn God into a vending machine ‘in the sky’. If I push a wrong button on my phone it says “Please wait…say a command”. Do I make God feel this way? Do I ask more than I listen? The answer often is yes.
But God teaches us to trust, to listen, to wait and to hope.
I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. Genesis 26:24

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. Luke 1:45

Be Still. And know that I am God. Psalm 46:10.

God, thank you for your unfailing love. As we wait for the birth of our savior, let us find time for silence in the midst of chaos. To Hope. To Pray Boldly. And perhaps most importantly to Be Still and Listen. Amen.

Advent: Week 4

Yesterday our advent calender task was to send an 'e-card'. Many of you were the recipient of the card Jimmy made. Oh, how I can watch that 1000 times and laugh. When your daughter is just barely walking, to see her dance across the room is hilarious.
Today is to give a compliment (yes, I think I accidentally this one twice. but everyone likes to hear a compliment, right?)

Jimmy and the kids are having a great time celebrating at home. Yesterday they made two batches of Jimmy's awesome chocolate chip cookies (I enjoyed SEVERAL after work!). I am glad today is my last day at work and look forward to my parents getting here tomorrow to kick off Christmas weekend. All of our shopping, wrapping and 'to doing' are done- we can fully enjoy each other.

Last Week in Advent

Things are in full Advent swing here with the kids out of school and SO excited about Christmas getting closer.

So far this week we picked up liter (this needed to happen in our house as well!) and said something nice about someone to someone else. Tomorrow we will send an e-card.

I am happy we are back in the swing of it!

Advent...well life got in our way this week.

 I know there are probably about 3 people following our advent calendar, so for the 3 of you wondering what we have been doing this past week and why we stopped blogging...some kind of plague hit our house. Well, really just me and Gabre. I started feeling sick on Monday and by Wednesday was out of commission- rough. Evidently, some kind of virus. Gabre has double ear infections and some kind of virus that gave her a rash. We are starting to recover and actually went out of the house as a family to church this morning. It felt great to be out!
We have been able to do a few things on our calendar- call old friends, the kids and Jimmy helped their teachers clean their classroom before the holiday break, and say something kind to another. We may try to make up some of the things we missed this week- we'll see. Today is a day of less complaining! I am all about this day and hope of health this week to celebrate advent and the coming of Christ.

In other exciting news...Gabre is walking!!! She took her first steps last Sunday and is doing more everyday. She is so proud of herself.  This morning at church the sermon was on sharing what has brought us Joy this year as a reminder that God is with us. He is still with us. I almost want to shout at the joy Gabre has brought to our lives. Oh how we love this precious gift!

3rd Sunday in Advent: Clean something without being asked

This weekend our advent tasks have been cleaning up related. Yesterday we went through our things to donate. Davis always struggles with donating toys, even ones he doesn't play with anymore. But after spending the entire morning going through toys and clothes we took 10 bags to goodwill. I love cleaning out things we don't use anymore.
Today our task is to clean something without being asked. (I should figure out a way to work this in throughout the year!).
Tomorrow's task is to say something nice to someone with intention.

Wishing you all Joy in this 3rd week of advent.

2nd Friday in Advent: Be Grateful

I haven't been doing a great job of blogging about advent this week- so here is a recap of our week so far.

Monday we took can goods to a food bank. 
Tuesday we made a card for someone. While we didn't say who the card should be for, we all ended up making cards for each other. It was nice to share love with each other this way.
Wednesday was make a homemade gift for someone- this was a FAIL. Life got in the way and we didn't make anything. 

While I didn't make anything for someone on Wednesday, I received the most amazing, thoughtful, homemade gift. It is a picture frame with Africa, China and the US all cut out of different fabrics with this scripture: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18
I can't tell you how touched I was by this gift.

Today was to let someone in line before you. I have thought about this often today. For our children, there is a very literal meaning to this. For us, there can be as well. However, as adults this can also mean so much more. Can we put others before ourselves. Can we put away our selfish desires to think of others before ourselves- that is also 'letting others in line before us'.

LOVE tomorrow's practice of being grateful.

Family Photos

Our friend MaryAlice came over a few weeks ago and took some AWESOME pictures of the family. Thank you MaryAlice!

The Birthday Girl!

Finally downloaded some pictures of the birthday girl's 1st birthday. Don't have any great ones, but they show she loved her cake and ice cream! (Cake more for playing in, ice cream for eating!)

What a blessing she is for us. Her happy spirit brings so much joy into our home!

2nd Sunday and Monday in Advent

Jimmy and the kids had a great time baking cookies yesterday morning. And we All enjoyed tasting them! Gabre especially. I later remembered the first time Sarah Bess was tasting cookie dough at Christmas time and the pictures I took to document it. Being the third child...I'm not so good at that. But trust me- it was cute!
Sarah Bess, Davis, Sudie and I delivered the cookies to the neighbors. We aren't the best at interacting with our neighbors often, so it was nice to take them a sweet treat.
Today our goal was to forgive someone. So many different levels of forgiveness...some of them easy, some of them not. Some that I can't do alone.
Tomorrow our task is to take can goods to a food bank. Our church is active with Western Wake Crisis Ministry and we plan to go there tomorrow after school.

