The Dudas Family Blog

Blessed family

2009-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm just thinking about how good Jesus Christ has been to Amanda, Elijah, and me.

Elijah is now 38 inches tall. We check his height on a height chart we got from Disneyworld. It tells what rides he can ride when he gets to a certain height. So he is only 2 inches from Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, I think Soarin' etc... We'll just have to see if it is something the Lord has for us?

The Lord has put it on our hearts to start considering adopting the end of next year again, or maybe the spring of 2011. Right now I think we are leaning towards a sister for Elijah. I think he is going to be a great brother. He might have his bad days now and then, but most of the time is very considerate and super caring. He will have so much fun with a sibling I believe. We'll see if the Lord puts Rwanda or Ethiopia on our hearts.

Just a quick blog on things I'm thinking of.

Dave

Great America!

2009-06-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my good friend, Lori invited Elijah and I to Six Flags Great America with her and Isabella for the day. We had so much fun and Elijah loved everything about it. Lord willing, we'll buy season tickets this weekend and be able to go again. He loved the Wiggles area... as you can see.

Anniversary Vacation!

2009-05-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

We took this past weekend and got away for a few nights down in the burbs of Chicago. We had so much fun. We went swimming every day, to the Brookfield Zoo, parks, picnics and most importantly, we all went to church together (being one of three employees for the church, I am usually the first to arrive and the last to leave the site we rent each Sunday). We had a wonderful time. Here are some photos of our trip. Most of them are from the dinosaur exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo. Elijah missed Dixie and asked for her each and every day (the dog). He even cried for her a few times! What a great time we had. Happy 6th wedding Anniversary to my wonderful husband who still amazes and surprises me more and more.

New Photos!

2009-05-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

I finally went to get Elijah's pictures taken a few weeks ago. He had been really difficult to take pictures of the last time I went and was not expecting things to go so well! Apparently, skittles is the key. :) I don't use them often for bribes but... I'm learning to use whatever works! Enjoy.

Praise the Lord God Almighty!

2009-05-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Elijah plays his guitar frequently in our house. One night, he came up with this little song he made up himself after attending church service with us a few times. It took me awhile but when I could finally make out what he was singing, I had to record it. Enjoy!

Fun Times!

2009-05-14T07:04:00.001-07:00

What have we been up to? We've gone to the zoo several times already with lot's of friends and Elijah's young love, Belle. :) We've also had fun at Mimi and Papa's house for an Easter Egg hunt, Dad's birthday celebration to the Titanic at the Museum and also to the War Memorial. We've celebrated lot's of birthday's and got out in the warm WI weather. We love spring! Enjoy the photos!

2009-03-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few quick video updates from Elijah. He is getting so big and learning more and more every day. We love watching him grow! I hope you do too. :)

Love, the Duda's

Surprise!

2009-03-04T07:25:00.001-08:00

Wow! David surprised Elijah and I on Sunday with an overnight trip to the local Holiday Inn Express with a really cool kid pool! I thought I would share some pictures from all the fun we had. Elijah's favorite part was going down this great big water slide. He also enjoyed kicking his feet and "swimming" (with mom's help) for the first time! We laughed and giggled and had all kinds of fun. Thank you David for a great surprise trip! We loved it!

Boys, Boys, Boys!

2009-02-26T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated the birthday of our nephew, Gavin who turned 5! Here is picture of Peter (left) who is one month older than Elijah, Gavin, the birthday boy and my Elijah on the right. We had so much fun! I thought you would enjoy this photo. Lord help us in 3 years when these boys have energy to their potential! We love them...

And here is a picture of MY boys... David and Elijah. David surprised me last weekend by getting up with Elijah and taking him out to breakfast so mommy could sleep in. What a blessing it was to sleep past 8am! That was one of the best surprises ever. I love my boys. Here they are at the restaurant... I can only imagine the fun they had. :)

David fought with more kidney stones this week but came through surgery Monday very well. We are counting our blessings. Thank you for your prayers!!!

Happy Birthday Elijah!

2009-01-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

Well, we just finished all the celebrations for Elijah's second birthday. But if you ask him, he's "free", as in three. Where does he get that? I have no idea. But it's cute in any case.
Elijah woke up on January 7th to his mommy and daddy singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He was wide eyed and gave us big hugs right from his crib. As he walked his way down the hall and into the dining room, he squealed with excitement and said "balloons!!!" I had changed the house over Tuesday night after Elijah went to sleep from Christmas to Birthday, and boy was he surprised! It's amazing what a few balloons and Happy Birthday signs can do to a house. He had his favorite breakfast, a blueberry muffin and yogurt (which he calls "ga-go"). Then he got to spend the day with daddy. I made him his favorite dinner, Mac & Cheese, and he blew out the candle on his "happy cake". He's been asking for his happy cake ever since that day! David and I got him a soccer goal and basketball hoop (indoor friendly) and he was thrilled. He loves to kick a soccer ball around the house and I can't wait until we can actually play outside. It was a lovely day. I'll have to post some photos of it another time.
Today, I am posting this photo because these were the pj's Elijah was wearing last night for bed. He got them as a birthday present and he insisted on putting them on that night. As you can see, his cousin Nathan also has similar pj's he also wanted to wear this sam night. These two boys are so funny together. Anyway, this morning, I went to get him and found him in his birthday suite! He was so proud of himself. I am grateful he at least kept his diaper on. :) He looked up at me and when I asked him what happened, he told me "mommy, I'm nakey!" That little goof! I thought, well no kidding! Oh goodness.
Well, that's all for now. I've got to have some time to post more but thought I would fill you in on this for now. I love that boy and am overwhelmed with blessings by my family! God is good.
Love you all!

A really strong message about dying and living!!!

2008-12-30T08:20:00.000-08:00

This is a video clip about Tony Groves, a man who passed away this past year. He gives a beautiful account of how Jesus is everything. He was a member at Harvest Bible Chapel. Check it out. The video on the next post is his wife later in the year

A message of peace and trust in the Lord from Harvest Bible Chapel

2008-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Advent - Peace from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.
Here's a video from Harvest Bible Chapel about the Christmas Season. Michelle, the woman in the video, just lost her husband Tony. She talks about how the Lord gave her peace through it all. Check it out, it is really touching.

Elijah's Adoption is Finally Complete!

2008-12-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

"...and it is so."
The judge and Elijah swung the gavel and his adoption was complete on Tuesday, December 16th. We couldn't be more excited to have all the paperwork wrapped up and behind us. Elijah was always "ours" on a federal level, this court appointment makes it possible to obtain a state of WI birth certificate for Elijah with our names as birth parents on it. How exciting! This process has taken a lot longer than it normal. We will use a different local agency (NOT America World, they were wonderful!!) for our next adoption. However, that won't be for another year or so. :) We're enjoying every minute with Elijah, even as we approach the "trying twos".

These days, Elijah is testing every boarder physically and verbally. Discipline has been dealt out with tears in our eyes (mine and David's), clinging to the promise to "Train up a child in the way he should go... he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:3. I am really enjoying the encouragement from the Entrusted with a Child's Heart class I'm taking through church. What a blessing to be with other moms each week as we strive to be Godly parents.

Elijah is mostly a wonderful little guy. Some of the fun things he has said and done are mostly in the car. David and I will either be deep in thought or in light conversation when we hear coming from behind us "ELIJAAAAH!!" slight pause then "ELIJAAAAH DUUUUUDAAAAAAA!" Followed by "Dixie Duda", "Daddy Duda", "Mommy Duda". Or while holding on to his Pooh bear, we'll randomly hear him yell "NNNOOOOO! NNOOOOO Pooh, no bite me!!" Where does he get this stuff?? I have no idea. Pooh is then given a talking to with discipline. Oh my goodness.... what else will this little man come up with?

