Greenup Family Blog

A surprise Birthday Party!

2009-11-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Mom was really surprised for her 60th Birthday. Dad arranged for us all to meet at Anthony's for a Sunday Brunch.
Julie and I comparing our belly's

A girls pic

Thanks Dan and Sue and Gary and Izzi for coming all the way to Spokane for the surprise. We all had a lot of fun!

The World's Children

2009-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

This photoblog shows pictures of just a few of the world's impoverished children. CLICK HERE.

(HT: Challies.com)

How 'Where's Waldo' can help me understand the Bible

2009-11-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

My 3 year old son loves books & more specifically, ‘Where’s Waldo?’. He loves observing, searching, & looking for Waldo as if he was Sherlock Holmes in search of the missing clue to solve a mystery. There are countless people, doing countless things, with countless things occurring on each page. Ezra tells me, ‘Daddy, look. That man is throwing a baseball [not just a ball], she is holding a green purse [not just a purse], the boy is crying because he got hit [not just crying]. He observes with intense detail.

As a book lover myself, I am overjoyed in Ezra’s love for books. Yet, after reading “Agassiz and the Fish” I realized that my son observes Where’s Waldo? with greater inquiry, depth, and intensity than I often do when I open the very Word of God in search of His illumination, understanding, and God-given insight for the good of my soul.

At 3 years old, Ezra is learning how to observe pictures & words and eventually sentences, which are within in paragraphs with are in complete letters which fit into the whole of Scripture. I am grateful and exhorted with this privilege to help him learn to observe, read, and understand the Bible in the God-wrought hope that he would, by the grace of God, comprehend and have illumination of the ‘sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’ (2 Tim. 3:15).

What a privilege to have the Scriptures, and may I chew upon, dig into and study the Scriptures as my 3 year old son does with Where’s Waldo?!

Fall photos & Costumes

2009-10-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

Heidi took the kids to a fall festival party tonight. They gave the kids some cupcakes and lots of candy. Here is a pic of Olivia sharing her cupcake with Ezra once they got back home. Oh yea, she ate all of the frosting off and then wanted to share the cupcake with Ezra.

We picked up lots of leaves today. I put Ezra and Olivia in the garbage cans to help smash 'em down. They had lots of fun...Ezra thought he was Oscar the Grouch. (The house we recently moved into is in the background).

Ezra the Pumpkin and Olivia the Clown. They loved dressing up and having some fun together.

Smashing leaves down for daddy

Oh my the kids were so excited when they figured out if they worked together they could give mommy a ride in their wagon!!! Mommy was pretty excited about it also!

Need I say anything about this.

She absolutely loves her bath time

Ear to ear smiles!!!

A trip away from the chaos

2009-10-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

So a few days after moving into our new house we decided to get away from the chaos and make a trip over to Bothel to visit Nick and Julie's new place. (And to celebrate Heidi and Julie's birthday since they're so close together) We had a great time relaxing, catching up, seeing where Nick works as the new manager, and visiting Canyon Hills Community Church with them. We actually stayed with a Sawatzky family friend, Jeanne Ryan, because she had more room to house us. It's funny because Saturday we all took naps and watched college football. We didn't go out and visit any place, we just kicked back and relaxed indoors. It was just what we needed after having to pack up and move with one weeks notice. By the way, thanks to all the people who graciously helped us move!
Heidi and Julie with Jeanne. She used to babysit the girls when they were little and is now like another sister. We love you Jeanne!
Pictures of the new house to come soon. . . . . . . . . . .

'Do Lord, O Do Lord, O do remember Me'

2009-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ezra loves the sound 'Do Lord'. He was putting on a little concert for us. Sometimes he sings is very softly and it sounds great...and then other times he kind of 'screams' it...this is one of those screaming times. It is really fun to watch him like to sing so much!

Modern Day Foot-Washing

2009-09-04T20:42:00.001-07:00

Ethiopian Orphan Video

2009-08-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

2 years ago today & a prayer for our son

2009-08-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

2 years ago today was the day we first met our son, Ezra.

