She's Home!

We got home late last week with Gabriella Maria Rietema. It was a whirlwind trip to Guatemala including many hours biting our nails in the embassy and spending quetzals (Guatemalan currency) . But she is home at last. We love her personality (saucy, fun and sweet), her voice (kind of like a Spanish cartoon character) and her laugh. Here is one picture just after immigration and naturalization at LAX. I will upload more when I am on a faster computer. Thanks for praying her home!

Paid in Full

Yesterday morning I got up and was making coffee when I saw a receipt on the kitchen counter. The top of the receipt said "paid in full". It is the final notice that we have provided for all of Gabriella's lawyer and foster care expenses. Looking at it I teared up and two thoughts went through my mind.

1. I was amazed at all that has been given on her behalf. When all is said and done the total to bring her (not including Cristian) will be over $35,000. She has no idea how much she is loved by people who have not met her yet. We are so grateful for all you have done on her behalf.

2. The term "paid in full" was what Jesus said on the cross when he said "it is finished". Our sins and shame were paid in full by Christ's life, death and resurrection. In the same way that Gabriella cannot fathom what was done on her behalf, neither can we fathom what has been done on our behalf in Christ's sacrifice. In many ways walking with Jesus is a lifetime of Him revealing his love for us. I assume that Gabriella's heart will slowly open to our love as ours does to Jesus'

Anyway...We got great news a week ago...We leave in in about 20 days to pick her up! We are assembling travel plans and buying small girls clothing to take with us. Erika is in her heyday picking out summer clothing! We will not be picking up Cristian at this time but hope to in the next few weeks. (We could travel to Central America 2 times in a month). We are scared and excited and really nervous.Thanks for your prayers. We will post more information as we get it!

Thanks again,
Ethan and Erika

This mornin

Deep Sadness

This is the letter we thought we would never write. Erika and I, after months of prayer and reflection, have decided to leave staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. We sensed the Lord beginning to lead us in this way starting in November.
When we took our new positions to give direction and leadership to the ministry at a national level we trusted that he would provide for us. Yet as we have pursued additional funding to move and to live in Orlando we have actually gone backwards in our monthly support. At the same time, I sensed that my heart was not “into” the support raising aspect of our job as it had been in the past. We have always told students that financial support was the final proof of God’s calling to ministry. For 12 years we have been fully funded and yet in this last year we have seen God remove significant amounts of our support. This is where we are seeing his hand. As sad as were are to leave the family of CCC and close the door on years of amazing ministry experiences, we are equally as excited about this new season of life that God has for our family.
Most importantly, we are extremely grateful for all that you have given and for your prayers in the past 12 years! We know that many of you have given to us at great cost and we also know that God has used your prayers and finances in amazing ways. We saw thousands come to Christ in Mississippi, Colorado, China and Mexico. We brought the Gospel to South America, Asia and countless beaches in America. In time, when Christ returns, we look forward to introducing you face to face to those whom you have impacted for eternity.

What now? We will continue with CCC into March. After that I will be selling mattresses with a friend in Denver and slowly working toward a seminary degree. We also plan on moving to Denver to be closer to friends and family. Our blog will detail information as our life unfolds with mattresses and the adoptions.

We would like to ask you to continue to give through March and if possible, through May. We are given a few months severance pay with Campus Crusade if there is money in our account. If you would be willing to give through May it would greatly help our transition, but if you desire to give through March, we completely understand. Regardless we are eternally grateful for you and trust that you know that we love you deeply. I will post detailed instructions on our blog regarding stopping electronic and Credit Card giving.
We would love any thoughts or questions you may have...email or call!
We love you,

Ethan and Erika

New Government

At the first of the year Guatemala changed the way that they will handle adoptions in the future. Any children who are in "PGN" (the Attorney General's office) will be processed under the old system. Any children who are in the system but not in PGN will have to wait until after the new system for adoption is created and then their adoption will follow the Hague Treaty standards (current international standards for adoption).

As it turns out we thought that both Gabriella and Christian were in PGN, which they were, but Christian's case was turned away because our embassy in Guatemala did not get them the paperwork they needed on time. As it stands now Christian will have to go through the new system while Gabriella will be processed under the old.

The Guatemalan government seems to be moving through the children who are in the old system pretty quickly. We are hopeful that we will have Gabriella sometime this Spring and Christian in the summer. We would ask for your prayers during this time for both of our children and what they must be going through. Thanks so much for joining with us and being patient with our updates!

We are getting our Children!

Thank you so much for praying! In the past week we found out that we are going to get our children! I know that many of you wrote letters and called your congressmen and we are so thankful for you.

As of now both Christian and Gabriella are in "PGN", this is the Attorney General's office in Guatemala. They can be there for anywhere from 1-5 months. In this stage of PGN they will go through all of our documents in detail to ensure the legality of what we are doing. It is not uncommon to get "kicked out" of PGN several times, but each time slows the process down considerably. Please pray that we move through with no mistakes, if this is the case we could have our children sometime early next year.

We are really excited about these new developments. and are hoping that we have the children soon. On the other hand, we are really tired and worn out from the process of adoption/moving and job change. Thanks for all that you do for us and the encouragement that you give!

Fall Retreats and Revelation

The first six weeks of a students first semester will determine the trajectory of their college experience. The people they meet, the clubs they get involved in and their experience with professors have a lasting impact beyond graduation. This is why we have fall retreats in every state; to help students set a priority of their relationship with Christ and other believers. Often this is the first experience that a student will have with Campus Crusade for Christ.

I had the privilege of speaking at 3 Fall retreats in the past 5 weeks. I spoke at the KU Fall retreat, the Kansas City/St.Louis Fall retreat and most recently at the UCLA fall retreat. At one retreat there were 20 students from Nepal in attendance. I was reminded of Revelation 5 and the world being represented at Jesus’ feet. It was humbling to think of bringing the Gospel of Jesus to Nepal’s future leaders! Thank you for investing in our ministry and the future of the nations.

New Pictures of the kids!

Just this morning we received new pictures of Gabriella and Cristian. We also received good news about where they are in the process. Please continue to pray that they are "processed quickly"