1st Saturday in Advent: Bake something and share it!

I never had a chance to write on the blog yesterday, but giving hugs went well. Our task for today was to pay someones library fine. We went to the library this afternoon, gave some books, and left some money for the next person (or people) that needed to pay a  fine. The librarian at first seemed confused, but then she was very complimentary to Sarah Bess and Davis telling them how generous they were.

Tomorrow we will Bake! It will be fun to make cookies with the kids and then share them with the neighbors. The kids wanted to make sure we will keep some also and we reassured them not to worry!

It is fun to be generous- and it is hard. I wish I didn't sometimes second guess my giving. We are adopting a family at work for Christmas and I debated over myself for far too long on how much of a gift card I would give the Dad to the place he requested today. That is not a generous heart (luckily Jimmy was there and said to get the higher amount I was debating about). Why do I question, when I know I have so much? I hope this advent that we can grow our faith in giving and really trust in God that he will meet our needs.

1st Thursday in Advent: Give someone a hug

Feeling super tired tonight- this one doesn't need any explanation....Hug someone tomorrow! :o )

1st Wednesday in Advent: Be Nice to Someone You Don't Like

Give a compliment was pretty easy and felt nice to do throughout the day. Sarah Bess and Davis both gave the compliment to their friends "I like your shoes." This is the example that I had given them of a compliment, so they may need to practice this one some more.

 "Be nice to someone you don't like" feels much tougher. The kids think so also! Luckily, there are very few people that fall in the 'don't like' category for me and in my daily life rarely do I encounter anyone I don't like. Sarah Bess said, "But mom you like everyone- how will you do this?". Well, that's not quite true- something to strive towards, loving all.

But I told her that if I didn't see anyone I didn't like tomorrow, the best thing for me to do was pray for anyone that had hurt me in the past and pray for my heart to love everyone. So that's my prayer for tomorrow...and just because I'm nice to you tomorrow don't think it means I don't like you :o )

1st Tuesday in Advent: Give a Compliment

Today was awesome. I am so blessed with so many fabulous friends and loved being able to tell them thank you.
Celebrating Gabre's birthday made it even more special- telling friends thanks for their support over the past year. (I'll get a first birthday post up soon as soon as I can get around to downloading some pictures-she had a great birthday!). We also got our tree up and started some decorating.

I also got to spend the day with my best friend. I am so blessed to have Jimmy Eskridge in my life and on this day of thankfulness of friends- I am so thankful for him.

The kids didn't have too much to say about today. They both told a friend thank you for being their friend, but neither wanted to share too much about it.

Tomorrow- give a compliment (or Many!)... and make it sincere!

1st Monday in Advent: Tell a Friend Thank You for their Friendship

Today we set out to "Smile at everyone", going in it seemed like an easy task and mostly it was. Often it is easier to smile at perfect strangers than our own families. There were a few times in driving home from Thanksgiving vacation with a screaming baby that we were challenged and Jimmy and I found ourselves giving forced smiles. Sarah Bess and Davis were quick to remind us to smile at others. Gabre tends to get smiles wherever we go so makes it so easy for us to smile back!

Tomorrow we will tell a friend thank you for their friendship. Sarah Bess had an interesting take on this and felt like it was something she doesn't need to say. "They already know that". I think it may be her avoiding feelings as she likes to do...so we'll see how it goes. She has her friend picked out. She wants to thank them for a specific action (inviting her to a birthday party).

I can't wait to thank dear friends for the blessings they have been in our lives this year!

Advent 2011: Smile at all you see today

Here we are two days post Thanksgiving and one day before Advent. We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the beach with Sudie, Papa Rob, Uncle Art, Aunt Georganna, Chris, Kelly, Drew, Nat, Uncle Ralph, and Kerry. We all have much to be thankful for this year.

As we gear up for Advent and what sometimes becomes the very busy Christmas season, I wanted to think of a way to keep in perspective for the kids what Advent is about. As we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus, that we focus on more than just presents, parties and food.

So I have stolen an idea I saw someone doing during advent last year. We are going to do an Act of Kindness Calendar for Advent. 

Want to join along with us? We'd love to hear how your family celebrates advent or if you participate in something like this. I plan to use the blog to share our experience and post what we are doing for each day.

Sunday November 27th, the first day of Advent: Smile at all you see today.

Luke 8.16: No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Hoping to shine the light of Christ this holiday season.

Home for Two Months!!

