Ethiopia...Here we come!!!

So we leave on Wednesday morning from Grand Rapids. We need to fly to Chicago and then to Washington DC before we are actually on our way to Ethiopia. Once we leave DC we have a 16 hour flight to Ethiopia. We will stop in Rome to refuel, but we won't get off the plane. I'm hoping I'll be able to sleep a big portion of the flight there! I don't really like flying either, so I'm also hoping and praying for smooth flights!! :)

Everything has happened so fast since we got our referral. I really didn't expect to be traveling this soon, but I am glad we are! I'm happy that it will be summer time when we bring her home and happy that we will have a big part of the summer for her to feel comfortable here before the crazy school schedule starts! (not happy that we had to pay peak airline prices!! yikes!) But God has provided all we need! God also provided a free mattress for us this week, it's awesome how everything has come together!

Please pray for us this week as we travel and as we meet our little girl for the first time! (I promise she'll has a name soon!!) And for our girls as they stay with my parents while we're gone. They are not too upset about us leaving, they are actually very excited because they get to play with their cousins almost the whole time we're gone. Today they said they wished we were leaving now so they could go to the cottage for the 4th of July! I think they'll be fine!

My next post will include pictures of our trip! I won't be able to blog from Ethiopia, so I will post pictures when I get back!

She's ours!!

I got an e-mail this morning that said we had passed court today in Ethiopia. Which means she is leagally ours! We now have to wait AGAIN for more paperwork to be finished. We need to wait for her to get a new birth certificate and a passport. The e-mail I got stated we should plan on traveling 1-3 months from now, but the trend seems to be to travel 6 weeks after court. So we will see!! I'm just glad this part is done, just one more step to go!! Yay!!

Olivia is 4!!

My sister took some 4 year old pictures of Olivia recently. (a little late) Olivia did really well.

Waiting stinks!!!!

I really am not a very patient person and lately I'm feeling especially impatient! Our court date is on Monday and I am praying really hard that we pass the first time. I'm praying that all our paperwork will be there and that our little girl's birth father will be able to make it to court. (He needs to be there in order for us to pass) When we pass we will only have one more thing to wait for, and that is to travel. It's been over a year of waiting for appointments and paperwork and this and that and whatever! Now I just want to go and get this little girl!

I met with a group of local mom's last night who have adopted from Ethiopia or are in the process like we are. Some of the mom's had their little kids with them and they were so cute! Hearing their stories was great and made me very anxious to travel. I got a lot of info about traveling and feel even more ready to go now!

So Monday can't come soon enough!! :)