Ready for Takeoff!!

We are so excited to be leaving on Monday morning Jan, 17th! We leave out of Charlotte at 7:35am for DC and then DC to Addis at noon! We will be in the air 12 hours and 25 min, but we will land in Addis at 8:25 am! We will be 8 hours ahead of our time. According to our travel director ,we will land, get our visa's, check in at the guest house and then go meet our children!!! Wow what a Tuesday that will be!

My sister is going to try to keep my blog up, but I will more than likely be able to update from facebook too.

We will spend the week in Addis doing some shopping and site-seeing in the mornings and then visiting the transition home in the afternoons.

Our court date will be Monday, Jan 24th. This is not a court date to decide if we are good parents ( that was what our home study was for) , but a court hearing to see if all requirements of our case are fulfilled. One of the requirements is our testimony that we do indeed want to adopt and we have been given our children's history, have met them etc. Once we have given this, our part is completed.

The biggest reason most people do not pass court is that MOWA ( Ministry of Women and Children) have to write a recommendation letter that all documents are there and they are basically signing off on the case. For some reason, they are very random in getting letters there on the proper day. They are sometimes late or not at all. Not to be pessimistic, but I do not think we will pass court on the 24th. MOWA will have only had our paperwork on the baby for less than a week AND they have to write two letters for us because our kids are not siblings.

God could work a miracle on our behalf, but I am prepared to go, give our testimony and then come home and wait for all the documents to fall into place later on in the next few weeks. The only big bummer about not passing court is that we are not allowed to post pictures of our kids until we pass court and they are legally ours.

Once we have been given word we have passed court, all our files are gathered again for the US embassy. It takes a few more weeks for that to happen and then the US Embassy gives us an embassy date where the kids will get there Visas. They give our agency 10 slots every other Wednesday for embassy dates. So.. We are looking at Feb 16, March 2, 16 or 30th as to when our embassy appointment might be.

If you would like to pray with us, here are some specifics..

Safe travels ~ Greg has been out of the country before, but this will be mine and Abby's first time. We are excited, but scared too. Also pray we have good flying weather to Addis and coming home.

For Nathan and Esther ~ They are really excited to go to Nana and Gramp's house for a whole week and it does my heart good that they are nor homesick about us leaving. Please pray that they keep this attitude! :) And for my parents as they watch them all week.

For Micah and Sarah Faith~ That we have a good bonding experience with them

For our Health ~ Illness is common when traveling overseas with the strange food and also Addis is a very high altitude. I have a whole pharmacy packed, but I am praying I wont need any of it!

For Abby ~ I can't imagine what a trip like this will be like for a 13 year old girl. I am praying God uses this trip in many ways to mold her heart and life for HIM.

We arrive back in the US early Tuesday morning Jan 25th and then will eventually land in Charlotte around 3:15pm.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey! I will check in next time from ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA!!