Bringing her home...

Well, we're finally on the final leg of this adoption process!  (Well, excluding the next 18 years of raising her...but you know what I mean)!

I am currently en route to Ethiopia to finally bring our daughter home!!!

There are so many emotions coursing through me right now...joy being prevalent, but also mixed with concern for our trip home, grief for Karis Lemlem to be losing all that she knows and is comfortable with, all layered through the normal excitement and surreal acknowledgment that we're actually having a fourth child!  In so many ways it's like giving birth...and in so many ways it's not!  It was very hard to leave Mark and the kids last night, and I came to realize that I didn't really want to leave to bring her home...I just want her magically home!  But, since that's not possible, I'll do what I have to do!

To that end, I have several specific prayer requests that I would humbly ask you to be seeking the Lord for us about.
1.  For my time in Ethiopia...that Karis Lemlem and I would have a relaxing time of bonding together, so that as she experiences the new and possibly frightening surroundings on the way home, that she would truly feel comforted by me...and that I would feel the comfort and peace of the Holy Spirit that will flood through me to her.
2.  For our embassy appointment on Wednesday, that everything would go smoothly and that there are no issues in getting her travel visa issued.
3.  For our travel home...

• For favor with the many airline attendants from whom I will need help!
• For extra seats next to us on our flights
• For Karis Lemlem to be healthy and to sleep well much of the time
• For our flight connections...I have just 3 hours in Chicago to get through Customs and Immigration, hauling bags and baby and getting to our connecting flight
• For our flight home with Mark from Pittsburgh, as we have a connecting flight in Detroit with only a 45 minute layover

4.  For our kids:  Adding a new baby to any family by any means is stressful.  Good stress, yes, but stressful all the same. Anna will especially need grace through this adjustment.  Also, she really had a difficult time when we last went to Ethiopia, and I know me being gone for yet another week will be hard for her (when it's the day before you leave and your three-year-old tells you every four minutes "I lub you, mommy," you know she's thinking about it too much...as heart-warming as it is to hear)!
5.  Pray for Mark and everyone holding down the fort at home, and for Mark's flights to meet me in PA to be safe and smooth.

We're so grateful to have so many standing with us in prayer.  I'll be posting updates throughout the week via facebook...if there's anything lengthy or incredibly noteworthy, Rebecca will post it here for those of you not on facebook! 

If you're local, we'd love to see you in Anchorage when we get in on the 12th!  One week and we'll all be home!!!