Time to Travel

Yesterday we heard from the US Embassy that we are officially cleared to travel. We snatched up the first available appointment and will be leaving next Sunday to go bring our children home! I can't help but smile every time I see the airline ticket confirmations in my inbox.

The past week has been full of phone calls, paperwork, obsessive checking of email on my phone, anxious waiting for the final details to come together--"just labor pains" Janelle reminded me on one particularly challenging day. But we've also been doing lots of fun stuff like hair lessons from a wonderful new friend and adoptive mom, trips to Old Navy and Target for cute clothes, and turning the boys' sailboat room into a sports room with a few new pillows and accessories. We've filled our scabies prescription at Target (just in case!) and scheduled doctor's appointments. We've stocked up on hot sauce (which apparently Ethiopian children love to put on everything!) and bought ingredients for homemade Ethiopian stew. And filled out more paperwork.

Our second trip to Ethiopia will be very quick. The morning after we arrive in country we will be reunited with our children and we will never have to leave them again. They will come with us to our Embassy appointment and then we will spend two days doing fun things around Addis before our visas are issued and we can fly home.

Home. We are bringing our children home.

Thank you for your prayers! More updates and pictures to come.