This was one of the first pictures we received from our adoption agency in December of 2006. Ezra was about 3 months old when this picture was taken.

Our first chance to hold our son
Tearful thankfulness of the Lord's goodness to us

Back at our hotel, Ezra was fast asleep and we were staring at him wondering, 'Is he always going to sleep like this? Is he always going to be this calm? What is his personality going to be like?' (2 years later: No, he will rarely sleep like this, he is rarely calm and he has a lively personality)

Heidi holding Ezra after he had woken up from his first nap with us.

Ezra first experience with Heidi's baked french toast

Ezra loves the sprinkler

Ezra's penetrating eyes

Ezra and Olivia during Christmas time in 2008.

This is a good picture that sums up Ezra's personality on most days.

A Prayer for our son:

2 years ago today the Lord graciously blessed us and placed you 'Abera' into our family. We renamed you Ezra and kept Abera (Amharic meaning for Abera: Lightning, and/or Shining) as your middle name. We named you Ezra because it is our prayer that you be a man of God who studies the Word of God, obeys the Word of God and teaches the Word of God in your pursuit of God. Ezra in the Old Testament was blessed by a close walk with the Living God of the Universe because 'the good hand of His God was on him'. (Ezra 7:9).

Ezra, our prayer for you is that you would become a man 'who is humble, contrite of spirit, and trembles at the Word of God.' (Is. 66:2) For, God will look upon you with favor and will reveal Himself to you if you cry out to God for humility, contriteness of spirit and an awe of the Word of God. We pray that you would be a man of God who flee's the tempations of this world and a man who delights in God Himself. God has given you an electrifying personality, a winsome smile, a vigor for life unmatched by but a few (your sister rivaling you in this area :) ). May the Lord bless you, keep you, and cause His face to shine upon you. May the Spirit of God dwell within you from a young age, even as the Spirit dwelt in John the Baptist from the womb. May you be drawn to Christ and may your life be spent living for, breathing for, and dying for our Great Redeemer Jesus.

2 years ago today was the beginning of our journey together. We pray you would be a boy and soon a man 'of whom the world is not worthy' (Heb. 11:38), a man who 'risks his life for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts 15:26), a man 'who turns the world upside down' (Acts 17:6) because of your undying alligence to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our Savior Jesus. We are humbled God has made your our son and we pray we would be daily examples of treasuring Christ and living in a way that displays to you that Jesus is our highest joy, our greatest passion, our all-consuming zeal, and the purpose of why we live and die and that we would be able to look you in the eye and say, 'Ezra, follow us as we follow Christ.'

We love you, cherish you and are so thankful you are our son,

Dad and Mom

A little refreshment from the hot weather

2009-08-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Olivia grabbing for the camera
Popsicles for everyone! They were a "hot commodity" in 98 degree weather

Hmmmmmm. . . how does this work?! Every time the water turned off, she'd look around with her hands in the air asking who had done such a thing.

Ezra's getting more and more brave in the water. He's finally starting to catch up with his sister who is fearless.

A Rough Week for Olivia

2009-07-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday- Still getting over colds picked up on vacation

Monday- Found Olivia in crib time sucking on the blind string that pulls the drapes up. Noticed a metal piece missing from the tassle and haven't found it since. (I've checked every poopy diaper since and still no sign)

Tuesday- Olivia fell off Ezra's bed head-first. Thankfully, no broken bones. . . . yet.

Wednesday- Had to call poison control because I found Olivia feasting on a tub of Vasaline. Thankfully it's not poisonous, just causes vomiting or diarrhea because it's so greasy.

Thursday- Olivia fell down 3 stairs and ripped the gum part between her two front teeth. Lots of gushing blood:( Poor thing!

Friday- Fell off the tricycle at nanna's house today. Found by mom on her back still clinging to the bike handles up-side-down with bike on top.