Christmas was wonderful. Elijah slept in (our gift) until 8A! That is short of a miracle for him. Then we gave him our gifts. Each year, we decided to give him (and children to come) three gifts on Christmas morning from us. This year, Elijah received a magna-doodle, a movie and a guitar (just like daddy's). Each were a hit! He's already done a few rounds of Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, his ABC's, and I'm pretty sure he's catching on to the tune of Jesus Loves Me. He also will randomly sing Hallelujah. I still can't decide which song he's singing. :)

We are praising God for Jamie's surgery (David's sister) going well earlier in the week and that she is already home! We're looking forward to having Jude this weekend, to give Jamie some much needed rest.

We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas. I pray each and everyone of you had a blessed Christmas!

This is what Daddy and Mommy have planned for Elijah's second b-day

2008-12-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

DisneyWorld was a BLAST!!!

2008-12-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back from our family trip to Walt Disney World. It was so much fun to go with our little guy to the House of Mouse. He got so much more than Amanda or I thought he would. I know he probably won't remember it, but Amanda and I will. He is obsessed with telling us how naughty pirate are. Also, he's still mad that at Donald Duck for stealing Mickey's Hat in "Mickey's Philharmagic" attraction at the Magic Kingdom. We rode lots of kiddie rides and had a blast. And the most amazing thing was that I rode the tea cups with my son. I said I would never ride them. But you do crazy things for the ones you love. It was a great trip and we can't wait to, Lord willing, take him when he gets older. As with every family trip, it always has to come to an end. Back to the snow and cold of Wisconsin in winter. Praise God for the blessing of being able to go in the first-place.
So this is Elijah after telling Donald he was naughty for stealing Mickey's hat. Of course then Donald got a hug and kiss afterwards.
Here's Elijah hanging out with his buddy Mickey Mouse. Took three times for them to be really cool together. Elijah loves Mickey now.
These are a couple of ladies Elijah met in Animal Kingdom who are from South Africa. He seems to be a real ladie's man. Elijah was playing instruments and dancing with them for a LONG time...
Here are Peter and Bryony, our cousins from England. We got to hang out at Epcot one night together. Elijah had a great time walking around with them. Wish we could see them more often.
Here's Elijah and Daddy enjoying one of our many slushes together from the trip.
Mommy and Elijah riding the carousel together. He LOVES the carousel
Elijah after witnessing Donald steal the "hat" from Mickey. He seems to like the Donald merchandise though, hey?

Fall Festivities!

2008-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun at our Fall Fest at church as well as a fun family day together. Here are a few updated photos of our (not so little) boy!

We finally received our paperwork needed from our social worker to request a court date to finalize Elijah's adoption with the state of WI. I am so excited to be doing that today and hope we can get a court date quickly!

Well, it's one week from today and we are on our way to Disney World!

A day with Mommy at the Zoo

2008-11-13T07:01:00.001-08:00

Here's Elijah with his Mom at the Zoo. This kid LOVES carousels. Can't wait to see him in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom on one.

A Daddy's thoughts in the last year....

2008-10-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I am about a month and a half late on getting this out, but here's some things that a daddy has been reflecting on. I must admit that even though there have been trials in the past year, the one thing that has been a total joy from the Lord has been becoming a Dad. I don't think I ever truly realized how much I wanted to be a Daddy to a little one. From the moment Amanda and I received the picture, I have been just so joyful over being a Dad. We have been greatly blessed in having a child who is funny, goofy, silly, and completely a joy to be around. Have we had temper tantrums, not listening, etc., sure. But even those things are great as Elijah is learning to do those things less and less.

So here are the precious things about being a Daddy in no particular order(just a few, or I'd put pages up here).
1. Coming home from work to chants of Daddy, Daddy!!!
2. Group hugs with Mommy, Daddy, and Elijah and all of us giggling.
3. Alone time with my Elijah and realizing that until he can recognize who Christ is, I am to represent a Christ to him.
4. Going to the zoo and doing whatever Elijah wants. Even if every thing he likes the most costs extra money (carousel, zoo train, etc...)
5. Elijah snuggling on my chest and then lifting his head and we both get the hysterical giggles for about 10 minutes before bed. (Ask Amanda, it happens all the time)
6. Elijah praying with Amanda and I with his hands clasped, head down and a loud AMEN!!! at the end.
7. Elijah playing with all of his cousins and just loving other children.
8. Elijah bringing smiles and joy to people no matter where we go. We have met 100's of extra people since we brought him home. He seems to start conversations with everybody he meets.
9. Going in his room in the morning and hearing "HI, HI Daddy".
10. His ever and ongoing friendship with our dog Dixie. They are a couple of rascals together. He's always trying to sneak her food.
11. Elijah's love for his grandparents. He loves his Mimi, Papa, Grandma, and Grandpa. I pray that he is close with them always, as I was with my grandparents, whom I still miss terribly.
12. Elijah, Amanda and I just hanging out anywhere. Doesn't matter where, it's just fun to go as a family. Praise Jesus Christ for this family.
13. Elijah's soft-side, he gives everyone Jesus hugs and kisses. And many of you know what it means when Elijah is told to "be a gentleman". A kiss of the hand like a princess deserves.
14. Running around the backyard discovering the world with him. You forget all the simple joys of this life as rocks, bark, bugs, and flowers.
15. Just teaching him to read his Bible at an early age. I can't wait till he gets it, even though I don't want him to grow up too fast.

Needless, to say I could write 100 more things, but I have been just blown-away by what a great blessing being a parent is. I don't care how tired and crabby I am, I will always try to be a Christ-like figure to my son and wife. They bring me joy second only to the one who saved my soul, Jesus Christ my King and Savior.

Colossians 3:17 is my life verse:
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Thank you Jesus

Placed in Our Arms One Year Ago

2008-08-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone says how quickly time goes the older you get but I had no idea...

Just this morning I was thinking about where David and I were in our lives. I can't believe how much has changed. We met Elijah Abraham one year ago (yesterday) and was given to us (Gotcha Day) one year ago tomorrow. Is it weird that I still am not used to being a "MOM"? I mean, I know I am, and I love being a mom, but... I, me, am really a MOM? Some of the things David and I didn't expect as we became parents were: our early concerns about school (he's not even two yet!), the fact that our house will always be messy :) (that was more me, David couldn't care less), how much you can put yourself last on a priority list, the weird and now healthy foods you'll eat - just so your kid will eat them too, but mostly how much love we have for this little boy. Every day I love him more and more and every day I can't imagine being able to love him any more than I already do. I love it when I have to rock him to sleep. I love it when he gets up at night (I know... weird, right?) and I can calm him down and he feels safe with us. Let me also just say, to those of you who think I'm crazy, we didn't have any attachment issues or problems with Elijah adjusting to us. I told David we shouldn't have any more kids because the next one(s) will be a terror! :)
So everyone has been asking... when will we go back? Well, we're not sure. Although we have been talking about our second adoption since we picked up Elijah, we're still not ready to jump just yet. We're in the process of finalizing Elijah's adoption in the state of WI so that we can be issued a birth certificate from WI. We had our last post placement report with our social worker a few weeks ago and she believes we'll have our court appointment by October. In each state, there are different time lines you have. In WI, you have to wait until at least your second post placement report is done (six months after you're home) in order to even apply for a WI birth certificate. Our friends, the Cavitt's (in TX) were able to do this within a few months of being home with Abby. So we're just finishing all that up. We have a birth certificate from Ethiopia with our names on it and Elijah does "belong" to us, this process is so that when Elijah wants to go to work or get his drivers license, he won't have to jump through hoops and have problems with an Ethiopia birth certificate. Anyway, all that to say... we're just not ready yet.
David continues to take his classes from Moody Bible Institute through the mail. I am so proud of him, he has Aced every class he's taken and is doing so well with his school work. He also has taken a leadership role with the youth group at church. Harvest Bible Chapel-Milwaukee launched it's first service one year ago this month. David has taught the youth group form four kids now up to fifteen (and doing a great job of it).
I left my job with Towne in April and felt God calling me to be our Pastor's Assistant. The position is about one mile from our home, great hours, great flexibility and a great boss! I am able to now be home with Elijah on Monday's and have a few hours to myself on Friday afternoons. I love working at the church. I always tell David, it doesn't feel like I'm working but just able to help out more now. There's a lot of work to juggle, many new things I've never done before and lot's of humbling and growing I've done since I've started in April.
Elijah has been growing by leaps and bounds. I love watching his new mile stones each and every week it seems. He loves to sing, dance and make music. His favorite thing to do at the park is the swing. He doesn't watch a lot of TV so he doesn't really get into any characters. I have been getting the Backyardagains DVD's from the library and he likes the music on that. He loves the Muppets (go figure!). He loves his cousins and being able to see them as much as possible. He loves his dog, Dixie and will even say her name now once we're about two blocks away from home in the car. He is such an easy going kid. Some of the things he doesn't like are getting changed (clothes or a diaper), going to bed (what kid does?), hearing the word "no" and his time-outs. When we tell him to jump, he bends down, takes a deep breath and extends his legs as high and as hard as he can go. His toes never leave the ground. :) One day he will though. Until then, we laugh and laugh as he tries so hard, then claps for himself. No wonder I love this boy so much :)

