Finally! Homecoming!

Wow, what a journey home from Ethiopia.  You start with a 17 hour flight from Addis Ababa to Washington DC-Dulles, via Rome Italy.  The elevation in Addis is so high, they can't get the plane off the tarmac if they completely fill the fuel tanks on the plane.  They fill them half full, and stop off in Rome to then completely fill up to make it to Washington DC-Dulles.

By the time we'd made DC, Luke's stomach was hurting him pretty good so when we finally had got through customs and immigration (yes we did it LEGALLY) we hit the first place we could find chicken.  Luke has a favorable impression of "American chicken" so we stopped by Wendy's and had a couple of chicken on a biscuit breakfast sandwich.  After some breakfast, Luke met some local politicians campaigning.  It was nice for them to come to meet Luke. 

44 hours!  Other than a couple of cat naps on the different planes on our way home, Luke, Mike and myself were had been up for 44 hours, and we were feeling it!!  Luke was now falling asleep at the drop of a had and falling asleep HARD.  Landing into Billings, just within 30 minutes of touch down, Luke said he was going to sleep, and sleep he did.  He fell into such a deep sleep, I had to pat him on his leg for 5 minutes before he'd wake up. 

But then we got home and came over the top of the escalators, we forgot all about being tired.  How honoring, how surprising.  I knew we had about 20 people that had expressed interest in welcoming Luke home, but we had no idea of the size of party waiting for him.  We know there were a lot of other's that wanted to attend but couldn't because of a busy Friday night, but to all of you that could make it, THANK YOU, you totally blessed us all.

 

Our Last Full Day in Ethiopia

Day Four!

Today is our last full day in this country. Those of you who have been to Ethiopia will share these sentiments, but this country has a way of getting in your heart and staying there. We feel forever bonded to this place, and not just because our son was born here. It's hard to explain, but my heart will forever be connected to Ethiopia!

Today we visited an area of the country called "The Gorge". The Gorge is about two hours north of the city. This is the Grand Canyon of Ethiopia. It was so fun to see! And I enjoyed having Luke along because although he was born here, he has yet to see very much of his country. In the area are the famous "bleeding heart" baboons with the red mark on their chest! We saw a few, which was fun!

We passed a few waterfalls...

This is very interesting: These men or women haul dung on their backs or on donkeys. Then they sell it as a fire starter.

We had a really cool experiance in a market along the way. We got out and mingled with the locals while they traded their goods. We were sort of a novelty (being white as snow), so people sort of hung around us. We had fun taking people's pictures and then letting them see themselves digitally. Some had never seen that before. Man are Ethiopians pretty people! The men are very strong and handsome and the ladies are just gorgeous! I'm proud to have a son from here!

And finally, here's Mike and Luke at the Gorge. Its hard to see, but there is a cliff back there. Clearly they are about to fall off...

As I said today is our full day! Tomorrow night (about 1:15 p.m. in Montana, 10:15 p.m. in Addis) we will board to fly to D.C. After a looooonnnngggg flight, we'll have a brand new U.S. citizen with us! Then at about 7:10 Friday night, we'll land in Billings!

Pray for safe and smooth travels with no delays!

 

Embassy Day

Okay here we go! Day 3:

So today was Embassy Day! For those of you who don't know, the first adoption trip is dedicated to going before the Ethiopian Court. Then once all your paperwork is final the kid's all good to go, you fly back and go before the U.S Embassy in Ethiopia! Usually, court is rough with only 50% passing, but Embassy is a breeze! This was true in our case! Not a single problem and I can safely say Luke is coming home! We have jumped the last adoption hoop!

Also today we visited the KVI orphanage in Addis. Luke spent some time in this orphanage and wanted to give the majority of our donations to this particulare orphanage. He met up with some of his good friends who are still waiting on adoption. It is heartbreaking to see some of these older kids who are desperately waiting to hear they have a family. I will forever remember to keep the adoption of older kids in my prayers! Wow! Anyways, Luke had a great time talking and playing with old pals. Before long, a lively game of soccer broke out! Wow can these boys play soccer!!! It was amazing! For privacy reasons, I can't show you the pictures or videos, but I wont ever forget it! I was awestruck!

Tonight we will head to a Traditional Ethiopian Dinner. I was here on the first trip, but it will be Michael and Luke's first time! Its very interesting! The food is very unique and you enjoy dinner while watching VERY talented dancers. Man can Ethiopians dance! So fun! They even come into the audience and ask for participation.. It funny to watch chubby Americans like me try and dance along with these talented Ethiopians! Im going to try and stay out of the spot light while at the same time get Michael to dance.. We'll see!

Sorry for the lack of pictures.. Hopefully more to come!

Thank you all for your continued prayers!
 

A Few Goodbyes

Again, this post will be short...

We're loving spending this time with Luke! He is very comfortable around us and seems very excited about America. I have loved getting to spend my first one on one time with my youngest son!

Today we traveled a bit out of Addis to Luke's hometown (Nazeret). Its very rainy! We traveled there today to say goodbye to Luke's birth father Ayalew. It was a sweet goodbye. Ayalew knows that we care deeply for him. We have told him that when we bring Luke back to Ethiopia some day we will try our very hardest to locate him. He is a very sweet, God-fearing man. I pray for my sons heart through this transition. (his father is fourth from the left)

Reunited

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY EVERYBODY!!!!!

Gotcha day is what adoptive families call the day you can finally take your son/daughter with you. Its the day when you reunite!! We'll remember this day forever!

We finally made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! After a very long flight we were exhausted, but nothing could keep us away from Luke! The reunion was AWESOME! I saw his little face peeking out the window before he stepped out. It was great to get to hug my son again and even better for Michael to finally get to meet Luke! Here are a few pictures to show you all of our excitement!

More to come soon....