Wednesday update

Wednesday Update

Our embassy appointment went fine. Josh stayed at the guest house with a few other American children, while the rest of us traversed the serpentine streets of Addis Ababa to get to the US embassy. There we met other CWA families (7 families in all) who were waiting their turn at the ‘teller’ window to get their final visa paperwork finalized. Other couples were told their visas would be ready Friday morning, and with us flying Thursday night, this was a concern. But we were able to arrange to have ours processed more quickly. So our visa is supposed to be ready by 3 PM tomorrow. Please pray that it is! Friday flight is full, and Thursday has at least 70 empty seats.

Here’s today’s special moment. T and I were walking down stairs at the guest house together. She held our digital camera. (We’ve all been amazed at how quickly our technology has been assimilated. MP3 players, hand held games, cell phones, are all eagerly handled.) T turned on the camera, and bent down to kiss the picture displayed. I wondered what she was doing, and I looked: the picture was one we had taken right before our embassy appointment..a first family picture of sorts (missing our 2 at home of course). My heart melted as I realized she was saying she loved her new family!

This morning our hostess, Tsebay, took the time to translate for us as we explained to the kids about coming home to America, what the airplane ride would be like, etc. We had taken video of us boarding the plane to get here which was very helpful. Many interesting questions came up. Another Ethiopian girl asked, “Will the plane crash into the ocean?” She had obviously seen a few movies! A wondered if he could ride a bike to his friends house…..in Minnesota! We had to explain that they lived far apart, but they could call or a webcam call.

This evening we were treated to a little concert done by some teenagers that are friends and family of the workers here. Their sweet voices singing English praise songs were the perfect send off for us. Then most of the adopted kids hopped up onto the ‘stage’ to sing praise songs they knew. It was dark so the video we took wasn’t great, but the audio was great. I’m glad to say that T and A were among the loudest singers.

To cap off our day, Hannah lost a tooth! She decided to skip the Ethiopian tradition of throwing the tooth on the roof, especially since it’s 3 stories high. I’m not sure if the tooth fairy will visit here, at our home.

God willing, we will report to the airport by 7 PM and leave around 10 PM. It will be almost 17 hours total. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but I think the kids should do OK. And the flight attendants will speak Amharic, which will be helpful. We should land around 8 AM Friday morning local time in DC.

Please pray the kids will fly well, our visa comes in time so we can fly, and that the ride home will be tolerable. I’m glad to report that Hannah is feeling fine today. Josh had a better day, too, but is still a little grumpy this evening. And for the first time this trip, I actually slept last night.

Thanks for your prayers and we hope to see you soon…..in Tennessee!

Blessings, Julie