Some thoughts while we prepare....

As I pack our bags and begin to prepare to go see our girl, my mind is constantly going back and forth between, "I cannot believe we are going to be holding our baby girl in ONLY 11 days! That is SOON!"  

to  

"This is going to be the longest 11 days of my life! Its going to be FOREVER until I see her!" So yes, I am feeling slightly bipolar these days:)

We are leaving on July 31st and returning on August 8th. We will have a few days of traveling, but we will actually be IN Ethiopia for 6 full days. We will be seeing our baby girl for the first time on August 2nd and going to court on August 3rd. 

This trip is going to hold one of the BEST days of my life and probably one of the WORST days of my life as well. I don't want to think about our last day there. Its excruciating to think about even now, so I can't imagine what its really going to be like once we have spent a week with our girl. We will be leaving on a plane without her. We will come home and wait for probably 4 months while the U.S. Embassy works to clear us to bring her home. After August 3rd she will legally be our daughter, but she will be our daughter living on the other side of the world. It's not right. It's not the way it should be. But this is just the way it is....And we have known that from the beginning. It doesn't make it any easier though. There is no way to prepare my heart, for what I am going to have to do.... except to pray that the Lord would grant me peace, patience, and grace to get through each day while we wait to bring her home for good!

I am choosing to not focus on the HARD parts of this trip. The Lord will give me grace for that day when it gets here. That day is not today. And I am going to have 6 wonderful days holding, snuggling, kissing, and loving on my baby girl! I am going to soak up every minute I have with her as a 7 month old, because when she comes home she will probably be almost one year old! 

How you can pray:

1)Pray for safety traveling and that we will not miss any flights!

2)Pray that every piece of paperwork that is supposed to be at our court appointment will be there!

3)Pray that we will hear those words "She is YOURS!" on August 3rd

4)Pray that the Lord would protect us from sickness while we are there

5)Pray for us as we leave our daughter in another country and fly home without her.