Day 2-The BIG day!

Outside the orphanage doors

Entering the orphanage

Our first glimpse of Tsehay

Friday, May 27th: The day we met Tsehaynesh

Thankfully we got some sleep last night. The dogs were a little quieter and we were SO exhausted. We woke up bright and early though and waited around our hotel room until our van came to pick us up at 11:30. The orphanage that Tsehaynesh was moved to was very, very close to our hotel.  We drove down some rocky dirt roads and stopped at a gate. I was shocked to see that we were there already. We got out, both of us shaking as we frantically searched for our video cameras and cameras. We were lead into the "compound" to see close lines hung everywhere with clothes, diapers, etc. We turned to our right and saw three little BABIES on the porch sitting on potties....they sure don't hesitate getting them potty trained! We walk through the doorway and entered into one of two small rooms. Wooden boxes(cribs) lined the room. These were the babies that were awake. They were so adorable and smiley. We walk into the next tiny room of sleeping babies and I was admiring each one, when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted our sweet baby girl. She was laying on her back, completely zonked out-mouth open and everything. I just stood there shaking and Luke I stood over her for what seemed like hours but was only minutes watching her sleep. Fortunately, I had brought her lovie in my carry on and I layed it next to her face. I couldn't believe we were finally seeing her for real! I just wanted to scoop her up and snuggle her! But, we waited and went on a tour of the rest of the "rooms" to see some other children of families from our agency and take pictures.

We went back to her room where we found her nannies had awakened her. Poor baby! So here her first glimpse of us was these white aliens flashing pictures and video camera in hand. The nanny quickly tried handing her over to me saying "This is your new Mama!" She just bawled. I wanted to bawl too. Over the next hour her little heart raced as she would panick if one of her nannies left the room and were out of sight. I would hold her for a few seconds and then hand her back. It was heartbreaking. After an hour and a half of watching her crawl, sit & almost WALK back and forth between us and the nannies, she finally chose Luke's chest to snuggle up too. You could tell she was so scared, but she just knew that was her Daddy. Of course, Luke just about melted and I did too. We took her for a walk outside and she just clung to us. It was hard to say our goodbyes, but relieving to know she is LOVED SO MUCH by her caretakers. I just kept thinking that I was thankful we weren't taking her away right now. I'd much prefer for her to warm up to us over a period of several visits. Ask me that after I'm home, and I'll probably have a different attitude(-:

Luke got to hold her first. She was so scared of us)-: Poor baby.

But Mama quickly won her over with her necklace

At least for a few minutes

She won over her Daddy right away by snuggling right into his chest. 

We went out for coffee and then dinner. I was still panicking because we had not received our luggage yet, and we were supposed to leave really early in the morning for our trip South to Awassa (her birth town). I couldn't imagine going to such remote areas without any of our gifts/meds! I found myself bowing my head every chance I got and pleading with God to get our luggage their tonight. Afterall, this was stuff for Him and His people, not us. We got a  ride to the airport around 9pm and I barely made it through security when I spotted one of our tubs. I bursted out with tears. There sat 9 out of 10 pieces of our luggage. I started jumping up and down. Whew, now I could relax a little.

My next big plight was to figure out how to reach the kids. We had no phone service and spotty internet and had not talked to them since we had left.  We finally reached them and it felt so good to see them on Skype and talk to them. Kai wanted to see baby sister over video, so I had to try to explain that one(-: We got in bed around 1am after sorting through all of our luggage and packing for the trip South. It is going to be another big day tomorrow. A 5hr drive to Awassa, Ethiopia to meet her birthfather. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I have no idea what to expect. Praying that God will get all of us(Us and her birthfather) through this difficult meeting and that we ask all the questions she would ever want to know. My heart has never been so full as it was tonight.

Precious Girl

We are here!!

Hoping it all gets there!

We are here!! Everyone warned us that this trip would be an adventure, and I have to say after landing in Ethiopia only a few hours ago, I can declare that statement as true. The good news is that we started the trip off well. All of our luggage was a non issue at the airport in Grand Rapids and Delta graciously allowed us to check all 10 bags with NO EXTRA FEES or problems. There were even a few that were over the weight limit, and they never said a word. The trip started to turn the minute we left Grand Rapids. We were unable to land in Detroit due to the strong winds of the storm, so we ended up deborting the landing and circling the airport for about an hour. When we finally did land, we sat on the plane another hour due to lightning. It was then that we started to panic. We only had a 1hr layover in Amsterdam and if we missed that flight to Addis Ababa, it could be days before we got here.

We called upon our Lord, and with his help and our speediness, we made our connection to Amsterdam just as they were closing the doors. But, there we sat on that runway for what seemed like another hour. We made it to Amsterdam and we had exactly 30 minutes before our connection to Ethiopia left. AND they close the doors 30 minutes prior. Well, this Mama was determined to get here and wasn't going to let anything stand in our way. We rushed off the plane and made a mad dash to our terminal which of course was on the other end of the airport.

