Ready

Today, I am ready. Ready for my daughter to be home.  I am over this process, over the waiting, and just ready to hold my little girl every day.  In my last post I was a little more upbeat about the waiting, but now I am just over it.  Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since we passed court, 4 weeks since I last held her and kissed her sweet little cheeks.  4 weeks and no word on whether our case has made any progress on the Embassy side.  I knew that this step would take longer, I thought I was prepared for that. Maybe it's that we haven't heard anything at all that's driving me nuts, maybe it's the fact that she should be here with us, she is our daughter now, maybe it's the fact that one of her roommates is coming home on Thursday(and I am beyond thrilled for her!!), maybe it's the fact that she will be 22 months old on Thursday and yet another month has gone by and she's not here.  I don't want this to sound like a pity party, and maybe it does, but this is just real. This is real life that we are going through right now.  We are living in a broken world, and my daughter, who never should have had to feel the pain of being an orphan in the first place but she did, and now she's not anymore, is still sitting in an orphanage without the love of a family, because we are waiting on paperwork! Paperwork! That is all that is standing between us and her right now- and that is driving me nuts! It shouldn't be this way.  But it is, and we continue to wait, continue to pray, and continue to trust God and his plans for our family, and our precious little girl.  His plans are good and perfect, and while I can't see any good coming from her still being in an orphanage on the other side of the world, I know that it's there, and just because I can't see it doesn't mean that it isn't there.  That is why God is God, and I am not.  But it doesn't take away the hard, or the longing for her to be here and us not miss another second of her life.  Please continue to pray for us and with us, I know so many of you are and it is so encouraging! She is worth every second of this wait and we would do it again in a heartbeat, we are just ready for her to be HOME!! Still praying she will be here before her birthday in October- hoping for good news soon!

How are we doing?

How are we doing, you ask, with our daughter and our hearts on the other side of the world? I can truly say, that God is good and we(mostly I, b/c let's be honest, I'm the emotional one) are doing much better than anticipated.  God has truly given me peace that Ryah is being taken care of and loved while we aren't there.  That doesn't stop me from missing her at all, but it does keep me from spending every day on the floor of her room crying(Aaron is scared he will one day come home to this ha!) I watch videos and look at her picture pretty much every day- she is beautiful, and SO loved! I am anticipating all the things we will do this fall when she is home and unbelievably excited about our first Christmas with her! And today, I am missing her a little more than usual.  It's almost been a month since we met, that's unreal!
We sat in church last weekend and our pastor said these words that he said over 2 years ago, that inspired this post:  "God sometimes answers our prayers by giving us what we would have asked for had we known what he knows." 
And the tears just came.  I thought of my precious little girl on the other side of the world.  There are so many things about her that I wouldn't have asked for almost 3 years ago when we started this journey.  Hear me when I say, that doesn't mean these things are bad, I just didn't know.  But this whole time, God was shaping us and molding us to be ready for her- sweet Ryah Grace.  I may not have asked for it back then, but she is worth every tear, every heartache, every fundraiser, every prayer, every minute of the wait. We would do every bit of it again to end up with our precious girl and we are just praising God for knowing better, for knowing us, for having better plans, for giving us what we would have asked for if we knew what he knows.  He is so good- just so good.  Someone posted this song on our adoption facebook group yesterday and I can't stop listening.  There is so much beauty and pain in adoption and in our kids' stories- but that's a post for another day. But this song- so much truth and so much beauty. We can praise him through it all, he is enough- every bit of the hard we have experienced on this journey was not wasted, and it was all meaningful. And every bit we have yet to experience is purposeful. Thanking God for that truth this morning. 

Ethiopia Part 3

We now have a daughter! She is officially ours :) and we could not be happier! Now if only she were home with us!  Here is our first family picture for your enjoyment- soon I will be able to take that little heart off and show you her beautiful face!

The last 3 days we spent in Ethiopia were good.  We went from feeling a mixture of being tired and ready to be back home with a sense of normalcy- to dreading leaving our girl.  But we were able to make the most of the time we had.  We spent time with Ryah each day- but we could tell she was growing increasingly overwhelmed with us being there each day and giving her so much attention.  We had definitely expected this type of reaction, so we were prepared, but it's still hard to see and actually be a part of.  So many prayers were prayed for each of our hearts before the trip and while we were there.  Because she was so overwhelmed on Friday- we decided that would be the last day for us to see her.  We had planned to go back on Saturday before we flew out- but it just didn't seem like that was in the best interest of her little heart- so we said our goodbyes on Friday.  Goodbye was a lot less dramatic than I envisioned.  I surprisingly didn't cry at all.  After spending the week with her, and seeing how much she is loved where she is and how happy she is there, made leaving peaceful.  She was happy to be handed back over to her nanny- who is really the only mother figure she has ever known, so it made sense that she would want to be with her.  We told her how much we loved her and that we would be back as soon as we could- and we left.  Both of us with a mixture of happy and heavy hearts.  We were leaving a huge piece of our hearts there when we returned home the next day, but it had to be done.  She has no idea what is in store for her when she leaves that place.  It's going to be very hard for her to leave- please begin praying for that transition now, it will be hard for us all!

