We're here!!

Greetings from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! After 3 flights and more than a full day of traveling we are here! I am drinking good coffee and getting ready to head to church. It's sure to be an experience.

No photos today (sorry) but all you would see would be airplanes and terminals and one German breakfast. It was exciting to us but maybe not as exciting as you had hoped for.

Anyway, our travels started a little rough but smoothed out from there. When we arrived for our first flight, it had been delayed 2 hours. We got worried, sent out the calls for prayer, and you all must have responded big. Because not only was our flight moved back up and gave us plenty of time for our layover, but the rest of the trip was full of blessing.

In Newark during our layover, I got called to the desk at the terminal. Never have I been called to the desk at the airport terminal so I was super worried. I came up and the gate attendant handed me new boarding passes. He had noticed we weren't sitting together for either of our international flights so he took the liberty of switching our seats so we could sit next to each other on planes for the next 18 hours. When we booked we were so concerned about getting there I wasn't even worried about seat placement. But the fact that this guy took the time to think about it and switch it for us was HUGE. We got to snuggle and chat the whole way to Germany.

We know for certain we love Lufthansa airlines. They were so kind to us and have so many perks. The food was pretty decent for airline food and we got warm towels every few hours that really helped kick the airport stink. I can't say I slept much but I did rest a lot. E, on the other hand, watched 3 movies and lamented the fact he didn't have time to watch more. Ha! After eight hours of flying, we arrived in Germany.

Quick layover in Germany (complete with a German breakfast) and we were off to Ethiopia. As we boarded, I looked for our seats and noticed we were the very first seats after first class. That may not seem like a big deal but with that position came LOTS of extra leg room. Like I could sit in my seat and push my legs all the way out and barely touch the wall. Guys, for me that's great but for that guy I call man friend? HUGE. Because his legs are approximately 18 feet long. So we just kept grinning from ear to ear, knowing its was your prayers that kept us together in the first international flight and gave us ample space to stretch out on our longest flight.

I slept the entire flight. Like, E tried to give me dinner they served and couldn't wake me up type of sleeping. Which was good. Because this girl likes her sleep and at that point we had been traveling for about a full day. So I was so thankful for the opportunity to crash hard. E was worried about me not being able to fall asleep when we got to the guest house. He was worried for nothing.

When we arrived in Ethiopia at about 8:45p.m. their time.  I had always heard about Ethiopia having a specific smell and I immediately recognized it. I can't accurately describe it, I'm sure, but the best I can tell you is it's a mix of incense and earth. It smelled so good and felt so familiar even though we'd never been there. I was never worried but it immediately put me at ease, none the less.

I was a little worried about navigating the airport but it went very well and we were out in less than an hour...through Visa line, luggage, customs, and money exchange. We were in the parking lot waiting for our guide approximately one minute before he arrived, introduced himself, and we were whisked off trough the streets. It was Saturday night and it was BUSY!!

We got to the guest house after some of the well-known traffic and interesting routing and re-routing. And promptly did a little unloading and crashed!

We both slept so soundly and are now up and around and headed to church this morning. We'll do lunch and then finally have the much-anticipated meeting. It's hard to even imagine after 3 years of dreaming we're almost to that moment. It's wild. I know some of these details aren't necessarily the stuff you are curious about but I want to try to write as much down as possible and hopefully will keep a journal too.

Thanks, again, for partnering with us in so many ways. Thanks for your prayers. We will try to update you when we can.

Much love!