From Ntcheu

We are finally here and in our new home. Once this is posted, we will
have only spent two nights there. In our last post, we mentioned that
we would be staying in Pastor Phiris home since ours was given away.

A man from Ncheu saw Thokazani, Pastor's wife, moving her kids back
into their old home. He told her that she could not, because it wasn't
safe for her children. She explained to him that we were coming and
they wanted to give us their home. The man asked, "what about the
house down the street? It is for rent." She told him that they had
inquired and the rent was too high for us to pay. He said, "I will
negotiate a good price so that you can move your family back into your
home." All that to say, we are now living in one of the nicest houses
in town. 3 bedrooms. 2 bathrooms. Walled and gated. Broken glass
around the top of the wall for extra protection.

Of course, it is not like an American home. It is concrete everything.
No hot water. (Might get fixed on Sunday.) Power goes out regularly.

Most of our days have been filled with survival. We managed to stock
our fridge with milk, eggs, juice, and some Coca-Cola Classic. We are
ready to get out of this mode and into the real work of preparing the
orphanage for more children. We did get to visit the facility today
and I was suprised at how much work there is left to be done. The team
that is here this week has a lot of work ahead of them.

The Photos:
The bus broke down on the way here. There is a picture of us stranded
on the side of the road. Today, our car ran out of gas on the side of
the road. Our driver got on the back of a bicycle to get more
"petrol." And, the Esther's House truck broke down in Lilongwe today
and left a few people stuck there until tomorrow. Seems to be normal.

Erin got to strap Addis on to her back today. Thokazani asked, "how
do you get anything done without your baby on your back?" He hates it,
but will be needing to get used to it.

Catherine finally got to hold the baby. She was in heaven. The baby
needs a bath, and we will be working out the details of a cleanliness
schedule over the coming weeks. The orphanage is so far away from any
large city, village mentality rules. Bathing is done infrequently
because water is so precious and difficult to acquire.

True Giving

After a very long and tiring two days of travel, we have finally
arrived in Malawi. When I say long, I mean the longest day ever.
Ever. Really, not anything longer. We got in this afternoon around
noon. After getting through the craziness of immigration, we loaded
up all 14 of our bags to head to our hotel. If it hadn't been for all
of the great people on the trip with us, we would have never made it.

Our car is quite suitable. It is an suv-ish sort of thing with teal
and pink racing stripes. I will send a picture when we have a chance.
Tonight we are staying in a hotel/guest house sort of place, and
tomorrow we move on to our home in Ntcheu.

There are a few things I am having to let go of:
1) Kids Naps: Probably won't happen very regularly
2) Detailed Schedule: for an OCD like me, that one is tough
3) Cleanliness: My kids played on a playground tonight that was not
covered in nice wood chips. Instead, it was dusty red clay. They were
covered in dirt. The bath water proved it. Having to let go.

Now, the lesson of the day:
We had a home lined up in Ntcheu for our family to rent during our
stay in Malawi. We found out this morning that the owner decided to
rent it to someone else. When the local baptist pastor in Ntcheu,
Pastor Phiri, discovered that we would not have a place to stay, he
moved his entire family (8 kids) out of their very new, very nice
home. They will be staying in their old home, about 800 square feet of
concrete with 2 bedrooms, during the duration of our stay. They
wouldn't have it any other way. They were honored for us to be able to
stay at their home. God had blessed them with it, so they want to
bless us.

They are teaching us what it means to really give.

Half Way

Everyone did great on the first two airplanes. The kids slept through
most of the long flight. Erin had Sophie and I had addis, so neither
one of us really got to sleep much. Addis was in my arms most of the
night.

As much as we moaned about the flight schedule, it turned out pretty
convenient to have a long layover here in London. We are hanging out
at a hotel and the kids are coloring and will soon be in the tub.

We plan on enjoying a good lunch then napping this afternoon. We fly
out at 8 pm London time. Two more flights and we are there!

Thank you for all of the comments and encouraging emails. They mean a
lot to us. Continue to pray for our travel. It has been very evident
that we were covered in prayer through the first part of our journey.
Don't stop now.

Next stop, Africa.

The Final Morning

We enjoyed our last decent shower, drank water out of the faucet, and shaved with hot water. It will be a while before we are able to do these things again, so we are enjoying the ordinary things we take for granted.