Needless to say I'm I little worried about what will happen tomorrow, much less in the next 5 years. But if she makes it alive that long and perhaps without a broken bone, I'll be pleasantly surpised and know she must have a guardian angel. (Did I mention that her mom had 3 broken arms by the time she was ten?)

Please Lord, protect this family

Family 'Vacation' and more news...(Heidi is pregnant)

2009-07-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since we posted, but we were suprised by the Lord a few weeks ago to find out that Heidi is pregnant! We were very shocked at first, but equally excited and in awe of God's plans and His workings. We talked to our adoption agency and they told us that we are going to indeed have to put the adoption on hold until after the birth of the baby. We were initially discouraged that our adoption from Ethiopia is going to have to go on hold, but we know the Lord is infinitely wise and His ways are always best. Below are some pictures from some of our time spent up at Loon Lake with extended family. Papa Greenup was able to rent a cabin and was gracious enough extend to us the opportunity to join them up at the lake.
Heidi's due date is: January 20th (or somewhere close to that date).

Woodland Park Zoo & Visiting relatives

2009-06-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a quick trip to the west side of WA and visited with some family and friends and visited the Zoo. The kids did great and loved seeing the animals...though most of them were lifeless because we got there right after lunch.

The kids loved having 'Uncle' Greg push them around in the wheel-barrow.

These next two pictures were taken 5 minutes after we left the zoo!

If you look closely at Ezra's hand...you'll see he is holding a sea shell he found earlier that day. He later dropped it on a tile floor and that was the end of that.

Greenup Family Prayer and Plea

2009-05-28T21:36:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt “fatherless” children into our family. We are adopting another child or children from Ethiopia sometime in the next 4 – 8 months!

You may be wondering what has prompted us to adopt again. Primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt that we want to obey Him, and we also desire to give an orphan child a family that he probably won’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for and adopted into Christian families – ultimately so they can become saved, and be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ! There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt, here are a few:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction… James 1:27

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will – Ephesians 1:5

The facts are staggering how many children are orphaned each day- we’re talking thousands! 43,000 children become orphans each day & nearly 11 million children die each year before their 5th birthday. Ezra Abera has been a joy to have as our child and we are wanting to live a life of faith and extend our home to more children who are in such desperate, life-threatening situations.

The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. Thankfully we serve a Great and Mighty God who will supply everything we need to live the life of faith He calls us to. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be between $22,000 - $26,000- that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace $10,500 of the total $22,000 to $26,000 has already been used to start this long journey of international adoption.

Honestly, it is difficult (because of our pride), to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us, but we also know it’s very biblical to do so. We appreciate your love and friendship very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us by taking part in this adoption. There are two ways you can help:

1. Prayer – Please pray God would continue to encourage and exhort our hearts to live a life of faith and to be risk-takers for the glory of God. Also, please pray for our hearts to sacrificially love the child or children God graciously provides for us.

2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $11,500 - $16,500 in adoption expenses, to bring our child(ren) home from Ethiopia?

If you would like to be a part of God bringing our child(ren) to Himself through our family, you can send your tax-deductible donation to our adoption agency. Christian World Adoption is a trusted organization administering the funds on our behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received. If you want to learn more about the organization we are using in our adoption, please visit their website @ www.cwa.org .

1. Please make checks payable to: Christian World Foundation. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Greenup family Adoption” in the memo line of your check.
(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Christian World Foundation, which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

2. Mail checks to:
Christian World Foundation
Attn: Greenup family adoption
777 South Allen Road
Flat Rock, NC 28731

3. Online Donation: If you would prefer to give via the internet,
a. Click this link or type it into your browser https://www.cwa.org/DonationForm.aspx
b. Fill out ‘Donor Information’ Section
c. Under the ‘Specify Donation’ drop down menu, select ‘General Fund’
d. Next, under the ‘optional’ menu, select ‘CWA family’ and input the information below

Dustin & Heidi Greenup
2827 W. Sanson
Spokane WA 99205

If you have any follow up questions, please don’t hesitate to call us, email us, facebook us, text us!!!

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return!

