5 Years

 

July 8th, 2007

The ride of a lifetime begins!

A few of our favorite memories from the past five years...

Honeymoon in Italy

Watching the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Sedona, AZ

Ringger Family Vacation to Outer Banks (twice)

Stealing a kiss on the "Maid of the Mist" during a Niagara Falls trip with friends

Sailing with Nate, April, and Cole

New York City

Enjoying time in Florida with Grandpa and Grandma Stoller

Skydiving in my hometown, Rittman, Ohio

Multiple trips to Phoenix to visit Mike, Angie, and kiddos

 Grand Canyon- what a view!

Missions trip to Haiti

Multiple trips to Chicago with family and friends

Enjoying the Riverwalk, San Antionio

Road Trip to Ashville, NC to see Biltmore Estate

Road Trip to Savannah, Beaufort, and Charleston

First time holding Josiah Yosen

The day we took custody of Josiah Yosen..."Gotcha Day"

While I was sorting through our pictures to find some highlights to post, it was so fun to be reminded of things that have happened that I can easily forget. Looking back, I was able to see our house transform, families grow, friends transition, and most of all, be reminded of God's faithfulness to Jon and I these past 5 years. We have been so blessed!

Happy Anniversary Jon! You are an AMAZING husband!

Place me like a seal over your heart,

    like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

    its jealousy unyielding as the grave.

It burns like blazing fire,

    like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;

    rivers cannot sweep it away.

If one were to give

    all the wealth of one’s house for love,

    it would be utterly scorned.

SOS 8: 6-7

Surreal

That's the only word I can use to describe these past couple weeks. It started with frantic packing and last minute arrangements, included another amazing trip to Ethiopia, and ended with over 30 hours of travel home with a little boy that has our hearts exploding with love.

I wanted to share in this post a few excerpts from an email I sent some close family and friends before we left. 

...Before we go any further, we want to express our thanksgiving for each prayer, word of encouragement, financial donation, and gift we have received. What a humbling experience this has been. We cannot say "thank you" enough.

Although most of you already know this, when we return home we plan to lay low for the first month, then evaluate how things are going, and progress accordingly. All nurturing activities such as feeding, changing, rocking, bathing will be performed by either Jon or I. If we are out in public, we will be the only ones holding him (unless we ask if you want to hold him), and will be the primary holders at home, although if you drop by (and we hope you do!) we will be fine with you loving on him...

I have so many pictures and memories that I can't wait to share from our trip... I'm hoping to post them soon. For now, I'll sign off with two shots from the day we got custody of Josiah.

Josiah Yosen Ringger

born: 6/6/11

The care center gave us this traditional Ethiopian outfit as a gift for Josiah.

Josiah enjoying some cake from his party.

CLEARED!

There has been so much rejoicing going on today, that I feel like I could burst. This morning, at the very early hour of 2 AM, I checked my email before heading off to work, because I had a sneaking suspicion that today was the day that God was giving us the gift of knowing that our case was cleared. I opened my account and saw the email and I ran to get Jon so we could read it together. Wow!  I left for work shaking with excitement (turns out, excitement works better than caffeine at 3 AM), and Jon went back to bed. Or so I thought. Around 4 AM I saw him walking in my unit with a bag of peanut M&M's for me. He was too excited to sleep. Can a girl get any more blessed?

The plan is for us to leave next Friday, June 22nd and return home July 1st. We plan to visit J's birthplace when we first arrive, then will come back to Addis Ababa for a Visa Interview on June 27th. The rest of the time will be spent in Addis Ababa.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

One

Never would I have imagined that for my first child's, first birthday, that we would be half a world away from each other. But as I've said before, life is an adventure. You can never be sure exactly how and where God will direct your life. Yesterday Jon surprised me with ice cream cake, and I was delighted when my good friend Vanessa dropped off a special birthday card from her little girl Eden.