Also, while we were in Addis, we got the chance to visit 2 really incredible ministries that we support and hear about what God is doing there.  The first is called fashionABLE. This is an awesome ministry that is all about creating sustainable work for women in Ethiopia and getting them out of prostitution. For many women, this is the only way that they are able to feed their family because poverty is so

overwhelming in Ethiopia.  We had never seen poverty of that magnitude before.  But still, the people were all so joyful and friendly, it was so encouraging.  So, fashionABLE takes these women off the streets, teaches them a trade and provides a job for them.  They make beautiful scarves and have just recently launched a line of leather products.  Aaron and I have started buying more of our gifts from organizations like this, that give back to a community, and it's about more than just spending money for the sake of buying a gift.  A purchase from something like this enables these women to feed their family, something we take for granted every day. God is doing an incredible work through this company.  We got to visit and get a tour of their new facility and meet a few of the women working there.  We can't wait to go back on our next trip! Definitely check them out- the scarves are so pretty, I now own 2 for myself and we bought Ryah one while we were there and she loved it!

The other ministry is somewhat new to us, but it is the same concept as fashionABLE.  It's called Mission Ethiopia and they are creating work for women.  They also make scarves, but they have other products as well.  Clay and paper bead necklaces, door mats, etc.  There is an awesome story behind the man that makes the doormats(they employ men as well). The man who weaves the door mats has leprosy.  He has no fingers left really, on either of his hands, but he sits every day and weaves these rugs together with joy.  It was so incredible to meet him and watch him work.  God is doing amazing things in and through him and this company.  ME will be launching an online store here in the states soon and I will be sure to let you know because you will want to check this out!  We were so thankful for the opportunity to visit and support these ministries and what God is doing in them.

Saturday it was time to return home. We had a very memorable experience in the Ethiopian Airport before our flight left. Lots of claustrophobia and chaos were involved.  But we got to the gate and on the plan to take us home.  We arrived back in the states Sunday afternoon and then had a 4 hour drive home from DC.  We were both tired, but thankful for a safe trip and to be back at home! We can't wait for our 2nd trip- hopefully in about 2-3 months we will return and bring Ryah home!!!!!!

Ethiopia Part 2!

       I left off with the end of our first day meeting our girl.  As I mentioned, I was still sick, and the next day we weren't able to go see her. I think the combination of being sick and having major jet lag put me in bed for most of Monday.  My sweet hubby ended up spending the day reading and playing angry birds beside me.  The house where we were staying did not have Wifi the whole week we were there, the government had shut it off for some reason. So he got lots of reading done, and had to find other ways to entertain himself, hence the impossible amount of time he spent playing angry birds last week! And we had forgotten to pack some movies for us to watch during the downtime, so there really wasn't much for him to do while  I spent the day sleeping, poor thing! But a funny side note, he somehow managed to find a little shop by asking our driver, that actually rented movies! It was a task to find one that would actually play in our computer, but somehow he did it haha! And it only cost about $0.35 to rent a movie! If you know my husband, you know he loves movies and he's going to find a way to make it happen, even in the middle of Ethiopia!

        After spending Monday in bed, Tuesday I woke up feeling MUCH better and we got to spend another day with our sweet girl! She seemed to remember us, but she also was still very unsure and cautious of us, which we completely expected.  This day we got to have some really sweet time with her, and this time she slept in my arms after her bottle- I wasn't about to let daddy be the only one she slept on!  It was such a sweet time and we just couldn't believe we were actually there and she was finally in our arms! We spent the most time with her that day, about 4 hours, and she was clearly overwhelmed by the end, so we said our goodbyes, knowing that we had court the next day and didn't know how long we would get to see her then.
       

  Wednesday was court! Another completely surreal experience.  We got there super early, and we were supposed to meet our agency rep there.  Turns out there was some miscommunication on what we were supposed to do once we got there, and we missed our time being called! We were in the room the whole time, but we weren't able to find the rep, and we didn't know whose name would be called when it was time for us to see the judge.  Turns out it was the orphanage name where Ryah had been before she was with the agency, and it was called first, but since we didn't remember that name, we missed it! We finally ended up calling the rep since we couldn't find him and he had to talk to the judge and explain to them that we were there, but had just missed them calling us in.  So we waited about 20 more minutes for other families to take their turn, and they called us in again.  We were both a little anxious after thinking we had messed something up, but all was good.  The judge asked us some questions about the adoption and wanted to make sure we had met Ryah and that we still wanted to adopt her.  We of course answered with a joyful yes!! After a few more questions, she said ok, the paperwork is complete and in the eyes of the court she is all yours!!! I couldn't believe it, and the tears quickly came, she was finally our daughter, even though she had been since we saw her 4 months ago, everything was official now and nothing could change it!