The three of us love to go to the zoo, the park, out to eat or just for a walk. Elijah always grabs both of our hands and insists on us lifting him up every few feet as he yells "FFFRRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!!", as in one, two, three and then a lift up for him.

What a joy he is... For now, our family is complete!

Finally an update

2008-08-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

So we have the cutest kid in the world right? That is what everybody probably thinks about their children. Elijah has been the biggest blessing to Amanda and I. We have had one heck of a summer with our little guy. On July 17th, we had our one year anniversary of when we received our referral of our little guy. What a great reminder of how much Jesus Christ has done for the Duda family. The Lord continues to bless Amanda's position at the church. She is such a hard worker. And He is keeping me busy here at the city with all of our construction jobs just getting started up this week.

Elijah was just at the Dr. and he's in the 95-100% in height for his age. And about 55-60% for weight. So he's starting to get really tall and skinny. Though he does eat a ton most meals. I could use some of that metabolism myself. Elijah is saying about 30 words total. Most of it isn't really easy to decipher unless you are with him a lot. He is also throwing many tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Oh yay, Genesis 3 (man sinning and thereafter being born in it) has finally reached our son full blast. We are just praying that this season doesn't last too long. Also, he is getting his 2 year molars in as well.

He has taken an interest to sitting on the toilet, so that is really cool. How cool would it be to have a poddy-trained 1 year old? We'll see if his muscles have caught up to it yet. I think Amanda and I are going to get him a seat this week. Well here's some pics from the early summer. I'll try to get some videos of him being silly as that happens almost every day. Talk to ya soon

Elijah and his cousin Gavin in their Cadillac Escalade at Mimi's house

Elijah and his daddy learning to Hulahoop at the Milwaukee Zoo

Nice face, this is Elijah at Grandma and Grandpas

Elijah with his new cousin Polly. Grandma and Grandpa got a new puppy Pollyanna Bridget Duda. She is such a cute little dog. Elijah keeps calling her Dixie, as that is our dog's name.

Some new pics of Elijah going swimming

2008-03-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well, not a ton has been happening to the Duda family the last couple of weeks. We had been pretty much getting the plague about once a week between the three of us. Last weekend we decided to head down to Schaumburg, IL to go to Harvest Bible Chapel (where we had attended church for three years) and to stay overnight and go swimming. Elijah LOVES the water. This kid is just crazy about swimming and splashing as you probably can see in the pictures. He just giggled the whole time.

We are just all ready for some nice warm 50 degree days with some sun to dry everything out. Can't wait to plant our flowers, cut some grass (the first time or two at least) and just go for a nice walk. This has been about as long of a winter as we've had since I've been older in Wisconsin. We are at almost 90 inches of snow in this year. And we always get another snow in March and April.
Here's the pics

This kid was splashing chlorine in Daddy's face all morning

Elijah being cute in the water

Mamma and Elijah hanging out in the pool right before splashing Daddy

Okay, a total miscellaneous pic of Elijah with a lightsaber. This kid gets weird with a lightsaber, hopefully not the darkside taking over. He gets super whiny and cries forever if you take away the lightsaber. Luckily he only gets to see it when he's at his cousin Gavin's house.

A cute picture from Elijah's birthday

2008-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Mommy and son on his first b-day...

Okay, some wisdom we had to learn the hard way

2008-02-26T07:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we learned something the hard way the last couple of weeks. As many of you know, adoption isn't a cheap thing. We had to put some of the adoption on credit as we didn't have that much cash in-house. So we were super-excited to be able to file our tax return and pay most of that off. We talked to the person that is helping us prepare out taxes. I usually do them, but with the adoption I'd rather have someone help me with them. Our tax preparer asked for Elijah's social security #, ATIN# or ITIN # which is needed to claim the Adoption Tax Credit. Oops....Brutal, Amanda and I both completely forgot to get his SS# after we received Elijah's permanent residence card. So I went last week to the social security office and filed for his new SS#. Needless to say this will push back the tax return at least a month if not more. We found all the info on a packet we had received from our agency. With all the paperwork we had, it just got buried and we never read it. So, don't forget to file for a SS# after you get the permanent residence card.

Also something funny, when we were in Ethiopia, they gave Elijah the name Abereham David Duda as his name on some of the documents. The permanent residence card we have from the federal gov't has the same name on it. So that is how he will be filed until we complete re-adoption here in Wisconsin when we can change his name to what we use.

Elijah discovering our video camera for the first time...

2008-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well, Elijah was being silly on this riding fire engine thing he has. He was making goofy noises and whooping it up. Soon as I got the video camera it all stopped, as he decided to watch Daddy videoing him. I turned the view screen towards him so he could see himself...check it out...

Elijah bowling with Harvest Bible Chapel Milwaukee Dec. 29, 2007

2008-02-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

So Elijah came with on our bowling outing with our church on Dec. 29th 2007. He was getting pretty bored, so we got a nice 8lb ball and let him rip. We were both pretty excited as he knocked down a pin.

What a cheeser

His first time with a bowling ball, wish we had bumpers...

This is Daddy and Elijah waiting for the one pin to fall...Good job little guy...First pin down before he's one year old....

Elijah's First Christmas pics...

2008-02-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, sorry about the long wait...kept forgetting to bring the pics in so I could post them. We had a GREAT Christmas with the little guy. He got way too much stuff, more than he can even play with. I'll just throw a bunch of pics up with comments. I also have some 1st b-day pics which will be the next post.

Hey, move it, I'm trying to drive!!!

Okay Gavin, you play with that cool Transformer, I'll play with this wrapping paper bow.

Extreme Closeup!!!

Elijah loves baths, he usually eats the bubbles...yuk!!

This is the first day in his new roadster that Papa and Mimi got him..

I'm so beautiful I will kiss myself...*laugh*

Elijah always cracks himself up looking in mirrors...