Gabre is doing great. She is really such an amazing blessing. Sarah Bess and Davis continue to love having a little sister and especially enjoy how she has livened up our dinner times (I didn't know that was possible!). Davis still calls her Meti about 95% of the time and she now responds to both names. The rest of us generally call her Gabre or Gabre Meti. Sarah Bess still likes to carry her all around the house (the desire to feed and change her has gone away).
Gabre is ON the move. She can crawl everywhere. Pull herself to stand, stand for a couple of seconds by herself and climb up the stairs. She is cruising some on furniture. Sarah Bess taught her how to 'do the bump bumps' down the stairs and she could spend hours doing that. She gets so proud of herself each time she is successful.
She has 6 teeth now! (in comparison to 0 teeth when we picked her up in September).
She still loves to dance and to clap. When anyone else is clapping, she claps along. She was so mesmerized last week when the national anthem was being sung before the UNC basketball game on the aircraft carrier. As soon as the guy stopped singing, she began to clap and smile.
She loves to do things that make us laugh and then keep doing them. There are so many of these and I keep trying to get some on video, but never do so successfully. I seem to always be too late with that! Her current one is doing this thing with her face that send Sarah Bess and Davis into hysterics which sends her into hysterics and then she does it again and again (this is a favorite at dinner time!).
I have gone back to work, which is harder some days than others. I miss her greatly. Jimmy is able to stay home with her most days which is an incredible blessing and our dear friend keeps her when Jimmy is cooking.

3 things that we have taught Gabre about being an Eskridge:
1. We love to dance around the house and spontaneous dance parties are the best.
2. We are always on the Go! She has had to adjust to her dislike of the carseat and to a regular nap time!
3. We LOVE to snuggle, and especially enjoy family time on the couch in a pile after dinner.

3 Things Gabre is teaching us:
1. Don't let a baby hang out too long without a diaper on- this can lead to trouble! (right, Jimmy!)
2. You don't really need that much sleep when you have such a sweet girl to snuggle with.
3. God is SO good!

                                                   First Boat Ride- at Smith Mountain Lake in October

                                                 Taken by my photographer sister, Sarah Bess

                                                          Gabre's Baptism, October 30, 2011

My thoughts: Mercy

 I have been wanting to start writing/blogging about things that aren't just the latest family update. I don't know why. I just keep getting this urge to write. Some people seem to blog and have mutiple topics/columns on the same blog and keep them seperate...but I don't know how to do that. So for now, I will start these posts with 'My Thoughts'.  That way- all of you just wanting to see pictures or a quick update of my cute children can skip reading.

Now that I have that out of the way....

MercyOver the past couple of weeks, the concept of Mercy has been frequently on my mind. It seems as though I am to be learning something about mercy. The topic keeps coming up.  I read an email devotional- the topic is mercy. A sermon- on grace and mercy. A reading from a daily scripture plan- on mercy. OK God, what are you wanting me to learn about Mercy?  So I started to pray and trying to read more.

I have learned, Mercy is hard. I FAIL daily at giving mercy to those I love most. God gives me mercy in every moment of my day. If I am to follow HARD after Him, I need to pray for the ability to freely give grace and mercy in my life.

Grace and Mercy- often said together, but not quite the same thing. I am sure many of you have heard as I have: "Grace is being given something you don't deserve. Mercy is witholding something you do deserve". Said differently: "Mercy is witholding justice, Grace is giving that same person freedom from judgement."

When I goolged the word "Mercy", the first hits are a TV show and a hospital, but the Bible tells me of a different Mercy.

If I say my  foot slips, your mercy will hold me up. Psalm 94:18

...But you don't obey the really important things: justice, mercy and faithfulness. Matthew 23:23

The more I think about mercy, the more I am amazed at God's love. He not only gives us grace and forgives us of our sins, he doesn't punish us for those sins.

He is teaching me there are so many little ways I neglect to show mercy.
   - when the dishes aren't put away after a long day
   - when a piece of furniture is drawn on by a 5 year old
   - when someone is too caught up in their daily struggle to show me compassion.

And sure, I might grant grace but only after punishment has been given. Yell at my children after they have disobeyed, and then forgive. Stomp around the kitchen cleaning up, and then forgive. Talk about how someone has wronged me to someone else, and then forgive. These are not acts of mercy. I am sure to give a punishment prior to forgiveness.

I also know that when I am not shown mercy...it hurts. I generally tend to respond to a lack of mercy with anger. Then a return of no mercy.  We can so hurt each other- a mean glance, a silent treatment, snapping at our children. Yes- we all mess up. But boy do we let each other have it when we do.

 And there are the bigger things. The things that can enslave our heads and hearts. The things that if we could give grace and mercy we would be libertated. I want to grant that mercy. I want to give grace when mercy isn't given to me. It is hard. I can not do it alone.

And so I pray,

Come into my darkness God. Heal me. Empower me. Transform me. Liberate me so I can help others seek God and be liberated.

God, help me grant mercy. Oh how hard it is to not only forgive, but to not 'punish' those that wrong us. Help me seek You when others are unable to grant mercy to me.

Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me.