One Year Ago (Part 3)

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!!!

Today's the day!!! We finally get to meet our baby girl whom God has chosen for us!

This is what I wrote that day:
October 28, 2010

"Wow, wow, wow- what a day! Everything went fine with our flight, other than a minor half hour delay. Upon arriving in Addis, we found (or he found us) our driver-who was from our hotel (Tazina). We were a bit shocked/ surprised to see he that he was driving an old, small Toyoto Corolla. How were we going to fit 11 suitcases and 5 passengers? He found another driver, so Trish and I went with him. Jess had a very concerned look in the back seat when we drove by their car. At one point, we were separated, which was VERY scary. The 2 cars found each other and we arrived at our hotel. It wasn't at all what we were expecting (no hydro, no shower curtains, and NOTHING to walk to- it was a really run down part of town). We didn't know what to expect at all, so we didn't really know how to prepare Jess and Nicole. Well, needless to say, Jesse had extreme culture shock, plus he was very tired and hungry (we had yet to get on a normal eating schedule -Paul was eating a 3 course meal at midnight)! Jesse was very pale and near tears. When we sat in our room, Trish suggested that we pray -we REALLY need to bring it all to HIM who has seen us through this whole experience. God gave us strength and He opened up the opportunity for 2 rooms to open at the Weygoss Guest House!

At 10:30 a.m., Solomon came to pick us up to see Deborah!!!

Paul saw Deborah coming down the hallway and had teary eyes. I couldn't look -I was too nervous/excited. She was a bit overwhelmed with everyone and she didn't like it when her caretaker left her. I was able to feed her lunch and we all took turns holding her. Jesse ate a bit of popcorn (which Curtis would have said, "it's different.") and Paul drank coffee from the coffee ceremony. It was sad to leave, but we knew we'd be back tomorrow to take her with us!!

After our visit, we quickly packed up and Solomon drove us to the Weygoss. We were much happier there (especially Jesse)!! After having 2 different floors, we were moved upstairs and had 2 rooms beside each other with a sharing balcony.

After settling in, we went shopping (at Could Nine) and ate supper outside at Cloud Nine. We watched the sun set behind the mountains. We had a great waiter who was trying to teach us "very good" in Amharic.

We're enjoying the lobby downstairs, where we eat, play card games (Phase 10, and Yatzee Hands Down) and watch CNN.

I can't wait to bring Deborah home tomorrow and I can't wait to see Curtis!

Where we ate: Cloud Nine
Favourite Memories: -seeing Deborah!!
-our fun waiter
-buying our first souvenirs
-other: no seat belts, and everybody's dressed very nicely or very poorly"



-the doors of the transition home opening; our hearts were beating a million beats/minute!!!


-our first meeting!




















Oh, the Lord is good!!