Happy Thankgiving, a whole bunch of Elijah pics

2007-11-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally going to post a bunch of Elijah pics. I know I keep saying this, but we have the funniest little guy. He laughs at everything. That is such a huge blessing when you're kinda crabby or grumpy. I can't believe it's been 2 1/2 months since we've been home already. He is picking up so much new stuff every week. He can totally go from crawling to sitting up by himself now (last Thursday). He is starting to imitate things that we do. Amanda is working on teaching him some sign-language. Wish I had a sponge-like brain like him. Anyways, here are the pics...Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. Praise the Lord for everything you have, he always makes sure we have a meal to eat, shelter, and clothes on our back.
So here he is with one of his first crackers a couple of weeks ago. Before this everything was mushy food...mmmm...saltines

This is yesterday after the Packer game, Amanda took a pic of him upside down

This is before demolition of the tower...

His first look at a Christmas tree and lights, Amanda wanted it up early...

Another pic of his first Christmas tree experience

Elijah in mouse ears with his Buzz Lightyear phone...He was extremely tired by this time as you can see.

Here Elijah is feeding Dixie his cracker. Dixie is doing pretty good on Elijah's leavin's

Our friend Carla's kids, Zena (8 yo) and Fonose` (almost 10) who she adopted from Ethiopia. They came over Saturday night to hang-out with Elijah and us. They are so much fun and are great with Elijah. Amanda and I met the girls about 3 months after Carla adopted them and it was a huge reason we chose to adopt from Ethiopia.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, will post some fun video clips soon

Finally an update

2007-10-23T06:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I will really try hard to update this at least once a week from now on. Elijah Abraham has been the best child a parent could hope for. He is funny, silly, happy, and just makes me and others smile all the time. The Lord has gifted this child with bringing joy to those around him. I pray that he continues on this and that he grows up to know Jesus Christ as his Lord, Savior, and best friend.

Elijah learned to crawl last week. He has been frustrated because he couldn't get to different things in the room. Finally he started pushing hard with his legs and can now pretty quickly get to anything. He is eating ers now, regular applesauce, mashed bananas, and anything else we can get down him. This kid can chow-down on food. I have to pick-up a second and third job to pay for the food. *smile* Anyways, here's a pic of Elijah getting ready to go on a trip, though it might be a couple of years before we can go, Lord willing.

He's ready to meet Mickey

One of our first good family pics, Praise God for us being a family, still doesn't seem real sometimes.

Harvest Bible Chapel Franklin launches this Sunday the 23rd of September.

2007-09-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

I am so fired-up that this week our core group will be launching Harvest Bible Chapel in Franklin, WI. (southern Milwaukee county) The Lord has been so good to us who have been praying for this the last couple of years. He has caused so many loose ends to come together, and it's finally here. The service is at 9:00 at the Value cinemas on S. 27th St. just North of Rawson Ave. The website for the church is www.harvestfranklin.org, and Pastor Joe Martinez has some messages already on this website. Please come and worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth (John 4)with us this week or any week after.

by the grace and peace of our Mighty King and Lord Jesus Christ

Dave & Amanda

Some new pics from our trip to Addis...

2007-09-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

Elijah and Nathan playing together. His cousin Nathan just turned one in August so they will only be 4 months apart. Also my sister Jamie just gave birth to Jude, so the Duda family side will have three boys within a year of each other, Lord help us.

Daddy feeding Elijah at the airport, notice how he kicks back his legs and chills *smile*.

And with his Auntie Samantha on Wednesday.

This is Elijah with his Auntie Jill Tuesday after we got home.

Here are the Dudas and the Cavitts enjoying ice cream at the Hilton one of our last nights.

Here's Elijah in his stroller at the airport.

Here are just a couple of new pics of us from Addis...Just wanted to put something new up...*smile*. I am sooooo fired-up to not be working. I don't remember the last time I had more than 2 weeks off of work in my life. It has been crazy, but I am completely enjoying it.

Back in Milwaukee, and thankful for everything the Lord did for us

2007-09-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, sorry it's been so long since I did an update, my internet account at the Hilton ended on Saturday and it was kinda high for one last day. And on top of that we don't have internet at home. So I'm at Starbucks with a lemonade iced tea (pretty good) and doing the WiFi thing. We got through the flights with Elijah being a great little boy on the flights. This was the thing I prayed about the most. The Lord got us home, exhausted, back was killing, but Praise HIM for giving us a beautiful little son. The Word of God says "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS (emph added), I say it again Rejoice!!!" So we are no matter if we are tired, or hurting after our flight for the trials and blessings the Lord gave us on this trip.

We were majorly blessed by so many family and friends showing up and meeting us at the airport when we got in Monday afternoon. Thank you soooo much from all three of us for making us feel great after about 40 hours or so without sleep. About 5 minutes after we saw y'all I didn't remember the sore back or the lack of sleep. Please stop by and visit Elijah when you have a chance, (call first if ya can *laugh*). We are finally getting back on track. Amanda and I are still figuring out a schedule for the little guy, but Elijah has done great with his new home. He has done really well with our dog Dixie, a golden retriever, who I picked up last night. So praise the Lord for that as well. Any fears or doubts, etc...we really gave up to the Lord and He supplied all our needs as He promised He would in Scripture.

I can't believe what a blessing having Elijah in the house is. It is a completely different life, I just pray that Amanda and I can keep our marriage as a focus while taking care of little Elijah. That is by far going to be the hardest part of this journey. I know it will all work out for God's glory. On the plane on the way to Ethiopia, we got to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a man named Patrick on the plane ride. I just pray that he sees that his sin separates him for the Lord and that only through Jesus Christ, the Bible says, can he come to salvation. (John 14:6 ) Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."

Only through Jesus, no other way can anyone come to salvation. If you don't know Him, this is the most important decision in your life. I don't care if you don't like me for saying it, because I care more for your eternal soul to care about what someone thinks of me. It doesn't mean doing good, it means turning from your sins and praying to the Lord that you will live only for His glory for the rest of your life. Realizing that the Bible says, " All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God". It isn't through anything you do except accepting Jesus Christ's free gift, turning from your sins, and realizing only through his blood shed on the cross will you have eternal life with the Lord.

I will update this as I have time, but not daily now. I'll definitely put some new video up of Elijah, especially his first trip to the zoo. Talk to ya soon

Dave

Day 7 update from Addis

2007-09-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

Well, there have been some really interesting things happening here in Addis. Some I can go into, some I can't. We went out last night to a really fun restaurant that was part Art gallery part Italian restaurant. It was some of the best Italian food I've had in a long time. We have been so blessed by the places Girmachew has chosen for us to dine at. We are both getting sick of eating out, which I never thought I'd say that *smile*. I'm looking forward to getting home and having some sugar-free grape kool-aid. It's next to impossible to find a diet soda here and we've probably put down about 20 liters of water between us. I'm not complaining,but it is either sugar soda or water, as we want to be really careful what we drink here.

Elijah has been a little goofball the whole time. He is one of the greatest joys in our life, short of marriage to each other and of course our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He keeps tricking us pretending he is tired so he gets a bottle. Then after that he'll stay up and play for like 3 hours. So we are getting to figure out his little tricks *smile*. There are not many kids that smile as much as him though. When he gets in a good mood, which is almost all the time, he just laughs and giggles all the time.

We are off to dinner at an Ethiopian Family restaurant tonight, so I'm definitely going to get some hot (spicy) food. Might as well before we leave tomorrow night. Pray for us as we travel at 8:00 from Addis back to DC tomorrow night. It's about 6 PM here in Addis as I write this. We did get a bassinet that hangs from the wall of the plane for Elijah, so that is a huge relief. Otherwise he's on our lap for 15-16 hours. Will post new pics when we have time.

Elijah and Abby Jane Video

2007-09-01T01:37:00.001-07:00

This is at the restaurant the other night, they were playing with each other. Was really cute.

