Day 1- Ethiopia

We left for Ethiopia bright and early on Wednesday, August 19th at 5:30am. Jon's mom drive us to the airport with our 5 bags of luggage and donations. We were incredibly excited!!! Once it hit the Monday before our trip, my stomach was hurting non-stop. Hurting like an ulcer due to the crazy amount of excitement raging through me.

We were up much later Tuesday night than we planned and were quite exhausted. But come Wednesday morning, you'd think we had slept 12 hours! We were so ready to go! As we were rolling our suitcases to the ticket counter, I was thinking back to our honeymoon which was another time we had done this very same thing. We had our lives ahead of us. We were off to celebrate our marriage and the start of a new adventure. Wow! Who would've known that 4 years later we'd be standing here. Boarding a plane to Ethiopia to pick up our son! Amazing. Absolutely amazing.The last picture of our little family before we changed forever! Here we are at the Indianpolis airport on our way to Detroit.

Here I am in the Detroit, Michigan airport. We had an 8 hour layover! Talk about torture! I was trying to catch some Zzzz's before our first international leg.

Whoa. I look awful. This is the very last leg of our 26 hour trip. 2 hours from Sudan to Ethiopia. I couldn't believe we were almost there!!!!! Our baby boy was so close!

(A letter I wrote on the plane)
Thursday
08.20.09
Dear Mekonen,
We are almost to Ethiopia! We have been traveling for close to 30 hours. It has been exhausting, but the best kind of exhaustion I've ever experienced! I have been full of excitement and anticipation for days. Monday, August 17th was the start of non-stop butterflies in my stomach. The only thing that keeps them somewhat calm is food. We cannot wait to finally meet you face to face and hold you in our arms. On every flight we tell people all about you and show them your pictures. Everyone comments on how beautiful you are. We more than agree!! I can't tell you how many times I have taken out the pictures of you that I carry and just stare at them One lady at the airport in Amsterdam said, "He's a lucky little baby." Daddy and I both said, "No, we are the lucky ones." Every time I close my eyes to try and sleep, I picture your sweet face. I imagine what it will be like when we first meet. Will you cry? Will you be afraid? Will you smile and show us those beautiful dimples? Will you look at us filled with curiosity? Will you let us hold you? I have been thinking today about your birth family and how deeply saddened I am about the huge losses you have already experienced in the first 8 months of your life. Losses such as yours are ones that were never meant to happen when God created the world. We want you to know how much we love your birth family and for the gift of life they have given you. We will do all that we can to celebrate your Ethiopian heritage and to honor the mom and dad who gave you life. We want you to be proud of your story, your history- the story that Jesus has been a part of before the world began. We love you so much and cannot wait to see you! We are on a flight from Sudan and have 2 hours left till we reach Ethiopia! It will be late when we arrive so I think we will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see you! What a long night it will be!

Much love to you!
Mommy