The 29th!

Yes.... you read that correctly.  We have an Embassy date of the 29th of June!!!! We will be on a jet plane headed back to Addis Ababa exactly 1 month from our Court Date! Praise the Lord, we are so excited to really begin our journey as a family of 5!  But before that can happen I have to frantically search for flights, call travel agents and try not to notice the $$ signs that are attached to the flights.  Although, when we look at Elle's little face all the $$'s and (most of) the craziness melt away!!

**Do you think I could have used more exclamation marks in a single paragraph?!

Clear!!!!

More exciting news to share with you all!  We were cleared this morning by the U.S. Embassy to come and pick up Elizabeth!! WOOT!!!! We have submitted our top 3 choices of dates (29th, 30th and the 4th) for our official meeting with the Embassy and are waiting to hear which of those is available.  Of course, we are hoping for the 29th and are also hoping that we find out tomorrow.  Keep in  mind it is already tomorrow in Ethiopia, so we just might have to set our alarm for an ungodly hour, to check our email and see if we have a date!  This is really happening and I can hardly believe it. :-)

Oh My Goodness, Oh My Goodness!!!

I feel like the little orphan girl in Annie, "Oh My Goodness!"  But I just can't wrap my head around our latest news.  We were submitted to Embassy today (Yes, I am jumping up and down) and if everything goes smoothly we will be back in Addis Ababa by the end of the month!!!!! Needless to say, we were completely surprised to be hearing this news so soon after traveling for court, but are completely ecstatic (and a little freaked out)! Please be praying that all the documents are correct and that Embassy does not require anything further.  We should know by Tuesday if all is well and we can travel to pick our little girl up! Praise the Lord!!
 
It sure is a good thing that I ordered the girls their bunk beds today.  I am sure that Elle is anticipating some place to at least lay her little head at night.  :-)

18,282 miles!!!!

Yes,  you read that correctly!  We are finally home after traveling over 18,000 miles!  It is no wonder that I woke up this morning and did not know where I was.  It took a minute to remember that I was in my own bed (at last!) and that the language spoken was English and the currency the dollar.  Ha, ha!
But, really.... we had a fantastic trip and our prayers were answered, we are the official parents of Elizabeth Alale Blair!!  Thank you for all of your prayers.  Our trip was long, joyous, surreal and absolutely a blessing.  We were able to spend the first week visiting Elle everyday at the Care Center and the second week we traveled south to the region that she was born.  Our entire trip was priceless and we consider it such a blessing that we were able to gather as much information and pictures as we did.  I have attached a few of our favorites for you all at the bottom of this post.
Now I know that you are all wanting to know more about Elle and our time with her, so I will try to put into words some of our experiences.  The day we first arrived and met her, she just woke and the nannies washed her little face and sent her over to meet us.  We only had about 15-20 minutes with her, because we had to go to Court.  Our flight had some delays and rerouting which caused us to not be able to spend anytime with her on Tuesday like we planned.  And in order to pass court we had to meet her, so this is the reason for the brief first encounter.  OK, back to the story... Elle came right over to us and let me hold her.  After a few minutes I decided I should share with Brandon and he held her for the remainder of the time until we were told we had to go.  She was very quiet and curious and I am sure, overwhelmed!
After our Court hearing we went back to the Care Center and were able to spend a couple more hours with her.  When our van pulled into the court yard and Elizabeth spotted us climbing out, she RAN over to me with a huge grin and I swept her up.  I will never forget that moment! :-)  From then forward, Brandon and I were "her property" and she did not want to other kiddos close.
She is a spunky, funny little girl who is full of smiles and giggles.  And if corrected, she knows how to give a grin that would win over the strictest judge.  After meeting her, I am 100% sure that she and Addie are going to be trouble together and Ian is going to have his hands full (we won't talk about Brandon and I)!
Our trip to the Rift Valley Lakes area was wonderful and really gave us a better idea of what life is like for some Ethiopians.  First of all, Ethiopia was nothing like I expected it to be.  For some reason, I pictured an arid land with desert like conditions.  Now it does have desert areas, but the places we saw reminded me more of Hawaii believe it or not, and we saw some 500 miles of it!  The people are friendly and happy.  The food is spicy and the traffic is crazy.  There were a couple of times I was sure our driver was trying to hit people, ha ha!  Overall life seems hard and very different than mine in the States, but you can see that they value each other and in particular their children.  These, especially, are traits I wish I saw more often here.
Now you may ask, "When do we bring her home? What happens next?"  Well, we have to wait, imagine that?!  It is now the U.S. government that we will be waiting on and you all know how uncertain that can be.  They will be verifying all of Elle's info and making sure that the adoption is legal by U.S. standards before they will issue a visa.  So our new prayer is that this part would happen quickly and that sometime in July we will be making another and a final trip, to bring her home.  You can rest assured that I will update with information as we receive it!
Well, I need to go because nap time is almost over and Ian will be calling crying soon.  Enjoy the pictures and thank you again for all of your prayers and support.

Fun with Stickers

Some good laughs!

I painted the girls finger nails on a rainy afternoon.

First introductions.

First introductions.

Leaving to go to Court.