We're Here!!!!

I'm typing this from the laptop in the capitol of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.  I am still getting over major motion sickness from the flight and am already dreading having to take the 17 hour flight home (the flight home is longer than the way here because we stop in Rome).  I spent over an hour in the kitchen part of the plane on my knees waiting to lose it.  That flight was just too long and no medicine would help.  I'm fairly confident that it was a buildup of so many emotions, sleep deprivation, and the flight movement that made me sick but the rest of our day made up for it all.
We arrived at our guest home around 10 am Ethiopian time on Sunday morning (all of you in Chicago were still sleeping through Saturday night...you're 9 hours behind us).  We took a shower, a very brief nap, had lunch and were on our way to see our new little girl.  She is amazing!  She loves our sunglasses, sat on my lap and kept playing with my hair, and we could not get the bubbles we brought away from her.  There are 10 kids in the home where she is now; 5 boys and 5 girls all from the same region so they all speak the same dialect.  We saw her bed, where she eats, where she plays and just enjoyed every second with her.

The workers were so kind to us and kept telling her to go by her Mommy and Daddy.  We have many pictures of her with Nick's sunglasses on and holding her new blanket.  She would not let anyone else touch it--it is hers!  We saw her book too.  Then we gave her kisses and told her we will see her tomorrow again.  We stopped at the Ethiopian church and got to enjoy an amazing time of worship with some fellow believers.  Language is no barrier when you're worshipping Him! 

So now we are just waiting to skype with the girls before going to bed.  We got to spend time with one of the other two families adopting today and they are wonderful.  We really enjoy them and look forward to all being together with our kiddos as the week progresses.  Tomorrow at 1 pm, the van comes to pick us up again to go see her.  I am so amazed at God's work.  There have been many prayers for all our hearts to be united.  We love and miss all of you at home and while we can not wait to get back home, we know this good-bye will be impossible.  So more prayers until we get to bring her home, ok?  Hope to write again tomorrow (: