Blinking, pinching, shaking my head in realization that two and a half years of waiting have come down to twenty days. In twenty short days, I will be on a plane returning to a place so beautiful, so sad, so close to our hearts. I will be returning, but going for the first time. Our first trip in December of 2008, we traveled to pick up our two precious children, Joshua and Julianna. I got horribly sick the second day our feet were on African soil. I spent my entire visit in bed or looking for a doctor. It was miserable and frightening and I felt robbed of all the years I longed for Africa. I didn't see a single thing but the inside of my room and the vehicle.
I will be going for the first time...seeing the beauty of the land, mingling with the precious people of Addis Ababa, and most life altering of all, putting my arms around the two boys we have parented for two and a half years from so far away. We have heard their voices on the phone and talked live on Skype, we have read countless emails and sent letters and gifts and pictures. However, in 20 days, I will drink them in, I will touch their faces, and smell their presence. We will spend seven days together, laughing, praying, building relationships, and then saying goodbye until court. What a bittersweet gift.
Me and two other moms adopting from Kolfe will be staying together in Levi Benkert's guesthouse with our sons. It will be crowded, but so fun! Three moms and five sons... We will love on the many boys at Kolfe who long for families and some who already have families in the US. I am so excited to love on the boys of my many friends, being their love extended, taking pictures and video, making memories. We will be bringing donations for the almost 300 boys and will buy them fruit, which is a huge treat for these kids. I cannot wait to
experience Ethiopia for the first time.
I absolutely covet your prayers for health the entire trip. Please pray for strengthened immunity and pray every parasite dare not come near my body. Pray for no respiratory issues with the raw exhaust that gave me trouble last time. I long to enjoy every moment in the land I've dreamed of since the age 3.
So many of you have helped me get to this place of being able to see our sons. Since the heartbreak of losing our pastorate, financially we could never have done this without you. Thank you! Please pray we are able to raise the remaining $600 or so I need to take with me for the guest house, driver, etc. When I return home, we will resume the adoption process and will begin to apply for numerous grants to complete it. That, along with two more trips for court and then embassy will be needed. God is the God of more than enough. His heart is for the orphan and we know He will provide just in time. Thank you for your part in this journey to taking two boys from a life of being a fatherless, without family, support, hope, and sustenance to a life of abundant love and belonging, opportunity and a future.