The kids are more than excited. They are jumping around talking about Africa and babies and playing in the mud. I think they are most excited about getting on the airplane. 42 hours later, I don't think they will be as pumped up.

To all of our friends and family, we love you and will see you again soon.

I am sure before the day is over, there will be another update. And, while we are away, there will be many more. This update is to say, we love you and will miss you.

Drawing Near

We are only a few days away from the start of our crazy adventure. We have all but three of our bags packed and it looks like we might be able to make it all fit. Mostly, we are loaded down with food.

Now, there is now way we could ever take enough food for our entire trip. However, it will be nice if twice a week we can have something that at least resembles American food.

Most days, it will be chicken and rice. And no, you can't buy frozen chicken in Ncheu, Malawi. It will be of the live variety. When my sweet Catherine discovers that "chicky" from the yard is now on the table, there will be a major meltdown. Hopefully, we can shelter her from ever figuring that out.

And before we go, a funny picture of Sophia to send you on your way. She dressed herself this day, and shockingly enough, Erin let her leave the house. Dirty shirt and all. Notice, she NEVER gets the shoes on the right feet. That one is going to be a fireball in Africa!

Crazy Town

Getting a family of 6 ready to leave the country for two months is harder than anyone thought. Besides packing 12 suitcases at no more than 50 lbs. to avoid getting robbed at the ticket counter by greedy airlines, there is all of the other stuff.

Bills have to be set up on auto draft, mail has to be held, grass has to be mowed, stuff can't get stolen, etc. The list seems to continue to grow. Every time we check off one thing, we add three more. It is a good thing Erin is a list maker, or we might make it there without the essentials.

On top of all of that is the fact that we still haven't seen a picture of the vehicle we have rented for the duration of our stay. I asked for a picture. All I got in response was "It will be suitable for seven people with room to carry all of your laggages." No, I did not misspell laggages. It is a direct quote from the email. Suitable sounds adventurous.

And then the flight schedule. It is poor. No, it is wretched. The worst one ever. Twelve hour layover in London. 8 am to 8 pm. 42 total hours of traveling. Then, 4-6 hour drive to our home once we arrive in Malawi.

So, to some it all up. Crazy town.

Now, for the pictures. Here are some of our favorites from our recent family photo shoot.

This job might kill us

This weekend, a one day old baby boy was brought to Esther's House Orphanage. His mother died in childbirth delivering twins. His twin sister passed away at birth also.


When I see pictures like this, it makes me wonder why. Why are some kids born in a world with excellent health care while others are not? The lack of fairness kills me.

And then to think that we will care for this baby boy for two months, then leave him in Malawi to be raised in the orphanage rips my heart out. Like I said, this job may kill us.

Bottom line is, he is our responsibility if we believe what the Bible says is true, whether we live in Malawi or in the comfort of the United States. Since Esther's House is brand new, there is no stockpile of formula or bottles or diapers. This is the first baby.

There is currently very little in the pantry, and it will be our job to fill it up during our two month stay. If you would like to contribute to Esther's House Orphanage, click the donate button on the left hand side of the page. 100% of your contribution will go to the orphanage to help the kids of Malawi.

For those of you that have already given, we want to say thank you. You are amazing and your gift will not be wasted. We will post regularly during our stay and update you on the items that are purchased with your gifts.

Moving to Africa

As if having four kids five and under isn’t adventurous enough, we will soon begin a new journey that will test us like never before. Our hearts have always been heavy for the orphaned children of Africa. This led our family to adopt Addis Zachary Yeabsera Kennedy this past year from the nation of Ethiopia. Yet, the burden did not go away. It only grew stronger, leading us to our next big adventure.

This August, we will move our family to the country of Malawi, Africa to become the interim directors of the recently opened Esther’s House Orphanage in the small town of Ncheu. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. With a population of 11 million people, one million children are orphans. The aids pandemic has reduced the life expectancy to 37 years. For two months we will immerse ourselves in the culture of the Malawian people.

While in country, we will work on completing the structure of Esther’s House, accept the first children, hire staff, and develop curriculum. Here is a picture of our home.


All along our journey, a television camera will document every moment. In fact, shooting has already begun, and much more will be shot before we even get on an airplane. At the end of our time in Africa, the footage will be edited into a reality television series to be aired in the Spring of 2010. It is our goal to produce a television program that will stir hearts and encourage the involvement of the television audience. We want to tell the story for those who can't speak up for themselves.

