Bench Maji

Yesterday, we received the greatest gift for our son, Gavin. Back in late 2010, one of the Dads to one of his friends traveled to Ethiopia to try and find the village our children are from. It was a tough trip and when it looked hopeless, God led him directly to Bench Maji, the most remote village out of 3500 villages in the southern region of Ethiopia. He was able to spend time with Gavin's family, taking videos and pictures...



Last night, as a family, we watched the videos and viewed the pictures together- WOW, what a beautiful place he is from, lush green grash, banana trees everywhere, grass and mud huts and beautiful people. We had a video of Gavin's uncle explaining his early years and how he came to be put up for adoption. The love that he has for our son was evident in his face when he talked about him and saw pictures of him. We have video of the inside of the home he spent the first few years of his life in!! I think the highlight for us all was when the Ethiopian pastor, who acted as a translator said, "Bench is the most remote village here and now we have 5 children from our village in America. " They are thrilled for their children and hope for great things from them. We hope to be able to make the same trip someday soon. We are so very thankful ~what an amazing gift for our son to have for the rest of his life.







I won't share Gavin's story, but thought everyone might want to take a peek at some of the area of Bench Maji...




This is Gavin's house

These beautiful people are his grandparents