So let me give you a glimpse of what this looked like.....little Janine running probably the fastest she has ever ran in her cute little sandels ( I know, i was told a million times to wear tennies) all teary eyed. The whole time I kept reminding myself that the Lord brought us here and he was clearly begging me to trust Him. I kept repeating to myself, "Just trust him Janine". Luke couldn't keep up and said it was quite possibly the fastest he has ever seen me run..ha! We got to the gate and found that they were waiting for us.....I just about broke down seeing God's hand in even the tiniest of details. We were finally boarded our flight to Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

We arrived, got through customs, met some other adoptive families and humanitarian aids, went to baggage claim only to find that our luggage never made it. We spent the next two hours trying to track it down. Long story short, it should be on its way tomorrow coming through Narobi, Africa. Please pray that we get our luggage-we have almost nothing. I'm going to look pretty bad tomorrow when I meet our baby girl. I'm sure she won't care at all(-: The good news is that we have our camera and video camera, so besides the greasey hair and inappropriate travel clothes, we should be all set. Our driver left thinking we never arrived, since it took so long to figure out where our luggage was. We ended up hitching a ride with a random taxi...it is pitch dark here and the ride to the hotel was very frightening! But, we made it and we are praising the Lord we are here. I'm sure I will not be able to sleep a wink....it feels like the night before I was induced with Kai. We absolutely cannot wait to meet our sweet baby in the morning. I'm sure tomorrow will hold a whole new adventure(-: Good night from Addis Ababa Ethiopia & we love you!

View from our lodge. That is a home down there and the darn dogs that stay up all night and sleep all day.

PS. We have no phone service and it may be days before we have internet connection again. We will do our best to keep you updated. Love & Miss you Kai, Aria &Becket!

ONE WEEK! Getting ready to meet you & see your country....

I really can't believe we will be boarding a plane in just one short week and on our way to seeing our little Princess. After a long year and a half, we'll finally be able to meet our daughter and hold her for the very first time!  It just gives me chills thinking about it. It also gives me chills to think about leaving behind Kai, Aria & Becket for that long. I'm sure they will have a blast with their Grammy's & Papa's and the time will just fly by. There will be no doubt though that I will miss them terribly.

We've been busy preparing, sorting, organizing, packing, weighing (over and over again).  I have about 4 different lists going and seem to be checking things off day by day. Between typing up schedules for the kids while we're gone to running all these last minute errands to finishing up photo albums/thank yous to packing and packing and packing, my desire is to designate as much of this week as I can to our 3 little babes and try hard to get my "fill" before we leave for 11 days. Please pray for safe travels & health for us and our kids for these next two extremely important weeks. I can't wait to share our experience with you all when we return! (Or if we can get a good stretch of internet, I'll be updating our blog, so check in!)

Can you believe ALL of these donations!! Thank you doesn't even come close! And, that' s not all of them.  I came home to another porch full today!

Bringing 31 Bags to Ethiopia! Enat Alem is the name of Tsehaynesh's orphanage. A friend & I sobbingly sorted through all of our infant toys (sentimental times...boohoo) and will be filling the tote with them. 

We had lots of helpers to sort the items.

Organizing baby food was Kai's favorite job(-:

Daddy packing the bags.....

A sweet new friend, Eden, who spent 3 hrs here tonight translating the photo album I made for Tsehaynesh's family into Amharic language.  She also translated a letter to her family, along with a bazillion thank you notes to her nannies. This girl is AMAZING and I'm so thankful I was introduced to her. One of the most beautiful Ethiopian girls I've met yet!

31 Bags & Donations....

One of my bff's with a beautiful heart

Selling cute bags with the proceeds going towards Tse Tse's orphanage. 

And Mama couldn't help but add a little "Africa flair"

Dear T,
Over these past few months, we have been given the privilege to see hearts melted by your story-including our own hearts. So many people graciously want to help you, your orphanage & your country. Last night was one of those nights where friends came together, showed their support and through that we were able to raise some money for your orphanage and they were able to go home with some cute 31 bags(-:  From the people who showed up, to the dear friend that gave of her time & proceeds, to those who have been dropping off donations to give to your orphanage, my heart is overflowing with gratitude. It has been neat to see God's people unite in this cause.

Bringing all of this stuff with us in the next few weeks hits close to my heart. If it weren't for the families who came before us and the work that God did in their hearts, I'm pretty confident we wouldn't have seen all those chubby rolls on your referral picture(-:  Today, I just sit here grateful for the true friends God has blessed us with. We can't wait to show up in Africa with more bags than we can physically handle and formula to last for months...and of course to see the sweet little girl we've been longing to see for almost a year and a half! Love you Tse Tse -you are going to be welcomed home by a pretty amazing group of friends!