Ethiopia Day 1

Okay, I am terrible at blogging.  It's not that I don't think of it occasionally, usually composing posts as I drift off to sleep... but we are hard pressed to do much more than get through the day every day!  The past three months (can't believe Lilia has been home three months!!) have been hard and beautiful.  Very hard.  And very beautiful.  It is amazing to watch our newest daughter, a former orphan, come alive. This has involved much pain to see her hurt and fears surface but glorious to see her begin to heal.  I'll tell more about that in another post.  For now, I want to catch us up to speed.  We'll start with Ethiopia.  I am going to post parts of our travel journal and some pictures of our time there. 


May 18, 2010



We arrived in Addis Ababa last night at around 7:00 pm. It was a long trip, but Emma was a rock star traveler. We’re so proud of her. We crashed at about 9:00 pm and slept all night until 7:00 am this morning. Sleep felt great! We had a great breakfast this morning, and then got unpacked a bit and played. David, our driver, and Robel , our AWAA travel coordinator, came and picked us up at 12:30 pm for lunch. We ate pizza. It was really good. We’d heard they had good Italian food here, because of the Italian occupation. Well, it was really good. After that, we headed to the transition home. That’s really where we wanted to be all day.


When we got there, they found out who we were and said they would get Yabsira. So we waited outside at the front. What a crazy feeling, waiting for them to bring our daughter…Katie, Emma and I were all looking at each other, anticipating the moment…nervous, excited, almost crying, etc. When they finally brought her out, it was surprising that no tears were present. But joy overtook the moment and we were all just completely excited! Emma gave her hugs and kisses, Katie held her, I looked on and took pictures, then we all sat down together. What joy! Katie fed her a bottle and she just slurped it down without wasting any time at all. I guess when you start out that small, you don’t mess around when there is food present. Both Katie and I could have stayed there all day – staring into her eyes, feeding her, holding her, just being together. It’s been so long. We spent two hours together, and of course didn’t want to leave. But Emma had been such a trooper all day, and we can’t take Lilia home yet, so we left. She’s in a great place. The transition home is beautiful, and the people are so kind and great with the kids. Lilia has been in good hands.


Tonight, Emma fell asleep at dinner. One second she was chowing on pasta, the next she was asleep on Katie’s lap. I’m not joking either. I think she fell asleep in the course of 30 seconds. What a day. Well, we’re all heading for bed soon. Sweet dreams for us!


As a final note, we love Addis, and all the people we’ve met. The people of this country seem to be so proud of their place and all its history. Not a tourist kind of proud, but a deep rooted pride in being from this place. The people here also seem to have a deep love for children. We saw it over and over again. It’s such a beautiful thing, considering that children are often overlooked or treated as inconveniences in our country. We can’t wait to learn more about where our daughter is from.

Our bags

Dulles Airport (note how rested we looked then)

On the airplane- two 8 hour flights

Outside the Transition Home,

waiting for Lilia to be brought out so we could meet her for the first time!

And more waiting (it took forever)

Here she is!  I recognized those amazing eyes halfway

down the hallway as a nanny brought her out to us

Because you need some pictures...

I know it's been a long time since we updated and you all are eager for pictures.  I really hope to post about our trip and how we are doing soon.  It is honestly so difficult to have time to blog right now, this adjustment is hard, but good.  For now, enjoy the pics!

We are home!

Yes we made it home last Saturday evening after 27 hours of travel with a 6 month old and a three year old.  It was rough.  And the jet lag is even worse! :)  We'll update soon about our trip... once the blur and fog clears a little.  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  Thank you Jesus that Lilia Yasira is finally ours, in every way!

We made it

We've been in Addis Ababa for four full days now.  We are loving every minute and the afternoons we have with Lilia Yabsira at the Transition Home are precious beyond words.  I thought I'd just get on blogger and see if I could post, now that I now I can, we will try and unload parts of our travel journal we've been keeping.  We'll have to wait on pictures until we get back to the states though.  Ethiopia is a beautiful place and we are so thankful to be here.  We'll check in again soon!

The bags are packed...

and we leave tomorrow!!!!  It's hard to believe this two-year wild ride is coming to an end...and a beginning.  In less than three days, we will hold our baby girl who we have been waiting for, longing for, and praying for.  It's been a complete whirlwind of buying ticket, packing, organizing, cleaning, and joy the last few days but we are ready (almost).  Emma is coming with us, as well as Brendan's parents and my parents.  Thanks to all of you who have been a constant support to us with your prayers, encouragement, and help, we could not do this without you!  Thank you to my family who has helped us pack, clean, fed us, and hung out with Emma so we could get ready.  Thank you to our friends who are house sitting while we are gone.  Thank you to our church community for freeing Brendan to go with such enthusiasm and blessing (and helping carry the load while the music pastor is gone). We are pretty exhausted from all the preparations but very excited to be with Lilia!  We will be back on the 29th.  I will update the blog while we are in Addis Ababa if we are able.  We are coming baby girl!!!!

Shout for Joy!

We serve a faithful God.  We got the call today saying we are cleared to go pick up Lilia!!!!!!  We are thrilled and have been crying tears of joy.  We leave Sunday and will be in Ethiopia for almost two weeks.  I truly believe God responded out of the prayers lifted up for our daughter and moved this mountain- even after we were told it was not likely!  We are so thankful and have so much to do.  Alleluia, our daughter is coming home!

**The above pic is Lilia a few weeks ago- she's up to 12 lbs!

Prayers Needed

Please pray for us and for Lilia. Brendan spoke with the Africa Program director from our agency today. They still have nothing new from the Embassy about Lilia's investigation. The Embassy has been in contact with them, continuing to investigate Lilia's case, but still has not cleared her for a visa. They are aiming for 8 weeks, which we are sitting at 8 weeks into the investigation, but they are under no obligation to finish at a certain point. They have said there are no red flags in Lilia's case but it is just taking longer because she is from a smaller orphanage. Please pray for us and Lilia. Our hearts are so heavy and weary. We just want to be with our little girl. We need God to move this mountain. Be our sustainer Lord Jesus and hold and strengthen Lilia's little heart.