Less Than 24 Hours Notice...

I am sitting in Germany right now using the 30 minutes of free wi-fi that this place offers!  This blog writing is going to have to be quick.  I am sitting in Germany waiting for our flight to...ETHIOPIA!!!!  Even as I write that out, I realize how "in shock" I still am.  I haven't even had time to blog about our all Thursday and all that has taken place in the past 48 hours.  So, I thought I would update and attempt to get a blog in before our next plane takes off.

Thursday morning I was doing my devotion when my cell phone rang.  It looked like it was the number to our social worker in grand rapids, but I wasn't sure.  It was 8:30am.  I picked up the phone and she answered on the other end.  "So...I just wanted to let you know that you guys have been given a court date.  The only problem is, you would have to travel really soon."  I immediately replied, "Oh, we can travel anytime.  We are ready.  When is the court date."  She answered..."Wednesday the 29th."  Inside I was freaking out.  "So...when would we need to be there?"  She replied, "Sunday at the latest."  Inside...still freaking out.  "Wow...so we would have to travel like Saturday?" She replied, "You would probably need to go tomorrow.  But if you think that isn't doable, we can reschedule it."  Inside...I was really freaking out!  I immediately blurted out, "Oh, we can do whatever!  We are ready.  Just tell me what to do!!!"  Within a few minutes, I was making airline reservations.

We figured that our airline tickets were going to be outragiously high due to the fact that were leaving in like 24 hours.  I called the first travel agency on the list and she worked miracles.  She was able to get us tickets for less than $1700 a piece round trip.  I called Nate and called my mom (who both were like..."tomorrow????"), and we booked the trip.  The next 24 hours became a whirlwind of packing, panicking that I was packing the wrong things, getting everything situated at work (which my friends were amazing at helping with), going to dinner with some incredible friends of ours who wanted to celebrate with us, packing and panicking some more, and attempting to get a few hours of sleep in the middle of all of that.  We then headed to the airport, which I thought we were going to be extremely late to (so late that I actually had to make an emergency potty run in the car...enough said), because we didn't have time to stop at a rest stop.  Let's just say we made less than 48 hours crazy!

But here we are...waiting in Germany to board a plane with my amazing husband and my incredible mom, a plane that will take us to meet our son for the first time...OH MY WORD...that is overwhelmingly awesome.

I keep tryng trying to picture what Monday is going to be like.  We are pretty sure that is the day we will travel to the orphanage to meet him for the first time.  It's hard to imagine a day that you have been dreaming about for the past gazillion days of your life.  While I don't know what to expect, I am banking on it being a day that is filled with emotions.  I am not even sure I will be able to put that day into words.

I am sure that the next few days will be more than blog worthy (after all, I am traveling with my husband who has already broken out into "Sweet Caroline" in the airport, and my mother who is constantly eating snacks and doing hilarious things while sleeping).  I will do my best to keep everyone posted as I get the opportunity.  Know that your prayers, your encouraging words, your comments on facebook (which my mom has said numerous times, "Have you seen how many people "liked" that status!!!!), and just your genunine interest in our life has meant the world.  This is just the start to an awesome journey!

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 26, 2013 at 5:01 AM

    We are praying & thinking of you guys. God is truly awesome -- very exciting to see you walk into your destiny! Can't wait to hear all about the trip and more importantly, your baby boy!! Hugs!! Janey

    ReplyDelete
  2. PamelaMay 26, 2013 at 6:57 PM

    Oh, goodness, I am so excited for you! I don't know that I would have been able to sleep at all. Monday will be amazing for you!

    Pamela (Annie S.'s sister)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 27, 2013 at 4:39 AM

    So excited for you. God is so good and so amazing. You know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Give that precious baby boy a hug for me. Love Ya! :) Connie

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Donut Story

Image
When I was about five years into being a Youth Pastor, I met a group of kids that changed my life.  Many of you reading this, who know me personally, have probably heard me talk about them numerous times.  Nate and I happened to live in the parsonage next door to the church I was serving at at the time, and would routinely come home to a group of boys that I would have described then as "rough around the edges."   They dressed mostly in black, had long hair, and sometimes even had black painted fingernails.  They loved to smoke, and they loved to skateboard.  After a few days of watching them through our window, Nate and I went outside and brought them some sodas.  We introduced ourselves, told them I was the Youth Pastor at the church, and invited them to come to youth group.  While they politely declined our invitation, we continued to invite them over and over again, attempted to skate with them, and fill them with snacks.  Until one day, ...
Read more

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and...
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said someth...
Read more