Thanks to the incredible vision of First Baptist Church of Springdale and The Church at Pinnacle Hills along with the support of Bigger Than Life Foundation, all of our travel, living, and production expenses are covered. This was a major investment in a project that we all believe has great potential.

We would love for you to be a part of this project. Since all of our expenses are covered, we are in the process of raising money that will go 100% to the orphans of Malawi. Due to the unexpected increase in construction costs, many projects at Esther’s House were left unfinished. The money you donate will go to purchase beds, cooking equipment, school uniforms and fees, furnishings, food, as well as cover the general operating expense of the orphanage.

It is our goal to raise $15,000 before we leave for Malawi on August 23rd. All gifts are tax deductible.

Just click the yellow donate button on the left hand side of the page and enter a donation of any amount. Again, all gifts are tax deductible.

While donations are important, the most valuable thing you can contribute is prayer. It is is our first line of defense against any hardship that may come our way. There will no doubt be tough times during our stay, and your prayer and encouragement will sustain us. 


Please pray specifically for:

• Safety in travel with four kids
• Protection from illness
• Favor with local authorities
• The children of Esther’s House
• The success of the television program

In conjunction with donations, we have also created a line of T-shirts that can be purchased online. All of the proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go to Esther’s House orphanage.

And to the blog world. Please consider posting about our project or putting the t-shirt information on your blog. We know the strength of this community and the impact that you can make.

Here is a picture of the first two children that were recently brought to Esther's House. They are 5-year-old twin boys.

A New T-Shirt Design

I created a new T-Shirt design this week for Esther's House Orphanage. It is in Malawi Africa, a country with over 1 million orphaned children. All of the profits from the shirt go to Esther's House. Buy yours here and pass it along to your friends.

Sophia turns 3

Here she is, sporting her birthday presents.

First T-Ball Game

We had our first T-Ball game yesterday. It was crazy hot, but Easton really seemed to dig it. He played catcher, which in T-Ball, means you get to stand closest to the dugout while you kick the dirt around. He is the smallest dude on the team, but he makes up for it with his attitude.

He was also last in the batting order, so that meant all the other team had to do to get him out was put the ball on the tee. That didn't stop him from running all the bases EVERY time he got up to bat though. Rarely was there any one left on the field when he crossed home plate. Three illegitimate in-the-park home runs makes a dad proud. He had the biggest smile every time he came home, which made sitting in the sun worth it.



Here he is coming into home. Notice that no one is left in the field and the ball is sitting squarely on the tee. He ran hard all the way to the end.

And... the smile.

Court Finally

We finally got on the ball and got the final documentation for Addis today. Well, mostly all of it. We still have to wait on a birth certificate and social security number, but we are very close. I freaked everyone out on Facebook by saying that we had to "readopt" Addis. It has a much more technical term, but I didn't feel like sending out all the details with twitter. You only get 140 characters.

To be honest, we waited this long because we had no clue what we were supposed to do. If you don't live in Texas, Gladney doesn't have much for you. We found a great adoption lawyer in town for all of you NWA families that are in process. His name is Keith Morrison, and he was very helpful and has five adopted kids himself, so he knows the process first hand.

Here are all the kids waiting patiently in the hallway before our appointment.


Keith took Addis back to see Judge Mashburn first. Thankfully, Addis has never met a stranger so he was happy to go along.


Judge Mashburn has a picture with every adoptive family he has ever been able to approve in his career. He was a great man and was proud to be a part of our story.



As of today, he is officially Addis Zachary Yeabsera Kennedy.
(This morning, he was legally Yeabsera Zachary Kennedy.)

Pictures, pictures, pictures!!!

Ok, so my husband is completely annoyed with me for this post. I wanted to catch everyone up with pictures and in his opinion I picked a few too many for one post. I decided I like to look at other peoples pictures more than I like to read stuff so maybe you all will agree with me and enjoy the pictures! (This is for you Mo!)

This is Catherine's dance recital...She was so excited everyone came to watch her.



This is part of our trip to Hot Springs...

Can you believe my kids jump off of this? Sophie did it last year before she was even 2!





Rainy day...


Easton started T-ball and LOVES it!


This is swim lessons week. I love that our kids love the water!

For any of you who have read our blog before you have seen the Kennedy family water slide. They have so much fun on this thing!

I loved this picture...

And of course this one...

Waterslide Fun