One Year Anniversary!

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him."

1 Samuel 1:27

Today is the first anniversary of Elianna Ray Day! That's the day that this little beauty, born Betelihem Bekele...

became OUR little beauty, Elianna Ray!

Here we are with Almaz,

the (probably an angel in disguise) wonderful woman who runs Hannah's Hope Ethiopia.

Elianna means "my God has provided" in Hebrew. Our daughter is named for my grandmother (Elizabeth Anne Ortlund), me (Anna is my middle name) and for my precious granddaddy (Ray Ortlund, Sr.) who went Home to Jesus on July 22nd, just two weeks after we showed him her beautiful photo and shared with him that she would carry his name.

This year has been a year of beautiful miracles. We never would have imagined when the Lord planted the desire in our hearts for a child from Ethiopia what a journey it would be.

Thank You, Father, for Ray Ray! Thank You for carrying us through those first few months of adjustment which were so very much more trying than we expected them to be. Thank You for answering prayer after prayer for her health and development. Thank You for all the amazing milestones of the past year. Thank You for weaving us into a family. Thank You for the awareness of and compassion for the many desperate plights of Africans (AIDS, disease, famine, drought, poverty, oppression and war) and the desire to help that having an Ethiopian daughter has brought to our hearts and minds. Thank You for the immense joy she has added to our lives!

One year ago...

... and today!