Wedding Night Jitters

Well, in a few short hours I'll be leaving for the airport. I'm feeling a bit nervous ... wedding night jitters! But so excited to be home with the kids and start our new lives together. I appreciate all your love and support, prayers and blessings!

To God's Glory ...

In Him,

Nancy

And repacking ...

My Ethiopian friend, Abeba had asked a week or so ago if she could send a few things with me to Ethiopia. I asked how much and she thought only maybe 5 pounds. I asked how large and she thought about the size of a small backpack. I wondered how I would fit this in my already snug-as-a-bug suitcases, but agreed. Well! She brought a school size backpack stuffed full and another canvas gunny sack with about the same amount or more! Shoes, socks, jackets, sweaters, onesies, and so on. My eyes went big as saucers. But how often does she have a chance to get things taken to relatives there? Not often! And shipping it is so expensive. So I said I'd manage. I unpacked and repacked my biggest bag, leaving out one of my empty suitcases I had planned to take over, and my big bag is now stuffed full and I am only about 1-1/2 pounds under the weight limit. Hope my scale is accurate!!! I also need to call her relatives when I get to Ethiopia to arrange to get them the gifts. The adventure continues!

I've got birth certificates!

Exciting news for today: I received the children's birth certificates ~ they will turn 9 years old in June ~ and my official confirmation of my Embassy date on April 1st! I was so happy to get both!! I was dying of curiosity to see when their birth date would be set at, and I have been flying on FAITH with my travel plans. The news today is a total prayer praise for the supplications I was making last night! Now I can breathe easy (or easier) in these final few days before heading off on our trip. "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!"

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

" 'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane ..."

I have my suitcases all packed ... one for the kids with another duffle bag packed inside to return with souvenirs, one for me, and one full of donations. (My sister is only taking one so we are still only at two per person). CWA shipped me a baby scale, five pairs of little shoes and a pile of socks to take; I found some flip flops at Walmart on clearance for 75 cents apiece so bought a pair for each of my kids (which might be their size) and six more pairs to donate. My sister works for a dentist so we have 150 toothbrushes to bring, and we also have about a dozen bars of bath soap, 6 jump ropes, 6 boomerangs (another 75 cent bargain!), 600 balloons, 100 packages of four color-crayons (like the restaurants give to the kids) and 10 packages of 20 colored markers. I would love to take more but ran out of space.

We leave one week from tomorrow on Monday March 24th! We'll arrive in London on Tuesday morning, stay with some friends for a few days for my final hurrah at a vacation for a long, long time and depart there on Saturday evening. We arrive in Addis Ababa early Sunday morning. My sister's church supports a missionary team with Christian Missionary Fellowship in Addis Ababa, and a lovely couple (whom we met several months ago when they were home to visit family) have graciously offered to meet us at the airport - even though an adoption agency representative will be there as well - and take us to church with them and then to lunch. What a nice welcome! Hopefully later that day I will be able to pick up the kids. Wow! It is so surreal to think that soon I will be the mother of two 8 year olds!

I am also completely thrilled to find out that one of the women whom I met last fall at an adoption training class in Washington state will be in Ethiopia at the same time we will be. We are making plans to meet and spend some time together. I just love her and her 14 year old daughter and am looking forward to spending some time with them as they pick up her new 12 year old son. Their being there at the same time is just one more sign that God has a perfect plan for all of our futures.

In addition, another new wonderful friend I met at an adoption class here in Colorado, is traveling to pick up her new 8 year old son from Rwanda and may be passing through Ethiopia when we are there as well. She is an amazing woman who who is the founder of He Knows My Name, a ministry which raises banners throughout Africa and the entire world proclaiming Jesus as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. The Holy Spirit uses her in a powerful way, meeting personally with political and military leaders to work towards peace. I count it as an honor to be included in her circle of friends. I encourage you to visit their website and pray for peace and this ministry.

"Don't know when I'll be back again ..."

Okay, yes I do ... we leave Ethiopia Saturday April 5th, and after a grueling 16 hour flight from Addis Ababa to Washington DC, and an 8 hour layover there, where I'm hoping we can all hop a tour bus to see some of nations historic sights, we will arrive home Sunday afternoon, April 6th.

Court is a thing of the PASSED

I got my call about 10:00 this morning ... I passed court. Yah! Bouncing off ceiling; have to come down to get to cloud nine!!!!