After we left the court room, we drove over to see Ryah and we got to tell her she was officially ours, she was no longer an orphan! She had no idea the significance of this- but it was such a special moment for us! We got to spend just a little bit of time with her that day before it was time to head back for the night.  We officially have a daughter!! God's faithfulness is just so evident in her story and in our family.  We are so grateful and humbled that he chose us to be her parents.  She is a miracle, and a beloved daughter! More to come!

We're Back! Our time in Ethiopia....

I've been a little MIA on the blog lately.  I made the big announcement that we had a court date and then disappeared for almost 3 weeks!  But we're back now and I'm here to tell you all about our time in Ethiopia and meeting our daughter!!! I can't believe I'm saying that, we finally met our daughter! Ahh!! But I don't want to get ahead of myself, I'll start from the beginning!
       So, almost 3 weeks ago, we got word that we had been issued a court date, and we needed to be in Ethiopia in less than 2 weeks!  It was an amazing God moment, and we are so thankful that God has been so faithful to us.  We booked our tickets(probably one of the craziest experiences of my life, I literally felt like a crazy person. It's peak season to fly over there now and tickets were crazy expensive, but they've more than doubled what we paid already in just 2 weeks now!) and the packing started.  I packed for what seemed like a whole week, which turned out to be a good thing, because I ended up getting some sort of bug the day before we were supposed to leave and spent the day in bed, so it was a good thing we were ready to go!  We had to fly out of DC because tickets were so crazy, so the Thursday before last we drove up to DC to spend the night and we flew out the next morning!! On the way there, we flew through Dubai, and then on to Addis, it was about 17 ours of travel total. And it was not much fun to be feeling the way I was feeling on those long flights.  But finally, on Saturday afternoon, we arrived in Addis! It was so surreal to finally be in the country we had been dreaming of for almost 3 years!  We found our driver after getting through the airport and they drove us to the guest house we were staying in.  We had planned on going to meet Ryah that afternoon, but since I wasn't feeling so great, we stayed in and I slept for most of the afternoon.  I ended up spending the first 3 days we were there being sick-not exactly how I imagined meeting our daughter.  The jet lag was crazy and we were both awake at all hours of the night for the first few nights we were there.

        Sunday came- the day we would meet our sweet girl!  We both were so excited and up way too early even though we hardly got any sleep.  I was feeling a bit better that day, so we wanted to leave as soon as we could! The driver came and picked us up around 9:30 that morning.  We thought it would only take us about 15 minutes to get to where she was, turns out it was more like 45, as we soon found out, everyone always said it would take 15 minutes to get anywhere, but that was rarely the case. We walked into the big black gates, and quickly realized we were the only ones there who spoke English.( I am realizing now, that the only pictures I took were basically of us and Ryah, need to make a mental note on the next trip to take other pictures!) One of the sweet nurses said Ryah's Ethiopian name, and we said yes, and they led us up the stairs to where she was.  This also did not go down like I imagined. I didn't have any time to prep and get the camera ready and find someone to take pictures for us, they just took us up the stairs and there she was!!! It was the most surreal moment of my life and the tears started flowing. My daughter was sitting just feet away from me.  Her nurse sat her in the floor and said, "mommy, daddy" and Ryah looked at us with the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes you have ever seen.  At that point I fumbled the video camera around and turned it on for the nurses to video us meeting her- so we have 3 precious minutes of that video.  The 3 of us just sat in the floor taking each other in, and I just still couldn't believe it.  She was even more beautiful and precious in person than in all the pictures we've gotten over the last 4 months.  3 years of waiting was realized in that one moment, it was so precious.  We spent the next 3 hours with our daughter. They let us feed her, and after being there for less than an hour, she was asleep in her daddy's arms.  That was such a precious gift! Given her age, we weren't sure how she would react to us, but that moment was amazing(it probably helped that it was very close to nap time when we got there).  After we had been there for a few hours we started to see more of the behavior we expected from adopting a toddler.  She is very attached to her nanny, which we are so thankful for, and that is a miracle itself, so after a few hours with us we could tell she was done and ready to go back to her nanny.  We didn't want to overwhelm her too much, so we said our goodbyes for the day and headed back to get some rest.
    That was one of the best days of my life.  To finally get to hold this amazing little girl and tell her how much we love her and how we've been waiting for her was so surreal.  I still have a hard time believing it actually happened even now that we are back.  But y'all, she is amazing.  She is the most precious little girl, and she fits perfectly with us.  All the glory goes to God for creating our beautiful little family.  I was going to write about the week in one post, but that's going to be too long, so I'll write about the rest of our time tomorrow.  Thank you all for praying for us and supporting us and encouraging us over this journey.  More to come....