6/29/13 - So that's what it's like...............

Waiting in Germany seemed like forever.  We each slept a little in short 15 minute or so stretches despite the fact the seats we waited in looked like a pool lounger.  Unfortunately not as comfy as they looked……

Yeah, not so comfy.........

Finally, it was time to board our flight.  We waited in line and when it came for us to board, each of us received a new seat assignment.  Oh no…….did they split us up???  Enter God’s grace SHINING down upon us.  We got UPGRADED to business class!!!!!  Are you kidding me?  My mom and I just joked about how nice that would be a few hours ago.  Now, here we are reclining in luxury in a chair that a host of reclining options including a lay-flat sleep position (and did I mention it massages too??), ordering from a menu, drinking from real glasses, eating gourmet food on real dinnerware….it’s all very ironic.  Here we are, heading to a third-world country to adopt a beautiful girl.  This is something we have been saving (and many have generously donated to fund) for years and we are sitting in business class.  It’s a conflicted feeling.  Why were we the ones to be bumped?  My only answer is God’s grace.  After our meal, Kevin and I were both able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep – a blessing!!! 

Look at all that space!

We are now on the ground in Khartoum, Sudan refueling before we will take the last leg of our journey to Addis Ababa.  Definitely a different airport experience!  There was one runway and we had to turn around on the runway when we landed and again to leave.  The planes there looked like the one in Madagascar with the two propellers on the wings and the wings extending from the top of the plane rather than the center of the sides like most do.  The last flight is about an hour and 50 minutes.  It appears we will be leaving soon.  We are almost there!!!!!!

Flying into Addis Ababa was beautiful!  Although it was dark and we couldn't see the city from the sky, there was a beautiful lightning storm unlike anything we have ever seen!!  It was almost constant flashes of bright light.  The beauty of God’s creation is unreal.  In addition, because it was so dark, we could also see the stars.  Absolutely breathtaking!!  We had to circle the airport before landing, but landed only about 20 minutes later than scheduled.

Thankfully, the Addis Ababa airport was much easier to navigate than Frankfurt!  The visa line was quite short when we got in, but filled in quickly behind us.  We ended up standing in line next to a woman and her father from Canada.  She is also adopting a little girl and received her referral on April 29^th (same as us!).  We got our visas with no problem, exchanged some money, and got in line to pass through immigration.  That was the longest part of the process, but simple again.  The woman never said a word.  She took our passports, stamped them, and gave them back.  Our luggage (all accounted for!) was waiting on the belt when we got there.  Customs consisted of simply passing our bags through another xray machine and then we met Abel in the lobby.  We were too tired to notice, but he wore a University of Michigan shirt to greet us!  So sweet!  He took us to our guest house and also gave us our itinerary for the trip.  We were ecstatic when he told us that we would get to see M on Monday and Wednesday!!!  Tomorrow we will be attending church at the International Evangelical Church and then spending the rest of the day at the guest house.  Monday, we will go to Bethany Ethiopia for our court orientation and then get to visit M briefly in the afternoon.  Tuesday we will go back to Bethany for the cultural training and then go to court in the afternoon.  Wednesday we will be going to the museum, hopefully doing a little shopping in the marketplace, and going to see M one more time before we head back to the airport.  It seems like a lot to do in a short time, and we hope to make the very most of it!

We settled in quickly at the guesthouse (except that we weren't sure what time it really was to set our alarm :), but we figured it out!)  Off to bed, its almost midnight and we need to be up at 6AM!

Our room at the guest house