Based on the recent experience of others, our Embassy date should be about 3 weeks after court. My estimate is April 1st (kinda funny, huh?) as CWA has theirs on Tuesdays. I was told the firm notice is only about 10 days before the actual date. Since I want to travel to England on the way, I took a leap of faith and booked a flight leaving March 24th -- the day after Easter. I will probably only find out if that is indeed the day on the previous Friday. Why I want to put myself under even more stress, I do not know! But if I have to push it out a week, I'd rather pay the change fee than stress over not having a reservation (spring break already has flights getting scarce) or making something at a moments notice.

And now I can legally post photos of the kids on my blog! ... here are my angels ... 8 year old twins, Josiah & Naomi ...

A visit to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Kidane Meheret Church

While I'm sitting here hyperventilating over my impending court date (only two days away, but who's counting?), I thought I'd share my experience visiting one of our local Ethiopian churches with my friend, Abeba, who emigrated to the U.S from Ethiopia 16 years ago.

According to Abeba, the service begins at 8:00 a.m. with two hours of prayer, followed by an hour of Bible study. So she told me to arrive at 10:00. The first time I went, I had no idea what to expect. I walked up to the door and could hear a kind of sing-song-chanting as the service was being performed in Amharic. I peeked in the door and saw a sea of white robes! Uh oh!

Getting up my courage I slipped through the door eliciting only a few stares. I noticed that the men were on one side of the room and the women on the other. There were also piles of shoes at the doorway where everyone had removed them prior to entering. As I was a few minutes early I hoped that my friend had yet to arrive, would come in through the door, find me and all would be grand. This did not happen. As I watched, I noticed that several people had gone out a side door and returned with the white head coverings. I thought perhaps there were "extras" out in a hallway so went to explore. No such luck. As I wandered to and fro looking a bit lost, a nice young lady asked if she could help me. I told her I was looking for "Abeba with the twins" (she had told they would know who that was). Indeed, the girl knew exactly who I meant and took me to one of the ladies in the white robes. Ahhh! My friend!!!

I felt it gave me a small taste of what my children might feel coming to this country where they couldn't understand the language, didn't know the customs, and didn't know quite what to do or how to act. I think God gave me this experience so I could in a small way relate to that feeling.

The second time I visited, just last week, I asked Abeba if she could bring me a white scarf, the traditional "natela" to wear. This time when I arrived I was met by Abeba's cousin, Tsehai who fetched the natela that had been brought for me, and again found Abeba in the expanse of white -- I don't know how they do it! The church was packed as it was a special day for them, the anniversary of their founding. I arrived about 9:45. Between prayer and the "service" all of the the children file in for communion. It was so crowded we did not have a seat and were standing in the back. When the kids crowded in it was very crowded indeed! Rather than the 10 minutes or so communion took on my first visit, this one probably took 1/2 an hour! Then there is song and dance performed, which is wonderful with flags twirling and rhythms kept on large kettle drums. It's my favorite part! After the music, the pastor delivered an animated service with witty comments here and there, apparent by the laughter from the congregation. I would say that I didn't understand a word, but about halfway through he said a single sentence in English. Why he choose that one I don't know. And we should never complain about our protestant services going longer than the hour or ninety minutes they typically last. The service did not get over until 12:30! I stood watching and listening for almost three hours.

The long service was made all worthwhile by the delicious potluck style dinner which was served afterwards. Of course, once again it was packed. After a gracious woman offered to get a plate of food for me, I moved to sit with someone else I knew and wondered to myself if she would still be able to find me when she brought the food back. Silly me! I was the only white skin visible amongst every shade of caramel, tan, brown, and black. I was an easy target to pick out.

Finally about 2:00 p.m. I bid my good-byes, but only after being persuaded to take home a huge plate of leftover food. I hope to attend the church with my kids perhaps once a month or every other month after they are home. I'd go more often, but for one I don't understand the language and have a hard time using that time to learn more about God and deepen my relationship with Christ, and for two I love and adore my own home church. But I feel very welcome and appreciate having them in my and my kids' lives.

A Shower of Blessings

My awesome, wonderful, amazing friends Darla, Kayla, and Patti threw an adoption "baby" shower for me on Saturday. They worked so hard and I am so blessed by their love and support. I was overwhelmed with generosity. My best friend, Suzette flew all the way from Arizona just to be here for me. My new children and I truly received a "shower" of blessings.

           

WOW! We are sooo blessed!