Finally in Ethiopia!

So, we’re finally here! We arrived last night safe and sound in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! The flight was LONG!! But we did have a few movies (one was a Miley Cyrus movie…lame). The food was good and the flight accommodations were adequate, so I’m not complaining. We got to see Italy from the sky as we touched down to refuel in Rome! Looks beautiful from up there!

We arrived pretty late and TIRED at our guest house. The staff is wonderful and the room is very nice. It’s the winter/rainy season here so it’s pretty chilly…not what we expected for Africa! Our room is very cold and the only other minor complaint is that our bed is a stone slab, but we’ve been so tired that it doesn’t even matter! We slept well the first night and plan to do the same tonight.
Today we met our baby girl, Desalee! I was very anxious as we drove over to the orphanage. Each family had to wait to be invited inside to meet their child individually. We were second. When we went in a videographer taped our first meeting. I didn’t really know how I would react…would I break down and cry, overcome with emotion? As it turns out…No. We had huge smiles on our face as we entered the room where she was sitting with a nanny.
She’s shy and we knew that she didn’t take too kindly to strangers. When the nanny handed her to me she cried…and I admit that it kind of broke my heart and kindled the flame of terror that was secretly burning in my gut…”what if she doesn’t like us?” In a few seconds I was able to calm her down, so I tried to hand her to Ryan. Uhhmm….not good. She wasn’t happy about that, so I kept her with me. It was sad that Ryan didn’t get to hold her today, but we know that it’s all about her and making her comfortable. She was okay with his close proximity and by the end of our visit had given us a couple of beautiful smiles.

While at the orphanage we were able to meet the daughter of our good friends, Ryan and Kim Foust. We delivered a package of goodies to her and had our picture taken with her. She was so sweet and cute and healthy and smiley! I was so happy to be meeting her! The videographer got footage of us with her for our lifebook. Desalee and this little girl have been through a lot together in Ethiopia and they will grow up close to one another with a special bond. I look forward to the day that we show these girls that they were together practically from the start! It warms my heart! By the time we left it was naptime, and Desalee was sharing a little bed with this little friend! I just love it!
Here’s a funny thing…before nap, the nannies put about 10 toddlers on little potties for a “group potty time” Most of these kids didn’t look like they were two and they sat on the potty for probably 10 minutes! I found it to be remarkable! Maybe Desalee will be easy to potty train like her big brother and sister were!
After our visit with Desalee we had some lunch and did a little shopping…the shopping was hard. I didn’t enjoy it. We found some nice stuff, but it was really hard because white Americans attract a lot of attention, especially from street vendors and beggars. We are told not to give in to the desire to “help” them. In fact, one member of our group gave a small boy a package of crackers and that opened up Pandora ’s Box! There were tons of people coming over for crackers! It’s just very sad. You want to help, but don’t know what to do! Uncomfortable is the understatement of the century!
Tomorrow promises to be a long day…we travel by bus for about 4 ½ hours to a town called Hoseanna where we will meet Desalee’s birth family. I don’t know yet who exactly we will be meeting. We will have the chance to ask questions and also to tell them that we plan to take good care of their girl, give her the best life we can and love her with all our hearts. I think it will be a hard meeting emotionally. Prayers are welcome!
Now it’s off to bed!
Love, S

more pics to come, I promise!

God's Perfect Timing

I am so full of emotions right now! You might say my emotional cup runneth over! or "overwhelmed" might be a good way to put it!

In my previous post...Packing....I was thinking of God's timing and how sometimes you get it right away, sometimes you wait, and then there are times when you just have to trust without ever knowing. Today I am overwhelmed with awe by His timing. We thought we would be in Ethiopia right now, hugging and kissing on our sweet Desalee. Ready to bring her home! But that didn't happen. It was disappointing, at best. We did make a trip, however,to Texas to be with our family there and spend precious time with Grandpa Jack. It was a wonderful trip and exactly the right thing to do! Although Jack was weak and a bit "in-and-out" of it, when he was "in" he was the same Jack who was a practical joker and a truly loving person! I was thrilled! He was joking and playing with the kids....he even tried to get me with his "dog jaw" joke, but I caught him! We left with precious memories and a real chance to tell him we love him and say goodbye.

We drove home knowing that God's timing was better than our own. But not realizing how perfect it was. We almost waited an extra week to go to Texas, but at the last minute decided to go ahead and go. We got back to Indy on Sunday night and over the next few days received word that Jack's condition was worsening. And then last night we were pretty surprised to find out that he had already gone to be with Jesus. It's sooner than we expected. But it is a relief to know that when we died he was in the comfort of his home with Delores and that now we know for sure that there is no more pain, no more cancer, just relief and joy in the presence of our Saviour!

My Granda Whitten died suddenly 9 years ago and I didn't have the chance to say goodbye. I don't know what my last words to her were...I hope it was a "love you!" on a casual phone call...I don't know. I am so grateful to know that my last moment with Jack was a big hug and an "I love you!" He told me that the next time he saw us we'd have Desalee with us. I know he will watch down from Heaven as we take her in our arms for the first time. He can be there with us for that!

Today our social worker called to tell us that we have been invited to travel to Addis next week to get our baby girl. We are so excited! It's a roller coaster of emotion over here....grieving one moment, celebration and anticipation the next! We leave on Wednesday the 28th and return home on Friday, August 6th. Finally united with our little girl!

I'll never stop wondering at God's timing...the events of the past couple weeks remind me that all I need to do is trust that His timing is absolutely perfect....impeccable, really!

Goodbye, Grandpa Jack. I love you like you were my own grandpa. I'll always remember your jokes and the loving person you were. Ill also never play progressive rummy without pile driving a wild 2 and thinking of you! Love you! Miss you! See you on the other side!

Packing.

I'm packing today, but not for the trip we were hoping to be packing for...

We were hoping and praying that we would be boarding a plane this Wednesday bound for Ethiopia and our little girl. Everything seemed to point to this date being our date to go. As the days and weeks passed since our successful court appointment (June 9th) we heard no word that we could travel. I held out hope until the very end... When we got word Friday from our social worker that we should let go of our hope to travel this week, I was so disappointed. Why, the wait, God? So now we are hoping and praying to be able to leave the states on July 29th to go get our sweet Desalee. Feel free to pray along with us!

So why am I packing? If you know me very well, you would know that I would not be packing now for a trip that is nearly 3 weeks away....yes, I am a procrastinator!

As it turns out, God's timing is better than my timing...go figure! We found out a few days ago that Ryan's grandpa Jack, who lives in Texas, isn't doing very well. His battle with cancer has taken a turn for the worse. As we thought about it, we realized that we needed to make this trip to Texas to see Jack. He is an amazing man! We want to be with him, pray for him, laugh with him. He's hilarious! (when I first met Jack, he would jokingly call me by all these different names like Sharon, Susan, etc.) We don't know how soon we would be able to make this kind of trip once Desalee is home. I was worried that Thanksgiving would be too soon for her. So, it appears to be for the best that we wait a bit longer to go get Desi.

So I'm packing for our family road trip (in the new minivan--again--good timing) to Texas to be with our family and spend some very precious time with Jack. God's timing doesn't always reveal itself so quickly, I know. But in this case, it's obvious to me. We need to make this trip. Some times we wait and wait and don't understand why things play out the way they do. Hopefully we can get to that place and look back and see how it all makes sense. Sometimes we don't get to see it. We just have to trust God to lead the way.

If you will, please pray for Jack and for our family. Thanks!