Thursday Court pre day for us Court day for 3 families

Today we will take the 3 other families to court. They all passed today. Yea!!! Thank you Lord. These families have been on a long journey and what a great thing to have great news before you leave. We were able to go to the orphanage while they were at court today. Today our little one let me pick him up. I walked with him outside in the courtyard looking at all the trees and flowers. I just look at him and have this overflowing fountain of love pouring out of me. I am so thankful that God picked this one out for us. He is so wonderful. Today he was also a little sick. Thankfully the next day he was back to himself. After the orphanage, we went to Bethany to meet with our social worker and get a briefing about court tomorrow. The Bethany staff in Ethiopia are so awesome. I cannot say enough great things about them. They really work hard for us adoptive families. Today was a long and busy day. shortly after we leave Abel got a call from Sisay stating that there is something wrong with one of our forms. Sisay tells us we will go to the MOWA in the morning and try to work it out. I just break down in tears. We have come all this way and now we are going to be delayed. I felt so defeated. I was up in my room crying and Birtukan comes up and asks me what is wrong she then begins to pray in Amharic for me. she has her arms wrapped around me as I am laying my head on her shoulder just weeping and she is praying. She prayed so intensely. I am not sure what she prayed but after 5 minutes I felt and overwhelming sense of peace. It was going to be ok. God is charge.
Tonight we didn't get much sleep.

Wednesday day

After the orphanage visit, Abel took us to a great restaurant for lunch. We got to hang out with the 3 other families that were there and talk about our day with the kids. After lunch, we went to the market to buy some gifts for home. For the 3 other families they were preparing for court. Tonight we will go to a traditional Ethiopian dinner at a restaurant. The food above is what we were served. Ben loved the food. After dinner, we got to see some tradional Ethiopian dancing. it was absolutely amazing. the Ethiopians are such kind, talented, beautiful people. We had a wonderful day today.

Meeting our boy Wednesday

We are standing outside the gate just waiting to go in. My stomach is in absolute knots. within a couple of minutes they are ready and we walk in. The children are eating lunch when we walk in. Ben notices him right away in the corner as I am still looking to find him. I follow Ben as he leads me over. There he is. My heart sinks with nervousness praying that he doesn't cry when he sees us. Ben bends down to say hi and he gives him a high five. I reach out my hand for a high five and he gives me one. i just burst out with joy and laughter and realize that his personality is perfect for our family. This little boy was matched perfectly for us. We get to spend about 3 hours today at the orphanage. The kids are really amazing. They are so kind, polite, joyful and full of energy. Our boy is opening a little to Ben but just watches me from a distance. We just take it slow not wanting to rush him. So I will take the little glances from him. We brought a bag of suckers so all the kids loved them.

Our trip Day 1

We were unable to get on blogspot while we were there so we journaled so we could share our experience. We arrived in Addis Ababa late Tuesday evening. We were greeted by one of the kindest, generous person, Abel. From the airport we went to our guesthouse. Birtukan and Nesibu greeted us warmly and then prepared some really awesome soup. Abel handed us our itinerary and in the morning we will meet our little boy. The first night I (jen) was up most of the night because I was worried that we would over sleep and not get up for the big day. So about every hour I woke Ben up to see what time it was. We ended up getting up around 5am. Tuesday morning we had the chance to meet some amazing friends, Luke and Megan. One of the most beautiful things about this adoption journey is the friends that you will make along the way. They met our little boy the day before and told us how cute he was. After an amazing breakfast which every morning birtukan prepares the freshiest breakfast. The juice is always mixed with fresh banana and another fruit. It was so great. (the picture above is us with our new friends standing right outside the orphanage before we meet our little boy)

Amsterdam

We made it to Amsterdam. We're waiting for our connection now. Not much sleep overnight for Jen or I but all is going well. The only hiccup so far is I converted the euro/dollar incorrectly, but we had a nice 40 dollar breakfast this morning! Jen bought 10 minutes in massage chair so i'm taking the opportunity to catch up. From here, we have about another 9 hour flight with a stop in the Sudan. It doesn't seem like Amsterdam should be less than half way from Detroit, but it puts it in perspective. Alek and Natalie - if you are reading this today we love you and miss you and everything is good. We're having quite the adventure. We love you all and will post again when we arrive in Addis.

at the airport

we made the first step of our trip. all of our four bags were under fifty lbs we had three at forty nine and one at twenty eight. guess which one was bens. the kids were so excited to see their cousins. please keep them in your prayers for complete peace and joy the entire week. we are so excited about this next step. we leave for amsterm at five thirty we will be in ethiopia tomrrow around two thirty pm michigan time. hope to post again when we get there.

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We are off to Ethiopia.

Things have been quite busy around here. Tomorrow morning we leave for our trip to Ethiopia.We are so thankful to our family and friends for praying for us through this journey so far. Today we had a wonderful lunch with friends Kurt, Juli, Tim and Maria. We are so grateful for their committment to walk with us in this process. Tonight my aunt Steph, cousins Cole, Cara and Amanda and Grandma Grace arrived to watch Alek and Natalie for the week that we are gone. We cannot express how much this means to us. We are forever thankful that we will be able to fully intake this amazing experience that is ahead with peace knowing our kids are being well taken care of. We ask that you send many prayers for my grandma, aunt and all the kids. We will continue to update our journey throughout our trip. We should arrive Tuesday evening, meeting Baby J for the first time on Wednesday. Thank you all again for your continued prayers.