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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
From my journal...
"We are now on the Ethiopian Air flight on our way to Addis Ababa!!! We are so excited to be on the last (although LONG) leg of our journey to Caroline Faith Letehiwot!
We got into DC yesterday about 5:30 pm, and we immediately got a text from Chris that they had just landed too! We were excited to be able to meet up with them soon in baggage claim!
So, we went straight to the US Air office at baggage claim, and were so relieved to see all four of our big suitcases waiting on us! PRAISE GOD! What a huge answered prayer! I took a picture of all the suitcases to text to my friends who had been praying! :)
Jody then got a smart cart, and we loaded up our luggage and went to find Chris and Emma. We asked the guy at the info desk to call our hotel to request a shuttle for us too. About that time, Chris and Emma came around the corner! YAY!!! We were so excited to reunite with them! We visited with them for just a few minutes before going to catch our shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn.
We got to the hotel quickly and got checked into our rooms, and decided just to eat at the hotel lobby restaurant. The dinner was actually really good, and we had so much fun catching up with Chris and Emma again!
After dinner, we went back to our room to Facetime with the kids before they went to bed. It was fun to see their little faces and blow kisses to them one last time before our trip! Then we went on to bed since the shuttle was picking us up at 7:30 the next morning. I had a little trouble falling asleep because I was so excited, so I took an Advil PM and went right to sleep.
We got up at 6:30 this morning to shower and get ready to go back to the airport. We didn't have time for breakfast, so we grabbed a yogurt to take with us on the shuttle. Chris and Emma were with us, and we all went to the Ethiopian Air counter to get checked in!
There was a pretty long line, so it was looking like our flight might be full. We got up to the ticket counter, and the lady told us our carry-ons were too heavy. Ugh! So we had to take them to the side and start taking things out to put in our large suitcases. We didn't want to have to pay extra for our evidently "too heavy" carry-on bags!
We finally stuffed as much as we could into the suitcases...I had to kneel down on them to get them zipped! And Jody took the big suitcases off to go through the bag security. He came back and she re-weighed our carry-ons and told us they were still too heavy. And she was not too happy that Jody had already sent the big suitcases off! She had wanted to re-weigh them again! Well, needless to say, I think she was a little frustrated with us, but she (thankfully!) went ahead and gave us back our passports and boarding passes and sent us on our way! We took them, told her we were sorry, and got out of there quickly before she changed her mind! :) YAY! All bags are on their way!
Then we met up with Chris and Emma again to go through security and get to our gate. We decided to make a quick trip to Starbucks before we boarded the plane! I called Mom really fast to tell her bye and check in to see how it went getting the kids off to school. She said if went good except for Carson getting too much hair gel in his hair...it turned white! :) He's used to Daddy doing this for him every morning! :)
Then it was time to get on the plane for the long 13 hour plane ride to Addis Ababa! :) We were seated on an aisle and middle seat with a man sitting in the window seat. Next to us in the middle section were two empty rows! We went over there so we could spread out some! We were so excited! (I had taken a picture, but I accidentally deleted it from my camera.)
Well, about 5 minutes before take off, a family of five or six came rushing onto the plane...and those were their assigned seats. :( So, we had to move back to our original seats. But thankfully, Jody spotted two more open seats on the last row of the plane. So, I ended up going back there to spread out a little, and he stayed in the original spot. CRAZY! But at least we had some space! :)
So, here we are about 1 hour into our 13 hour flight! Cannot wait to be back in Ethiopia and back at Hannah's Hope with our baby girl!!! I miss her so much and can't wait to have her back in my arms again! We are so thankful to be so close to seeing her again...it's just a matter of hours now! Makes me tear up just thinking about it! All of this travel is so long and tiring, but she is worth it! :)
Praying that she'll warm up to us quickly this trip and that we'll have a great transition with her in country and on the plane ride home. Trusting God and knowing that this is HIS perfect timing for our family! Our family is about to change forever, and I couldn't be more ready! and excited! and a little nervous! :)
Praying for God's peace that passes all understanding and for His mercy and grace in the days ahead!"
From my journal...
"We are now on the Ethiopian Air flight on our way to Addis Ababa!!! We are so excited to be on the last (although LONG) leg of our journey to Caroline Faith Letehiwot!
We got into DC yesterday about 5:30 pm, and we immediately got a text from Chris that they had just landed too! We were excited to be able to meet up with them soon in baggage claim!
We got to the hotel quickly and got checked into our rooms, and decided just to eat at the hotel lobby restaurant. The dinner was actually really good, and we had so much fun catching up with Chris and Emma again!
After dinner, we went back to our room to Facetime with the kids before they went to bed. It was fun to see their little faces and blow kisses to them one last time before our trip! Then we went on to bed since the shuttle was picking us up at 7:30 the next morning. I had a little trouble falling asleep because I was so excited, so I took an Advil PM and went right to sleep.
We got up at 6:30 this morning to shower and get ready to go back to the airport. We didn't have time for breakfast, so we grabbed a yogurt to take with us on the shuttle. Chris and Emma were with us, and we all went to the Ethiopian Air counter to get checked in!
There was a pretty long line, so it was looking like our flight might be full. We got up to the ticket counter, and the lady told us our carry-ons were too heavy. Ugh! So we had to take them to the side and start taking things out to put in our large suitcases. We didn't want to have to pay extra for our evidently "too heavy" carry-on bags!
We finally stuffed as much as we could into the suitcases...I had to kneel down on them to get them zipped! And Jody took the big suitcases off to go through the bag security. He came back and she re-weighed our carry-ons and told us they were still too heavy. And she was not too happy that Jody had already sent the big suitcases off! She had wanted to re-weigh them again! Well, needless to say, I think she was a little frustrated with us, but she (thankfully!) went ahead and gave us back our passports and boarding passes and sent us on our way! We took them, told her we were sorry, and got out of there quickly before she changed her mind! :) YAY! All bags are on their way!
Well, about 5 minutes before take off, a family of five or six came rushing onto the plane...and those were their assigned seats. :( So, we had to move back to our original seats. But thankfully, Jody spotted two more open seats on the last row of the plane. So, I ended up going back there to spread out a little, and he stayed in the original spot. CRAZY! But at least we had some space! :)
Praying that she'll warm up to us quickly this trip and that we'll have a great transition with her in country and on the plane ride home. Trusting God and knowing that this is HIS perfect timing for our family! Our family is about to change forever, and I couldn't be more ready! and excited! and a little nervous! :)
Praying for God's peace that passes all understanding and for His mercy and grace in the days ahead!"
.JPG)
1 comment:
She was so worth it! Good for you for keeping a journal of all the details. So special!
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