For the glory of Christ Jesus,

Dustin, Heidi, Ezra and Olivia

Watoto Children's Choir

2009-05-25T08:08:00.001-07:00

This past weekend our church hosted the Watoto Children's choir for a concert on Saturday night and Sunday morning at church. Both sides of our parents the privilege to host some of the choir members for a few nights. Yesterday, we went over to the Sawatzky's for a BBQ and to get some time with some Ugandan believers. It was a true joy to hear how God is working in Uganda and was fun to spend some time with them. Check out their website to see if they are going to be doing a concert in your area. Their concert is very Christ-centered and very African!!!

www.watoto.com

Auntie Linda, Uncle Alex, Ian & Dovin

Dovin loved playing with Olivia...and Olivia quickly warmed up to him
Ian was very gracious and played with Ezra and kept him busy

Aunt Amy Visit

2009-05-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since we posted last. Amy, Heidi's sister, came and visited from Portland a few weeks ago. We had lots of fun showing her around...Manito Park, pictures with the kids, etc.

Ezra getting his first bite of a Domini's sandwich

Aunt Amy reading story to Olivia
Ezra with Aunt Julie & Aunt Amy

Ezra is very happy with his first the chance to wear his mama's sunglasses

The kiddo's with Aunt Amy again

Easter Updates

2009-04-24T18:46:00.001-07:00

Ezra loves Papa Watzky's hat
Caption:"You talking ta me?"

You'd think as a mom, I'd think twice about putting a baby in white clothes and then wear white myself.

Ezra was so excited he got to wear new clothes. Thanks Nana 'watzky" for the Easter outfits!

Olivia loves hats and found Nana's at her home after church.

This is Ezra with his cousins Jackson, Andrew, and Ethan. They got all snazzed up for Cousin Anna's wedding in Boise.

Olivia liked wearing her dress too

So another update for the adoption: We just about have all the paperwork done. We're waiting for our notaries to be authenticated by the Secretary of State and then we are sending the Dossier, along with a big fat check, to our adoption agency. We are leaping out in faith and trusting that God will provide for our everyday needs. Thanks to all of you who've been praying. We can really tell and we've already seen glimpses of God's provision for us. We have sent two grant applications in so we'll just wait to hear back from them and we have yet to do two more in the next couple of weeks. For anyone who wants to give towards the adoption, you'll be able to get a tax deduction when you send it to 'Lifesong. ' If you have questions, just ask. Thanks again and we covet your prayers in the days to come.

Adoption Update

2009-03-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we updated everyone about the status of our adoption. So we thought we'd do a little update.

* We received our home study and are approved to adopt 1 or 2 children

* We filed our paperwork (and $$$) with USCIS (US immigration) to give us the approval to adopt. We have scheduled appointment to get fingerprinted in mid-April.

* We are on the last few steps of our filling out our dossier (set of paperwork that is about 6 to 8 inches thick full of everything about our family, everything!) Once we have all of this compiled, we have to send it to our adoption agency to have it approved, then it goes to the Ethiopian Embassy in D.C., then Ethiopia to be translated, etc.)

* After all this is completed we are put on a list of people waiting for 'referral(s)' of a child or children.

We don't really know who read this blog regularly, but whether we know you extremely well or have never talked to you in our life, we would covet your prayers in the following ways.

1. For complete and utter dependence upon the Lord as He shows Himself faithful to us in this step of faith.

2. For our faith to be stretched (implicit requirement when seeking to adopt) and our love and affection for our Savior Jesus to grow and be our all-consuming passion.

3. The financial aspect of this adoption seems very daunting right now. We are currently in the process of applying for 4 different financial grants to help cover some of the initial cost of the adoption, but due to the economic times, all of the agencies have made statements that there are not a lot of funds to go around...but we're praying God would provide in miraculous ways!

Olivia turns 1 year old!