Day 6 swimming pics

2007-08-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pics of Elijah enjoying his first swim. He was so much fun in the pool. He kept giggling and laughing the whole time.

Day 6 in Addis, some new pics

2007-08-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

This is Elijah passed out today on the bed in his sweatsuit.

We have some happy pics of Elijah in his sweatsuit. He is a hotbox, always warm, just like his Daddy if you know me well *smile*. We are going down to the pool right now for the first swim as well, so hopefully he does good in there. Anyways, hope you enjoy the pics, pray hard for this country. Uh-oh he's up..gotta run...

A video of Elijah's first haircut (Day 5)

2007-08-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

Well, here is kinda the middle of Elijah's haircut...You probably need pretty fast internet or it will take forever to play.

Day 5 in Addis, sleeping in after a little bit of a long night

2007-08-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Elijah hangs with Mommy after getting his first haircut

Elijah passed out Wednesday night in his new stroller.

Okay, so we are getting near supper-time on the 30th of August, which is Amanda's 28th b-day today. Elijah and I decided to get her a massage at the spa at the hotel. So while she is there I will update you *smile*. Well, Elijah kept waking himself up a lot last night, at the doctor they found he has an ear infection. So he is on antibiotics, but he is so stuffed up he wakes himself up coughing and gurgling. I got up twice and rocked him back to sleep. Amanda got up with him a couple of times too and gave him a bottle twice. We woke up this morning and I was feeling WAY under the weather, we went to breakfast and came straight back. I had to lay down for a couple of hours. When I woke up I relieved Amanda and we finally got Elijah down for a nap. He is very stubborn, but we are finding out the tricks that work for him. About 2:20 or so he woke-up, I changed his diaper (A nice runny mess), fed him cereal and a bottle. Amanda did that a ton of that stuff the whole morning before I ever did, I don't want it to seem like I'm doing a lot of the work. We went to lunch, and then took Elijah to the salon to get his first haircut (pictures will be on this post) Maybe I will post a video of a little of it later as well. So that's it today, just hanging out, nothing exciting except our son looks completely different. I finally have some free time to get into the Bible for an hour so I'm looking forward to that. We miss everyone, and can't wait for you to see him when we get back.

Look who's talking now?

2007-08-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Elijah telling us what he thinks of the new room

Day 4 pics from Addis starring Elijah again!!!!

2007-08-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is him after a nice bath and getting clean with a new sleeper

It was a long day for Elijah, luckily he had the scrunchies in his hair to help him sleep.

Elijah and Mommy eating for the last time at the orphanage

This is Elijah and Daddy at the orphanage, the jean jacket is hiding his mischievous grin.

Okay, so my son has big hair, there might be some surprise pics tomorrow dealing with that..*smile*. He's sleeping in his baby cot (crib) right now and fast asleep. This kid can talk too, he never stops talking, Amanda says that he is too much like his Daddy.

Day 4, He's coming home with us today....Pictures on next post

2007-08-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's the scoop for today. It's Wednesday August 29th, 2007. I got up early and took a nice swim (I know everyone cares so much about that), we grabbed breakfast, and then met up with the Cavitt family and got on the road. We had to stop at the grocery store to pick up Ethiopian baby formula in cans (like 5 dollars US a can, not bad).

We then went to the orphanage and had a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony with Esther (I know I spelled it wrong), the woman who runs Kids Care orphanage. She is like the sweetest woman. She seems to have a strong faith in the Lord to provide for all her little ones she watches after. The coffee was very strong, it was only a small cup though, so I did chug it down. After that, we got to go get Elijah (the orphanage had named him Abereham, not the church we found out), who we called Abereham while at the orphanage, so as not to offend anyone. It's hard to say Elijah after calling him that for three days now *smile*. Anyways, I got to wake him up, Amanda took some more pics, you will love the hair in these pics. I won't even comment until I post them after dinner (takes a long time to upload pics here, Scott Himes, you were right on in that). Amanda got to feed him cereal (some rice type cereal) and our boy can crush food. He sucked down a bottle yesterday in no time, and ate his bowl of cereal like nothing. I told Amanda it might go faster if she could hand him the bowl so he could just tip it back and drink it.

Next thing, we had to say goodbye to the nannies and Esther (pronounced Astor) which was really hard. They have cared for him since he was found, so we really thanked them many zillions of times which will never be enough. We went to lunch at this restaurant called Blue Tops. Why Blue Tops you ask? Because the roof of the restaurant is blue. Pretty interesting hey? The kids are both very stuffy and have a hitch in their breathing. Abby Jane was coughing pretty rough as well. So Girmachew is having the girls (Amanda and Pam) take the kids to the doctor so they can get an antibiotic. We think (us doctors here) that they both have upper respiratory infections. We'll see what the doctors say. They are there right now and should be back in less than a half hour I'd guess.

So after lunch we went to the American Embassy for our consulate appts. (Side note: They have pictures here of our President, the VP, and the Sec. of State, Girmachew told me that they took down his picture today that was next to them so he doesn’t get mobbed *laugh*. He is hilarious.) This is to turn in our final paperwork to get a visa for Elijah to come home. And it is for the United States gov't to swear us in as saying we will be his parents etc... So he is ours for good now, Praise the Lord. I'm so fired-up to have a son, I just hope I do as good a job as my Mom and Dad did with me. The driving here has been really crazy, so I've had to take a couple breaks at the hotel to get rid of the motion sickness. But that is all the better for you so I can type up an update *smile*. I promise, if the internet works, that I will post some new pics of our little guy tonight. And I might be able to post a surprise pic. It will be today or tomorrow, we'll see. From Ethiopia, Dudas out!!!!!

Day 4, Elijah is officially ours today (He kinda was before, but now we get to keep him with us)

2007-08-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Day 3, no new pics yet, maybe later...smile

2007-08-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

We just got back from lunch and before that playing all day at the orphanage with the kids. It was sooo much fun. I wish we could get all of them and bring them home. Almost every one of them has a bad sinus infection and a runny nose. They got all fired-up when we brought out a couple of soccer balls. I blew up the punching balloons and that was a total hit. Especially with the two and three year olds wow. They were so cute, and they got to bring them inside when they had to go in and eat. It is so hard to see how little they have. I just pray that another family can adopt each of them quickly.

Elijah was smiley as usual. He is terrible at taking pictures though, I'll get him giggling and then Amanda pulls the camera out and he just makes a weird face. She puts it away and he starts laughing again. It's pretty funny. It's been really hard to leave him there, but we know that less than 24 hours and we bring him back to the hotel for good with us. It's so cool how we have such different cultures, finances, but the same King, the same Lord and Savior Jesus Christ no matter where in the world you are.

John 14:16 says:
I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Only through personal faith in Jesus will we ever have eternal life in paradise, all other ways lead to death and destruction.

I just pray Elijah comes to know Jesus as his savior at an early age.

by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ

Dave

More of Day 2 in Addis w/ new pics of Elijah Abraham

2007-08-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Mama and Elijah get some hangout time at the Doctor's office

Elijah with full belly means extreme happiness!!

This is when Daddy first met Elijah, he was like "who are you?"

We went to dinner tonight, did some shopping, hit the grocery store and grabbed dinner at the Elephant restaurant. WHEW...anyways, crazy day, but AWESOME!! The Lord has really blessed us with beautiful son. Can't wait till tomorrow when we get to hang-out at the orphanage and play soccer, and other fun games with the kids. Hopefully Elijah isn't too bumming that he's too little to play. Talk to ya tomorrow.

