Gifts for Compassion International

While we are in Ethiopia we will be going to the town of Asela to visit Almaze Zenebe (the girl we sponsor through Compassion International). I was able to contact the Asela Compassion Site to ask what they could use right now. They mentioned a soccer ball and a pump. I have some ideas too that might be useful for them. If you are able, we'd love it if people could purchase a couple of these items and we can deliver them to the Compassion Site in Asela.

Here are some ideas:
1.) soccer ball(s) (deflated)
2.) pump for soccer ball
3.) jump rope - short and long
4.) crayons
5.) colored pencils
6.) coloring books
7.) beach balls (Grant played a made-up-game of "toss the beach ball around" with about 30 kids when we were there two years ago and they all had a blast!)
8.) bubbles
9.) recorders (the musical instrument, not a recording device)
10.) harmonicas
11.) Any small items that would promote creativity or physical education or music
12.) Nothing that requires batteries or needs to be plugged in to be recharged.

Also, we've had a wonderful experience sponsoring Almaze and, if you are able, it might be a great thing for your family to do too. The money you provide really does go to help the kids (we've witnessed this first hand) and they absolutely love the letters they receive from the sponsors. Sponsorship makes a huge impact in a child’s life.

The Braasch version of "Idol-Gives-Back" :-)

It's a Girl!

We are excited to share the news of our baby girl!
Name: Almaze means "diamond" and is pronounced "All-Mahz" - Mahz sounds like "pause"
Birthdate: November 28, 2006
Birthplace: Born in the town of Mudulla, Ethiopia which is in the Southwest region of the country.
Background information: As with Alex, we will keep Almaze's background information private until the appropriate time to tell her. She can then decide how she wants to share this information.
Travel plans: We'll update the blog as our travel plans come together. We hope to travel by the end of June or beginning of July.

For those who have followed our adoption journey, you may remember that we have been sponsoring an Ethiopian girl who lives in the town of Asela. The name of our new little girl may sound familiar to you because it is the same as the girl we sponsor. We've really grown to like this name over the past few years and were already strongly considering this name for our new baby girl. It was pretty amazing to us that the baby God had chosen for us already has the given name Almaze!

Please join us in thanking God for another tremendous blessing and praying for the health and safety of baby Almaze.

Fun with family!

Alex's Mormor and Morfar (my parents) were in Minnesota for a week and we got to do lots of fun things with them and with Alex's cousins (Samuel, Lukas and baby Karin). Here are a couple pictures from our week:

Silly Morfar.... frightened Alex

A little snack at Edinborough park in Edina.

Taking a break from all the exhausting playtime!

LET US OUT!!!! (Actually the boys loved it!)

Ready, Set, GO!
Mormor is making sure no one cheats and gets a head start.