Another Great Day!

We had another great day in Ethiopia. It started with our U.S. Embassy appointment, which went very well. We will receive our kids visas on Friday. Then, we visited the "National Museum of Ethiopia" where we saw the skeleton "Lucy" and learned a little more about Ethiopian history. After that we had lunch. The kids all ordered traditional Ethiopian food, and once again we were amazed by how much they ate. The waiter had to bring more injera bread 4 times! Injera bread is a sponge-like sourdough flatbread that Ethiopians use as a utensil to eat their food. The kids love it! We spent the afternoon at the Transition Home so the kids could say good-bye to all their friends. On the way back to the guest house, we picked up fruit for the kids to eat. When I peeled oranges for them, they were so excited. They acted like kids receiving an amazing present! They were so tired from the day that they barely stayed awake for dinner. Actually, Ava slept through dinner! She crashed on the sofa by the dinner table. We have another big day tomorrow. We plan to do more sightseeing. Thank you again for all your prayers! Please keep them coming! Everything is going better that we could have imagined, and we know it is because our trip is being bathed in prayer! THANK YOU!!!!!!!

They are ours!

We picked up our kids this afternoon. Our agency's transition home staff said the kids were so excited about us coming. Apparently, they kept asking yesterday if our plane had landed yet. Then today they repeatedly asked when we would be arriving. The kids are doing so well. We spent quite a bit of time playing with them at the transition home. We even hung upside down from the jungle gym with them! After we brought them back to the guest house, we gave them showers and put on new clothes. They were so excited about their outfits, but the highlight for all was getting their own new shoes. They each smiled and said, "Thank you" as we gave them their shoes. They ate GREAT at dinner. We had chicken and rice. They all cleaned their plates and more. We are going to have to cook a LOT of food when we are home. Wish we could bring the cook here home with us. He is great! They were also surprised and excited at bedtime when we gave them pajamas to wear. Brennan cried at first because he thought we were taking away his new clothes, but was happy when we showed him they were on the couch. Jon read the Bible before bed. We brought the Amharic/English Bible we bought on our first trip. Blaize read some for us. He read John 3:16 and all the kids recited it together in Amharic. It was precious! They are all hard asleep now. The guest house staff put another bed in the room with Blaize and Brodie, so Ava is in there. They were so excited to all sleep in the same room. Brennan will sleep in a crib in our room. He was crying at bedtime, so we put him in our bed and he quickly fell asleep. We will move him in a few minutes. Tomorrow we get up early for our embassy appointment. Then we will do some sightseeing. Thank you to all for your continued prayers!

We made it!

We made it to Ethiopia! Our trip went very well, and now we are settled in at the guest house. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), we have a "Paperwork Party" to complete all the paperwork for our U.S. Embassy appointment on Wednesday. In the afternoon tomorrow, we get to pick up our kids and bring them to the guest house. They will be with us for good! We are so excited!!!! Thank you for all your prayers!

Traveling to get our kids!

Praise the Lord! We received final clearance from the U.S. Embassy and are leaving 10/24 and returning 10/30 with our four sweet kiddos!!

147 Million Minus 4

The first meeting with our precious children . . .

Getting Ready

As we have talked with parents of large families, one of the things they have recommended is color coding everything. That way you know whose pencil was left on the table, whose cup is in the sink (or laying on the floor), etc. So, we now have pencils, backpacks, and even cups in everyone's favorite colors. So far this has been very helpful, especially since we are not having the "that is my pencil" fights! It should be even more helpful when our four new children arrive.

We are still waiting to hear about clearance to travel from the U.S. Embassy. They have reviewed our information and have asked for more documentation from our adoption agency in Ethiopia. The staff there is working hard to get this paperwork for the U.S. Embassy. Hopefully, our kids will be able to receive visas soon and we will be able to travel to bring them home.

Jon is working on a video montage of our first trip to Ethiopia, so check back in a few days to see it (providing he can figure out how to do it)!

Why the blog name?

Our blog name comes from the moment our next door neighbor learned that we were going to adopt four kids. With a shocked look, she said "I don't know what to say, but that it's wonderfully crazy!" We thought this expression hit it head on . . . we are looking forward to it being "wonderfully crazy".