Day 2 in Addis, w/ the Duda Family starring Elijah Abraham our son

2007-08-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this could be in the top 2 or 3 days of my life so far. We got to go this morning to meet our little guy Elijah. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel, very good food, as good as anywhere in the states. Grabbed some gifts for the nannies and the orphanage director from our room, and we went to the orphanage. We got there and there were like 30 kids from 2 up to 8 that I saw. They were adorable and very shy. I said hello in Amharic and shook hands with them as they seemed a little overwhelmed with the 4 in the Cavitt family, and the two of us. The orphanage director came and met us right away. She is just the nicest person, and seems strong in her faith. She showed us around for a couple of minutes (so many kids). And right away she took us to the room where Abby Jane (Cavitt's little one) was. I'll let Pam put it up on her blog which is on the right side of this blog in the links. It brought Amanda and I to tears just the joy on their faces as they finally go to hold their little girl.

The next room was to see Elijah. We walked in and we knew right away who he was. We both completely lost it *smile* in a good way. Amanda picked him up and he was probably thinking what the heck is going on? The funny thing is I had him laughing and giggling right away. He is so easy to make laugh (Laurel, our America World rep was right on when she told us that). He is the most beautiful little child, I can't believe he is our son. I say that, but he is SOOOO our son. The Lord has him chosen for us for a long time, and it just feels so right as a family already. So we just walked around, gave the gifts to the nannies, who were just the sweetest women in the world. They kept giving Abby and Elijah kisses like crazy, as they thought we were taking them to the hotel today. We actually got to take them to their final doctors appointment.

So we drove to the clinic, and the kids were being adorable, and laughing and giggling. They both seem like they are used to being loved on. Praise the Lord for "Kid Care" (the orphanage) and the work of all the people there. Amanda took Elijah in by the Dr. (not a lot of room for me) and Elijah was happy, and loved being naked as they weighed him...*laugh* He weighs in at a little more than 8 kilograms which is about 17 lbs. This kid has huge hair, as you will see on the new pics soon. I am actually back at the hotel as Amanda and the Cavitts are grabbing lunch. Still feeling goofy from the flight yesterday. So I am going to take a nap for a little bit. We get to visit the orphanage tomorrow and play with the kids there, which will be so much fun. I will post our new pics when Amanda gets back with the camera, and maybe even a small video clip if it uploads quickly. See ya at the next post

Live from Addis, The Duda Family, Day One (plus travel)

2007-08-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's about 2:30 P.M. in Addis Ababa right now. I had the hardest time figuring out how to update our blog as anything with blogspot.com is blocked in a lot of foreign countries including Ethiopia.

Amanda and I arrived after traveling for about 27 hours total from Milwaukee to Addis Ababa. The flights going to Washington DC went very well. We were very excited that our bags were in DC when we went to baggage claim. Our rep from America World picked us up from Washington National (long story on the flights) and drove us to Washington Dulles. Amanda's sister Sam met us there as well because she was staying overnight at Washington National (she's a flight attendant and was in town). So we had a great time hanging out, had a great lunch at an Italian deli, and Laurel dropped us off at Dulles.

We then checked in for our flights for Addis at Ethiopian Airlines. This went fairly quick and finally we got to the gate area where we would be flying out around 5:00 P.M. We got to meet the Cavitt family at the gate area. The family is Wade, Pam, Christopher (12), and Austin (11). They are so great, and we are so excited to be sharing this trip with them. I won't bore ya on the flight, but it was LONGGGGG. Praise the Lord for having exit doors on planes when it's done. We were on the plane for about 16.5 hours. My back was in pretty rough shape afterwards, as well as Wade's. We got to Addis, and had to get a Visa for each of us right away. Then went through immigration and grabbed our bags. Unfortunately the Cavitt's were missing two bags, which is killer when you are going to adopt. We are praying hard that those two show up tonight on the same flight from DC.

We then went through security and met Girmachew our rep from America World while we are in Ethiopia. He is so cool and hilarious. He's always messing with ya or telling us he owns the Hilton etc... He has a van rented for us for the week, so we stuffed all of us and a ton of bags on the van and went to the Hilton. We all went to our rooms, cleaned up, and changed. We ate dinner downstairs with Girmachew at one of the restaurants. The food was excellent. I felt bad Girmachew had to hang with a bunch of zombies, we were all so beat from the travel.

After that we went to our rooms and crashed hard. Next topic is Day two and meeting Elijah for the first time.

Well, we are two days away...plus new pics of Elijah

2007-08-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

We are about 2 days away from flying out of Milwaukee to go get our little guy Elijah. Saying Amanda and I are excited it a major understatement. We have had a few trials in the last two weeks or so, but we just keep trusting that the Lord allowed them for a reason.

Obviously, we have some new pics above. Our America World rep took some pics with him and sent them to us this week. Elijah was probably freaked out by the flash as you can see the surprised look on his face. I hope he can get used to it quickly as Amanda and I will take as many pics and video as we can when we are over there. I will try to update each day as we are there (we'll see if Elijah let's me)

As we are getting ready to go, it's been so hectic that I haven't even had a chance to contemplate becoming a Dad (in full) in 5 1/2 days (when we take him to the US embassy and finish his paperwork). I know the Lord will give me wisdom as long as I stay in His Word and put Him first above everything else. Amanda and I chose a verse for our family a couple of years ago.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

We will trust the Lord no matter what would happen. Even if for some reason we weren't able to get Elijah, we would continue to trust that it was the Lord shutting that door. I will need to spend some time digging through the parenting Scriptures in the Bible. In society, you have Dr. Phil, Oprah and everyone else giving tips on how to raise children, when the God of the Universe gave us everything we need for life in His Scriptures.

Ephesians 6:4 says
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We will, by our Lord Jesus's grace, do everything we can to bring Elijah up so he can come to know Jesus as His Lord and Savior. No matter what He does in life, only what Elijah does for Christ will last. Please keep us in prayer as we go to see a people that are hurting, but also have so much more joy because they aren't choked with the worldly things we are. I pray that Christ changes my heart completely to really, truly see what things we need, and what things are in excess.

by the grace and peace of our Mighty King and Savior

Dave & Amanda

Our Travel Itinerary

2007-08-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Thought some of you might be interested in our itinerary in Ethiopia, it might be subject to change, but here ya go.

Adoption Travel Itinerary

Saturday, August 25 Depart for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Flight: Cont. 3096 (Departs Milwaukee @ 9:15A, Arrives Cleveland @ 11:28A), Cont. 3155 (Departs Cleveland @ 12:40P, Arrives Reagan @ 1:54P)
Flight: Ethiopia 501 (Departs Dulles @ 8:30P)

Sunday, August 26 Arrive Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (7:00P)
--Obtain Visa in Bole International Airport
--Girmachew will pick-up outside baggage claim. He will hold a sign with family
name.
--Girmachew will escort to Hilton
--Dinner at Hilton (included in travel package)

Monday, August 27 Orphanage Visit
--Driver will pick-up after breakfast
--Change money
--Trip to supermarket
--Lunch (included in travel package)
@ Abesha (Request Coffee Ceremony at end of meal!)
--Afternoon Kids Care visit to meet Elijah Abraham
--Dinner @ Top View Restaurant (included in travel package)

Tuesday, August 28 Tourism Day
--After breakfast, shopping at Mercado or Piazza
-- Lunch @ See list of options (included in travel package)
--After lunch, Lion Zoo
--Dinner (see options)
--Castellis may be a great option for this night, as this restaurant
is not kid-friendly

Wed., August 29 Consulate Appointment
--Morning visit to Kids Care to pick-up Abraham!
--Lunch (see options)
--2:30P: Consulate appointment
--Dinner (see options)

Thursday, August 30 Sight-seeing options

Friday, August 31 Sight-seeing options

Saturday, Sept. 1 Sight-seeing options

Sunday, Sept. 2 Depart for Washington, Dulles
--Church at the International Evangelical Church at 11A
--Hotel check-out time 7:00P
--Leave for Bole International airport at 5:00P, quick dinner on the way
--Flight: Ethiopia 500 (Leaves Addis @ 10:15P)

Monday, Sept. 3 Arrive Dulles, Depart for Milwaukee
--Arrive Dulles at 8:10A, go through customs
--Flight: United 699 (Departs Dulles @ 10A, Arrives Chicago @ 11A), United 7880 (Departs Chicago @ 1:56P, Arrives Milwaukee @ 2:42P)
We are home then "PRAISE OUR LORD JESUS"...

