Today's the Day!

Today is the day when we meet Lil' A and Baby T for the first time! We are undoubtedly excited, nervous, intrigued, and curious as to how our first meeting will go. Will Lil' A run to us or cower in insecurity? Will Baby T be sleeping when we first see her? Will she smile [we've only seen her smile once in a picture]? What will their personalities be like? How big or small is Lil' A [pictures and measurements make him appear to be a little bitty 2 year old]? What will their little minds think when they see their new parents? What will our reaction be like - laughter, tears, beaming faces? Will we be able to fully capture the moment on camera and video?!?!? Mounds of questions fill us, but we cannot wait for that moment! We've been in this process for 20 months, and today is finally here. It's hard to wrap our waiting and expectations and prayers into this day.

One thing is: we are well rested! We got back from our escapades yesterday around 4pm and were really sleepy. We took a "nap" and woke up at 11pm! Oops. So, we read until about 12:30am and slept until about 6am this morning. We are ready to go today!!!

We'll keep you posted about how today goes. Thanks so much for all the prayers, comments, and messages. We feel carried and walked with here. I wish you could all be here. Ethiopia is truly remarkable!

Hello Ethiopia!

We're here! After 20+ hours of airports, flights, and a mini 1 hour layover in Frankfurt, we arrived in Addis late last night. Our travels were hassle free and pretty seamless. Brian and I travel well together, so it was fun. ;) When we stepped out of Addis' airport, Bole, the night air was crisp and fresh. We took some deep breaths and I burst into an inner "I love Africa!"

Our guest house is incredible and the people we've met have been wonderful! No complaints anywhere!!

Today we spent the day going to Ethiopia's National Museum to learn more about our kids' RICH, historic birth country. Brian took lots of pics! We also were toured around town by our translator, Masti, who gave us a great inside look into his country. Brian asked him over lunch where in the world he would like to travel outside of Ethiopia, and he exclaimed, "I love Ethiopia. Why would I want to go anywhere else? Ethiopia is the best!" There's clearly a strong pride in their country. We also got to do a little shopping, including buying some presents for our kids' future milestones in life. Our favorite stop was the ALERT Compound, a leprosy compound started by the Ethiopian government 60 years ago as as way to isolate the disease - and it's people. All the proceeds of the items we purchased goes toward sustaining their way of life in the compound.

We're doing great (I'm physically feeling awesome, too! Thank you.)! Hope to do some more sightseeing tomorrow, awaiting our big day on Monday when we get to meet Lil' A and Baby T. In all, it feels amazing to be here. Something truly comes alive in me when I step foot onto this continent. I can't stop smiling...

All our love from Addis Ababa!

Long, Long Ago...

A prayer from Ephesians 1 from my dear friend, Rebecca, this morning...

"Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!

He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possible need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth."

Several months ago, a wise Newsonger, Jaipaul Swamidass told me, "There's nothing like adoption that's more like God." This morning, I understand that more than ever. And we're off...

**If you'd like please post PRAYERS as your comments to this blog. It'll serve as our strength, perspective, and focus as we go WITH our community to meet our children.