Going to get our girl!

We received confirmation of our travel dates on Monday!!! I’m boarding a plane in TWO DAYS!! Yep – Friday afternoon one of my best friend’s and I are off to Ethiopia to pick up Arsema while Daddy holds down the fort with Mareto! Anna watched Mareto for us while we went to court in Ethiopia this summer. She’s pretty much the best. John and I decided that Mareto needed one of us to stay home with him this time. Too much has changed in his little world recently and it’s about to change even more with a little sister coming home. Anna has always wanted to go to Africa and I needed a travel buddy to help me. We also happen to be super close friends so it was perfect!

(Anna and Mareto while we were in Ethiopia for court this July)

Anna and I leave on Friday and we’ll get to Ethiopia late Saturday night. We’ll pick up Arsema on Sunday and then have our embassy appointment on Monday. Arsema’s visa will be ready on Wednesday and we fly out Wednesday night and arrive home again next Thursday afternoon. I can’t wait to be home with my whole family on the same continent and under one roof!

Please pray for me and Anna! Pray for smooth flights and that we make all our connections. Pray that we are able to pack and get ready with as little stress as possible. Anna works every day this week except Friday and she’s also throwing a baby shower with Sarah for me tomorrow!! Pray that our whole trip is just covered by the hand of God and that all goes well.

ALSO — thanks to all of you and to a very generous secret donor from church we were able to raise enough to purchase our plane tickets!!! I’ve decided to extend the giveaway an extra week since I’ll be in Ethiopia when I originally planned to end it. So now the giveaway will end on October 7th at midnight and we’ll announce the winner on the 8th. All the funds raised from here on out will go to cover the remainder of our agency fees: $900. Thank you all SO MUCH!!!