News about Elijah!

2007-08-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we have some new news about Elijah! We had emailed our rep from America World yesterday asking if she had seen Elijah, held him, etc.. on her trip from the 1st to the 15th of August (she's coming back tomorrow). Anyways, here is what she wrote

I have a picture of me and Elijah...I also have a picture of my fiance and Elijah, so I'll send them you way when I'm home. When I get back, we can talk more on the phone about his little personality, but he's really a doll. It's easy to make him laugh, and he likes to be held, and does not like it when you put him down!!

Now we REALLY want to go. I can not wait to get on the plane and go get our son. He's only 2 weeks away now, and we are sooooo ready. Hard to focus on anything else right now.

We almost have the nursery done. I layed the carpet down a couple of nights ago. Taping that down and stretching it tonight. Amanda and her Mom painted the weekend before. We are getting close *smile*. Hopefully by Wednesday night we will have everything in the nursery. I will definitely post some before and after pics.

Hebrews 4:12
For the Word of the Lord is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God's Word is everything. Praise the Lord Jesus for giving us His Word so we know what God's will is for us.

Traveling with the Cavitt Family and flights

2007-08-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we have found out that we will be traveling with Pam and Wade Cavitt on our upcoming trip to Ethiopia. We kinda had a hunch it might happen and had emailed a couple weeks earlier and got talking to them. It is so great how the Lord will let us travel together and meet our kids together at the same orphanage. May the Lord just bless our conversations and time together as we go to pick-up our children. The Cavitt's blog is in the list of Adoption blogs on the right-side of this page. Their little girl Abigail is sure a cutie.

We just finished booking our travel yesterday for our upcoming trip. Pray our bags don't get lost on the way. Also, that Elijah's ears don't hurt on the way home. That is a lot of ups and downs for a little guy to have to go through. That's the thing I will have to really give over to the Lord, as I pray he isn't crying the whole time home.

Here's the flight info for our trip:

Saturday August 25th
MKE 9:15 A.M. CLE 11:28 A.M.
CLE 12:40 P.M. IAD 1:54 P.M.
IAD 8:30 P.M. ADD 7:00 P.M.

Sunday September 2
ADD 10:15 P.M. IAD 8:10 A.M. arriving into Washington Dulles on Sep 3rd.
IAD 10:00 A.M. ORD 11:00 A.M.
ORD 1:56 P.M. MKE 2:42 P.M. Labor day we are back in Milwaukee, Lord willing.

I can't believe we are only about 2 weeks away from getting our son.

Answered prayer, Elijah's paperwork is through the courts!!!

2007-08-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just want to give praise and honor and glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for everyone that has been praying for this little guy's paperwork to get through the courts. We trusted in the Lord and He answered that prayer big time.

So here's the scoop, we are as of now traveling August 25th through Sept. 1st. Our US embassy appointment is on August 29th. So in less than a month we will be home with our son. There is still a small possibility that we will be traveling a week later, but either way we are going in a month and not three months.

Finally get to officially post our pic of Elijah, so here he is.

love you guys, thanks for the prayers again,

Dave & Amanda

A little hang-up, but we will continue to trust in the Lord's timing.

2007-08-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

We just found out today, that our court appointment was delayed from today until Monday. I guess everybody is trying to push their people through. Our rep is over there with our in-country rep and they said the courtroom was crazy with everybody trying to get through before Tuesday (court closing). Pray that the Lord will get us through on Monday or we will have to wait 2 months or more to get this completed. It's just another way to glorify His name and trust in Him. Know that we will be holding tight to our family verse.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

Pray that we continue to
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again rejoice.

by the grace of our perfect Savior Jesus

Dave & Amanda

We have the greatest Family and Friends

2007-07-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have been completely blown away by the support in the last couple of weeks as we found out about Elijah. I think he would have 12 outfits for three changes a day if we took everything that has been offered to us. The family on both sides has been so great in helping us out with getting ready for a baby. So many friends, and people we barely know are also offering to help. We have been offered the services of a laptop while we are in Ethiopia to update this site daily, Lord willing.

I just praise Jesus Christ for everything. He is the one that put this on our hearts in the first place, and He is the one that we will turn to in everything with parenting.

I'm amazed at how many similarities there are between adopting and child and the Lord adopting us into his family at salvation. I can't wait to give updates as we get closer and as we travel. Only four more days till we, Lord willing, are able to post his picture *smile*.

Philippians 4:4 says "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS (caps added), I say it again rejoice." This is not for any other reason than if you have been saved by the Lord. If you are not 100% sure of this, please email or call us anytime (literally). Biblically, salvation is not a blanket thing that everyone receives. There is nothing more important than where you will go when you die on this earth. And you can know as sure as you are breathing, that you will be with Jesus Christ in heaven for all eternity. I say this with love on my heart for everyone's eternal destination. Love you guys

Dave & Amanda

It keeps getting better and better, Praise God!!!

2007-07-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we just found out that we have our court date on August 3, 2007. We do not have to be there for the court date, but this means we will be traveling in August to pick up our little Elijah Abraham. Praise the Lord, He has been so faithful as we have been praying for this. I am so FIRED UP that I'm going to be a Dad and Amanda is going to be a Mom. Please let me enjoy this and don't bring me down with the talk of teething and poopy diapers *laugh*. The Lord Jesus has been so faithful to us this whole adoption and I want to give all glory and praise to Him. He saved this little guy from a very tough life and possibly death. And now the Lord is giving Elijah to us to raise as our own.

Phillipian 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again rejoice!!!

And we are...

Wow, what a great week, we have a launch date for the Church

2007-07-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, the Lord has given us a great week. We found out about who we were adopting on Monday, and yesterday we found out our church is launching (opening) Sunday September 23rd at 9:00 A.M. It will be at the Value Cinemas in Oak Creek. You would get there by getting off at Rawson Ave. going west to 27th street and going maybe a half mile north. It's located on the east side of the road. Service will be from 9:00 till 10:15-30. The church is called Harvest Bible Chapel Franklin. It will be a Bible-believing Christ centered church. The church will be proclaiming the Word of God without apology, lifting high the name of Jesus Christ in Worship, and a church of prayer and missions (evangelism). To have two things that we have been praying about for so long come to fruition in the same week has been incredible. We are just praying that this church is about giving glory to Jesus Christ in SE Wisconsin. Any questions drop us a line. Praise the LORD!!!

Praise the LORD!!!! The referral is here

2007-07-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well, big surprise today (Monday July 16th, 2007), we received our referral this morning!!! Our rep from America World called us both around 10:00 A.M. and told us about the child that had become available. Amanda and I had requested a child between 1 and 3. She said that this referral was outside of the range of ages we had. I'm thinking, "Okay, we are cool with a 4 or 5 year old." Instead the child turns out to be a 6 month old baby boy!!! The Lord really threw us a curve ball on that one. We didn't even know what to say at first because we weren't expecting an infant at all. Our rep asked us if we were okay with that, I was like "Amanda?". We both really knew that this is what the Lord's plan was for us in adopting. We have been praying for a very long time on His hand to be all over this adoption. That the Lord would choose just the right child for us. Wow, what a big surprise, a great surprise!

