The Wall Bloggers

Sunday, June 20, 2010 Addis Ababa, 8:20 pm No wait for visa in Addis - hooray! No wait through passport control - hooray! Almost 40 minute wait just to change money!  The banker even had to leave the exchange office to get more money when she ran out.  Oh well, guess we had to wait somewhere. Addis airport is small, but decent.  When we finally got to meet up with our Children's Hope escort, we headed outside to a lovely view.  I was expecting a rather dirty, big city view.  Instead, I saw hillsides in the distance, lush trees, and yes, poverty. Drove through busy streets -- people walking everywhere.  Driver used horn at least six times in the twenty-minute drive!  Don't think I saw any stoplights. Escort (Ficker) asked if we wanted to meet A-bell (how they pronounce Abel).  And we were questioning, "Really??"  He told us the other three families met their kids this morning, and would we like to? Before Scott could answer, I pipe...

1 Samuel 1:27 For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Before I get back to the travel journal entries, I wanted to give God the glory for the great things He has done.  He answered so many prayers for us throughout this journey, and I want to record a few of the answers to the requests I mentioned before we left.   - Airplane travels -  I did, indeed, get sick on our first short flight to Houston, but then God blessed me with a combination of medicines to help, and I did not have any sickness on our two flights over 15 hours!  Thank You, God!  - Abel traveled wonderfully (especially considering that he's only 15 months old!).  He slept as needed, ate well, and stayed relatively content through the many hours of travel. - Bonding/attachment - While this is an on-going process, we have been blessed with a sweet start to the bonding and attachment of Abel with us and us with him.  When we fir...

Sunday, June 20, 2010, 6:00 am Good morning, Dubai!  We arrived last night around 7:00 pm.  The Dubai airport is like a gigantic Vegas hotel, with water featurues and neon lights at every turn.  We were shuttled over to the Emirates hotel, where we ate  the buffet dinner.  They tried -- with mixed success -- to make international (including American) foods available.  We were exhausted, but opted for less sleep to take the two-hour Dubai tour at 9:00 pm.  We figured we were so close to so many attractions, we should at least see them!  Our driver was from Bangladesh -- a little hard to understand, but he made up for it with humor and mad camera skills.  Upon picking up anyone's camera, he had the flash set for optimum lighting, and then took several pictures for the person to be sure to get a good shot. We visited the Atlantis Hotel, where we were allowed to go in, see the giant aquariams, and walk by the upscale shops...

What a delight to be able to share new family photos with you.  Our sweet friend Brittney, who took pictures of Adrianna a couple of months ago, just took pictures of our new family of four.

I always used to chuckle to myself when adoptive families came home with their children and their blogs went virtually silent.  Well, I'm dealing with some of that myself!  Not much time or energy right now to describe our amazing trip to our son.  I have a journal with the events of journey that I will try to post as I have time, but for now, I'll start with a few picturess. Our flight from Dubai to Addis Ababa Our first meeting of Abel -- Father's Day Saying "Goodbye" to our in-country director's wife, Almaz Welcome home at the airport

As you may have guessed, we're overflowing with joyful anticipation for our journey.  If you would like to join with us in praying, here are some of the things we are praying for.   - For God's power, love, and sound mind to fill us for our journey.   (2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.) - For us to be a light of God's grace and faithfulness throughout our journey - Smooth travels to and from Ethiopia -- no motion sickness for me, much rest for all of us, contentment for Abel -  Smooth transition of Abel into our care -- for healthy attachment and bonding, for his peace of heart and mind as he parts with his loving nannies - For Scott and me to adjust to parenting two, balancing new demands with grace and patience - For Adrianna to have a blessed time with grandparents, for grandparents to have strength to keep up with her, and for her peace while we are gone for many days.  Also for her to adj...

Praise be to God!  He has brought us through many, many months of waiting, and this morning, we received news that we are confirmed with the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to travel!  Now we are just working on our final preparations before we take off to meet our son!  :) We also received the special blessing of new photos of Abel today.  Thank you, Davis family, for sending these our way!  It seemed to the Davis's and to us that Abel was looking a little tired (nap time?), but handsome as ever (no, I am not biased!).