That One Time We Had 48 Hours Notice to Book International Travel

The time has come. We have waited and waited and waited more for the phone call that came this morning.

We are going to Ethiopia. We leave on Friday.  Yes. THIS FRIDAY.

In case the timing is lost on you can I tell you the redemptive work God is doing through our story?

We needed two letters to be cleared for travel. Here's the first one. The second one is waiting for us in ET. We got it Monday.

Last year at this time was quite possible one of, if not THE, hardest week of my life. It was also Kids Club, the biggest week of the year in my job. We had 550 kids and 500 adults come learn about Jesus and I was in charge of it (along with the rest of my amazing team). But I was also going through a huge loss. And last year on June 11, I experienced a surgery that changed my body and my life. I trusted and relied on God through the whole process but I could not understand why any of it was happening. I'm still not sure I do. Sometimes pain comes into our lives and God holds us near but the pain still happens. 

Well. We got a phone call today at 9:15. We are going to meet our son in a matter of days. We have to be there by Saturday night in order to meet him and get things in order for IC to legally become our son on June 10. Yes. June 10 we will go to court and become a family of 3. 

Almost exactly one year after my surgery, I will legally have a son. 

We were told we might hear this week when we would go. We didn't exactly know that would mean we'd get on a plane 48 hours later. But we are thrilled. 

And missing Kids Club. Yup. The biggest week of my year and I am missing it. But I get to meet my son so I'm going to roll with it. 

So. To give you a rundown: we arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday night. We will head to court on Tuesday. We will hug our son as tight as we possibly can on Thursday. 

And on Thursday night we will leave our seven year old son in Ethiopia. 

How long? Well, we don't know exactly. We have to wait for some documents to be completed. Once they are finished, we will get a phone call, request a visa interview, and head over to get IC and bring him home for good. We expect it to be 4-6 weeks and we hope to have IC home for good this summer.

We can't even believe we are really at this part of our adoption journey. Finally! And we are so thankful for you, our faithful friends who are walking this journey with us.

How can you help? Well...two ways come to mind.

1) If you are free tomorrow and want to bring donations to us (and you know us in real life) we are (quickly) collecting donations. Donations are basic things like kids clothes, soccer balls, games and puzzles, and baby items like bottles and formula. If you would like to donate items, you can contact me for a list. We will also be taking donations our next trip. If you want to gather things for us to take then, you can contact me and I'll send you the donation list.

2) Pray for us! Specifics:

• for safe and expedient travel
• for both of us to remain healthy during the trip
• for both of us to connect with IC and things to go well there
• for IC to connect with us 
• for all of us as we have to leave each other to remain strong and connected until we can return

I am sure there are lots of other things you could pray for. You can just pray it and if you aren't sure, well, the Holy Spirit will intercede. 

Thanks, again, for loving us so well. If you are wondering, we do have house sitters living at our place. So please don't try anything funny. Please. Please.

We can't wait. We've got so much to do and so little time.

WE GET TO MEET OUR SON!!!!!

See you soon:).