2009-03-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, March 19th, Olivia turned 1 year old. It is absolutely amazing how fast this year has gone. Long gone are the days where she just laid on her blanket and whimpered & coo'd. At one year old, she has been walking since 10 1/2 months and last week started running around the house. She is sheer joy and full of spunk and life. She climbs on chairs, stools and small tables. If we turn away from her for more than 2.5 seconds, she is either climbing up the stairs without us knowing, running around the table or learning how to balance on a stool.

Olivia is a fan of chocolate cupcakes

The characteristic smile she gets when she gets on her stool and balances on her own. She is not content to just sit on a stool/chair...she wants to stand on top of it.

Two happy cousins who enjoy their picture being taken.

Olivia happy she is about to chow down her chocolate cupcake.
All the cousins together picture: If you look in the mirror in the back ground, you'll see that I am trying to entertain the kids to make them smile and look forward. (I failed)

Ezra's Happy Birthday tackle hug for Olivia

Olivia and Ezra playing their form of American Gladiator.

We had lunch with Mark and Amy Baker this weekend and here is a picture of Claire and Olivia with me.

Snowy March Day

2009-03-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

Olivia didn't look too happy but she lightened up as I towed them around the block in the two inches of snow. Ezra is the typical big brother and kept throwing snow at her ,which perhaps is why she's looking at me like "How long do I have to put up with this?!"

Mommy and Olivia

This was me after I got the kids back inside and all their snowy clothes off. So much work for only 30 minutes of play!

Ezra was so excited to get to go out and play in the snow! He kept wanting to make a snow man and to help mommy shovel. He's quite the little 'helper' these days.

I have to admit, I'm a little bitter that we're getting snow in March but it sure was pretty and I'm thankful for a warm house. Everything is a gift from God and I often have to remind myself or I'll start complaining. (And at least it covers up all that dirtiness on the road!)

Ezra modeling daddy

2009-02-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

Below is a quick conversation that occurred between Ezra and Heidi after Dustin left for work yesterday morning. Ezra has started to pretend he was going to work like Daddy does each morning.

Ezra: 'Mama, I'm goin to work'

Heidi: 'Ok, Ezra. Have a good day. I love you'

Ezra: 'Love you. I need lunch'

Heidi: (Smiling) 'Ok Ezra, I'll get it for you.'

Ezra: 'See you later. Where my keys? Where my wallet?'

Heidi: Laugh, laugh, laugh

Every few days Ezra does something new that we realize we are doing. The picture with this post is of Ezra sitting down crossing his legs as he sits on the chair. He did this one day and we just laughed because we realize he watches us do this.

Heidi's 'Humbling Sports Story'

2009-02-13T13:36:00.001-08:00

Heidi's story posted today. Here is the LINK to read it.

The story begins, 'My most embarrassing moment...'

Enjoy!
Dustin

Heidi - The 'Humbling Sports Moment' contest winner

2009-02-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Sovereign Grace Ministries was running a contest for the most humbling sports moment and Heidi was one of the 10 winners. We don't know exactly when the actual story will be posted...but we'll keep you posted. It is well worth the 2 minutes it will take to read it when it gets posted.

Olivia is having fun walking

2009-02-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

Fun Superbowl Sledding Day!

2009-02-01T20:33:00.001-08:00

We spent the afternoon at Nana and Papa Greenups house and they have a great sledding hill (as long as you put your feet down so you wouldn't go into the river). These are some pictures of our experience. It was Ezra's first time with his Daddy and it surprised us all how fast you can get going, as seen on Dustin's face:)

Dustin and Ezra before the big plunge.
Nana Greenup and Connie Naresh went tandem. They ended up going down most of the hill backwards and on the way down Donna's boots and socks came off.

Dustin had to help Ezra go down by himself. Ezra has a very intense look on his face.

Yogi and Connie Naresh have a business called Mt. Spokane Adventures and we got to use their ATV's to pull us back up the hill. (Click on the link to find out more details.) It made for a fun ride up and many more trips down.

Ezra and Papa riding on the ATV

We eventually did go inside to watch the game, but were sad for the Cardinals. Oh well, good game!