So I know I told everyone that I would post the picture as soon as we had it. We found that we can't post the picture until we are legally his parents (hopefully less than two weeks). We were sent an email with his picture about 20 minutes after our phone conversation with America World. He weighed about 12 lbs at his Dr's appointment when he was 4 months old. So he is a very healthy little baby (maybe not so little) boy. He also has a ton of curly hair. I told Amanda we should clip it somewhat short (not bald or anything). I think I have her on board on this *smile*.

Real quick, here's the only backround we have on him. He was found abandoned when he was 3 days old. The church near where he was found named him Abreham (yes, I spelled it right, that was how they spelled it). After this he was brought to the orphanage where we are going to go to pick him up.

Amanda and I have had a name picked out for a little boy for close to 2 years. We both agreed that if the mother of the child had given them a biblical name we would leave the first name. Since it wasn't the mother, but the church or the government that named him we will use the name we chose. We are going to move Abrehem to the middle name and he will be Elijah Abrehem Duda. (get's me all overclempt even typing it). We might Americanize the Abrehem part to Abraham, we'll see.

Last thing, we were asked if we wanted to try to get a court date before the courts close on August 7, 2007. Of course, we both want to travel A.S.A.P. So, we have to officially accept the referral today (they are sending a fed ex package with everything they have on little Elijah). Then they are going to try to get that court date by the 7th of August. We don't have to be there for the court date, but will travel a week or a couple of weeks later. Pray that we can travel soon to pick up our little guy. If we aren't able to get a court date now, we will have one like the third week of October. So it's like 3 weeks or 3 months, a big difference in travel.

And also, please lift up in prayer the mother, or parents that had to give Elijah up. They weren't able to keep him at all. Many orphans are given up in Ethiopia because the parents just can't afford to keep the children. This was making me more emotional than anything yesterday. I just pray that his parents have come or will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Here is a Scripture about Christ that has fired me up today. He is all there is to this family. And we will raise little Elijah to know about Him as soon as he can understand.

Philippians 2:6-11
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Switching over to a fall adoption now

2007-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we were both hoping that we would receive our referral by the end of this week. Because we didn't, we will now be traveling after the 13th of October. The courts close down in Ethiopia from August 7 to Oct. 13th. We both are trusting in the Lord even though it's hard to not be anxious.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

The one cool thing is we can still receive our referral in the meantime. So we are at the point where quite a few families have received their referrals. I think we are around 9 weeks of waiting. Pray that we can continue to trust in the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. He has the perfect little child for Amanda and I in Ethiopia. As soon as we have the referral we will post some pictures and info.

Shots, shots and more shots...

2007-06-21T06:37:00.001-07:00

So one of the things we have to do before traveling to Ethiopia for the adoption is to get our vaccinations. Amanda got hers about 2 weeks ago, she is able to get almost all of them (6 shots I believe). Because of a medical condition I have, I wasn't able to get any with live vaccines in them, but they still stuck me with 4 needles yesterday. I received the meningitis, Hep A, Typhoid, and Polio vaccines. Amanda received those plus the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and the yellow fever vaccine. We won't be leaving the city of Addis Ababa, so we won't have to worry contracting Malaria at 8500 feet above sea level. And because we will be staying in a pretty nice hotel, we won't be super-exposed to most of these diseases. But we do plan on visiting the orphanage where we will pick up our child. I pray they don't have this problem, but I bet there are some crazy bugs going around the orphanage at times.

Well, keep praying we get the call soon, we are trying to "be anxious about nothing" as Scripture says. And just trusting that the Lord has a specific child that He will have us adopt. We just give all Praise to Jesus Christ for this opportunity to build a family this way.

Back to school...

2007-06-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is the only other thing really going on with the Duda Family, but as it will involve where we live probably in the future I thought it is worth putting up here. About two years ago I (Dave) started going to school towards a bachelors in Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I'm over half-way done, and Lord willing, I will finish in June of 2010. After that, the Lord will put Amanda and I somewhere to serve Jesus Christ in a church or some type of ministry. It has been amazing taking classes where I get to spend time with the Lord while doing school work. This is probably the first time I've ever taken classes where I actually love getting into my school work.

Finally got a blog site up for the adoption

2007-06-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Amanda and I have been talking about setting up a blog site for quite a long time about the adoption. I finally got a chance to get going on it. As many of you know we are just waiting right now for THE phone call. This is called the referral, which will be the information on the child the Lord chose for Amanda and I. After receiving our referral (which will include pictures) we will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 4-6 weeks later for approximately a week. So hopefully we will get that call from America World any day. It's so crazy knowing that our child is alive, and playing, and eating, and sleeping on the other side of the world. As soon as we get the info and any pics I will definitely post them on this site with any of the info that I know.

Other Big news

2007-06-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

The other big thing besides the adoption this year for the Duda family is we are part of a group planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in Franklin (Milwaukee), WI. We are already meeting on Sunday nights as a core group, and Lord willing we will have our first service in September of 2007. We are just excited to see a solid, Bible-believing church that will glorify Jesus Christ in our area. Also it will be cool to have a church where our little son or daughter can call home if the Lord keeps us where we are. If the Lord puts this on your heart, or if you are interested, let us know.

The Dudas Family Blog

Blessed family

Great America!

Anniversary Vacation!

New Photos!

Praise the Lord God Almighty!

Fun Times!

Surprise!

Boys, Boys, Boys!

Happy Birthday Elijah!

A really strong message about dying and living!!!

A message of peace and trust in the Lord from Harvest Bible Chapel

Elijah's Adoption is Finally Complete!

This is what Daddy and Mommy have planned for Elijah's second b-day

DisneyWorld was a BLAST!!!

Fall Festivities!

A day with Mommy at the Zoo

A Daddy's thoughts in the last year....

Placed in Our Arms One Year Ago

Finally an update

Some new pics of Elijah going swimming

A cute picture from Elijah's birthday

Okay, some wisdom we had to learn the hard way

Elijah discovering our video camera for the first time...

Elijah bowling with Harvest Bible Chapel Milwaukee Dec. 29, 2007

Elijah's First Christmas pics...

Happy Thankgiving, a whole bunch of Elijah pics

Finally an update

Harvest Bible Chapel Franklin launches this Sunday the 23rd of September.

Some new pics from our trip to Addis...

Back in Milwaukee, and thankful for everything the Lord did for us

Day 7 update from Addis

Elijah and Abby Jane Video

Day 6 swimming pics

Day 6 in Addis, some new pics

A video of Elijah's first haircut (Day 5)

Day 5 in Addis, sleeping in after a little bit of a long night

Look who's talking now?

Day 4 pics from Addis starring Elijah again!!!!

Day 4, He's coming home with us today....Pictures on next post

Day 4, Elijah is officially ours today (He kinda was before, but now we get to keep him with us)

Day 3, no new pics yet, maybe later...*smile*

More of Day 2 in Addis w/ new pics of Elijah Abraham

Day 2 in Addis, w/ the Duda Family starring Elijah Abraham our son

Live from Addis, The Duda Family, Day One (plus travel)

Well, we are two days away...plus new pics of Elijah

Our Travel Itinerary

News about Elijah!

Traveling with the Cavitt Family and flights

Answered prayer, Elijah's paperwork is through the courts!!!

A little hang-up, but we will continue to trust in the Lord's timing.

We have the greatest Family and Friends

It keeps getting better and better, Praise God!!!

Wow, what a great week, we have a launch date for the Church

Praise the LORD!!!! The referral is here

Switching over to a fall adoption now

Shots, shots and more shots...

Back to school...

Finally got a blog site up for the adoption

Other Big news

Day 3, no new pics yet, maybe later...smile