Despite the fun surprises, as I head off for work, my arms feel especially empty today. As we await approval from the Embassy, if we pass, his first birthday party will happen, just a few months after the fact. As much as my heart aches today, I can't help but think of his birth mom and family, who will miss not only birthdays, but the big and small milestones of his life, and it brings tears. My heart goes out to the millions of children who never have the experience of celebrating birthdays with the love and support of family and friends. I pray that all of us continue to have our hearts open to caring for the vulnerable children in our world.

Road Trip

In mid-April, Jon and I went our last vacation as "just us." For those of you who are are looking for somewhere to travel, we highly recommend this trip to visit the "colonial sisters" Savannah (GA), Beaufort (SC), and Charleston (SC), especially if you love history.

We were planning on leaving early morning Thursday, April 12th, but I was too excited to sleep Wednesday evening so we ended up leaving around 10 PM and driving straight through to Savannah, arriving around lunch time. 

 

 First stop, the historic and beautiful Bonaventure Cemetery.

 

 

We stayed at the Marshall House, the oldest hotel in Savannah. 

It also served as a hospital for soldiers during the Civil War.

 River Street, Savannah

  

 

We had dinner at the River House. Our appetizer of

 low country shrimp with grits was the best part. Yum!

Savannah was built around sqaures...each uniquely beautiful and shaded by oak trees 

and hanging "Spanish" moss. Friday morning we enjoyed a trolley tour around historic Savannah, which was a great way to see the city. (In case anyone was wondering why Jon had a sticker on his shirt). Once you go through the tour they let you hop on and off at any site for free. 

Forsyth Park

Historic Savannah

It's amazing how the trees turned even a street into something so beautiful. Everywhere we turned we were captivated by the beauty of Savannah.

 

 We enjoyed lunch at the Olde Pink House

 

Delightful!

Friday afternoon we took off for Beaufort, South Carolina. Beaufort is considered one of the most beautiful and historic spots in America. 

 

 We stayed at the the Rhett House Inn, built in 1820  by the Rhett family who lived their until the Civil War (legend has it Gone with the Wind character Rhett was named after this prominent family). Beaufort was abandoned during the war so the Union occupied this town without a single shot. The Rhett House was a hospital for the Union during the Civil War.

 We took a bike ride through this small, romantic town,

amazed by the beautiful antebellum architecture.

 

 Can you say idyllic?

  Beaufort is also a coastal town

 

 We had dinner at Barbara Jeans and tried some southern comfort foods..fried chicken, squash casserole, crab cakes, etc. We were surprised to hear the vegetable of the day was macaroni. When we teased the waitress, she tried to compensate by saying macaroni was made from wheat. I didn't have the heart to tell her the wheat was actually a grain, not a vegetable:~)

 

 

Let the carb festival continue! 

Enjoying some Key Lime pie and Mississippi Mud pie 

 

Saturday morning we left Beaufort and stopped to see St Helena Island church ruins

We climbed the top of the lighthouse at Hunting Island.

 

 

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant who boasted to have the best "frogmore stew" in the south (low country broil). We also enjoyed some gumbo soup and fried calamari.

We ended up in Charleston Saturday afternoon in time to take a ferry over to visit Fort Sumter, where the civil war began. The Confederate flag is flying because it was the anniversary of when the Rebels took over the fort.

  

We spent the rest of Saturday evening taking in historic Charleston. Built on the waterfront, there were lots of huge, beautiful homes. We also walked through Battery Park and Charleston City Market.

 

Sunday morning we took a carriage tour through Charleston. A great way to learn about the history of the city and see the architecture. 

 

We ate lunch at the famous Hyman's Seafood. Enjoyed our last taste of the south...flounder, shrimp, collard greens, and she-crab soup.  

 

We spent Sunday afternoon at Boone Hall Plantation.

The famous drive. The picture doesn't do it justice. 

 

Finished out the day (and our vacation) listening to a presentation on "Gullah Culture."