Safe and sound (and exhausted) in Johannesburg

We have arrived!!  Our flight from Atlanta boarded on time, but then we had to wait about an hour before we actually took off.  About 2 or 3 hours in, Kevin and I complained to each other about sore butts.  We had a long way to go!  We did experience quite a bit of turbulence on that flight, enough to make me feel queasy for at least half of it.  No worries, I didn't actually get sick.  We were both able to sleep some.  I believe I slept for 4-5 hours at once.  Kevin slept about the same, but not all at once.  We caught up on our movies :)

We arrived in Johannesburg at about 5:20PM Joburg time.  Let me tell you, I was happy to be done flying!  That is a LONG flight!  Going through immigration went smoothly and our luggage was waiting for us after that.  We came out into the main area of the airport and Bev and Beth were waiting for us.  So nice to finally meet them!!  Beth helped Kevin get our car and Bev rode back with us to our guest house (thank you Bev!!!).  Kevin did well with driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road in the dark :)  Stefen who manages our guest house showed us around and was so very kind.  Our guest house is lovely and located on a river and it sounds like the peaceful country outside.  A few pictures are attached below.  Another great bonus - Stefen has two dogs that remind us of Penel and Wiley!  One is a jack russell, but slightly stockier than Penel.  The other is a mix of jack russell and a couple other breeds.  Although he is white and black, he is spunky and has a curly tail like Wiley.  We feel at home here :)

Bev waited for us to freshen up, then we met Beth for dinner at Luigi's Pizza around the corner from our guest house.  We had some great conversation about "N" and their relationships with him.  They had an awards ceremony at his school last night and he received several awards for reading, math, speech, soccer, and art!  Way to go "N"!!!  Dinner was excellent!!  Bev and Beth then lead us back to our guest house to turn in for the night.  We've been unpacking our things and trying to get settled.

Day one in Johannesburg is a success!!

Here are a few pictures:

This is our guest house 

This is a common outdoor seating area at the guest house

Well, its after 11PM and we are exhausted.  We will post more pictures tomorrow when we can take them in the daylight.  Goodnight!!

Laura and Kevin

Sitting in Atlanta..........

After about an hour delay in Grand Rapids we had a fairly smooth flight to Atlanta.  As you can see from the photo it's pretty dark and cloudy here, but currently isn't raining.  The plane just pulled in and we are scheduled to depart at 6:15.  So, we are going to walk around and stretch our legs a little more before having to board.  Thank you all so much for the love and support shown towards us.  We aren't sure when we will get internet again once we leave Atlanta, but we will post an update to let everybody know we made it as soon as we can.  We are scheduled to land about 4:30 tomorrow afternoon South Africa time.

Love,
Kevin & Laura

We're at the Airport!!!

Hello Everyone!
We are at the Grand Rapids Airport, checked in, through security, and ready to go!  Our flight is delayed by about an hour, but we have a 4-hour layover in Atlanta so we should be fine.  I must say, packing for 6 weeks feels like packing up your life!  I think we spent at least an hour weighing our bags, moving things around, reweighing the bags....well, you get the point. :)  We were able to check all 3 bags with no additional fees (thank you to the friendly Delta counter attendant!)  So now, we wait.  In about 48 hours, we will be able to meet our son for the first time!!!!  Can't hardly wait!

Here are some pictures of all of our luggage and of us....heading out!

Next stop....Atlanta!

Laura and Kevin

Court Date!!

It's official - we have a court date!!  November 22, 2012 - Thanksgiving Day.  How fitting!!  It is later than we anticipated they would allow us to travel, but couldn't be more perfect!  We have not yet booked our travel (working on it), but we will likely leave Monday Nov. 5 or Tuesday Nov. 6.  After another skype with "N" and a lot of laughs, we cannot wait to meet him!  You should all prepare yourselves!  We told him that there would be a lot of people who want to give him hugs when we arrive and he responded "I like giving hugs!  I like to squeeze!  And when I squeeze people, they say 'ugh!'"  Ha ha ha!

God has graciously guided us through this journey and we are so thankful to be able to share it with all of you.  We should be home right before Christmas, so it will be quite the celebration with his birthday and the holiday right after we arrive.  We can't wait!!!

Love,

Laura and Kevin

A day of GREAT news!!!!

I am beyond excited to post that we have received our last approval document!!!!  To give you the short version, we actually received it on Saturday, but didn't know that is was THE approval.  We we under the impression that our approval came from the National Visa Office, which is where our paperwork is currently.  What a great surprise!  God is SO GOOD!!!!  Now, we are waiting for a confirmed court date (which we hope to have in the next couple days) to book our tickets!

More good news......we found out today that we received the grant that we applied for through Bethany Christian Services!  Thank you, THANK YOU to the amazingly generous donors and thank you to all of our friends and family who have donated, prayed, consoled, comforted and rejoiced with us throughout this journey!  We cannot believe it's almost here - we get to meet our son!!!

Please pray that we get our court date confirmed quickly and that God will prepare us all for the excitement of the next few weeks!

Love,

Laura and Kevin

Praying for patience and paperwork!

So much going on!!  We were able to Skype with "N" for the first time last Thursday!  We talked for about 20 minutes and it was awesome.  He was pretty quiet, but he seemed very excited to learn about us and the dogs!  We asked what he wants to do for his birthday (12/24), and he said "throw a snowball"!  It was a huge step toward the reality of finally becoming parents!  We will get to Skype with him every week until we meet in person.  Can't wait for Thursdays :)

We also were issued a tentative court date for November 13th, which would mean we would need to leave for Africa by Oct 28th.  That part is AWESOME!!!  What is not so awesome is that the last approval letter we need may not make it by then.

So PLEASE PRAY that the government offices involved in that approval move at lightning speed and that we are able to make our court date!  God is so good and has been present throughout this journey and we know that it will all come together in His timing - but we are praying that His timing involves "N" spending his birthday and Christmas with his forever family.

Thank you again to all of you for your continued support and prayers.

Love,

Laura and Kevin

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is with OVERWHELMING joy that I would like to share that we received our official referral for "N" yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He finally knows that he has a family!!!!  They said he can't stop jumping up and down and that he said he is the happiest boy who ever lived!  Words can't describe what a great feeling it is to know that we are so close to being united as a family!!!

What comes next??
Kevin mailed our last US government paperwork this morning!  We are waiting to be assigned a court date now.  Please pray for our paperwork to be processed quickly and that they will be able to assign us a court date yet this year.  If we do travel this year, it will mean that we'll leave by the end of the month and be back in Michigan in time to celebrate his 8th birthday with family and friends!

While the last 10 days have be a rollercoaster of excitement and frustration, God has been with us through it all!  We are so blessed and can't wait to begin our journey into parenthood!

Wahoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!